The U-S Department of Justice’ Criminal Division reports an Iowa woman plead guilty Thursday to unlawfully using a former Department of Justice contractor’s government computer to access government records and to obtain sensitive, non-public law enforcement information. According to admissions made in connection with her guilty plea, Rachel Manna, 33, of West Des Moines, was acquainted with Danielle Taff, who was employed as a contractor paralegal by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa. Taff was assigned to the office’s Civil Division, where she worked exclusively on matters related to civil forfeiture and was neither required nor authorized to access files and information related to the district’s investigation and prosecution of criminal cases.

Manna admitted that in the spring of 2018, she asked Taff to obtain non-public information about certain defendants in a criminal investigation and prosecution being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. As a result, on or about May 16, 2018, Taff used her U.S. Department of Justice computer to access criminal files stored on the district’s shared electronic data storage drive, including reports of law enforcement interviews with at least two individuals who cooperated with the district in a drug-trafficking investigation. Taff then used her cell phone to take approximately 30 photographs of the sensitive, non-public documents related to the drug-trafficking investigation.

After photographing the documents, Taff shared them with Manna, who subsequently shared the photographs with several individuals on Facebook. As a result, in October 2018, other individuals posted those photographs to a Facebook group dedicated to outing “snitches,” or law enforcement cooperators, in the Des Moines region. Among other sensitive information, the photographs taken by Taff and subsequently posted on Facebook identified at least two cooperators in the drug-trafficking investigation by name and other personal identifiers.

Taff pleaded guilty in November 2020 for her role in the scheme and is scheduled to be sentenced March 9. Sentencing for Manna is scheduled for June 4.

The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Chicago Field Division, is investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Erica O’Brien Waymack and Matthew Palmer-Ball of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case.

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — A snowy section of Interstate 80 was closed Thursday afternoon in central Iowa after a massive crash involving roughly 40 vehicles. Iowa authorities closed the eastbound lanes of the interstate west of Newton after the chain-reaction crash happened shortly before noon. The Iowa State Patrol said two troopers were in the middle of assisting with several multi-car crashes in the area when the larger pileup happened.

This image provided by the Iowa Transportation Department from a traffic camera shows a massive pileup on Interstate 80, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, west of Newton, Iowa. A snowy section of Interstate 80 was closed Thursday afternoon in central Iowa, after the massive crash involving roughly 40 vehicles. Iowa authorities closed the eastbound lanes of the interstate west of Newton after the chain-reaction crash. (Iowa Transportation Department via AP)

Iowa Transportation Department spokeswoman Andrea Henry said several serious injuries have been reported in the crash but no deaths. Officials are urging drivers to stay off the roads across most of eastern Iowa because they were mostly covered with snow Thursday.

These two images are from the ISP Facebook page

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a man who failed to appear on possession of a controlled substance and driving while barred charges, was arrested Tuesday afternoon.

Alfred H. Wright, II

Authorities say 48-year-old Alfred Henry Wright II, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail. Wright was transferred to the Mills County Jail and held on $10,000 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa continues to have the third-worst coronavirus vaccination rate per capita in the nation as the state reached a milestone Thursday of more than 5,000 people killed by the virus. Gov. Kim Reynolds says she is working on improving vaccination efforts. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Iowa has 6,315 people per 100,000 given the first vaccine dose.

That is worse than all other states except Idaho and Missouri. Public health officials reported 58 additional deaths on Thursday, increasing the state total to 5,033 since the beginning of the pandemic nearly a year ago.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of two scams Thursday morning. One was on a marketplace site (unclear if it was the Facebook marketplace or not), where a person was trying to sell items that are not really for sale. The scammers request payment via EBAY cards.

A second scam appear to originate from Cass County on a caller ID, and shows a local number. The caller asks about an Apple computer account and wants to log onto your computer.

Do Not falls for these types of scams!

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa has landed an eight-million dollar grant to purchase three semi-sized simulators that will help Iowa’s rural first responders and community hospital staffs brush up on emergency medicine. Cormac O’Sullivan, a U-I nursing professor, says each of the three simulators will be equipped with a mock-up ambulance cab and an emergency room.

Teams from the U-I will work with the rural Iowa crews on medical procedures and in situations they don’t often encounter in sparsely-populated areas.

The grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to the U-I College of Nursing will allow O’Sullivan and other health care professionals from Iowa City to offer valuable hands-on experience to rural agencies in their own backyards for those seldom-seen situations.

O’Sullivan is co-director of the U-I’s Simulation in Motion program. The first of the three vehicles is expected to be delivered in the spring of 2022, with the other two arriving that summer.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds is asking developers to submit proposals to the state for creation of a system that will help Iowans schedule Covid vaccinations.

Since vaccinations began on December 14th, about 70-thousand Iowans have received both doses. Nearly 137-thousand others have gotten a first dose. Iowa has the 3rd lowest per capita rate of vaccinations compared to other states.

Iowans with internet access may go to the Iowa Department of Public Health’s coronavirus website where there’s an interactive map with information about each county health department’s vaccination plan. Starting tomorrow (Friday), Iowans over the age of 65 who don’t use the internet and haven’t been able to get a Covid shot can call their local Area Agency on Aging for help. Iowans who’ve gotten a first dose, but haven’t been able to schedule a second dose should call the provider who administered the first shot.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The amount of water being released into the Missouri River from a key dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will likely remain low this month because conditions remain dry and snowpack levels are below average throughout the region. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday that it will keep the amount of water flowing out of Gavins Point Dam at the winter release rate of 17,000 cubic feet (481.4 cubic meters) per second.

That means river levels will remain low headed into spring. Officials say it still appears that 2021 will be somewhat drier and only about 89% of the normal amount of water is expected to flow down the Missouri River.