Officials ID man killed by officers in northeast Iowa
NASHUA — Iowa officials have identified a man shot by police earlier this week in northeast Iowa as a Minneapolis resident.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said late Friday Jihad Merrick, 29, died after being shot on Iowa 218 in Bremer County.
Bremer County Sheriff's deputies were sent Wednesday night to a Floyd truck stop to check reports about a man pointing a gun at his head. Soon after, a Nashua police officer stopped a speeding vehicle on the highway and reported that the driver, later identified as Merrick, got out and held a gun to his head.
Officials said Merrick later got back in his vehicle and fired a shot, then drove forward, injuring the officer. Officials said two other officers then fired on Merrick, killing him.
The names of the officers involved haven't been released.
$1.9M in Mellon Foundation grants aid UIC humanities studies
CHICAGO — The University of Illinois at Chicago has been awarded two grants totaling nearly $1.9 million to expand undergraduate research in the humanities and to aid doctoral candidates in Latino humanities studies.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grants include $1 million as part of the Engage Humanities Initiative over 4 1/2 years. It will be used to teach and mentor undergraduates to explore and conduct research in the humanities. That's the study of the individual, society and the interplay between the two.
UIC faculty at the school's Institute for the Humanities will teach seminars and introduce students to the field and guide them in research methods and developing topics.
Another $884,000 Mellon grant will support of doctoral studies as part of the Inter-University Program for Latino Research.
Family of man who died in Iowa jail sues Grundy County
GRUNDY CENTER — The family of a Wellsburg man who died in a central Iowa county jail in 2016 is suing the county.
Attorneys representing the estate of Jared Martin Slinker, 26, said in the lawsuit Grundy County jail officials didn't flag Slinker as a suicide risk when he was booked on a contempt charge regarding a child endangerment case in January 2016. Slinker was discovered unresponsive a couple of days later in the cell, and the lawsuit says jailers didn't call for an ambulance for 13 minutes after the discovery.
Grundy County Sheriff Rick Penning declined to comment on the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges denial of medical care, negligence and loss of consortium for Slinker's father and children.
Serial stowaway arrested again at Chicago's O'Hare airport
CHICAGO — A woman with a history of sneaking aboard planes slipped past security at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport this week and was flying to London when the airline realized she didn't have a ticket.
Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Marilyn Hartman was flown back to Chicago Thursday night and taken into custody once she arrived. She's charged with felony theft and a misdemeanor count of criminal trespassing.
Guglielmi said Hartman this week got through a federal Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at a domestic terminal without a ticket before taking a shuttle to the international terminal. A day later, she boarded a British Airways flight.
The 66-year-old Hartman has attempted several times to board planes without a ticket. In 2016, she was sentenced in Chicago to six months of house arrest and placed on two years of mental health probation.