The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that 30-year-old Dylan Michael Joseph Hoffman of Council Bluffs was sentenced on Thursday, August 12th in District Court to 63 months in prison on a charge of Prohibited Person in Possession of a Firearm. He pleaded guilty to the offense in March 2021. His prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release.

The Council Bluffs Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated the case.

A Council Bluffs man that worked as a foreign exhange student coordinator and host parent was sentenced on Thursday, August 12th in US District Court to 327 months in prison for Coercion and Enticement of minor foreign exchange students. 52-year-old Thomas Donald Boatright pleaded guilty to the offenses in February of 2021. His prison term will be followed by 10 years of supervised release and he was ordered to pay restitution to the minor victims.

Boatright led a program where students from other countries enrolled in a year of high school in the United States and were assigned a host family to live with while they attended high school. A report was made by a student in February 2020 after they discovered a hidden camera in the bathroom of Boatright’s home. A search warrant recovered numerous electronic devices that contained many videos of three minor foreign exchange students in the bathroom. A further investigation determined that Boatright used his cell phone and computer to communicate with foreign exchange students prior to their arrival and those conversations were sexual in nature. Boatright used his position as a foreign exchange student coordinator and host parent to coerce and entice foreign students to engage in sexual activity after they arrived in the United States.

The case was investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department, Iowa DCI, FBI, and the US Secret Service National Computer Forensics Institute provided training and equipment.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that a Council Bluffs man was sentenced on Thursday, August 12th to 121 months in prison for Possession of Child Pornography. 31-year-old Cody Goodwin Taylor of Council Bluffs pleaded guilty to the charge in April 2021.

The case began with a cyber-tip that was received by Council Bluffs Police in July of 2020 that suspected Child Pornography had been uploaded to a Google Drive account. While investigating the tip, a report was received that Taylor’s cell phone contained child pornography as well. A search warrant was executed and a forensic analysis of the phone uncovered over 100 photos and videos of child pornography.

The Council Bluffs Police Department investigated the case and the US Secret Service National Computer Forensics Institute provided training and equipment.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office released details on an accident that took place on Sunday evening. At 5:51 p.m. Deputies responded to the accident at the intersection of Highways 25 and 141.

After investigation it was determined that a 2011 Toyota Tundra driven by 44-year-old Horacio Gomez Sanchez of Memphis, Tennessee was traveling northbound on Highway 25 when he ran a stop sign at the intersection with Highway 141. Gomez Sanchez then struck the rear driver’s side of a 2013 Ford F150 pickup driven by 57-year-old Steven Joseph Kepford of Moorhead, IA as he was traveling westbound. The F150 spun around and stopped on the north shoulder of Highway 141 facing East. The Tundra spun around to the northwest and became airborne, striking a light pole before coming to rest on its top north of 141 in the ditch.

Panora EMS transported two patients to the Guthrie County Hospital for possible injuries. A passenger in the Ford, Karen Kay Kepford suffered suspected minor injuries.

Both vehicles were a total loss and were towed from the scene. The Guthrie County REC light pole that was struck sustained an estimated $3,500 damage.

Horacio Gomez Sanchez was cited for No Valid Drivers License and Failure to Obey Stop Sign and Yield Right of Way.

This map created by the National Weather Service in Johnston, shows Precipitation departure from January 2020 to August 15, 2021 with the Drought Monitor overlaid. Is also shows the locations with the most significant precipitation deficit with many locations over northern parts of Iowa ranging from 12 to 18 inches below normal for that aforementioned period.

Notice the northern part of Cass County is down 19 1/4 inches, while the surrounding areas are in a deficit of slightly more than 12.75 inches. Areas in the far west and southwest have recovered slightly, due to recent heavy rain during intense thunderstorms.

(Radio Iowa) – A Facebook post led to a Florida woman being flown to Sioux City for potentially lifesaving surgery that had been canceled due to the Covid surge in Florida. Jac E. Chace has colon cancer. Surgery to remove part of her colon had been scheduled at a hospital in Panama City, Florida, last Monday, but Grant Wittstruck, Chace’s son, says the hospital is now just dealing with Covid and trauma patients.

“My mother has Stage 3, possible Stage 4 colon cancer and needed to have a large section of her colon removed and, you know, it’s a lifesaving surgery,” he says. “They deem as elective and they couldn’t do it in Florida.”

Wittstruck says out of frustration, he wrote about the situation on Facebook. One of his former Morningside College classmates saw it. Jenna Rehnstrom-Liberto works at MercyOne in Sioux City and connected Wittstruck with the Sioux City hospital’s chief medical officer, who specializes in that very type of surgery.

Wittstruck family. (KSCJ photo)

“Out of the kindness of her heart, she sent me a private message,” Wittstruck says. “She sent me a private message and she did not have to do that. She could have just kept scrolling on our feed and she took the time to ask us to come here and it could possibly end up saving my mom’s life.” Chace flew to Sioux City Wednesday and her surgery was last Friday. Her son says if more people were vaccinated, the trip wouldn’t have been necessary.

