COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Office reports 46-year-old Cindy Anne Ortiz, of Omaha, was sentenced in Council Bluffs U-S District Court on February 1, 2023, to serve 156 months (13-years) in prison. In September 2022, a jury rendered a guilty verdict convicting Ortiz of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Upon her release from prison, Ortiz was ordered to serve five years of supervised release.

On November 21, 2021, law enforcement officers were called to the Ameristar Casino Hotel in Council Bluffs regarding an unresponsive male in one of the hotel rooms. Ortiz rented the hotel room and reported the unresponsive male (an acquaintance) in her room to the front desk. The male was pronounced dead. Law enforcement searched the hotel room and bags Ortiz was seen carrying into the room on surveillance footage. Ortiz’s bag contained 643 grams of methamphetamine, empty baggies, a scale, and other paraphernalia.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Council Bluffs Police Department and Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force investigated the case.

(Radio Iowa) – Teenagers would be allowed to work longer hours and in a wider array of jobs under a bill that’s cleared an Iowa Senate subcommittee. Brad Epperly, a lobbyist for the Iowa Grocer Industry Association, said key parts of the bill would let 14 and 15 year olds with a driver’s permit drive to and from a job and all kids of high school age could work later at night. “Everybody has a worker need right now,” Epperly said during a senate subcommittee hearing today. “I think the latest statistics are young people from 16-24, the job participation rate is like 56%. It’s awful low.”

Seventeen year olds, with some exceptions, could work at any time if the bill becomes law. The work hour limitations for other teens would be adjusted, too. Jessica Dunker is president and CEO of the Iowa Restaurant Association and the Iowa Hotel and Lodging Association. She told lawmakers current law discriminates against kids who want to drive themselves to work.

“Privileged children who can afford to be in show choir and can be on the football team and can go to the prom and can go to the games they get to drive there as long as they’re on a path directly to and from the school and yet kids who want to work at Culver’s or anywhere else are not afforded the same privilege,” Dunker said. “And that is an equity issue that I hope, no matter what, you will take care of.”

Expanding work hours for teenagers is also a priority for the hospitality industry. Dunker said South Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota have already extended the hours students can work. “Nine o’clock for a 15 year old sophomore in high school, you know, I’m sure they’re doing something already and probably it’s a school opportunity,” she siad, “but if it isn’t, having kids get the opportunity to work is important.”

Connie Ryan, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, said children shouldn’t be asked to solve the state’s workforce shortage. “Do you remember the images of children in manufacturing and other dangerous work situations from the early 1900s?” Ryan asked lawmakers. “There is a reason our society said that it is not appropriate for children to work in those conditions.”

The bill would let teenagers do light assembly work in manufacturing plants and give state officials authority to issue waivers so teens could work in other industries. Ryan suggested it will be children from minority and immigrant households who wind up getting hurt. “It will impact the ability of children to do well in school by the impact of longer days and nights outside of school,” Ryan said.

Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo, said kids should not work in manufacturing. “Iowa’s law for children at work exists for a reason,” Dotzler said. “I’m OK with updating parts of the law so its fits with today’s world, but we’ve got to be careful about what we’re doing for children.”

Senator Adrian Dickey, a Republican from Packwood, said some restrictions on teen workers do not make sense. “As an employer, I can tell you for many, many years how many times I’ve had youth coming in and wanting to apply for jobs and some of the restrictions and tne hours makes it very difficult,” Dickey said.

Dickey and another Republican senator have forwarded the bill to the Senate Workforce Committee for consideration.

(Villisca, Iowa) — One firefighter was treated for minor injuries at the hospital in Red Oak this (Thursday) morning, after they were hurt while working to contain a residential structure fire in Villisca. The blaze in the 300 block of E. 5th Street was called in at around 6:50-a.m. Arriving firefighters observed heavy smoke upon arrival.

The call immediately went out for mutual aid from the Grant, Stanton and Red Oak Fire Departments. Those crews made an initial knockdown and were working their way through the structure, when a firefighter fell through floor/ceiling on the building’s second floor. That person was able to get out of the building and was transported by Villisca Ambulance Service and Red Oak Rescue to Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and then released.

The flames apparently originated in an area near a wood burning stove. Firefighters brought the fire under control at around 9 a.m.  The structure sustained significant water, smoke and flame damage, but an estimate of the dollar amount was not immediately available.

