The Cass County Democratic Party’s 7th Annual School Supplies Drive is now history. County Chair Sherry Toelle says with over 1000 items donated, the drive was considered a success. “We were able to partially meet the needs of our Cass County students. On behalf of their students, school staff were grateful for the outpouring of donations from the community. I know my car was filled to the brim on the day of delivery. It was a good day.” Toelle thanks the community for once again stepping up to the plate with their donations “To help our next generation start off the new school year with so many new supplies.”

Terri Smith, Cass County Democratic Party Vice-Chair, and Cheri Chester, CAM Elementary School Secretary

Katie Elwood, Griswold MS/HS Principal , Sherry Toelle, County Chair, and Terri Smith, Vice-Chair

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa judge has sentenced a Colorado man to life in prison in the death of his estranged wife nearly two decades ago. The Hawk Eye newspaper reports District Judge Mark Kruse on Thursday sentenced 58-year-old Michael Syperda, of Rifle, Colorado, to the life term for the death of Elizabeth Syperda. She was 22 when she disappeared in July 2000 in Mount Pleasant, and her body was never found. Court records say the couple had been estranged before her disappearance because she was leaving him for a woman.

Michael Syperda declined to speak before he was sentenced. He showed no emotion when the judge handed down the mandatory life sentence in the Henry County courtroom. Despite the lack of a body, murder weapon or crime scene, Kruse says he based his guilty verdict on circumstantial evidence, including threats made by Syperda.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Cindy Axne, the Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 3rd District congressional seat, is calling on Rep. David Young to reject a telephone poll that includes a statement about the death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts and misstates Axne’s position on immigration. The 15-minute poll asks voters whether the statement would affect their vote. The statement says Tibbetts’ assailant is an immigrant in the country illegally and says Axne “wants to join extreme liberals” in abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Axne says Thursday that she has never supported abolishing the agency and finds it unconscionable anyone would politicize Tibbetts’ death. A spokesman for Young says his campaign has nothing to do with the poll, has no knowledge of who is behind it and rejects politicizing Tibbetts’ death.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) A Dubuque-based company reported on Thursday, fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $2.2-million. Flexsteel Industries Inc. (FLXS) said it had net income of 28 cents per share. The furniture maker posted revenue of $113.1 million in the period. For the year, the company reported profit of $17.7 million, or $2.23 per share. Revenue was reported as $489.2 million. Flexsteel shares have decreased 17 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has declined 14 percent in the last 12 months.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies this (Friday) morning, arrested 20-year old Dustin Lee Jones, of Red Oak, for Driving While Suspended. In addition, Jones, who was taken into custody near Highway 48 and 140th Street at around 2:25-a.m., was cited for Possession of Alcohol under Legal Age.

(Radio Iowa) — A college student in Omaha who loves to run started a running club on her campus as she didn’t feel safe running alone after Iowan Mollie Tibbetts vanished. Ashley Tagart, a sophomore at the College of Saint Mary, says she’d just gotten home from a run in mid-July when her dad told her the news about Tibbetts disappearing after she went for a jog.

“I didn’t think anything of it and I was like, ‘It’s fine, I’ll just bring my mace,’ but then I noticed I kept looking over my shoulder a lot more and it started to feel more real,” Tagart says. “She wasn’t getting found and it started to scare me even more, so I tried apps that showed my location and I’d share it with my family and I still wasn’t feeling safe.”

Tagart and other club members launched an online campaign to sell t-shirts in honor of Tibbetts, the University of Iowa student from Brooklyn, Iowa, who authorities now say was murdered. “It’s a black tank top. We also have blue and pink and also t-shirts for men. It says ‘Mollie Strong’ on the front,” Tagart says. “It’s to bring awareness that we can all still keep running. We just have to do it safer.” The shirts cost $20 with a sales goal of 50 shirts. Tagart says they won’t make a dime from the shirts as all proceeds will be sent to Tibbetts’ mother, Laura Calderwood.

Many of the running club members share the feeling “that could have been me,” so Tagart says they’ve learned to run smarter. “At least find one person to run with,” Tagart says. “If that’s impossible for you, get one of the apps that share your location. Tell someone before and after when you’re running. Also, change up your route every once in a while because if you stay with the same route at the same time, that’s when predators can easily find you.”

