Dont feel it every single day along with them, so i just want the court and anybody else listening that i really, truly am sorry for what happened. But that apology didnt register for donalds family. Family. This defendant will no longer have a name to me as i cannot bring myself to utter his name. Lynnseys dad wowod only refer to luerkens as murderer. Saying luerkens was selfish and calculated when he took the life of his daughter. Daughter. When he tracked her down, he even considered that he would have to potentially y kill her son, my grandson. Because of that fact, they were inseparable. He says his hurt is deep. Deep. I never knew grief could cut even harder than the 32 times he cut her. But it doesnt compare to what lynnseys seven year old son has to live with every day. Day. Lynnseys son ashton will need counseling, will have nightmares, he will need intense carereand extensive guidance for the rest of his life. Lynnseys grandmother but the after effects that will stay with her forever. Forever. I have had recurring nightmares. I pray that soon i will be able to sleep with being awake and seeing her lay lifeless and bloody on the parking lot drive. I never thought id be burying my baby girl. Girl. Luerkens witl have to pay 150 thousand dollars to donalds estate, as well as other fees racked up during the trial. Covering the corridor in cr, Dora Miller Fox 28 news. In Benton County today todaya train slammed into a car, but its the driver of the car who faces charges tonight. Tonight. Investigators say Joshua Thomas ignored warning signs and tried to cross the tracks. He faces one unt of child endangermeme because his 14monthold daughter was in the car with him. This all happened during the morning commute in norway. The iowa state patrol tells fox 28 newstmas was in line at the tracks when he droro around several cars and tried to cross. Thomas also faces a charge of driving while barred. An incredible story of a Good Samaritan helping a man he found engulfed in flames. Flames. It happened around 10 oclock last night near i avenue and first street southwest. 40yearolmatthew geraghty ran to help, using hihicoat to put t the flames out on 38yearold corey smock. Smock, who is homeless, was taken to university of iowa hostals and clinics where Authorities Say he does have lifethreatening injuries. Geraghtys 9yearold son called 911. Investigators say a candle in smocks tent likely was knocked over, starting the fire. In hiawatha tonight. Tonight. A groups Holiday Party turned intnta fundraiser fofoa family that suffered a major loss. Loss. The butlerwilliams family lost their home after a fire on tuesday. No one was home at the time of the fire, but the home is now unlivable. Tonight, friends and family gathered for a planned ugly sweater party, and brought donations or items for the faimly. We just continuing what my sister wanted t tdo before the why dont we have the party anyway and just charge a cover like there is at some parties and use it for donations and still have fun. Fun. A gofundme page to help with livininexpensesesas been set up, we put a link on our website fox 28 iowa dot com. New figures out tonight show iowacontinues to add new jobs. Jobs. Iowa workforce develoloent says the statats Unemployment Rate dipped again to 3point4 percent in november. Thats the lowest rate in iowa in nearly 15 years. 31hundred jobs were added across the statatlast month. Turning to Buchanan County now nowwhere it appears a job creating project is no longer coming to depend monsanto planned to build a 90 Million Dollar seed corn plant, creating 47 jobs in the community. Today, monsanto said its no longer moving forward and canceled a contract worth millions in state tax credits. Farm income is down for the third Consecutive Year prompting farmers to spend another breezy day across eastern iowa, but at least the sun made an appearance. Appearance. So what can you expect this weekend . Weekend . Justin roberts is in tonight for chief meteorologist justin thanks. More turmoil tonight for Governor Terry branstads plan to privatize the states multibillion dollar medicaid system. System. Late today, the governor ordered operators to follow a judges recommendati on to drop one of the four Companies Selected to run the private system. A ruling earlier this year determined wellcare should lose its contract because e an unfair bidding prpress. At this hour, its unclear what that means for medicaid users that were assigned to wellcare. The governor wanted to launch the new medicaid system january first, but federal regulators ordered a 60day delay. At his end of the year News Conference today, president obama issued a reprieve for dozens of federal inmates. Inmates. The president commuted the sentntces of re than 90 convictions. Among them, a woman from fort madison who was arrested more than 12 years ago on meth charges. In a letter to gloria james, the president said quote i believe in your ability to prove the doubters wrong, and change your life for the better. Its all part of the president s effort to reform the crimimal Justice System which carries harsh prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. Todays move now means president obama has commuted more prison sentences than the last five president s combined. After taking that action at the News Conference, president obama left washington for the christmas holiday. Before arriving in hawaii, the present made a stop in san bernardino, cacafornia. He met with the families of those killed in this months terror attack during a Holiday Party. Much like other recent tragedies, the president s visit with the families was done in private, without t y media coverage. Back in washington, lawmakers budget showdown for now. Now. Republican and Democratic Leaders came totother to pass a compromise spending plan to fund the government through