(Radio Iowa) — Authorities say a body found in a farm field near Marshalltown could be that of a Mason City woman. Thirty-two-year-old Michelle Grommet was reported missing on March 22nd to the Marshalltown Police Department. Police say a body was found at about 9 o’clock Monday morning in a farm field just east of the Walmart store. Authorities say the identity of the body could not be immediately confirmed but preliminary indications are it could be the missing woman. Marshalltown police say there’s no evidence of foul play but the investigation into the death continues.

DAWSON, Iowa (AP) — A jury has convicted an Oskaloosa man of stabbing to death a college basketball player. Mahaska County District Court records say 24-year-old Luke VanHemert was found guilty Monday of second-degree murder. His sentencing is scheduled for June 27. VanHemert’s lawyers had argued that he was defending himself when he killed 22-year-old William Penn player Marquis Todd during a fight after a car crash in March 2018. They said VanHemert should have been exempt from prosecution because of Iowa’s “stand your ground” law.

The law enacted in 2017 says a person doesn’t have to retreat before using deadly force if he or she reasonably thinks his or her life is being threatened. But the judge said that law didn’t apply in VanHemert’s case and ordered him to go on trial.

Last night (Monday night) was the last ride for Cass County K9 “Mufasa,” who has retired from service. Mufasa had several large narcotic seizures and criminal apprehensions. His handler/partner, Deputy Tyler Shiels says  Mufasa was an “Amazing young dog when we got him. Full of energy and still is.” Shiels said also “This dog is tough as nails yet social as could be.” Deputy Shiels and his family have kept him as part of their family and will continue. His job now is to relax, run the farm, and keep watch over the ones he loves.

Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy Tyler Shiels & his K9 partner “Mufasa.” (Cass Co. S/O photo)

The City of Stanton will hold its annual Spring Clean Up on Saturday, April 27th, from 8:00am-4:00pm. Containers will be located at the City Maintenance Building. You may drop off junk, old furniture, wood, appliances, metal and other such items. They will also accept batteries. You’re asked to please separate metal from other junk as metal will go in a separate trailer.

Seniors and disabled citizens who are unable to transport their items can call 829-2613 to arrange for pickup on Friday the 26th from 8:00am-3:00pm. The City will NOT accept brush, limbs, trees, or leaves at the Maintenance Building. Those items are accepted at the City Dump. Please note: No hazardous waste, explosives, tires, TVs, computers, liquids, paint, railroad ties or raw garbage is allowed.

The Stanton Greenbelt Trail Cleanup will also be on April 27th starting at 8:30am at Anderson Park. Items needed include loppers, chain saws, ATV’s and trailers. Cleanup will be from Anderson Park to the Old Gas Station Bridge.

Kids in the area have the opportunity to meet an inspiring author this Thursday, April 18th, at Washington Elementary School, in Atlantic. Eric Ode is a national award-winning children’s singer/songwriter, a widely published author and poet, and a thoroughly engaging entertainer. His upbeat, high-participation programs are bubbling over with fun, interactive music and include stories, skits, poetry, props and puppets. He will present at 9 am to junior kindergarten through first grade and at 10:15 am to second and third grade. There will be books available for purchase at each performance and an opportunity for the author to autograph each book.

Ohde says “Whenever I’m working with students, I want them to understand that they are creative individuals with their own unique and wonderful ideas. I want them to be excited about putting that creativity to work, expressing themselves creatively, persevering, and bringing something new into the world.”  A former elementary teacher of 12 years with a Master’s Degree in Educational Technology, Eric has been invited to share his music and poetry programs with schools, community festivals, libraries, and churches throughout the United States, in Germany, Japan, and in Guam.

To learn more about the author, visit www.ericode.com.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines union official has pleaded guilty to mail fraud and embezzlement from his union. Prosecutors said in a news release that 54-year-old Theodore Watson entered the pleas Monday in U.S. District Court in Des Moines. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 23. He was employed as business manager for Local 74 of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers.

Prosecutors say Watson defrauded United Way of Central Iowa by sending fraudulent requests for grant funds to train adults. In one instance, he received a $19,000 check from United Way that he used for himself. Prosecutors also say Watson took cash advances and made unauthorized purchases on a union credit card and then submitted altered credit card statements and false monthly reports to the union.