Tagart, a Grand Island native who’s majoring in nursing and forensic science, says she’s getting in better physical shape in addition to being more motivated by her new clan of fellow runners.
Link to t-shirt sale:
https://www.customink.com/fundraising/mollie-strong?side=front&type=1&zoom=false

(Radio Iowa) — Allegations of unwanted sexual advances has led to the suspension of a Catholic priest in southern Iowa. Catholic Diocese of Des Moines Bishop Richard Pates says he took the action immediately after hearing the allegations on Wednesday and he notified police in Chariton.

A statement from the Diocese identifies the suspended priest as Francis Aning Amoah, a visiting clergyman from the West African nation of Ghana, who has ministered in the Diocese of Des Moines since December 2017. Aning Amoah has been serving parishes in Chariton, Corydon, Leon, and Indianola.

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The arrest of a Mexican farmworker in the death of an Iowa college student renewed calls to change immigration laws, but it also focused attention on the immigrant workers whose labor is essential to agriculture. Hours after authorities found the body of Mollie Tibbetts, some Republican politicians expressed outrage that the suspect had been able to live illegally in the U.S. for years. Farm groups were more muted, reflecting the difficulty in hiring for dairies and slaughterhouses.

BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — A medical examiner says the Iowa college student who was allegedly abducted by a stranger last month died from stab wounds. Authorities say preliminary autopsy results show 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts was the victim of a homicide who died from “multiple sharp force injuries.” State medical examiner Dennis Klein says that finding means a sharp-edged or pointed object such as a knife was used to attack Tibbetts.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Cindy Axne, the Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 3rd District congressional seat, is calling on Rep. David Young to reject a telephone poll that includes a statement about the death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts and misstates Axne’s position on immigration. The 15-minute poll asks voters whether the statement would affect their vote.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa woman wanted in connection with the death of her 5-year-old son has been arrested on a charge of first-degree murder and her former boyfriend is still at large. The Quad-City Times reports that 24-year-old Jacqueline Majanise Rambert, of Davenport, was taken into custody Tuesday in Chicago. Murder warrants were issued for Rambert and 26-year-old Tre DeSean Henderson for the death of 5-year-old Ja’Shawn Bussell.

(Radio Iowa) — A big donation is helping Des Moines Area Community college expand its Automotive Technology program. DMACC’s Rob Denson says the current auto facility on the Ankeny campus was built in 1980 and is outdated. A gift presented to the school Wednesday will help double the size of DMACC’s Auto Tech Center.

Carl Moyer, owner of Karl Chevrolet, announced his family is donating $1 million to the $12 million project. Denson said construction will be started later this year and be completed in fall 2020. The project will involve the addition of 22 vehicle bays, a new classroom and student lounge, conference room and showroom. Nine classrooms in the existing facility will be renovated.

The facility will be called the Karl Chevrolet Automotive Technology Center at DMACC.

(Radio Iowa) — The man charged in the murder of Mollie Tibbetts near her Brooklyn, Iowa, home reportedly told investigators all about the incident — but claims he blacked out during the actual attack. Some question that part of the suspect’s story. Psychologist Dr. Jonathan Sikorski, in Omaha, says amnesia does happen in those circumstances, but it’s unlikely.

“They’re in the realm of possibility but they’re pretty rare, about 0.2% of the population,” Dr. Skiorski says. “It’s a pretty common claim after there’s been a murder or a big tragedy.” Twenty-four-year-old Cristhian Rivera is charged in the killing of Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student who was reported missing more than a month ago. Agents say Rivera confessed to following and confronting Tibbetts as she jogged, but then says he got angry and blacked out, coming to later in his car — with her bloody body in the trunk.

Authorities say Rivera led them to the hidden body in a Poweshiek County cornfield. After providing that much detail, why won’t he discuss the alleged murder? Sikorski says forensic psychologists may be able to jar Rivera’s memory. “They’ll have techniques through interviews and they can do some types of psychological testing, but mostly through interviews that they can get to the bottom of that,” Sikorski says. “It’s sometimes a common claim after activities like this or events like this. They have ways of parsing it out.” Sikorski says true amnesia is exceptionally rare and it’s unclear what may be going on in Rivera’s mind.

“A lot of people will claim amnesia or they blacked out,” Sikorski says. “Some people will drink heavily and then say they can’t remember what happened, impaired judgment, things like that. It’s hard to know.” Rivera’s bond is set at five-million dollars. Sikorski is a professor in the Psychiatry Department at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.