DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Chicago man who accidentally was shot when he tried to pick up a child has been imprisoned in Iowa. The Telegraph Herald reports that 19-year-old Romell Enoch had pleaded guilty to carrying weapons and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced last week to five years in prison.

Dubuque County District Court documents say Dubuque police were sent Aug. 25 to check a report of a gunshot. Officers found Enoch hiding in some bushes not far from where he’d been shot. He told officers that he had the handgun in his pants when he bent to pick up the child. It fired, wounding his right leg. He was treated at a Dubuque hospital.

The federal agency that manages dams along the Missouri River received stern criticism from several U.S. senators at the start of a hearing examining this year’s flooding. Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said during today’s (Wednesday’s) hearing that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers needs to do a better job of preventing flooding. Ernst says continuing the cycle of flooding and rebuilding over and over in unacceptable.

Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said the Corps is too slow and too bureaucratic, and that it doesn’t have enough money to complete needed preventative projects. Gillibrand also said Congress needs to get past partisan fighting, especially when it comes to disaster aid. The Wednesday hearing is being held in Glenwood, Iowa, after spring flooding along the Missouri River caused more than $3 billion in damage in the region.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office said today (Wednesday), that a woman from Council Bluffs was transported Tuesday from a jail in Nebraska to the Pott. County Jail. 36-year old Mindy Michelle Watts was wanted on a Pott. County felony warrant from Theft in the 2nd Degree. 35-year old Kara Nichole Matt turned herself-in to the Pott. County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday morning. Matt was wanted on a warrant for Violation of Probation. She was booked into the jail without incident. And, Jay Douglas Johns turned himself-in to the Sheriff’s Office Tuesday afternoon. Johns was wanted on a warrant for Theft in the 1st Degree. He was booked into the jail without incident.

Tuesday afternoon, 44-year old Patrick Leroy Reynolds, of Omaha, was transported from a jail in Nebraska to the Pottawattamie County Jail. Reynolds was wanted on Pott. County warrants for Committing a specified unlawful act/ongoing activity, and Theft in the 1st Degree. His bond was set at $35,000.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Two people were arrested on separate charges in Creston, Tuesday. Authorities say 19-year old Jacob Hummel, of Emerson, was arrested at around 9:42-p.m. for the charge of Public Intoxication. Hummel was released from the Union County Jail on a $300 bond. And, at around 1:40-p.m. Tuesday, 33-year old Ryan Weis, of Creston, was arrested at his residence on a charge of Driving While Revoked. Weis was released from the Union County Jail on a $1000 bond.

Tuesday night, a Creston resident reported to police that sometime recently (unknown time-frame) a second-story window of his residence in the 100 block of N. Jarvis Street, was shot at with a BB Gun causing about $400 damage to the window.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A jury has convicted a man of fatally stabbing his brother in Des Moines. Polk County District Court records say 51-year-old Shawn Davis was found guilty Tuesday of second-degree murder. His sentencing is scheduled for May 30. Police say Davis stabbed 35-year-old Preston Davis on Aug. 5, 2017, during a family gathering. They’d been arguing , and Shawn Davis punched his brother. Police say Shawn Davis then got a knife and stabbed Preston in the home’s driveway as Preston and another person were leaving.

Shawn Davis’ criminal history includes a second-degree murder conviction for the October 1986 shooting death of 27-year-old Thomas Law. His sentence was reduced after the Iowa Court of Appeals ordered a new trial in 1989, and he later received a 12-year-sentence for voluntary manslaughter.

(Radio Iowa) — Bills that have emerged in the Iowa House and Senate would increase scholarships for students at private and parochial schools. Iowans already can get a tax credit for donating to a private school’s scholarship fund for low-income students. A bill that’s cleared initial review in the state senate would raise the current 13-million dollar statewide cap on those tax credits to 17 million. Tom Chapman is executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference. “We’re certainly encouraged that legislators get as close to what our goal is, which has really been $20 million in tax credits, and so we’ll encourage people to contact their legislators and just do the best they can with it,” Chapman says.

Critics say the plan amounts to a 31 percent increase in funding for private school tuition, while Iowa public schools are getting just a two percent increase in per pupil state spending. The proposed increase in the tax credit for private school donations is included in a larger package of tax-related issues being considered in the legislature.

(Radio Iowa) — A bill designed to eventually establish more mental health services for Iowa children has cleared the Iowa Senate. The bill was approved last month by the House, so it goes to Governor Kim Reynolds for her approval. “We’ve talked about a childrens’ mental health system for a long time and it’s time to finally put the structure in place,” Reynolds says, “to talk about what the governance looks like, to align it with the adult mental health system.”

The bill is one of the governor’s top priorities this year. It establishes a new state board to oversee development of a childrens’ “behavioral health” system. It also calls on two state agencies to set up a 24-hour “crisis” hotline for parents seeking mental health treatment for their child. “People don’t know where to start,” Reynolds says, “and so little things like that can help start to get kids the services that they need.”

Advocates say the bill is a good start, but policymakers need to find a stable source of funding for the system. The mental health system for Iowa ADULTS who cannot afford care is managed on a regional basis, by county officials, and financed with property taxes.

(Radio Iowa) — The 2019 Iowa legislature may be poised to increase the number working Iowans who can claim a tax credit for child care expenses. Parents with an annual income above 45-thousand dollars are NOT currently eligible. A bill that’s cleared a senate subcommittee would make Iowa parents who earn up to 57-thousand dollars a year eligible for child care tax credits. Senator Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, has been working on the proposal. “It’s important that parents have dollars that they can spend on child care and so forth,” Feenstra says, “and that’s what this does.”

Senator Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque, says it’s a significant move. “I think that really helps working families a great deal by raising their eligibility limit to get into that credit,” Jochum says. The bill also would set up indexing for these child care tax credits. It means there would be annual, incremental increases in the income level at which a parent is eligible to receive a tax credit for child care expenses.