september. September. The more than one trillion dollar spending package includes tax break extensions. The compromise plan drew complaints fromomoth sides of the aisle e o. Democrats wanted to close more tax loopholes while republicans wanted a more balanced budget. Both of iowas senators voted against the budget bill. Senator Chuck Grassley said quote now were left with a bloated yearend deal that increases spending by tens of billions of dollars above e bipartisan promise congress made in 2011o rein in runaway spending. Spending. Senator joni ernst echoed that sentiment, saying quote iowans deserve better; they deserve to have a voice in this process, stead of a being told whats been negotiated behind closed doors. Grassley and earnst arent the only ones upset with the wheeling and dealing done to get the spending package passed. Passed. Those sweetheart deals designed to entice votes are pork. K. Ox 28 News National correpondent Kristine Frazao takes a closer look at what was added at the capitol. Capitol. Its had a multitude of problems nats but the f35 Fighter Jet Program is once again getting a boost from the federal government, to the tune of more than a billion dollars. Theres also 640 mimiion for a a w ship the coast guard didnt say it neededa. And a tax extenders package that includes the socalled nascar tax break, which allows motorsports entertainment complexes to write off construction and renovation costswhat happens is to grease the skids for passage, a lot of favors are traded that end up costiti taxpayers. The National Taxpayers unions pete sepp says it was politics as usual but one thing stood out. The single worst part about the omnibus isisthat its goingngto breaking spending caps that congress had agreed to previously an agreement meant to save money now broken it was a game changer for soso lawmakers. For me it was a no vote. We broke the budget caps; were breaking the bank for the american taxpayerbut here in washiton tt is how republicans and democrats have always done it lawmakers fights for whats best for their districts or constituents and eventually a deal is done. Well thats probably the way it should be, that it doesnt please everyone. There was some good parts to it, and some bad parts, so may not the bill that i would have written. But on balance, i think it was worthy oan aye vote, and it t was most important to keep the government open. The cost to do so onepoint one trillion dollarsa plus 680 billion in tax cuts over the comimi decadea budget passed once again in the nick of time. In washington im kf reporting. Now to an unbelievable story you will see only on fox 28 news. News. It t volves a federalal agency youve never heard of straight out of the drama breaking bad. Bad. The National Institute of standards and technology oror nist, is operatat by the department of commerce. Congress is now investigating this relatively unknown agency, after the discovery of a meth lab inside their ofofces. In a story yoyoll see only on full measure with sharyl attkisson, hear what lawmakers have to say about this shocking discovery. Sharyl as a member of congress, what did you first think whenyou heard that there was a meth l l operating at a federal agency . Rep. Lamar smith i think my first reaction was total disbelief; you just cant believe this kind of thing would really happen in thereal world. It was ke it was halloween or something. Congressman lamar smsmh heads the house science, space and technology committee. He says while investigating the meth lab case, his office uncovered an alleged culture of waste, fraud, abusus and misconduct at nist police services. Services. To see the full report, be sure to watch full measure with sharyl attkisson, this suny morning at 9, still to come tonight on the fox 28 news at nine. Nine. The window for those last minute gift ideas is getting smaller. See how local shoppers and retailers are handling the blizzard of activity. Off christmas week monday on fox 28 morning live. Believe it or not, there is a drawback for some during the most wonderful time of f e year. Year. Were learning some start noticing hearing loss monday at 7 o weve shshn you some of f the holiday displays drawing big crowds across the corridor. Corridor. And many are still heading out to wrap up their Christmas Shopping. Fox 28 News Reporter mlaney moore mooreexplores the inal week of gift hunting in coralville. Coralville. From the looks of it, Chris Schelich and gwen moss have crossed quite a few items off their holiday list. Chris schelich turtleneck burlington 19 29 13 were Christmas Shopping for my kids. And my grandkids. Finishing up, last minute touches theyve been tracking down the perfect gifts since 7 00 in the morning. 19 29 58 theyre busier than what was expected to be today. Not as busy as they will be tomorrow. Mall staff say they are looking forward to the busy weekend. Some of those Christmas Gifts will come to places like mail, print and more in north liberty. Marissa reed, ner22 41 43 i would say definitely december 15 is when people start piling in here, we have lines out the door as of noon friday, this store had more business than a full day a different time of the year. Reed says there is still hope for some gifts to its worth a few extra bucks to insure those packages. 