Police in Red Oak are investigating an incident of vandalism in the City’s Legion Park. Employees with the Parks and Rec Department notified police late Tuesday evening, that four park tables had been damaged by vandals. The incident happened sometime Monday or Tuesday. The damage was estimated at $450.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to contact Red Oak Police at 712-623-6500.

A teen accused of killing his 5-year-old Atlantic foster brother last year would throw things and hit inanimate objects during temper tantrums. The Omaha World-Herald says 18-yearold Cody Metzker-Madsen‘s foster mother said in a 2011 email, that he didn’t understand the difference between right and wrong when he was playing and that he didn’t comprehend that if he copied the wrestling moves he saw on TV, that it could hurt him or someone else. Even so, 53-year old Julie Coolman, of rural Logan, said she didn’t believe Cody was a threat to her family. She said he was never aggressive toward them.

The testimony came Tuesday during the first day of Metzker-Madsen’s first-degree murder trial in the death of Dominic Elkins. The teen has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say Metzker-Madsen, who was 17 at the time, killed Dominic as the two were playing outside Aug. 31, 2013.

Dominic’s body was found in a wooded ravine. An autopsy determined that he died from blunt-force head injuries and drowning. Dominic’s mother earlier this month sued the Coolmans, accusing them of negligence in her son’s death.The lawsuit filed by Dominic’s mother accuses Don and Julie Coolman of failing to properly care for and supervise Dominic and Metzker-Madsen; failing to protect Dominic from harm or unreasonable risk of injury; failing to respond quickly to the incident and Dominic’s injury; and leaving the boys in the care of a juvenile female.

Julie and Don Coolman were away from home at the time of the attack alleged by authorities, leaving the two boys under the supervision of one of the Coolman’s twin daughters; the girl was 12 at the time.

Metzker-Madsen’s attorney is using an insanity defense. Public defender Michael Williams contends that his client suffers from “certain mental health disorders.” Earlier this year, a psychologist and a psychiatrist who examined Metzker-Madsen testified that he showed symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and fetal alcohol syndrome. The psychiatrist, Dr. Arnold Andersen, said in a hearing in April that Metzker-Madsen’s mother used methamphetamine while pregnant with him.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is campaigning with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst today (Tuesday). Rubio, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, spoke to a crowd of about 100 in Pella. “We desperately need people not just in the Senate, but in our party who understand how a strong America makes the world a better place,” Rubio said. According to Rubio, America is poised to dominate another century, but Rubio says Democrat Harry Reid, the majority leader in the U.S. Senate, is an impediment.

“We can’t start that new American century as long as people like Barack Obama occupy the highest office in the land and that’s why these election’s matter,” Rubio says. “Not only is the person running for the U.S. Senate here, Joni Ernst, a spectacular and special candidate, but the vote here for the senate isn’t just a vote for senator, it’s a vote on who is going to be the next majority leader of the United States Senate.”

Rubio is the keynote speaker this evening (Tuesday) for the Scott County Republican Party’s fall fundraising banquet in Bettendorf.

(Radio Iowa)

Jack Hatch and Monica Vernon, candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Iowa respectively, will be in Atlantic on Monday, Nov. 3rd, at 1:45-p.m. The pair will stop at the Cass County Democratic Headquarters at 511 Chestnut as they travel the state on the “Fresh Start Tour,” a six-day statewide tour across Iowa before the election.

Hatch served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1985 to 1993. In 1993, he accepted the position of State Director with US Senator Tom Harkin. He returned to the Iowa House after winning election in November, 2000, and then won his first term to the Iowa Senate in 2002 where he still serves. Presently, he is Chair of the Senate Health & Human Services Budget Subcommittee.

Vernon was named by Hatch as his running mate on June 17th. She has served on the Cedar Rapids City Council since 2007, and earlier this year was a candidate for Congress in Iowa’s First District. Cass County Democratic Chair Sherry Toelle says Vernon spearheaded local efforts to raise $1.7 million to build a local shelter for homeless women and children. She has also been an advocate for jobs and economic development, civil and human rights, affordable housing, diversity and inclusion, education, neighborhood safety, and other quality of life issues affecting the region.

The public is invited and encouraged to attend Monday’s event. Snacks and refreshments will be provided.