DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) –  A Feb. 24 trial start has been scheduled for a Davenport man accused of killing his wife. Court records say 38-year-old Casey Klemme has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and to domestic abuse assault, strangulation causing injury. Officers were to the Davenport residence July 26 to check a report about domestic abuse. They found Tiffany Klemme lying on a floor, bruising on her left eye, a bloody nose and other injuries. Police say her husband acknowledged only grabbing and pushing her.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) –  (UPDATE)  Police in Des Moines have identified three people found shot to death inside a duplex on the southeast side of Des Moines. Police said 19-year-old Devonte Swanks, 16-year-old Malachi Swanks and 15-year-old Thayne Wright appear to have died of gunshot wounds. Police said Devonte Swanks and Malachi Swanks are brothers and lived in the home at 619 East Hackley. Wright was a friend who was visiting. He is also from Des Moines.

Officers and medics responding to a report about a shooting found the bodies around 11:30 p.m. Thursday. No arrests have been made. The incident remained under investigation.

(9:48-a.m. Correction on which truck hit the other via ISP):

BOONEVILLE, Iowa – One person died, another was injured Thursday night, when one semi tractor-trailer collided with another semi tractor-trailer on eastbound Interstate 80, in Dallas County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a truck driven by 53-year old Darryl Jones, of Grovetown, GA. was traveling east on I-80 just past the Booneville exit (mm 117.5), when the 2020 Volvo tractor-trailer he was driving rear ended a 1993 Volvo truck driven by 36-year old Felipe Dirzo, of Columbus Junction (IA), as he was also traveling east on I-80.The accident happened at around 7:25-p.m.

Following the impact, Dirzo’s semi rolled onto its side into a ditch. He died at the scene. Jones was transported by private vehicle to a hospital. A report on his condition was not available.

Red Oak Police responded at around 3:22-p.m. Thursday, to a residence in the 900 block of E. Washington Avenue, for a reported verbal argument. As a result of the call, authorities say 46-year old James Reed Mitroff II, of Red Oak, left the residence. At around  4:30-p.m., Officers were called back to the same residence for a reported broken window. Officials say Mitroff had returned to the residence and allegedly broke the window, with the dollar amount of damaged estimated at $150.

MItroff was on the scene when Officers arrived, and was taken into custody for Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond.

A traffic stop at around 9-p.m. Thursday in Council Bluffs resulted in a brief pursuit and the driver being taken into custody. Authorities say after an officer stopped a vehicle for a simple traffic violation, the officer suspected the driver to be intoxicated, and called for a back-up officer. Before the second officer could arrive, the suspected driver fled in the vehicle westbound on 2nd Avenue and hit “stop-sticks” that were deployed at 28th Street. The vehicle continued to elude officers, heading southbound on 28th St and eastbound on 9th Ave.

In the 1300 block of 9th Ave officers performed a P.I.T. maneuver on the vehicle, causing it to slide off the road into a business parking lot. When the driver refused to exit the vehicle, a less than lethal bean-bag shotgun was deployed, and the vehicle window was shot out. A Police K-9 was on scene but the subject became cooperative and exited the vehicle on his own power. He was taken into custody without further incident.

The driver was identified, but his name was not immediately released. He was arrested on numerous charges pending results for driving under the influence.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Democratic Party will declare a winner in this year’s Caucuses as it always has — based on which candidate tops the calculation for number of delegates for the party’s state convention. However, for the first time, Democrats also will release two other tallies. One will represent the raw vote count for each candidate at the start of the evening. The second will be how people re-align, since some candidates will not have enough support in precincts to win any delegates. Professor David Redlawsk, author of the book “Why Iowa?” about the 2008 Caucuses, says that means there’s the potential that three candidates will claim victory.

“We could have a different initial vote. We could have a different realigned vote and then because delegate allocation is not exactly one-person-one-vote because of the way they’re allocated, we could have something else on the delegate allocation. You know: ‘You’re a winner. You’re a winner. You’re a winner,'” Redlawsk says. “Of course, the key with Iowa is not as much winning as it is surprising and getting everybody to talk about you the next day.”

Redlawsk made his comments during an appearance on Iowa P-B-S. The Democratic Party will release ALL THREE FIGURES all at once, after ALL precincts have reported. That means there will be no “early returns” but just one announcement at some time Monday evening — or perhaps Tuesday morning.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

BOONEVILLE, Iowa – One person died, another was injured Thursday night, when one semi tractor-trailer collided with another semi tractor-trailer on eastbound Interstate 80, in Dallas County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a truck driven by 53-year old Darryl Jones, of Grovetown, GA. was traveling east on I-80 just past the Booneville exit (mm 117.5), when the 2020 Volvo tractor-trailer he was driving rear ended a 1993 Volvo truck driven by 36-year old Felipe Dirzo, of Columbus Junction (IA), as he was also traveling east on I-80.The accident happened at around 7:25-p.m. Following the impact, Dirzo’s semi rolled onto its side into a ditch. He died at the scene. Jones was transported by private vehicle to a hospital. A report on his condition was not available.

