(Radio Iowa) – The jackpots for the Powerball and Mega Millions lottery drawings both exceed 300 million — and Iowa Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer says that’s a rarity “Neither one of these jackpots are anywhere near a record because in the last couple of years the jackpots in both of these games have been well over a billion dollars,” Neubauer says. “…But it’s just interesting to see that they’re both above $300 million at the same time and that has only happened once or twice in the history of these games, which go back decades.”

The jackpot for tonight’s (Wednesday’s) Powerball drawing is an estimated 321 million. “Mega Millions is just a little bit ahead in terms of the jackpot amount right now because its latest drawing was just last night and nobody won the big prize,” Neubauer says, “so the Mega Millions jackpot now stands at an estimated $352 million annuity for its next drawing on Friday.”

After sluggish sales earlier in the pandemic, these two jackpots have been growing since late September. Neubauer says “It’s a race to see which one will be won first. It’s another strange twist in this really strange year.” The largest lottery payout ever was for Powerball drawing in January of 2016. Three tickets matched the winning numbers and split the more than one-and-a-half BILLION dollar jackpot.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Three defendants who pleaded guilty to sex trafficking children were sentenced this month.

• On December 7th, 2020, Tommy Tate Collins of Cedar Rapids was sentenced to 210 months in prison following a guilty plea to one count of child sex trafficking. Collins admitted in his plea agreement that he trafficked a minor child, who was 15 and 16 years old at the time, by paying her for sex acts with money and drugs.
• On December 18, 2020, Albert Kelly Price was sentenced to 348 months imprisonment. Price pleaded guilty to trafficking two minors and admitted to trafficking a total of three minors who were between 14 and 16 years old. Price paid all three minors for sex acts and used physical force on each minor. Price resided in Iowa City and North Liberty.
• On December 21, 2020, Arrion Marcus West, Jr. of Iowa City was sentenced to 210 months imprisonment for trafficking two minors, who were 15 and 17 years old at the time of the offenses. West trafficked the minors by advertising them on escort websites, arranging prices and sex acts with customers, transporting them to engage in sex acts, and taking proceeds from the commercial sex acts. West also used physical violence towards one victim.

Co-defendants that were previously sentenced include Isaiah Patterson, sentenced to 144 months imprisonment in January 2020 for trafficking a 15 year old by posting advertisements of her
for commercial sex acts, and Kendall Andrew Streb, who was sentenced in September 2020 to 268 months imprisonment for trafficking three minors and additional offenses. United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum said “The defendants in these cases were buyers and sellers of children in our community. They exploited vulnerable teenage girls for their own sexual gratification, and collectively they will serve many decades in federal prison. Federal law does not distinguish between ‘johns’ who will pay for sex with a minor, and pimps who offer minors for sex. Both groups are serious criminals, and we will treat them as such.”

Human trafficking is defined as a crime involving the exploitation of youth under the age of 18 for commercial sex; the exploitation of adults for commercial sex through the use of force, fraud, or coercion; and the exploitation of any individual for compelled labor. Human trafficking does not require the transportation of individuals across state lines, or that someone is physically restrained. Signs that a person is being trafficked can include working excessively long hours, unexplained gifts, physical injury, substance abuse issues, running away from home, isolation from others, or having a person in their life controlling them or monitoring them closely. Anyone who suspects human trafficking is occurring, be it a minor engaging in paid sex acts, or anyone being coerced into prostitution or labor, is urged to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

The case was investigated by the Iowa City Police Department, with assistance from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation, and the Coralville
Police Department. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County Wednesday (today), reported the arrest Tuesday afternoon, of 31-year old Heather-Rae Beaman, of Glenwood. Beaman was taken into custody at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Assault while displaying a dangerous weapons. Her bond was set at $2,000.

LAKE PARK, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrections said Wednesday (Today), at approximately 11:30 a.m. Tuesday December 22, 2020, the Lake Park Police Department received a 911 call and responded to 104 Maple Ave in Lake Park, Iowa, for a reported homicide. Upon arrival, officers located a deceased female inside the residence.  The Lake Park Police Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office and the Dickinson County Attorney’s Office are investigating.

The incident is being treated as a homicide. Authorities say since the incident investigation remains an active and ongoing investigation, no further details are being released.  Anyone with information about the incident, is asked to contact the Lake Park Police Department at 712-336-2525, or the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office at 712-336-2793.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley doubts Congress will be able to comply with President Trump’s suggestion to significantly boost the amount in those checks the federal government plans to send to most Americans. The COVID relief bill Congress passed this week called for 600-checks to go out but Trump says that’s “ridiculously low” and said the checks should be for two-thousand dollars.  “I don’t think it is feasible because we are in a situation where we’re giving money to some people who haven’t lost their jobs,” Grassley says. “I think if we do any more, it needs to be more targeted towards those in need.”

In his video address Tuesday night, the president called the latest relief measure a “disgrace” and said he would -not- immediately sign it in order to give Congress time to rework the 900-billion dollar economic stimulus package. “I hope the president will sign the bill or let it go into law without his signature,” Grassley says. “Also, if more can be done, well, we’re told after the new president is sworn in, and it probably will be Biden, then we’re going to have another debate like this anyway.”

Grassley, a Republican, is confident a Democratic Biden administration would call for a change in how the allocations are made. “Whether it’s in December or February, it probably doesn’t make much difference,” Grassley says. “I would think, and I would hope Democrats would think, that it needs to be targeted towards people who are hurting more than people who have never lost a job.”

Without the president’s autograph, the federal government faces a shutdown next week and hundreds of billions of dollars in aid would be frozen.

(Updated by Dar Danielson, Radio Iowa) The Iowa Supreme Court has ordered a review for a possible new trial in a Cass County case.  The ruling says the district court applied too strict a standard in determining whether 29-year-old Patrick Barrett Junior should get a new trial after being convicted of second-degree sexual abuse. Barrett had appealed his conviction, saying he should have been allowed to use the victim’s mental-health and counseling records in his defense. The Supreme Court reversed the district court’s denial – and ordered the lower court to review the use of the mental health evidence based on standards the Supreme Court says are appropriate.

(read the full court decision here)