AMES, Iowa – March 27, 2019 –  Flood waters are beginning to recede in southwest Iowa. While roadways may no longer be covered with water, that doesn’t mean they are ready to hold traffic. The Iowa DOT says once the water is no longer on the road, Iowa Department of Transportation crews will begin the process of assuring the roadways are safe to open. The recovery process includes cleaning debris from the roadways and testing for structural damage. Barriers blocking access to roads will remain in place until the road has been deemed safe for traffic.

If you see a barricade, don’t drive around it. While some structural damage to the road surface is very visible, damage to the ground underneath the road may be more difficult to see. Even if the roadway may look clear, the ground underneath the pavement may have washed away. Driving over the pavement may cause it to buckle or fail. Just because a road looks safe, doesn’t mean it is safe. Barricades are in place to protect you from hurting yourself, damaging your vehicle, and potentially causing further damage to the road.

If you are a resident or property owner and need to get to your property, your county emergency management office can help coordinate safe access.

Authorities in southwest Iowa are looking for two suspects who broke into and burglarized Chat Mobility wireless service provider businesses Tuesday, in Clarinda, Emerson and Red Oak. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office posted several photos of the suspects and their vehicle on their social media page. According to the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Chat Mobility reported the incident took place around 2 a.m. Tuesday at 404 Howland Street in Emerson. Security camera photos show the suspects were dressed in sweatpants and coats, with their faces covered. No other description of the suspects was available. Phones were taken from the Red Oak and Clarinda locations. In Emerson, the suspects gained entry by breaking a door. It’s not clear how they entered the other sites, but some sort of device was apparently used according to persons with knowledge of the incidents.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Mills County Sheriff’s Office at (712) 527-4871.

Suspects in Emerson Chat Mobility burglary (Photos from Mills County S/O Facebook page)

(Radio Iowa) — A documentary film about Iowa’s sex trafficking underworld will make its debut next week, with plans to show the movie in communities across the state over the coming months. Des Moines filmmaker Vanessa McNeal says people are being bought and sold for sex daily in communities across the state and survivors’ stories need to be told to raise awareness about this horrible crime. “‘Gridshock’ is an investigative documentary that explores the sex trafficking industry in Iowa,” McNeal says. “It primarily focuses on the demand for it, who are the buyers and what type of people are they? How are they doing this and how are they getting away with it? It’s really disturbing, it’s eye-opening and it’s really life-changing.”

McNeal says one Iowa survivor told how she was raped 56 times over the course of 12 hours while her traffickers made $60,000. The filmmaker says Iowans have a hard time believing that kind of depravity and wickedness may be in their neighborhood — or right next door — but for many, she says it is.  “You don’t think that bad things happen here,” McNeal says. “There are men, women and children who are suffering every day in our communities, sometimes in full view, and we have no idea that they’re being trafficked. I owe it to the survivors to have their stories be shared, and in the community, there’s so much work that we need to do on this issue, I knew that I wanted to focus on it.”

McNeal calls herself a “survivor of sexual violence” and adds she’s never experienced sex trafficking. The documentary will premiere April 2nd at the Des Moines Civic Center, with tickets for the debut ranging from 35 to 100-dollars as part of a fundraiser.  “With the VIP there’s an hour beforehand where there will be influential people and food and time to talk with the crew of the film,” McNeal says. “All of the ticket proceeds are going to Dorothy’s House in Des Moines, so, not only do people get to watch this really impactful film, they’re donating to a local restoration home for sex trafficking survivors right here, locally.”

Other dates the film will be shown include: April 8th at Iowa State University in Ames, April 15th and the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, April 18th in Davenport, April 25th and 27th at the Dubuque International Film Festival, and May 2nd and 7th at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. McNeal hopes to eventually have the documentary shown on HBO or through Netflix. For more information, visit: www.gridshockdocumentary.com
Link to film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5SanPltXa8