KOSCIUSKO, Miss. (AP) — A couple linked to a string of robberies and carjackings in Florida and other crimes in Arkansas, Iowa and Illinois has been found in Mississippi after a car wreck. Kosciusko police thought they were responding to a simple accident Wednesday night but found it was more than that.

Chief Herbert Drew tells The Clarion Ledger there was no tag on the car. Further investigation found the car had been stolen in Arkansas. Then, Drew says, police began getting related alerts to look out for suspects Lessie Earl Proctor and Annastasia Coenen. Coenen was hurt in the wreck and taken to an area hospital.

Authorities found Proctor early Thursday. He faces charges including possession of stolen property and weapon possession by a felon. Drew says Coenen has not been charged.

A Holy Cross woman is facing charges for driving drunk with her children riding ON the car. Dubuque County Sheriff’s deputies went to a parking lot in Holy Cross on Monday night after witnesses reported a woman was driving in and out of the lot with children on the trunk of her car.

The arrest report shows 36-year-old Casey Keeley admitted to letting her kids ride on the trunk and a breath test placed her blood alcohol content at 0.121. She’s charged with second-offense OWI, two counts of child endangerment, and driving with a suspended license.

(Radio Iowa)

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — The trial of an Iowa father charged in the death of his infant son will be moved from Chickasaw County to Henry County. The Courier reports that a judge on Thursday ordered the change of venue after defense attorneys for 28-year-old Zachary Paul Koehn argued he couldn’t get a fair trial in Chickasaw County because of pretrial publicity.

The trial will be held in the Henry County Courthouse in Mount Pleasant, about 50 miles south of Iowa City. Koehn’s trial is set for Oct. 29. Police say officers found the maggot-infested body of 4-month-old Sterling Koehn in an infant swing.

Koehn and the baby’s mother, Cheyanne Harris, have pleaded not guilty to murder and related charges. They’re having separate trials.

(Updated) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s record-breaking astronaut, Peggy Whitson, retired Friday less than a year after returning from her last and longest spaceflight. She’s spent more time off the planet than any other American: 665 days over three space station missions. She’s also the world’s most experienced female spacewalker, with 10 under her spacesuit belt.

Whitson — a native of Beaconsfield in Ringgold County — was the first woman to command the International Space Station, holding the position twice, and the oldest woman ever to fly in space. She was also the only woman to have served as chief of NASA’s male-dominated astronaut corps. Fellow astronauts called her a “space ninja.”

“It’s been the greatest honor to live out my lifelong dream of being a @NASA Astronaut,” Whitson said via Twitter, thanking “all who have supported me along the way. As I reminisce on my many treasured memories, it’s safe to say my journey at NASA has been out of this world!”

The 58-year-old biochemist, who grew up on an Iowa hog farm, joined NASA as a researcher in 1986 and became an astronaut in 1996. Her last spaceflight, spanning 2016 and 2017, lasted close to 10 months. Only Russian men have spent more time in space: Gennady Padalka holds the record with 879 days over five missions.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called Whitson an inspiration, citing her determination and dedication to science, exploration and discovery. “She set the highest standards for human spaceflight operations,” Brian Kelly, director of flight operations at Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement, “as well as being an outstanding role model for women and men in America and across the globe.”

Before leaving the space station last September, Whitson said she would miss the orbiting outpost — an “awe-inspiring creation” — and the views from 250 miles up. “I will miss seeing the enchantingly peaceful limb of our Earth from this vantage point. Until the end of my days, my eyes will search the horizon to see that curve,” she said.

A semi tractor-trailer driven by a Cass County man struck traffic lights in Red Oak, Thursday afternoon. Red Oak Police say a 2000 Kenworth semi hauling a grain trailer and driven by 22-year old Jordan Michael Bazer, of Griswold, was making a turn from N. Broadway onto W. Oak Street in Red Oak at around 4:15-p.m., Thursday, when Bazer cut the turn too sharp. The grain trailer struck a set of City of Red Oak traffic lights, causing $5,000 damage to the light. The light pole was not damaged, however. The grain trailer sustained an estimated $3,000 damage.

No citations were issued, and no injuries were reported.

(Updated) ONAWA, Iowa (AP) — Drag racing has begun at a former western Iowa airport following the site’s $2 million transformation. Nearly 200 racers and 600 spectators gathered at the Onawa Racing and Events Complex last weekend for its opening, the Sioux City Journal reported . The city closed the seldom-used Onawa Municipal Airport two years ago and transformed it into a racing complex.

“We drew races from four to five states,” said Phil Schroder, of the OREC. “We had people staying in campers out here, people staying in local motel.”

The new facility’s concrete strip can host races of 1,000 feet, one-eighth mile and one-quarter mile. A $400,000 event center is equipped to run the facility’s concessions and will soon host other events, such as concerts and reunions.

Schroder said the complex will eventually pay up to $60,000 in property taxes. The facility is also bringing more people to town, which should increase the area’s sales tax revenue, he said.

