(Radio Iowa) – Despite pleas from state officials to stay home for the holidays, airports in Iowa and across the country are filling up as Christmas Day nears. Kyle Potter, executive editor of the ThriftyTraveler-dot-com, says while Iowa doesn’t have any restrictions for people traveling into or out of our state, if you’re planning to fly to another part of the country, it’s best to do your research before you leave.

The federal COVID relief bill that’s on President Trump’s desk includes 15 billion-dollars for the airline industry. Potter says that money is tailored toward bringing 30-thousand workers back to their jobs through March.

(Radio Iowa) – As we move through the tenth month of dealing with COVID-19, an increasing number of Iowans are seeking mental health services. Dr. C-J Davis, a behavioral health specialist, says the demand for these services has climbed by as much as 30-percent this year.

He doesn’t expect the need to change anytime soon, either.

He says depression and anxiety are the most common pandemic-related symptoms.

FORT MADISON, Iowa – The Iowa DCI reports on Tuesday, December 22nd, members of the Lee County Jail, while performing jail cell checks, discovered an unresponsive female inmate. The inmate, identified as 50-year-old Stacy Lynn Heston, was the lone occupant of the cell. Jail staff performed CPR and administered an AED in efforts to revive Heston.

Ms. Heston was transported to a local hospital where she was later pronounced dead. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation was summoned to the scene and is currently investigating the incident with the assistance from the detectives of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

The cause of death is pending an autopsy to be performed at a later date. No foul play is suspected at this time. Ms. Heston had turned herself into the jail earlier in the day, Tuesday, to begin a jail sentence of 59 days.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa City woman is facing a felony charge accusing her of neglect that led to an elderly woman’s death. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that 54-year-old Tara M. Edwards was arrested Wednesday morning and faces one count of intentional dependent adult abuse causing serious injury. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office says it began an investigation in February into the death of a 72-year-old woman who suffered from several conditions that prevented her from caring for herself.

Edwards was reportedly the woman’s primary caregiver. Authorities say Edwards failed to fill the woman’s prescriptions, failed to take her to medical appointments and failed to provide necessary nutritional supplements.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — According to an Associated Press investigation, Iowa’s Attorney General hasn’t convicted a police officer for improperly using force since at least 2004, which was the earliest date for which records are available. Attorney General Tom Miller’s office only pursued charges against two officers out of 35 force cases it reviewed, and both of them were ultimately acquitted. Police officers often aren’t charged when someone ends up dead.

Laws often shield officers and give them the benefit of the doubt for a dangerous and unpredictable job, and juries can be reluctant to convict. But prosecutors who have a history of declining to charge police are now facing scrutiny of their records following a summer of mass protests calling for accountability.

(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.