(Radio Iowa) – A half million dollar plan to replace security cameras in the Iowa Capitol complex has the support of Republicans in the Iowa House, but Senate Republicans have not included the project in their preliminary budget plan. In February of last year, a 23-year-old man was charged with vandalism after surveillance camera images showed him breaking into the Capitol on a Sunday morning. Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the man made it onto the floor of the Iowa Senate.

“We are setting ourselves up for a very dangerous situation if we don’t include money to upgrade the security of this facility,” Petersen says, “so I would encourage as we move on budget negotiations not to neglect security, especially even as we saw what happened at the nation’s Capitol.” Republicans who hold a majority of seats in the Iowa House and Senate are drafting a variety of bills that outline state spending for the next budgeting year. Republican Senator Craig Johnson of Independence predicts the statehouse security project may wind up in one of them.

“I would guess that would come together at the end of all of this,” Johnson says, “when we’re comparing our bills and looking at them.” There are NO committee meetings or floor debate scheduled today (Monday) in the legislature.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – A woman from Pottawattamie County was sentenced to 10 1/2 years in prison for distributing methamphetamine. The U-S District Court Judge in Council Bluffs handed down the sentence April 12th, in the case of 35-year-old Lindsay Hurst, Council Bluffs. Hurst was ordered to serve five years of supervised release to follow her prison term and pay $100
to the Crime Victims’ Fund. There is no parole in the federal system.

In January and February 2020, Hurst sold methamphetamine to a confidential informant on three occasions – selling approximately 130.83 grams total of actual methamphetamine. Hurst
pleaded guilty on November 20, 2020, to the methamphetamine charge.

The investigation was conducted by the Council Bluffs Police Department and Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for
the Southern District of Iowa.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports two arrests took place last week. On Wednesday, 34-year-old Daniel Fritz Reeves, of Plattsmouth, NE., was arrested on an Adair County warrant for Conspiracy to Commit an aggravated serious misdemeanor, and Tampering with a Witness or Juror. He was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $4,000 cash/surety bond.

And, On April 11th, 28-year old Alyssa Marie Krzycki, of Orient, was arrested for Domestic Assault with bodily injury, for allegedly striking a subject in the arm. Krzycki was released on a signature bond that same day, after making an initial appearance before the magistrate.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-O-T is looking to bring back a popular holiday feature at the state rest stops. Rest Area Administrator Steve McMenamin, says they hope to bring back local groups which provide snacks for travelers during the July 4th weekend. “Unless we see some other spike in the COVID situation — I think because it’s outside, people are being more cautious, we probably will. We haven’t really decided to go ahead with that yet,” McMenamin says.

He says they won’t be ready to allow the groups during this Memorial Day. Labor Day is the other holiday where groups are allowed to offer FREE refreshments with a suggested donation. “Any non-carbonated drinks, they can’t have pop or anything like that. But water, coffee, lemonade, stuff like that. Homemade goods, cookies, donuts or whatever,” McMenamin says. “That can’t charge for it, but they are allowed to accept donations, which they do. Some groups do pretty well with that.”

He says there is usually a big demand from the groups. “They like the busier sites, typically the I-80 where there’s more traffic. Some groups apply every year. They can get one day, they can get multiple days…they are also allowed to put up a sign to say they are sponsoring — the Lions Club — or whatever it may be,” McMenamin says. He says the use of the rest stops has been increasing. “The traffic on the interstates has noticeably picked up. And even our visitations have noticeably picked up already this year. We are using some cases almost twice the water that we did at some of these sites than just a month ago,” McMenamin says.

McMenamin says the costs of maintaining some of the smaller sites have increased as they have had to increase the amount of staff time needed to clean and sanitize them.

(Radio Iowa) – Woodbury County authorities are asking Hornick and Holly Springs residents to be on the lookout for a man who injured a policeman early this (Monday) morning. At at about 1:30 a.m., a South Sioux City police officer approached two men and the pair jumped in a car and ran over the officer’s leg as they sped away. Woodbury County Sheriff Chad Sheehan says a high-speed chase through Sioux City eventually ended when the car crashed at an intersection of Old Highway 141 that’s west of Holly Springs and north of Hornick.

A passenger in the vehicle was arrested, but the sheriff says the driver ran and got away. “We just want to let the residents in this area know that we’re still searching for the suspect and if they see anything…just call right away and let us know,” the sheriff says.

Sheehen says the suspect wore black pants, a grey zip-up hoodie, and a black ball cap.  “There was a gun found in the vehicle. Unknown if he’s armed or not,” Sheehen says. The sheriff says residents should not attempt a citizen’s arrest, but should contact the sheriff’s office if they see the suspect.

(Des Moines) – A man and woman from Des Moines face charges after they allegedly tied their 16-year-old son with special needs was zip-tied to a chair. Court documents detail abuses the boy suffered. KCCI-TV in Des Moines reports Jennifer Ryan, and her husband 47-year-old Richard Joe Ryan, are charged with one count of first-degree kidnapping. They were booked into the Polk County Jail Monday morning and are awaiting an initial court appearance.

Court documents obtained by KCCI say the incident happened Feb. 22nd. According to police, 48-year-old Jennifer Marie Ryan brought her 16-year-old son to work with her at Smith Automotive in Pleasant Hill. She then zip-tied the boy to a chair by his left ankle and pants belt loop in a chair adjacent to her desk.

Court documents show Pleasant Hill Police were contacted and the boy was removed by Iowa Department of Human Services officials and transported to Blank Children’s Hospital. The boy, identified as J.R. in court documents, was examined there and diagnosed with severe malnutrition, weighing only 78 pounds when he was admitted.

In the documents, it was said “Further investigation found that J.R. was routinely confined to his bedroom for several months and on occasion restrained to his bed frame by zip ties. He was not allowed to leave his room or use the restroom at night without permission or without escort by other family members. An alarm was placed on his door to alert his family if he attempted to leave to use the restroom. Permission to use the restroom was often denied necessitating him to urinate out his bedroom window or to wet the bed. As punishment for wetting the bed his mattress and blankets would be removed and he would be required to sleep on the floor.”

The boy was not permitted to eat breakfast, according to arrest warrants. He usually ate lunch or dinner, which consisted of leftovers from the day before. Court documents also stated “J.R. would sneak food when he could and hide it in his bedroom. If the food was discovered, he was punished by being deprived a meal. He also endured physical abuse often being struck in the face or on the head with a wooden back scratcher or repeatedly thrown to the floor.” .

According to police, the boy had several non-healing abrasions and bruises from the abuse and bone deformities to one of his feet, believed to have been caused by wearing shoes that were too small for extended periods of time.

“After the COVID pandemic, J.R. was brought to work on days when J.R.’s father also had to work. While at work with Jennifer, J.R. was zip-tied to the chair for the duration of Jennifer’s 8-hour work schedule, deprived of water and not allowed to use the restroom,” court documents show.