(Radio Iowa) – Police in Sioux Falls, South Dakota say the shooting death of a 27-year-old man who recently moved from Spencer to Sioux Falls was not a random act, but no suspect is in custody. Police Lieutenant Terrance Matia says Mitchell Houchins was found near the intersection of two streets in a residential area of Sioux Falls. “We know now that he died from a gunshot wound to the chest,” he says.

Investigators believe Houchins was shot at about 11:15 p.m. last Wednesday.  “Houchins was laying in the middle of the street for 25 minutes before police were even called,” Matia says. “Cars drove by him. One particular individual actually walked by him and asked somebody if they wanted to see a dead body and then that person that he told that to…thankfully…called police.”

Houchins is the son of late Clay County Attorney Michael Houchins and his wife Jeanne. Social media information shows he moved from Spencer to Sioux Falls just months ago.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A man convicted in the hit-and-run death of a 71-year-old woman in Des Moines last year has been sentenced to five years in prison. The Des Moines Register reports that 42-year-old Isaias Flores Morales was sentenced last week after pleading guilty in November to leaving the scene of a fatal accident and fleeing to avoid prosecution.

He was arrested in Illinois weeks after the death of Stephanie Markert, who died a week after being hit on Jan. 30, 2020, near the Drake University campus. Markert was the house mother for Delta Gamma sorority at Drake at the time of her death.

Two people were arrested on separate charges early this (Wednesday) morning, in Mills County. At around 1:40-a.m., 40-year-old Kale Garrett Hardman, of Malvern, was arrested for being a Fugitive from Justice. And, 22-year-old Kiasha Lynette Adams was arrested following a traffic stop on I-29 at mile marker 34. She was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance. Bond was set at $1,000.

Sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday, cited Bayleigh Major, of Missouri Valley, for unsafe passing and failure to provide proof of [insurance].

Cass County Health System officials Wednesday (Today) announced the arrival of the first baby of 2021. Gavin Leo arrived January 4, 2021. The CCHS Obstetrics team presented the family with a baby blanket and a year’s supply of diapers.

Pictured (L to R): dad Alex holding Gavin and mom Emily. (Photo courtesy CCHS)

(Radio Iowa) – Hundreds of students, parents and alumni are asking Luther College in Decorah to wait longer before returning to in-person instruction. The college announced this week students must return to campus to attend classes in-person starting Monday, unless they have a documented condition that puts them at a high risk for complications from COVID-19. Madeline Lomprey, a senior at Luther, says the college should allow more time to identify infections among students who were traveling or going out over the holidays. Lomprey says, “For me, I wouldn’t go out to the bar, but I see pictures almost every weekend on social media of people that are.”

According to Lomprey, around 13-hundred people — including nearly 40-percent of students — have signed a petition. It calls on Luther to keep classes online for the remaining three weeks of the semester. Lomprey says she’s worried other students returning from the year-end break could unknowingly bring the virus back to campus. “It only takes a few minutes for that to spread if you’re all sitting in the same room,” she says. “We really need to be more proactive than just waiting for those indicators to rise again.”

A college spokesperson said in a statement that local COVID numbers are now similar to October when students studied in-person, adding, the college will soon add more testing on campus.

(By Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)