COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports 32-year-old Jeffery Scott Holsinger, of Avoca, was sentenced today (Wednesday) in Council Bluffs federal court, to 70 months (Nearly six-years) in prison, for being a Prohibited Person in Possession of a Firearm. His term of imprisonment will be followed by three years of supervised release.  According to court documents, Holsinger pleaded guilty to the charge on November 18, 2021.

On June 2, 2021, Holsinger was driving in Shelby County when he was stopped by law enforcement for not wearing a seatbelt and driving without a front license plate. During the traffic stop, law enforcement smelled the odor of burnt marijuana coming from the car and performed a probable cause search. During the search, law enforcement found a loaded 9mm handgun in a pouch on the front passenger seat that also contained pawn receipts for Holsinger. Holsinger is a prior convicted felon and prohibited from possessing a firearm.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement investigated the case. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Court of Appeals says an age discrimination case brought by a fired Swift Pork Company employee should be heard. Sixty-year-old David Feeback was fired from the Marshalltown Swift plant where he had worked for more than two decades after sending a text to his supervisor using an expletive. Feeback sued, alleging age discrimination, workplace harassment, and wrongful termination. The district court dismissed all three claims.

The Appeals Court says Feeback’s observations that nine people over the age of 50 left the company before retiring is “competent evidence even if it is not the strongest evidence” of possible age discrimination. And says a jury could find this evidence persuasive on his discrimination claim.

(Radio Iowa) – Eighteen Iowa law enforcement agencies have donated more than 700 bulletproof vests and nearly 150 helmets for shipment to Ukraine. A crowd in an Iowa National Guard warehouse watched as the last few crates of protective gear were loaded in a truck. “This has been an incredible team effort from the start and I’m proud to say that help is on the way for Ukraine from Iowa.”

Governor Kim Reynolds says authorities from Cherkasy — Iowa’s sister-state in Ukraine — put bullet-resisting helmets and body armor vests on their list of desperately needed supplies. Several Ukrainians, some waving or wearing their home country’s flag, joined the governor today (Wednesday). Taras Slyvka left Ukraine seven years ago after Russia’s capture of a southeast region of Ukraine. “The war didn’t actually start a month ago and this war didn’t even start eight years ago,” Slyvka says. “This war of Russia against Ukraine and the Ukrainian nation is continuing already for 400 years.”

Slyvka is a design engineer for John Deere’s Dubuque Works and helped make some of the arrangements for the shipment of protective gear from Iowa along with contributions from Nebraska. The shirt Slyvka wore today had a Ukrainian emblem on the front, with a motto he says translates into one English word: freedom. “I would like to say and direct my message to all of Iowans and all of U.S. citizens: We need to unite,” he said. “We need to help. Only together, we are the power. Only together we can stop that Russian evil.”

The governor says today’s (Wednesday) event is the kick-off of state efforts to aid Ukraine. “That a free people can be threatened at the whim of an evil tyrant should be unthinkable today,” Reynolds said, “But Putin now faces a force that he didn’t expect: the spirit of the Ukrainian people and their unwavering commitment to democracy and freedom.” Law enforcement officials like Pottawattamie County Sheriff Andrew Brown say once a protective vest or helmet reaches the manufacturer’s recommended end date for use, the gear is retired and put in storage. “It generally would cost us thousands of dollars to have our equipment destroyed properly,” he says. “The reason we pay for disposal is because we just simply don’t want to just throw it away…it could wind up in the wrong hands on our streets.”

Iowa Public Safety Commissioner Steve Bayens says this shipment of ballistic vests and protective helmets can still save lives. “Once we learned the plight and the needs of the Ukrainian people, it was immediately apparent we could put our decommissioned equipment to good use,” Bayens says. The governor says state officials are hoping to coordinate volunteer efforts to send meal kits to Ukraine and Reynolds has notified federal officials Iowa would accept refugees from Ukraine.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The firm of Gronewold, Bell, Khynn & Company P.C. CPA’s, have released an audit report on the City of Atlantic, Iowa. The report can be found in the link below. A copy of the audit report is also available in the office of the Auditor of State, and City Administrator’s office.

AtlanticAudit

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Regional and local representatives of Dollar General were in Atlantic Wednesday afternoon, to make a donation for disaster relief to the Atlantic Middle School Library. Stopping at the High School for a $10,000 check presentation, was Dollar General Southwest Iowa District Manager Howie Erickson, Regional Director Paul Vilinski, and Store Manager Robyn Sullivan, and Assistant Manager Kim Ruiz.

Erickson explained the funds are made possible through the Dollar General Literacy Foundation’s Beyond Words grant program, and will be used to help replace books that were lost during a fire and water damage at the Middle School last Summer.

(Pictured from left to right, front row:) Howie Erickson; Deb Burton; Robyn Sullivan; Kim Ruiz. (Back row:) Paul Vilinski, Steve Barber.

The Foundation, Erickson said, was established in 1993, in honor of company co-founder J.L. Turner, who only had a third-grade education.

Atlantic School District Superintendent Steve Barber said the funds will help to replace the countless number of books lost in the summer disaster. K-12 Teacher/Librarian, K-12 Reading Specialist Deb Burton said it’s been a long time since she’s been able to take an inventory.

Deb Burton said she was happy the company’s streamlined process made it easy to apply for the funds. Superintendent Steve Barber thanked Dollar General officials for their generous contribution.

CLINTON, Iowa – In an update to our earlier reports, officials with the State Medical Examiner’s Office have identified a person found following a fire in Clinton, as 41-year-old Dustin Christopher Doran, who is formerly of Newton. His manner of death on Monday, was ruled as a homicide. A few hours after posting the victim’s ID, a suspect in the case was arrested. 30-year-old Trevor Allan Jeorge Ward, of Norwalk, was charged with Murder In The First Degree and Arson In The First Degree.

State court records show he has 14 previous convictions on simple and aggravated misdemeanor charges. Clinton County records show Ward was arrested Saturday — the same day as the murder — and charged with public intoxication and assault causing bodily injury, with notation of mental illness on the jail’s record.

Trevor Ward – Arson/murder suspect

On Saturday, March 26, 2022, the Clinton Fire Department and the Clinton Police Department responded to a 911 call reference a structure fire inside of 78 31st Ave North.  Upon arrival, their attention was drawn to Apartment N and the Fire Department quickly extinguished the fire.  A deceased individual (Doran) was found inside the apartment and the Clinton Police Department, Clinton Fire Department, Iowa State Fire Marshal’s Office, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Clinton Medical Examiner, Clinton County Attorney’s Office, Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa Attorney General’s Office and the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner launched a criminal investigation.

The investigation is ongoing and the Clinton Police Department does not believe there is any cause for concern by the public of being in any danger.