Drive-by shootings outside two homes in northwest Iowa on Christmas Day led authorities to a house in Brandon, South Dakota, this week where they discovered an arsenal of weapons. Two suspects were taken into custody — a mother and son. Brandon Police Chief David Kull says they found a wealth of guns at the home, which had a fortified basement. “There were approximately 80 firearms and a large amount of ammunition,” Chief Kull says. “I’m talking thousands of rounds. We’ll probably have to weigh it. I don’t think we’ll ever count it.” Kull says 50-year-old Artis Kattenberg and her 16-year-old son were arrested. The drive-by shootings occurred in Lyon and Sioux counties. No one was hurt. Reports say the teen fired the shots. Kull says the incidents may have something to do with a dispute the suspects were having at a church in Rock Valley, Iowa.

“There were comments made in reference to microchips being implanted in brains and being controlled by outside sources,” he says. There is some question about the woman’s mental stability, according to the chief. Kattenburg is charged with felony child abuse. More charges are pending. In addition to the weapons, police seized high-powered rifle scopes, kevlar vests and gunshot suppressors. The basement of the house was stockpiled with supplies, including food and water.

(Radio Iowa)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Arizona man who was arrested, transported cross-country and jailed for a robbery that he didn’t commit is suing the Iowa prosecutor responsible for charging him. Joseph McBride spent two months in custody after authorities arrested him in Phoenix in August. The 23-year-old was among three people charged for a Jan. 1, 2017, home invasion in his hometown of Cedar Rapids — even though he had proof he was 1,500 miles away. Investigators never spoke with him before his arrest.

McBride’s lawsuit alleges that the complaint signed by Linn County Attorney Vander Sanden contained materially false statements, including that police had “phone records and social media” suggesting he was involved. Vander Sanden says the charge was based on a “good-faith belief that the victim was correct in the identification.”

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Goodwill of the Heartland plans to raise $7.6 million to open a vegetable oil packaging plant in eastern Iowa where it would employ dozens of individuals with disabilities. Vice President for Operations Jessica Schamberger presented the proposal to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday. The plan calls for creating 40 jobs in Coralville.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that Schamberger also requested two $50,000 grants to help fund the project, which would ship packaged oil for distribution to more than 70 counties through the World Food Program. Schamberger says the project would package a product that’s produced in Iowa, create jobs for people with disabilities and support people in need. She says the vegetable oil will be sent to counties like Syria, Myanmar and Yemen.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports the arrest at around 10:20-p.m. Wednesday, of 24-year old Treyton Curt Sunderman, of Shenandoah. Sunderman was taken into custody on a Page County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. Sunderman was arrested in Shambaugh, and was being held in the Page County Jail without bond, until he is seen by a Magistrate.

Sunderman

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A former Dubuque police officer has pleaded guilty to stealing from his employer. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports that Kyle Cross said in court Wednesday that he wasn’t responsible for all the nearly $7,200 in cash and merchandise stolen from Boost Mobile, a Dubuque cellphone store. He says the loss was between $1,300 and $1,500.

Authorities say an employee that Cross fired contacted the store owner about thefts that he and Cross committed when they pocketed cash payments for phone repairs and fraudulently claiming to pay people for holding business signs on a sidewalk. The judge reminded Cross that his guilty plea to theft would affect the probation sentence he’d been given in May 2016 for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

Cross’ sentencing is set for Feb. 26.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A third trial has been scheduled for an Illinois man charged with the 1990 killing of a 9-year-old girl in Iowa. Court records say a judge set the trial starting date of Aug. 28 in Waterloo for Stanley Liggins. Liggins’ trial has been moved to Black Hawk County to avoid pretrial publicity in Scott County. The date of his third trial has been pushed back several times.

Juries have twice convicted Liggins in the death of Jennifer Lewis, who disappeared from her Rock Island, Illinois, neighborhood. Her burned remains were found near a Davenport elementary school in September 1990. The Iowa Supreme Court overturned Liggins’ 1993 conviction. In November 2013 the Iowa Court of Appeals vacated Liggins’ second conviction.

The new federal tax law allows the use of money in college savings plans to pay for tuition for elementary and high school students, but State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald says the College Savings Iowa plan isn’t set up for that change “By law, Iowa law, it can only be used for students going to college — not K-through-12,” Fitzgerald explains. “Now the federal government says it’s okay to do that — but in Iowa you can’t. College Savings Iowa is what is known as a “529 plan” and it allows you to deduct contributions to the plan from your state income tax as long as the money is used for qualified college expenses. Fitzgerald says the state deduction won’t be allowed for K-12 expenses unless the law changes.

“I have told the governor and the legislators if they want Iowans who send their kids to private schools to be able to use this money to pay for their tuition and others costs, there must be a law change,” according to Fitzgerald. “The state treasurer can’t grant tax deductions, but the legislature and the governor can.” He says you should be aware of the issue as you prepare your tax returns for 2017. “I don’t want Iowans to take what 529 money they have now and pay for private schools — K-through-12 — and lose that great tax deduction that we’ve been giving them in the state of Iowa,” Fitzgerald says.

Fitzgerald says changing the Iowa law to meet the federal tax law on the 529 plans might not be an easy decision for the governor and legislature as it would impact an already tight state budget. “Whenever you hand out benefits, there is a cost. Just this year between now and July 1st, it would cost about four-and-a-half-million dollars. And every year after that about eight million dollars,” Fitzgerald says. “So, it’s a significant benefit if they would decide to offer it.”

Fitzgerald says the attorney for the College Savings Iowa plan says money withdrawn from the plan for K-12 expenses under current state law would have to be added as income to your tax return.

(Radio Iowa)