DES MOINES – Officials with Google, Monday, launched the Google.org Impact Challenge Iowa, the tech company’s first Iowa challenge inviting nonprofits throughout the state to submit proposals for bold ideas to grow economic opportunity in their local communities. The Impact Challenge was announced at the “Grow with Google” digital skills training event, hosted by the Des Moines Public Library. Dan Harbeke, Head of Public Policy and External Affairs at Google in Council Bluffs, said “Our hope with the Google.org Impact Challenge Iowa is to help Iowa nonprofits bring their great ideas to life. Iowa is an incredibly diverse state, with a wide variety of issues that impact different communities and a huge amount of local talent seeking to solve unique challenges.”

Qualifying Iowa nonprofits are invited to submit their proposals for their most innovative ideas to grow economic opportunity in their community. Together with a panel of local judges, Google will review the applications and choose five winners who will receive $175,000 in grant funding and training from Google. After the five winners are announced, Iowans will be invited to vote on which project they believe will have the greatest economic impact. The winner of that public vote will receive an additional $125,000 in funding. In total, Google.org will grant $1 million to local nonprofit organizations.

The Iowa Impact Challenge local advisor panel includes:

Dr. Dan Kinney, President, Iowa Western Community College
Georgia Van Gundy, Executive Director and Board Secretary, Iowa Business Council
Monica Chavez-Silva, Board Chair of Iowa Council of Foundations & Assistant Vice President for Community Enhancement, Grinnell College
Sherry Ristau, President, Quad Cities Community Foundation
Tej Dhawan, Chief Data Officer, Principal Financial Group

While the $1 million Impact Challenge is the second statewide to date after Illinois, Google.org has offered economic-opportunity focused Impact Challenge grants in Cleveland, Columbia, Oklahoma City and Pittsburgh. The Impact Challenge was announced Monday morning in Des Moines at the first stop of a three-city Grow with Google tour that includes Council Bluffs and Davenport. Through Grow with Google, the company’s aim is to help everyone across America – those who make up the workforce of today, the students who will drive the workforce of tomorrow and the small businesses that keep our economy strong – access the best of Google’s training and tools to grow their skills, careers, and businesses. In Iowa, the Grow with Google team will provide hands-on training to hundreds of Iowans through 12 different workshops and nearly a hundred one on one coaching sessions.

With its tour, Grow with Google aims to help address the skills gap by preparing Americans for middle-skill jobs, positions that require some skills but not four year degrees. According to the National Middle Skills Initiative, middle skills jobs account to 56% of Iowa’s labor force. Google has a data center in Iowa and has invested more than $2.5 billion and established a long-term commitment to the region and state. Iowa nonprofit organizations can find more information on the Google.org Impact Challenge and submit their applications by visiting g.co/iowachallenge. The deadline for submissions is May 17th at 11:59 PM Central. The five winners are expected to be named in the fall of 2019.

(Radio Iowa) — Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro says the new absentee voting option for Iowa Caucus-goers may help spur turn-out among Iowa Latinos and other minorities. “I do think for some people who are uncomfortable going on one night — or they can’t go there on one night ’cause they’re working — and declare their intention in front of many other people, that being able to do that absentee will ensure that more of them actually participate in the process,” Castro says, “which will be a good thing.”

Castro, who spent the past two days campaigning in eastern and central Iowa, is 44 years old and the only Latino in the Democratic presidential race. He’s been making the argument on the campaign trail that Americans are ready for a “new generation of leadership.”

“Having served as the mayor of the seventh-largest city in the country, I have a track record of getting things done,” Castro says. Castro was San Antonio’s mayor for five years before he served as U.S. Secretary for Housing and Urban Development in the Obama Administration. Castro recently released what he calls a “People First” immigration plan. He’d significantly boost U.S. investment to stabilize the Central American countries many of those seeking asylum in the U.S. are fleeing.

Castro would make illegally entering the U.S. a CIVIL offense — punishable with a fine — rather than have illegal entry continue to be a CRIME. “This president has tried to, effectively, use immigration in an emotional way to divide people,” Castro says. “…I’m going to tell about the human lives that are impacted and what we can be as a country that if, of course, we have secure borders, but we also treat people with respect and with compassion and I believe that there are enough people in Iowa and throughout the country that will believe in that.”

Castro says immigration has helped the U.S. economy grow in the past and the U.S. needs immigrants today to fill jobs. Castro formally kicked off his presidential bid in January and has raised about one-point-one million dollars for his campaign in the first three months of the year. Castro says if Democrats choose him as their nominee, he will present himself as “the opposite” of Trump.

“Even to those people who agree with this president, you know I think you also want somebody who that’s being straightforward with you and being open and honest,” Castro said. “And I would say: ‘Don’t mistake bluntness or vulgarity for honesty.'” Like many of his competitors for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, Castro supports the goal of “Medicare for All” as well as universal preschool and renewing the federal ban on assault-style weapons.