(Radio Iowa) – Gun safety advocates say Iowa schools need to focus on preventing gun violence after a 15-year-old was shot and killed outside East High School in Des Moines last week. Sierra Pilate is an 18-year-old senior at East High. She says schools need to offer more training for staff rather than just relying on school resource officers or police.

Pilate spoke Tuesday at a news conference organized by an East High graduate and a lawmaker who taught at the school for 40 years. Six teenagers have been charged with murder in the death of 15-year-old Jose David Lopez, whose funeral was held Tuesday afternoon.

(Omaha, NE) – District of Nebraska/United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced last week, 38-year-old Vance Campbell, of Council Bluffs, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine with one prior serious drug felony. Following his release from prison, Campbell will serve 10 years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

(Omaha, Nebraska) — The U-S Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska reports a Pottawattamie County (Iowa) man man faces prison time in connection with an interstate sex investigation. Officials say 28-year-old Achocho Enita, of Council Bluffs, was sentenced last week to slightly more than eight-years in prison, for travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Following completion of his sentence, Enita must serve five-years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Enita is expected to be removed to Micronesia following completion of his prison sentence.

Achocho Enita

Enita was sentenced in connection with an investigation which began in July of last year, when he allegedly responded to an on-line ad posted by a law enforcement officer posing as a 15-year-old girl offering commercial sex. Through text messaging exchanges over the next 10 days, Enita arranged to meet the person he thought was a minor female, and pay to have sex with her. Enita was arrested after he traveled from Council Bluffs to Omaha for the meeting.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case as part of the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.

(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Polk County was arrested on charges associated with accident that took place Saturday, in Adams County. Deputies arrested 41-year old Christopher Michael Fasce, of Des Moines, following an investigation into the crash at 8^th and Benton, in Corning. The man faces charges that include: Interference with Official Acts; Failure to Maintain Control; Careless Driving; Open Container, and Failure to Provide Proof of Financial Liability.

Christopher Fasce

Fasce was being held without bond in the Adams County Jail, pending an appearance in front of a Magistrate. The incident remains under investigation, with additional charges pending.

On Monday, Adams County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 21-year old Andrew George Mills, of Ottumwa, at 901 Davis Avenue in Corning, on three Adams County Warrants for Failure to Appear. Authorities released Mills on bond. And, in a separate incident, Deputies on Monday arrested 51-year old Robert Lee Bracy, of Colorado, on an Adams County Warrant for Failure to Appear. Deputies transported Bracy to the Adams County Jail and held him on a $500 cash bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Basketball fans love tournament time in March and there’s no doubt sports gambling companies in Iowa do too. Racing and Gaming Administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says March is the top seed when it comes to money wagered on sports. “Last year, March was our highest month of handle. Of course the year before that it was disrupted by the pandemic — but 2021 was the largest month for the fiscal year,” Ohorilko says.

Sports betters wagered more than 161-million dollars last March. Ohorilko says that could be eclipsed this year as there are more sports gambling companies licensed — and lots of Iowa representation in the post-season tournaments. “Generally with more operators it’s reasonable to assume that we’ll have increased revenue from last year at this time,” he says. “The other factor is we have success from the Iowa teams. When there are Iowa teams participating it will draw the more casual fan and increased traffic.”  He says that school spirit may make some people place a bet on their favorite team. “March Madness is a time when we’ll see people fill out their brackets and maybe make an occasional bet — even though they may not have done that in some time,” Ohorilko says.

The sports gambling companies offer what are know as prop bets — betting on things like how many points a player can score — along with bets on which team will win. Ohorilko says prop bets are one area where your favorite Iowa team is out of play. “The one exception will be if the game involves an Iowa college team. In those instances, prop betting on individual athletes is not permitted. But those would be limited to the games that Iowa teams are participating in,” according to Ohorilko.

Ohorilko reminds everyone to not get carried away with March Madness. “Sports wagering — no different than casino gambling or probably any form of wagering — it really is something that should be fun, should be discretional income, and certainly not something that should be done if someone is susceptible to tendencies to wager too much,” he says. Ohorilko says sports gambling companies offer controls on their apps where you can set betting limits. If you think you may have a gambling problem — you can get free help at 1-800-Bets-Off.

(Radio Iowa) – A House committee has approved a bill that would force landlords to give mobile home residents 90 days notice for rent and utility hikes, up for the current 60 days. The bill also includes some property tax relief, but the Iowa Manufactured Home Residents Network says after outrageous rent increases, the bill fails to limit future rent hikes or stop landlords from evicting them without citing a cause. Representative Lindsay James of Dubuque supports those additional moves.