Montgomery County Emergency Management, Montgomery County Communications, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Villisca Power and Public Works and the American Red Cross also assisted at the scene.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests. At around 1-a.m. Thursday (Today), 44-year-old Bobby Lee Mitchell, Jr., of Grand Island, NE., was arrested for OWI/1st offense. Bond was set at $1,000. And, (As previously reported) at around 8:05-a.m. Tuesday, 24-year-old Donovan Edward Belt, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Eluding, Driving w/a denied or revoked license, and Theft in the 1st Degree. Bond was set at $16,000.

Authorities say Belt was fleeing from law enforcement on 284th Street at around 2:12-a.m., Tuesday, at speeds of more than 100 mph. When the 2016 Chevy he was driving approached the intersection with 284th Street and Highway 34, it was traveling too fast and went through the T intersection. The vehicle struck an embankment on the south side of the road, causing the vehicle to go airborne. The vehicle came to rest on its wheels, about 30-yards into a farm field. Belt was treated for minor injuries at Jennie Edmundson Hospital. The vehicle was a total loss.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Members of the Atlantic School Board, Wednesday, acted on approving four resignations and seven contract recommendations. Those who have tendered their resignations include:

• Shauna Casey, WA Elementary Paraeducator
• Chris Kennedy, Route Driver/Bus Monitor
• Paul Ruhr,WA Elem. Custodian
• Laurie Fell, Kindergarten Teacher

Superintendent Steve Barber’s recommendations for contract approval included:

• Hillary Thompson, Bus Driver
• Alan Sorensen, Bus Route Driver
• Tori Wood, Achievement Center Paraeducator
• Traci Luke, PM Car/Suburban Driver
• Terry Hinzmann, Summer School Supervisor (Credit Recovery)
• Joe Brummer, MS Boys Track Coach
• Paul Iekel, MS Girls Track Coach.

The Board also approved February 22nd as “Bus Driver Appreciation Day,” a day to recognize the District’s Transportation Staff for their commitment to the students. Board President Laura McLean urged parents and teachers alike to take note of the day.

The Atlantic School Board agreed to sell, to the highest bidder, two vehicles recommended for disposal by District Transportation Director Mark Weis. The vehicles are not being used anymore, and are simply taking up space. The vehicles are, a 2005 International School Bus (#2) with a diesel engine, which is no longer needed as a spare, and a 2003 Ford Van (#8), which has rusted out panels that are too costly to repair and render the vehicle unsafe to transport students.

Superintendent Steve Barber there’s also a vehicle that’s been scavenged for parts and is only good now, for salvage.

And, in his report to the Board, Mr. Barber highlighted certain aspects of Academic Excellence, Team Culture and District Operations.

Barber said also they are working closely with local legislators to provide advocacy for public education, and trying to determine how bills passed this session will affect the Atlantic CSD.

(Radio Iowa) – The chairman of a key Senate committee is working on a bill inspired by the case of an Iowa teenager convicted of murdering a man she says raped her repeatedly. The judge who handled the Pieper Lewis case did not sentence her to prison and gave her a deferred judgement, but by law was required to order her to pay 150-thousand dollars to the family of the man she killed. Brad Zaun of Urbandale, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says requiring a rape victim to pay the family of her rapist seems like an injustice. “I had a lot of constituents reach out who were pretty upset about that,” Zaun says.

Zaun has introduced a bill that would give judges the ability to consider the actions of the victim of a crime when deciding whether the victim’s family is owed restitution. Amy Campbell, a lobbyist for the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, says the group recommends that bill be more narrowly focused.  “So that we’re really addressing the extreme cases,” Campbell says. Marion County Attorney Ed Bull says providing discretion to judges is a good thing in general, but the bill needs to clearly define what sort of cases would be covered. “At the time we get to sentencing, then are we going to have in essence a mini trial where the defense counsel is now going to try to prove their client is the victim of an offense?” Bull asks. “…What is the evidentiary standard for the court to determine if that person is truly a victim?”

Lisa Davis Cook, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of Justice, says the trial lawyers group agrees. “While we absolutely believe in the concept and understand the case where this came about, we do agree that it needs to be tightened up a little bit to make sure there aren’t any unintended consequences that we’re not thinking about,” Davis Cook said.

The Lewis case drew national attention and a GoFundMe account raised the funds to cover the restitution she was ordered to pay. Lewis, who is now 18, walked away from a residential corrections center in November and was taken back into custody a few days later. A hearing scheduled in March will determine if she’ll be sent to prison for violating her probation.