DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A former federal union official who embezzled $33,000 is asking a judge to show leniency. Ann Kelly, former treasurer-secretary of the American Federation of Government Employees in Council Bluffs, has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. The retired federal railroad inspector used union funds between 2002 and 2007 to make payments to personal credit cards and write checks to family members. The charge carries up to 20 years in prison, but Kelly’s attorney is asking a judge to impose a term of probation during Wednesday’s sentencing in Des Moines. Her attorney says Kelly’s theft was motivated to help her family out of financial crises that included her son having cancer and her husband having business failures. He says Kelly cashed out her retirement savings to repay the money.

w/ Ric Hanson

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• 2 (10 oz.) packages mixed vegetables (cook & drain)
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 can pimentos
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup diced celery

Cook together:  3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 table spoon mustard.  Stir this until it starts to thicken.  Pour over the vegetables.  Best served several days old.

• 3 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons soda
• 6 tablespoons cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 cup liquid shortening
• 2 cups cold water

Combine the dry ingredients in a 9 x 13 inch pan.  Make three holes.  Put vinegar into one, vanilla into one and shortening in the last hole.  Pour cold water over all this and mix well.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County say a Minnesota man remained in jail Monday following a high speed chase and crash Saturday afternoon. 31-year old Matthew Stewart, of Duluth, MN, faces numerous charges, including reckless driving, speeding, and eluding. He was being held in the Pott County Jail on $2,000 bond. 

Sheriff Jeff Danker says a deputy attempted to stop the SUV Stewart was driving on I-80 at around 3:30-p.m. Saturday, after clocking the vehicle at 115-miles per hour. The 2012 Chevy Traverse left the interstate and traveled along several city streets before Stewart lost control of the vehicle, causing it to roll over near the intersection of 320^th Street and Idlewood Road, a little over 5-miles east of McClelland. No injuries were reported.

The Atlantic City Council will discuss and possibly act on several matters during their meeting Wednesday evening. The Council will hold the second reading of an ordinance pertaining to a Minimum Maintenance Code for residential properties. At their meeting on November second, Councilman Kern Miller suggested the ordinance, which is intended to curb the proliferation of dilapidated and dangerous properties, would not be enforceable. City Administrator Doug Harris will inform the Council that the City Attorney feels it can be enforced, through the City’s Municipal Infraction Code, so that violations can be subject to fines and other penalties.

Atlantic Police Chief Steve Green will speak at the meeting, with regard to the possible conversion of Public Safety radios from the current analog system to a digital system being considered by Cass County. The new system is being considered by the County, because there is the potential for loss of communication in certain parts of the County, due to the implementation of narrow-band requirements. If the County switches to the P-25 system, Green says would not be possible for the P-D, County and Fire Departments to communicate with one another over the radio. The system would cost the City a little more than $42,000. Green says if the P-D is forced to switch systems, that cost should be paid by the County.

The Atlantic City Council is also expected to consider and possibly act on the awarding of bids for property at 706 Walnut Street, and, a Resolution setting the date of December 7^th, for the disposition of City-owned parcels of land near the intersection of Olive and Commerce Streets, and east of the Schildberg Recreation Area Lake number 2.

The meeting begins at 5:30-p.m.

Three people,  an adult and two juveniles, were arrested and charged over weekend in connection with a burglary which was reported Thursday morning, in Shenandoah. According to Shenandoah Police, 24-year-old Justin Parsons, of Shenandoah, and two 17-year-old males were charged in connection with a burglary at McNeilly’s Steel Buildings on U-S Highway 59, in Shenandoah.

Parsons faces 3rd degree burglary and 4th degree theft charges. He was brought to the Page County Jail after failing to post bond. The 17-year old’s were cited into juvenile court before being released to the custody of their parents. An investigation into the incident continues.

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin says three telephone utility companies have been awarded over $36 million in loan funds to improve, build and expand broadband services to rural territories and communities in Iowa. Included among them is the Griswold Cooperative Telephone Company, which will receive nearly $12.75-million in loan funds for the completion of a system-wide FTTP network, enhancing broadband service to all subscribers.

The funding announced today (Monday) comes from United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service. Harkin is a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee where he worked to increase the availability of broadband in rural areas.  He is also a member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds the USDA.

Harkin says “Improvements to broadband services in rural areas of Iowa are crucial for businesses, farmers and individuals for everything from business communications to the ability of students to be properly prepared. At the same time, this investment helps to create and preserve jobs in Iowa.”

A Shelby County man convicted of sex crimes in Nebraska faces similar charges in western Iowa. Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber filed charges today (Monday), against 46-year old Todd Mills. The Shelby man is accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting four women from 2008 to June 2010.

Mills is charged with four counts of sexual assault and four count of kidnapping. His arraignment is December 12th. In September, Mills was sentenced in Nebraska to up to 140 years in prison for sexually assaulting two women in Omaha.