SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge intends to announce his verdict Thursday in the slaying of two people in Sioux City. Woodbury County District Court records say the verdict will be handed down to 19-year-old Tran Walker, whose non-jury trial ended in May. He’s accused of killing 17-year-old Paiten Sullivan and 18-year-old Felipe Negron Jr. Police say Walker was in a car with the other two on Jan. 28 last year when he stabbed Sullivan and then Negron when he tried to intervene.

A friend of Walker testified that the defendant said he had wanted to talk to the girl about their breakup and that he needed closure. Sullivan’s stepmother, Stevie Sullivan, testified that Walker and Sullivan broke up because he didn’t want her to finish school.

The Creston Police Department reports 24-year old Tyler White, of Creston, was arrested at around 1:30 this (Wednesday) morning. White was taken into custody at the Union County Law Enforcement Center (LEC) on a charge of Theft in the 2nd Degree. His bond was set at $5,000. Two people were arrested on separate charges Tuesday, in Creston: 28-year old Dillon Savage, of Lorimor, was arrested on a Dept. of Corrections warrant for Violation of Parole. Savage was being held without bond in the Union County Jail; and, 19-year old Joel Blazek, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County LEC on a Union County warrant for Theft in the 5th Degree. He was later released on $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s not ready to reveal details of the “new direction” she is seeking in the largest agency in state government. Reynolds, who asked the director of the Department of Human Services to resign last month, says welfare reform is part of the discussion. “We’re going to look at everything. I’m not going to specifically start to point things out,” Reynolds said.  This past February, Reynolds said the state cannot afford to pay welfare benefits to able-bodied adults who do not have children to stay at home. Some of the governor’s fellow Republicans in the legislature say welfare reform will be a priority issue next year. On Tuesday, Reynolds said she wants to encourage welfare recipients to enter the workforce with a “carrot instead of a stick” approach. “If we can help provide them the support system them need, help provide them the skills, match them up with an employer,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds held a news conference Tuesday morning, to tout a state website that was redesigned in June and currently lists 80-thousand job openings in the state. “Any time or any way we can get information out to Iowans who are looking for an opportunity to have a better career and a better quality of life in Iowa, we should do that on all fronts,” Reynolds said. Reynolds later reviewed with reporters the reasons she has given for dismissing Department of Human Services director Jerry Foxhoven. Foxhoven has said he was asked to resign after raising concerns about having agency money pay the salary of a staffer in the governor’s office. Reynolds disputes that. “I want to be clear,” Reynolds told reporters. “He never raised any concerns to me or my office about anything.”

Reynolds says the practice of financing governor’s staff salaries with funds legislators set aside for state agencies dates back to the 1970s when Robert Ray was governor. Reynolds says a few state agencies are checking to ensure state rather than federal funds are being used to pay some of her staff. Reynolds has declined — as she did again today — to list the reasons she asked Foxhoven to resign. “I don’t believe that the agency is where it should be and I think that we can do better and because of that, I’ve made the decision to go in a different direction and that’s what we’re doing,” Reynolds told reporters.

Reynolds says she’s looking for someone with new ideas to lead the Department of Human Services — someone who’s provided “transformational change” in a previous setting.

Atlantic Fire was dispatched at 6:14-a.m. today (Wednesday), to a semi-tractor trailer, tire fire. The semi was located at the 60 mile marker eastbound off ramp from Interstate 80. Firefighter Gene Schmeling told KJAN news the truck driver was trying to extinguish the flames when they arrived on the scene. Crews were on location for about 25 minutes. No injuries or truck damage were reported.

Police in Red Oak arrested a woman early this (Wednesday) morning, on an assault charge. 27-year-old Alyssa Mae Jaraz, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 2:30 a.m., on a Pottawattamie County warrant for domestic abuse assault. Jaraz was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail, pending transfer to Pottawattamie County.