“And I concur,” James says. “This is not enough.” But James says the bill is a small step forward, so she voted for it. Republican Representative Brian Lohse of Bondurant is the bill’s floor manager.

“I would’ve liked to have seen a lot more,” Lohse says, “but at this point this is the compromise that I could achieve in order to move the bill along.” The bill is now eligible for debate in the full House. Residents of mobile home parks began lobbying legislators for protections in 2019. Some said rent increases had been as high as 40 percent on the lots where their manufactured homes were placed years ago.

(Radio Iowa) – Both of Iowa’s U.S. Senators and two Iowa congresswomen are asking for answers AND upgrades after reports of technical delays in the National Weather Service warnings of severe storms that killed seven Iowans earlier this month.

Congresswomen Cindy Axne of West Des Moines and Ashley Hinson of Marion have written the acting director of the National Weather Service. They’re asking for an explanation of the problem in the Dallas/Fort Worth office that delayed release of Iowa tornado warnings on March 5th. Axne and Hinson say the delays are unacceptable and addressing them should be the highest priority. Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are co-sponsoring a bill to update forecasting technology and communications equipment in the National Weather Service.

The delays in tornado warnings on March 5th were due primarily to a damaged fiber optic cable. National Weather Service staff came up with a work around and a warning that a tornado was likely to hit near Winterset was issued 20 minutes in advance.

(Sidney, Iowa) – Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports a woman from Nebraska was arrested Tuesday evening, in connection with the theft of items from previously flooded properties. Deputies responded at around 5:48-p.m. to the 1300 block of Western Avenue, for a report of a suspicious person at a previously flooded residence. They located a suspect, 46-year-old Cynthia Unger, from Omaha.

Unger told the deputies she was collecting scrap metal from the flooded properties. She was then placed under arrest on a Class-C Felony charge of Theft 1st from a disaster affected building. Unger was being held at the Fremont County Jail on $10,000 bond.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and Fremont County K9 Unit responded to the call.

(Radio Iowa) – Winnebago Industries celebrated a milestone today (Tuesday) that the company says makes it the first in the recreational vehicle industry to reach. Winnebago spokesperson Kelli Harms explains.  “We just produced the 500-thousandth motor home, and we were able to do a celebration with our employees and mark this significant occasion in our company’s history.” according to Harms.

The company got its start in Forest City making motorhomes and in recent years has expanded to many other products. This event was marked across all its facilities — including its North Iowa campus in Lake Mills, where the vehicle ceremoniously rolled off the production line. The record-setting motorhome is the popular Revel, a model introduced four years ago. “It’s a class B, four-by-four motorhome that really shows how Winnebago has grown and changed throughout the years — and we just thought it was a great vehicle to choose for our 500-thousandth motorhome,” she says.

Winnebago paused business across all facilities to allow every employee to join in the celebration — including the top ten-most senior employees who have been with the company for multiple decades and can remember some of the earliest vehicles. “It takes a true team to build our products. Our dealers see our products and they know that they are quality built products. It’s a great way to honor our employees for all the hard work they do every day to make these products come to life. Whether it’s engineering or ship out or stitchcraft, or in the offices — it’s truly a team that provides these products,” according to Harms.

The history on the company’s website says it began in 1958 as Modernistic Industries selling travel trailers, and then changed the name to Winnebago in 1960. The company produced its first motorhome in 1967 and went public in 1970. The company moved its corporate headquarters from Forest City to Eden Prairie, Minnesota in August of 2021.

(Radio Iowa) – The U.S. Senate has just voted to make next year’s switch to Daylight Saving Time PERMANENT. A bill to end the twice-a-year changing of clocks IN IOWA is moving through the state legislature, too. Senator Jeff Reichmann of Montrose is an ex-Marine who was stationed in Hawaii for five years.

“Hawaii is one of the states that does have Standard Time year round,” Reichman says. “I didn’t really like the fact that it got dark at eight o’clock at night. I like longer days. I’m kind of a summer person.” Under Daylight Saving Time, some summer sunsets are around nine o’clock. Reichman’s senate subcommittee has advanced a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent in Iowa — if congress approves.

Nineteen other states have passed similar laws, but state action will be unnecessary if the U.S. House passes the Senate’s “Sunshine Protection Act” and ends clock adjustments in the spring and fall.