22 42 45 once in a great while something will come up missing and if you did not pay for tracking and you did not insure it, theres absolutely nothing we can do about it. Some Mall Shoppers say they like the tangible Shopping Experience and theyre thankful to be able to hand deliver their gifts this year. Steven harris, iowa city 19 38 38 you get to think of all the people in your life and pick out gifts for them that you think theyll enjoy and give them to them and looking forward to the holidays next week when we can actually see some family we havent seen in a while. Mail print and more says their holiday business stretches into january and d en bruary with online gifts being returned or exchanged. Covering the corridor in coralville, Mellaney Moore fox 28 news. If holiday shopng and shipping isn stressful l enough, theres the task of wrapping all those gifts. Gifts. Some, however, who are pros at wrapping are offering up their services for a good cause. Cae. The arc of east central iowa is offering helwith wrapping at lindale mall in cedar rapids. Theyve got the for gifts of all shapes and sizes. We always have volunteers here that are helping us wrap. So if you are not a wrapper or you need some help, they can stop by and drop off their gift. Like i said, proceeds then support the arc. Arc. Volunteers will be on hand to give you a hand every day at lindale mall from now still to come on the fox 28 news at nine. Nine. Some star wars fans like to dress up to show how big a fan ey are. Well introduce you to one fan who goes much further than that when the record wake up in your first home. Wake up in a home with a new address. Ke up in a home with no address. Your dream homomevolves, and protecting it takes committed support. Praised as one of americas best mayors who governed as a pragmatist. Bernie sanders passed more amendments in a Republican Congress than any other member. Cracked the gridlock with john mccain to strengthen veterans healthcare. Bernie sanders. A consistent, principled, and effective leader. Building a future to believe in. Setting numbers at the box office for star wars isnt the only way fans are celebrating the premiere. Premiereox 28 News Reporter steffi lee shows us how a new chapter of this movie also means a new chapter in an eastern iowa mans life. Life. In tonights voices of diversity. Diversity. Click. Click. Thats the click i hear in the mornings. With just a click, 41yearold brian kleis wears his love for star wars every day. Day. Going to see the original star wars movie way back when was one of the earliest memories i have. His prothestic leg is specially built as these early memories inspire him to fight through the medical challenges hes faced for years. Years. I got diabetes when i i failure and a kidney and pancreas transplant. That triggered his low immune system and the cut he got on his leg at the hospital never healed. Healed. The cut got infected. And after a couple of months they ended up having to take off my leg. Leg. But six months ago we give people the option for people if they want to provide some kind of a fabric or a favorite tshirt. Shirt. Prosthetists at the iowa city american prosthetics and orthoticichand delivered him a star wars themed prosthetic leg he designed. Designed. It took me 8 hours and a quiilt shop to find. We were able to provide him with a foot which gives him some added capabilities of shock absorption, and axio rotation accommodation to uneven terrains. A jaw dropping moment. For someone who connects with the movie series. Series. Both luke the rebel hero and vader the empire the sith lord, have had limbs taken off. He takes it on different adventures as it takes him on new experiences. Experiences. Ive jogged in my new leg for theheirst time in o or a decade. Covering the corridor in iowa city, steffi brian said before he overcame his medical issues he was depressed d r very long time. He says he wants to use his leg to remind others to have fun and stay positive. Still to come on the fox 28 news at nine. Nine. Learning lessons from baltimore. How one local agency is making sure suspects stay safe in their custody. Custody. And later, a political blitz through eastern iowa. The candidates and critics that turned out today when the fox 28 news at nine continues. Announcer one candidate tough enough to take on the bully. Jeb bush donald, youre not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. Thats not going to happen. applause announcer one candidate tough enough to take on isis. Jeb bush the United States should not delay in leading a Global Coalition to take out isis with overwhelming force. Announcer tested and proven leadership matters. Jeb bush. Man in Police Custody far from iowa is having an impact on how peace officers do their work here at home. Now youve heard the story of the death of freddie gray, Police Custody earlier this ye. Year. That story continues to unfold out east, with the ripppp effects being felt back here in the corridor corridorin april, gray was taken into custody by baltimore police. Witnesses say officers beat gray before putting him in the back of a transport van. Reports sh that grays pleas fofomedical attentioiowent ignored by the officers. By the time the van reached the police station, gray was unconcious. He died one week later. In the months since his death, vivient protests erupted in baltimore, followed by charges against the officer involved. Earlier this week, the first trial against one of those officersor manslaughter, ended with a hung jury. The city of baltimore has already paid more than six Million Dollars to grays family to settle a civil lawsuit. Nobody wants to see the events in baltimore repeated here in the corridor. Corridor. As a result, some local departments are taking proactive steps to not only protect themselves, but those in their custody. Dora miller shows us one example in anamosa. Anamosa. Passengers i iprison transport vans are now being watched. Watched. This is definitely more safer for the driver and a passenger. For the jones county sheriffs office, equipping a van with cameras was a nobrainer after National Criticism in baltimore. Baltimore. Once that incident happened and it came out that freddie grays injury may have resulted from his transport and possibly a rough h de, we went ahead and made the decision. Its an expensive vehicle, but well probably get 1015 years out of it. Officer hilton now drives the