Iowa News
July 18, 2019
DETROIT (AP) – Communities nationwide are bracing for a record-breaking heatwave that’s already roasting much of the U.S. to continue through the weekend. Weather officials say temperatures could soar to dangerous levels as more than 100 local heat records are expected to fall Friday and Saturday. Meanwhile, buildings are being offered as cooling centers and residents are being asked to check on family and neighbors.
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – A 13-year-old eastern Iowa student has been found guilty on three charges after he pointed a gun at a teacher and pulled the trigger, but the jury declined to convict him of attempted murder. The Quad-City Times reports jurors convicted the boy Wednesday of carrying weapons on school grounds, assault while using or displaying a dangerous weapon, and assault with intent to commit serious injury.
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) – Police say the bodies of two people have been found in a Burlington apartment. The Hawk Eye newspaper reports neighbors called police Wednesday morning after not seeing a man who lived in the apartment for several days. The officers who responded found the two bodies. Police Lt. Adam Schaefer says the bodies had been in the apartment, “for some time.” Schaefer says the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and state crime lab would assist in the investigation.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Sen. Charles Grassley is declining to answer whether he thinks President Donald Trump’s comments toward four minority women in the U.S. House were racist. Asked by reporters Wednesday about Trump’s comments, Grassley would only call for civility among elected officials. He says officials should avoid name calling and shouldn’t question others’ patriotism. Trump tweeted that four Democratic women of color should “go back” to their home countries. All are U.S. citizens. Three are U.S. born.
Illinois News
July 18, 2019
PEORIA, Ill. (AP) – Jurors are set to resume deliberations on whether a former University of Illinois doctoral student deserves the death penalty for slaying a 26-year-old scholar from China. Thursday will be their second day of deliberations on whether Brendt Christensen should die or spend the rest his life behind bars for abducting Yingying Zhang, raping her and beating her to death with a bat. Jurors started deliberating Wednesday after closing arguments. The judge excused them after three hours.
CHICAGO (AP) – A recently paroled armed robber is being held without bond in the stabbing death of a man aboard a Chicago Transit Authority train. Tony Polk is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 54-year-old Troy Johnson, who authorities said was trying to protect another passenger from a knife-wielding attacker. During the ensuing fight, Polk allegedly stabbed Johnson several times before fleeing. Murphy says security cameras also recorded the attack.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois transportation officials are warning drivers throughout the state to watch for road blowouts during the intense heat. Transportation Secretary Omer Osman says the “potential for pavement failures will increase” this week as the heat index likely tops 100. High temperatures can cause roads to expand and blow out. State crews will be monitoring the conditions and can make repairs as quickly as possible.
CHICAGO (AP) – The operator of a closed suburban Chicago plant where medical instruments were sterilized with a cancer-causing chemical has reached an agreement with the state of Illinois that will allow the plant to reopen. Illinois and DuPage County sued Oak Brook-based Sterigenics LLC last year over air pollution violations caused by the release of ethylene oxide from its Willowbrook plant. The agreement must receive the approval of the court before the plant can resume operations.
Wisconsin News
July 18, 2019
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Prosecutors have charged a man suspected of killing a 3-year-old girl in what Milwaukee police say was an act of road rage. Antonio Bratcher is accused of firing a gun from his sport utility vehicle into another vehicle Saturday morning after a collision almost occurred. The other vehicle had four young children inside. Brooklyn Harris was killed by the gunfire. Prosecutors filed several charges against the 39-year-old Bratcher on Wednesday, including first-degree reckless homicide.
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – The body of a John Doe homicide victim found in a shallow grave in southeastern Wisconsin more than 30 years ago now has a name. Kenosha County authorities said Wednesday that the man has been identified as Robert Lyle Schwartz. His body was found by a highway survey crew in 1988, but he was only recently identified, thanks to state-of-the-art fingerprint technology. Authorities believe Schwartz flew into Chicago O’Hare International Airport and was strangled in an airport parking structure.
OSHKOSH, Wis. (AP) – A 3-year-old girl is dead after a television set apparently fell on her in Oshkosh. An Oshkosh Police Department news release says officers responded Tuesday evening to a report of a TV falling on the child. The girl was transported to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
DETROIT (AP) – Communities nationwide are bracing for a record-breaking heatwave that’s already roasting much of the U.S. to continue through the weekend. Weather officials say temperatures could soar to dangerous levels as more than 100 local heat records are expected to fall Friday and Saturday. Meanwhile, buildings are being offered as cooling centers and residents are being asked to check on family and neighbors.