The Iowa Department of Public Safety says the 17-year-old student responsible for the Perry High School shooting acted alone and with suicidal intentions.
Perry High School student Dylan Butler fatally shot sixth grade student Ahmir Jolliff and injured seven others on January 4 this year. This included principal Dan Marburger, who later died of his injuries.
Iowa DPS Commissioner Stephan Bayens on Friday said evidence shows Butler acted alone and did not target anyone specifically.
“We recovered writings from the shooter, who indicated just that he desired to be famous. He desired to commit suicide. Desired to take others with him,” Bayens said.
He said some people had knowledge of Butler’s fascination with violence and school shootings. But authorities did not find any evidence anyone knew he was planning the January attack.
Butler died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
*Additionally, Iowa’s revenue forecasters say state revenue is expected to decline by about a billion dollars over a two-year period. That’s because of major personal income and corporate tax cuts signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds.
In fiscal year 2026, the state is expected to take in less money than what’s being spent this year on government services and operations.
Department of Management Director Kraig Paulsen said he doesn’t see any problem with that.
“The estimates here also don’t include the balance carry forward, which was about $1.9 billion so there’s clearly enough money there with no transfers,” Paulsen said.
Paulsen says that budget surplus and the taxpayer relief fund combined with Iowa’s economic growth means even more tax cuts could be possible.
Democrats contend the taxation and budget policies set by Republicans in recent years are putting private schools and corporate tax cuts ahead of kids in public schools and seniors in nursing homes.
*In other news, farmers in the tri-state area continue to work diligently at harvesting their crops well into October.
Through the second full week of October, warm and also dry conditions meant farmers could carry out harvesting activities pretty much any day they desired, according to Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.
Almost half the corn crop had been harvested, which put farmers about six days ahead of the usual average timing over the last five years.
Well over four-fifths of the soybean crop was out of Iowa fields, which is 10 days ahead of average.
Naig said that while the dry weather has allowed the harvest to rapidly progress, it is causing some concerns. Statewide, the second reporting period of October was the driest week of the year in Iowa, and the entire month has seen only 10 percent of the amount of precipitation for a normal October.
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows Northwest Iowa is in a moderate drought, and some counties in Western Iowa are in severe drought. With the exception of a small portion of southern Iowa, the rest of the state is at least dealing with abnormally dry conditions.
*The price for unleaded self-serve gas in Iowa has ticked up for only the second time in the last nine weeks, dating back to August.
After falling a combined 6 cents per gallon over the first two weeks in October, the price this week moved up by 3 cents, so it is now averaging $3.01 in Iowa.
According to AAA, the increase could be due to supply uncertainty following the hurricane last week in Florida.
The statewide average price of $3.01 is 28 cents less than a year ago at this time, and the current national average is $3.20.
Many Sioux City and surrounding town stations are selling unleaded this week in the range from $2.60 to $2.82, or well less than the state average.
