DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A woman from Chicago has been sentenced to 50 years in prison on charges stemming from the beating death of her 5-year-old son in Iowa. Jacqueline Rambert was sentenced Friday in Davenport. She’d pleaded guilty to two child endangerment charges. Her co-defendant, Tre Henderson, was convicted of murder and is scheduled to be sentenced April 1 to life in prison.

Prosecutors say Ja’Shawn Bussell had 17 broken ribs and bruises from the top of his head to his ankles after Henderson beat him in April 2018. Henderson and Rambert are from Chicago and were living in a Davenport apartment when the boy was beaten.

A Creston man reported to Police Monday morning, that sometime during the overnight hours Sunday into Monday, someone broke into his shop at 225 S. Chestnut in Creston, and took $4,625 worth of tools. The missing items include: A Stihl concrete saw; 2 Husqvarna concrete saws; a Dewalt hammer drill; 2 Milwaukee cordless Skil saws; a Milwaukee drill and radio.

(7-a.m. News)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Cedar Rapids is stopping its transit service at the end of Tuesday to help halt the spread of COVID-19. City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said Monday plans are to resume service on April 13. He says the city has been regularly cleaning and sanitizing buses, but they are still confined spaces that fill with many people throughout the day. He says it’s vital for the city to take the actions needed to protect the community. In Des Moines officials are cutting route frequency and service starting Thursday as ridership continues to drop.

Members of the Atlantic School Board will hold an electronic meeting 6-p.m. Wednesday. No action is expected during the work session, which includes discussion on the 2020-21 Certified Budget.  A Public Hearing on the Budget was set during the Board’s last meeting. for 6-p.m. April 8th, followed by their regular Board session.

To access the March 25th Work Session via You Tube, please use this link: https://youtu.be/8ccP4tc-KBo

(Radio Iowa) — While President Trump says he believes things may turn around sooner than expected in lifting some of the restrictions designed to stem the advance of the coronavirus. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, is cautiously watching how the restrictions work. “I think it’s pretty simple — that we do it for the two or three weeks that people laid out and we do it for that time. And I don’t think I want to be reassessing it in the middle,” Grassley says.

He says he will keep an eye on the numbers to see what they show at the end of the recommended period. “The extent to which it seems to me like we are winning the pandemic — overcoming the pandemic –then that to me would be the decision if you want more interaction among people,” according to Grassley.

Grassley believes the U-S economy can get back up and running once the restriction period ends and people are able to resume normal activities.

Police in Red Oak report 25-year old Nathan Christopher Mulhausen, of Red Oak was arrested Monday on a Montgomery County warrant charging him with a sex offender registration violation — a Class D felony.

Nathan Mulhausen (Red Oak PD photo)

Mulhausen was being held at the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) — Officials in Des Moines (and Atlantic) have made playground equipment in city parks off limits, to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus. City bus routes in Cedar Rapids will be suspected on Wednesday. Iowa hospitals are postponing elective surgeries. And Governor Kim Reynolds is asking Iowans to VOLUNTARILY shelter in place.

“If you do not need to leave your house to help your family or other Iowans respond to this disaster, stay home,” Reynolds said. The governor of Illinois issued a “shelter in place” ORDER this weekend and Wisconsin’s governor plans to take that step today (Tuesday), but Reynolds says the data about the spread of COVID-19 in Iowa does not indicate that step is necessary.

“Just overall traffic has seen a 47 percent drop from a year ago, but truck traffic is normal,” Reynolds says. “…People that are providing the essential services are out still there, but Iowans are starting to hear the message and they are staying home.” Reynolds announced Monday that 105 Iowans in 26 counties have tested positive for COVID-19 and seven have been hospitalized.

State officials say those numbers are expected to increase as more testing is done. President Trump cited Iowa’s current data during a Monday evening news conference as he talked about reopening areas of the county and the economy as quickly as possible. Reynolds is asking Iowans to practice social distancing and go solo when they run essential errands at the grocery store or pharmacy.

“We are not at a place where we’re going to order a shelter-in-place or a stay-at-home,” Reyolds says. “…We want to make sure that we’re making these decisions based on data and based on metrics so that we can be consistent in what we’re telling Iowans to make sure that we’re not shutting down a state where we don’t need to.” Reynolds posted a video online last (Monday), with this message: “stay home and help us save a life.”