Polk County News

Two Iowa convicts who recently entered prison are facing charges for assaulting correctional officers this week at the Oakdale prison reception center near Iowa City.

Des Moines Police arrested two women and one man Thursday as part of an investigation into prostitution at different hotels in the city.

Well-known local prosecutor and defense attorney Terry Wright died suddenly this weekend.

Two men who beat a Des Moines man unconscious outside a bar in the Court Avenue entertainment district have pleaded guilty to willful-injury charges.

The Polk County Health Department will again be offering flu shots on Sunday, but at two different locations than previous clinics.

A police officer reportedly shot a robbery suspect in the head this evening in a Des Moines Dollar Tree store.

A man's body was found in a burned van near a house at 349 Forest Ave. early today, according to the Des Moines Fire Department.

Iowa's tax credit program for filmmaking was intended to be generous, but not so much that it allowed state officials to give away tax breaks for free.

A man with a history of domestic violence said he hopes that his past and the lessons of a fatal shooting in Des Moines this week can encourage abusers and victims to get help.

A man accused of shooting and killing his estranged wife this week was not supposed to possess firearms, according to a protective order issued by a Polk County judge, a review of court records shows.

An apparent domestic dispute ended tragically Wednesday when a man allegedly shot and killed an unidentified female after abducting her from a nearby mall.

The Iowa Department of Public Health is reporting two more swine flu-related deaths.

Iowa could end 2009 with its fewest traffic deaths in any year since World War II partly because of a new "data-driven" approach to patrolling the roads, state officials said Monday.

The campaigning's not over in two Des Moines city council races. No candidate in the five-person At Large race or the four-candidate Ward 1 race received 51 percent of the vote.

A woman who was convicted of arson charges in the past again is facing two more charges of arson.

Iowa health officials said 14 people in the state have died from the H1N1 virus, most of whom were adults.

Iowans continued to debate Tuesday a controversy over a state trooper's shooting of a dog in Elkhart.

An effort to collect unwanted drugs in Polk County has been declared a success. According to activists, more than 500 pounds of unwanted medications were collected at five sites in Polk County on Saturday.

A Polk County judge sentenced Heidi Anfinson to up to 50 years in prison on Thursday, but not without first expressing his own compassion for a woman whose life for many has become a symbol of the devastation caused by postpartum depression.

Officials continued to sort evidence Wednesday in an animal neglect case involving allegations of the illegal brokering of puppies.