SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Federal authorities in Iowa are placing a new priority on prosecuting violent crime and firearm offenses. The Sioux City Journal reports that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa is handling an increasing number of cases that would typically be considered state-level offenses. U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan says it’s a deliberate effort to crack down on violent offenders. Deegan says that, in some cases, firearms offenses carry longer federal prison sentences than similar charges in the state legal system.. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in northern Iowa prosecuted 189 defendants in gun cases in fiscal year 2019, compared to 90 defendants in 2016.

Sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County responded to a single-vehicle accident off Highway 34, Saturday night. Authorities say 23-year old Dillon Taylor, of Clarinda, was operating a 2003 Honda dirt bike on the highway, near the 32 mile marker at around 11-p.m. , when the accident occurred. A report on Taylor’s injuries was not released. The crash remains under investigation. Montgomery County Deputies were assisted at the scene by Red Oak Fire & Rescue, and the Iowa State Patrol.

A collision between an ATV and a pickup in southern Iowa’s Wayne County, Saturday afternoon, resulted in the death of a Union County man, and injuries to a man from Corydon. The Iowa State Patrol reports the operator of a 2008 Kawasaki Prairie ATV, 40-year old Travis Scott Street, of Creston, died from injuries he suffered, when the off-road vehicle he was riding was struck by a 1998 Dodge RAM 2500 pickup. The driver of the pickup, 51-year old Robert Glenn Joens, of Corydon, was injured in the accident.

Authorities say the crash happened at around 3:33-p.m., Saturday, as the pickup was traveling eastbound on Vale Road, west of 120th Avenue, and the ATV was westbound. Both vehicles were over the center line of the road and met at the crest of a hill. Street tried to turn north in an attempt to avoid the pickup, but the vehicles collided, causing him to be thrown from the machine into the north ditch.

Joens’ pickup came to rest in the north ditch, east of the point of initial impact. Scott was transported by Wayne County Ambulance to the Wayne County Hospital, where he died from his injuries. Joens was also transported to the hospital for treatment of his injuries.

(Radio Iowa) — If you paid a parking ticket in Sioux City or paid a city utility bill in late summer, your personal data may be at risk. City Attorney Nicole Dubois says a piece of malicious code was inserted into the website for paying bills to the City of Sioux City and electronic transactions between August 26th and September 18th may have been affected.

“Addresses, names, credit card information,” she says. “But please keep in mind Social Security numbers, dates of birth — that information was not compromised, so it’s limited to the credit card and address information.” The website that was hacked is managed and operated by a third-party vendor. Sioux City officials say more than 35-hundred accounts are potentially affected by the data breach.

Dubois says all affected individuals will soon receive a letter from the City of Sioux City with credit monitoring information. “But in the meantime before they receive those letters, we would encourage anyone…to pull copies of their credit reports,” Dubois says. “They can get contact information there.”

The City of Sioux City had already switched to a different vendor’s website for paying bills electronically when the data breach was reported by the previous vendor.

Atlantic Fire and Rescue, Medivac Ambulance, Atlantic Police and Cass County Ermegency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon all responded to a reported house fire at around 5:04-p.m., Saturday. The fire occurred at 304 W. 3rd Street. Damage to the home appeared to be limited mainly to the north, or rear of the structure. Flames were seen shooting out the back when firefighters arrived. Authorities were not sure if anyone was in the residence until they could get inside and put out the flames.

304 W. 3rd (Ric Hanson/photo)

Neighbors said a man known to be homeless was sometimes inside the residence, but a search determined the home was unoccupied.

Atlantic Police helped to move a trailer parked between the residence and a neighboring garage. Firefighters got the flames under control quickly, and spent the next hour-and 30 minutes or so handling hot spots, conducting mop-up activities and an investigation.

Fire Chief Mark McNees said the cause of the blaze remains under investigation, and they hope to get a closer look inside after sunrise, Sunday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new survey of bankers indicates a waning economy in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states, and weak farm income is hurting producers’ ability to borrow money from banks. The Rural Mainstreet survey shows its overall index fell to to 50.2 this month from 54.2 in November. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy, while a score below 50 indicates a shrinking economy.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey and says federal agriculture crop support payments and somewhat higher grain prices kept the overall index from falling into negative territory. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Police say a Davenport woman accused of sexually abusing a child on multiple occasions has been charged. The Quad-City Times reports that 35-year-old Roxanne Marie Evans is charged with one count of third-degree sexual abuse. She faces up to 10 years in prison if she is convicted. An arrest affidavit says police received a sexual assault complaint involving Evans on Dec. 12. Investigators say Evans sexually abused the victim, who was 14- or 15-years-old, from July through November. Evans was arrested Thursday and booked into the Scott County Jail. She was released Friday after posting 10 percent of a $10,000 bond.

DUNCOMBE, Iowa (AP) — After more than a century, a barn near the tiny northern Iowa community of Duncombe is getting a new home and a new look. Matt and Libby Mitchell acquired the barn built in 1915 and watched nervously Thursday as it was moved about a mile over fields to a new location. Matt Mitchell prepared a path over fields by driving a blade over the land and smoothing out ruts. He now plans to restore the barn, saying, “To tear it down or burn it would have been a tragedy.”

w/ Chris Parks

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Drivers who received tickets from traffic cameras at a notorious speed trap in suburban Des Moines filed a lawsuit Friday alleging that their rights have been violated. The proposed class-action lawsuit seeks damages from the City of Windsor Heights, which announced earlier this month that it would remove the speed cameras on University Avenue this spring. The cameras have brought in millions of dollars for the city since their installation in 2012. But business owners say that they keep away customers. And drivers complained that, until a recent change, the cameras were at a location where the speed limit unexpectedly dropped.