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is courting what he calls “future former Republicans” to expand his base of support. They are potential Iowa caucus voters who are disenchanted with President Donald Trump and have gone so far as to change their party affiliation. They will stand with Democrats for Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses on Monday night, and Buttigieg is counting on them to help him assemble a winning coalition. Buttigieg isn’t the only Democratic candidate who has demonstrated appeal to Republicans dissatisfied with Trump. On Wednesday, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign made public a list of 40 Iowa Republicans or Trump voters who were supporting her in the caucuses.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa voters’ second choices could matter almost as much as their first in the upcoming caucuses. Candidates including Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer have been approached by multiple campaigns in recent days eager to form an alliance of sorts that could reshape the Feb. 3 election. It’s a delicate dance that plays out almost every four years during Iowa’s complicated presidential caucus system. In four days, it will test anew the leading campaigns’ capacity to assemble a winning coalition and the second-tier campaigns’ capacity to stay relevant.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump lashed out at his top Democratic presidential rivals while taking his fight to the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa and the crucial battleground state of Michigan. With Democrats set to hold their nominating battle Monday, Trump slammed former Vice President Joe Biden for his small campaign crowds, mocked Bernie Sanders as “Crazy Bernie” and accused Pete Buttigieg of having an unpronounceable last name. He also rehashed old grievances and digs at 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton but said the current field of Democratic contenders offers him stiffer competition than the former secretary of state.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — With overwhelming uncertainty looming over the the Iowa caucuses, presidential campaigns are scrambling to navigate an evolving playing field in which voters’ second choices could matter almost as much as their first. Candidates including Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer have been approached by multiple campaigns in recent days eager to form an alliance of sorts that could reshape the Feb. 3 election. It’s a delicate dance that plays out almost every four years during Iowa’s complicated presidential caucus system. In four days, it will test anew the leading campaigns’ capacity to assemble a winning coalition and the second-tier campaigns’ capacity to stay relevant.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Charges have been dropped against two cybersecurity workers arrested after breaking into an Iowa courthouse in September as part of a security test conducted by state court administrators. A judge entered a dismissal order Thursday for Justin Wynn, of Naples, Florida, and Gary Demercurio, of Seattle.

They work for Colorado-based Coalfire which had contracted with state court officials to conduct security tests at Iowa courthouses. The men were caught inside the Dallas County Courthouse in Adel on Sept. 11. They faced trespassing charges.

Their attorney, Matthew Lindholm, says they are relieved but frustrated their reputations have been damaged.

(Radio Iowa) — We’ve heard for weeks about the high risk for more flooding in Iowa once the snow starts to melt this spring, but one forecaster says all of that water in the soil may actually help bring about a cooler summer. Doug Kluck, the region’s climate service director at the National Weather Service in Kansas City, says the saturated soil will prevent much in the way of rapid heating.

“It’s hard to get hot if we have a lot of soil moisture,” Kluck says. “Once the plants and things start growing and evapotranspirating, my famous word, once that starts happening more and more, yes, some of that moisture gets sucked out of the soils, but that moisture also goes into the air and makes it harder to warm up and keeps thing relatively cool.”

While some climate models are hinting at a very warm weather pattern developing by mid-summer, Kluck says drought chances will stay low. “In some of those places that are super-wet right now, chances of them going into a really bad drought are lower than normal,” he says, “and chances of them having a hotter-than-normal summer are lower than normal as of right now as well.”

Some Iowa communities saw the flooding start last March along with repeated bouts of high water throughout 2019. A number of residents in parts of southwest Iowa, in the Missouri River valley, haven’t been able to return to their homes in ten months.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A northwestern Iowa man has pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the drunken driving death last year of his cousin. The Sioux City Journal reports that 39-year-old Darrick Toel, of Le Mars, pleaded guilty Thursday to vehicular homicide while driving recklessly and to operating while intoxicated. In exchange, a more serious charge of vehicular homicide while driving intoxicated was dropped.

Under the deal, Toel also agreed to an 11-year prison term. Authorities estimated Toel was traveling 90 mph on July 1 when he lost control of his car and struck a tree. Toel’s passenger, 37-year-old Ryan Toel of Struble, died two days later from his injuries.