Junior drag racers are welcome this weekend and the facility will host old-style drag races, where cars have flag starts, said Ron Conner, the site’s racing manager. Races on Saturday and Sunday will also include a testing portion, where racers can run the track multiple times to get calibrated.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled for the first time that workers under union contract with the state may sue for wrongful discharge if they’re fired for retaliation or other improper reasons. The decision came today (Friday) in a lawsuit filed in 2015 by former Iowa Workforce Development judge Susan Ackerman. Her claims included that former IWD Director Teresa Wahlert and other agency leaders defamed her, caused her emotional distress and breached her contract.

The court’s ruling overturns a judge’s dismissal of the wrongful discharge portion of her case and allows her lawsuit to go forward in district court. The supreme court, in a separate case, also says former Workforce Development judge Joseph Walsh, who led the agency’s unemployment appeals bureau, can proceed with his whistleblower and wrongful discharge lawsuit filed in April 2014. A third IWD judge, Marlon Mormann, had sued for age discrimination but the court upheld his lawsuit dismissal.

A woman attempting to visit an inmate at the Pottawattamie County Jail, Thursday afternoon, was arrested on a warrant. 30-year old Jerica Jean Moore, of Council Bluffs, was arrested in the Sheriff’s Office parking lot on the warrant for Violation of Probation. She was then booked into the Pott. County Jail. A Council Bluffs women appeared at the Pott. County Sheriff’s Office Thursday afternoon, wanting to turn herself-in on a warrant. The Violation of Probation warrant for 44-year old Kimberly Sue Trotter was confirmed. She was placed under arrest and turned over to Corrections Staff.

And, Thursday night, a Pott. County Sheriff’s Deputy assisted an Iowa State Patrol Trooper with a traffic stop at the 67 Mile Marker of Interstate 29. A passenger in the vehicle identified as 25-year old Marcus Craddock, of Omaha, had an outstanding arrest warrant out of Council Bluffs for theft 5th. The warrant was verified through Communications, and he was placed under arrest before being transported to the Pottawattamie County Jail where he was read his warrant and turned over to detention staff.

DES MOINES – Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 2.7 percent in May. According to officials with Iowa Workforce Development (IWD), the state’s jobless rate was 3.2 percent one year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent in May. The number of unemployed Iowans decreased to 46,000 in May from 47,000 in April. The current estimate is 7,900 lower than the year ago level of 53,900.  The total number of working Iowans increased to 1,630,100 in May. This figure was 2,900 higher than April and 3,300 higher than one year ago.

Iowa’s business establishments added 3,300 jobs in May, raising total non-farm employment to 1,586,400 jobs. IWD officials say This month’s gain is moderate and helps offset the sluggish job numbers that afflicted the state last month. It is also the third increase for 2018. The job growth was primarily the result of service industries bolstering employment, although goods producing sectors added 900 jobs in total. On the other hand, May also marks another month of little change for the government sector. Only 200 jobs were added this month overall, while there was no change in March. Over the past twelve months, government has added a slight 700 jobs due to hiring at the local level.

Trade industries fueled much of the growth this month. Wholesale trade rebounded from two consecutive months of losses to add 1,100 jobs. For the first time in 2018, retail trade made a significant monthly advancement (+900). Job gains for retail are welcome news as this sector has steadily trended down since a recent high established in August of 2016. The overall outlook for retail, however, is for jobs to be trimmed as this sector deals with shifting consumer preferences. Administrative support and waste management industries, specifically temporary help and landscaping, advanced by more than expected this month (+1,100). Construction added jobs for the fourth consecutive month (+1,000), with 4,100 jobs being added since January. This sector had been dealing with annual losses following a slight regression from a peak established in early 2016. Losses were limited to just a few sectors, and led by accommodations and food services (-800), nondurable goods manufacturing (-400), and finance and insurance (-400).

Since last May, Iowa establishments have added 17,100 jobs. Durable and nondurable goods factories have combined for 9,800 jobs added. In a distant second were both healthcare and transportation, each having added 2,500 jobs. Retail trade has led all sectors in terms of losses (-2,800) followed by private education services (-2,200) and other services (-2,100). Visit www.iowalmi.gov for more information about current and historical data, labor force data, nonfarm employment, hours and earnings, and jobless benefits by county.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge has ruled in favor of Christian colleges in Michigan and Iowa that sued the government to avoid paying for abortion- and contraception-related health care under an Obama-era requirement. U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett issued a permanent injunction Tuesday, blocking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing the 2011 mandate. It required employers, regardless of their religious or moral beliefs, to provide health insurance coverage for contraception, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization.

Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, and Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, sued in October 2013. They argued that the requirement to provide coverage for morning-after or week-after pills violated their religious freedoms. They said many Christians consider the pills to be abortion drugs.

Interim Department of Health and Human Services rules abandoned the mandate last year.