“It’s time to get vaccinated,” he says. “…There’s no reason not to get vaccinated, but if you do get Covid after you’ve been vaccinated, the symptoms are significantly less, you’re not necessarily ending up in the ICU.”

Wittstruck is a 2008 graduate of Morningside College in Sioux City and Jenna Rehnstrom-Liberto — MercyOne’s communications director and the one who acted on Wittstruck’s post — graduated in 2006. Whittstruck’s dad is also a Morningside graduate and his mom, the cancer patient, posted a brief statement on Morningside’s Facebook page, thanking “all the people and prayers” that made her surgery possible.

(Radio Iowa) 0 A young woman from northwest Iowa was crowned the new Iowa State Fair Queen over the weekend. Eighteen-year-old Plymouth County Fair Queen McKenna Henrich, from Akron, was presented the new title during a ceremony Saturday night at the fairgrounds in Des Moines. Henrich says she’s thrilled by the honor and is ready to get started.

“Now that I’m in this position, I’m not just going to stand here and do nothing. I want to make a difference. I want to be a part of something bigger than myself,” Henrich says. “I want to go to as many things as I can, anything from a dinner with a family to a big public event, I want to be there and I want to be present.” Henrich says she received some valuable advice from the 2009 Iowa State Fair Queen, Caine Westergard, who is also from Henrich’s hometown of Akron.

McKenna Henrich, State Fair Queen

“She gave me a lot of insight and things that I should pay attention to and different things I should be mindful of,” Henrich says. “Coming into this week, I had some things I could look out for. Caine is a great role model for me because it’s awesome that she got to win and now I get to represent my county and my town and, not only that, but my parents and the people that have gotten me here today.”

Prior to her being named as the new queen, Henrich was approached by the granddaughter of Brenda Brown of Taylor County, who is of about seven years old. Henrich took off her county queen tiara and placed it on the girl’s head to pose for pictures. Minutes later, Henrich was named the Iowa State Fair Queen.

When the Atlantic City Council gathers at 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, they’ll start the meeting by paying special recognition to the Trojan varsity Girls Softball Team. The girls finished in 4th Place at the State Tournament. Prior to their strip to State the Trojans beat Anamosa in a memorable 11-inning game. They ended their season at State 34-7, setting a record for the program. The Mayor and City Council have made it point to recognize the positive achievements of Atlantic’s students.

Afterward, the Council will receive a presentation from SWIPCO Community Development Director Alexsis Fleener, with regard to an Upper Story Housing Grant Conversion Program offered by the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), through the CDBG program. During the Council’s last meeting, Fleener said they’re looking to obtain grant funds for a project at 509 Chestnut Street, which would see the upper floors converted into two new residential units.

A public hearing will be held after the presentation, as part of the application process to IEDA, for the aforementioned CDBG program. If the Council approves SWIPCO proceeding with the application, and the funds are approved in the next round of grants, the City would simply act as a “Flow through” agency for those monies, and otherwise will not have a financial stake in the matter.

The Council will also act on approving an agreement with The Retail Coach, for retail recruitment and related services, at a total cost of $32,500, which is less than their original proposal of $35,000, and includes reimbursibles for some services. City Administrator John Lund says he has completed re-working the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) Progress Budget to accommodate the proposal, if the Council approves the agreement. He says to recover the cost of the investment, new retailer(s) in Atlantic will need to generate over $7.1-million in net taxable sales over a period of several years. New sales taxes generated would be distributed to all the taxing authorities in Cass County, according to Lund, and new commercial property value will benefit all the taxing authorities within the City limits, thereby creating downward pressure on the tax levies.

As part of the agreement with The Retail Coach, the City will receive the following services:

• A market analysis of competing communities, a customized retail trade area map with demographic and psychographic profiles, based on current cellular geolocation data.
• A determination of retail opportunities, including gap analysis and consumer propensity report.
• A development and redevelopment strategy, including 310 development sites and 20 retail site profiles.
• A list of 35 retailers and 20 developers, with their contact information.
• Development of a custom marketing and branding package for retailers, developer opportunity package, online retail dashboard and interactive site mapping, to track progress and response to proposals.
• Recruitment of retailers and developers by The Retail Coach, with status updates on the dashboard and monthly recruitment updates.
• Attention to the downtown retail trade area, with its own custom retail map, workshops with business owners, and more.
• And, ongoing coaching and support from The Retail Coach team, as well as representation of Atlantic at regional and national retail industry events (including the International Council of Shopping Centers [ICSC] recon, in Las Vegas.

Two men were arrested on Sunday on theft charges in Red Oak. The Red Oak PD reports the first arrest took place at 1:15 p.m. at 907 East Hammond Street in Red Oak. Officers arrested 28-year-old Ozzy Ray Hunter of Red Oak for Theft 4th Degree and Possession of a Controlled Substance 4th Offense. Hunter was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $2,000 bond.

The second arrest took place at 1:50 p.m. on Sunday at 106 W Coolbaugh Street in Red Oak. Officers arrested 41-year-old Michael Shane Webster of Red Oak for Theft 4th Degree. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $1,000 bond.