A man from Shelby County was sentenced today (Tuesday), to 5-years in prison following his conviction on child pornography charges. 40-year old Matthew E. Gross. of Westphalia, will also be required to serve five years of supervised release following his conviction for the receipt and possession of Child Pornography.

Gross pled guilty on November 3rd, 2016 to a two-count indictment, charging him with possession and receipt of child pornography. He had received child pornography images from at least as early as February of 2014 and up to August of 2014. In addition, Gross was found in possession of child pornography images on or about September 25, 2014, in his Westphalia residence.

The investigation into his case was conducted by the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Investigation, the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Education Department says the state’s high school graduation rate has increased for the fifth year straight, even as dropout rates increased slightly for the first time since the 2009-10 school year.

In a news release Tuesday, the department said 91.3 percent of students in the 2016 graduating class graduated within four years, up from 90.8 percent from the previous year. Iowa’s annual dropout rate was 2.8 percent last year, up from 2.5 percent the previous year. The latest dropout rate represents 4,154 students in grades 9-12.

Officials say graduation and dropout rates can increase simultaneously because they measure different groups. The graduation rate follows one class for four years, while annual dropout rates represent the number of students who dropped out of grades 9-12 during one school year.

Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested an Atlantic man on a felony contraband, and other charges, Sunday. Authorities report 38-year old Dirk Ramsey Wasson faces a Class-D felony Possession of Contraband in Jail charge, along with charges of OWI 1st Offense, Possession of Marijuana 1st Offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Wasson was taken to the Cass County Jail and released later that day on $2,000 bond.

The Red Oak Police Department reports a non-injury two vehicle accident occurred Tuesday afternoon in Red Oak.  Officers were called to the intersection of West Walnut Street and North Broadway Street at 1:51pm.

After investigation at the scene it was determined that a a 2016 Ford Escape driven by 61-year-old Kathleen Roberts of Red Oak was traveling Westbound on West Walnut Street and stopped at the stop sign of the North Broadway Street intersection.  Roberts proceeded through the intersection before it was clear and caused a 2001 Buick Century driven by 62-year-old Shirley Grunstead of Red Oak to impact the passenger side door of Roberts’ Ford.

Neither driver was injured during the crash. Damage to Roberts’ Ford was estimated at $5,000 and damage to Grunstead’s Buick was estimated at $3,000. Roberts was cited for Failure to Obey a Stop Sign.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Changes have been announced at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield as crews prepare to build a new six-story parking structure. Omaha television station WOWT reports that Eppley will close its surface and canopy lots on Thursday to prepare for the construction.

The new parking structure, which will hold 3,000 cars, was approved by the Omaha Airport Authority in December. The $66.5 million project is scheduled to begin in May and take about two years to complete.

During that time, rental car operations at the airport will be relocated to the canopy lot south of the terminal, which will be closed to public parking.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Police say a man accused of shooting a woman in front of his south Des Moines home told officers he had no choice after the woman broken into his home and tried to strangle him with a scarf. Police say officers were called to the house just before midnight Monday for a report of a fight. They found the 71-year-old homeowner, who told police he was in a bedroom with a gun when a woman wearing a headlamp broke in.

He says they fought, and she choked him with the scarf, so he “had no choice but to shoot her.” A woman later called police to say she had been shot several blocks away, but police determined she was the woman the homeowner had shot. She is expected to recover.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety report a man suspected in the alleged July 2016 sexual assault against a minor female in northwest Iowa, was arrested last week. The incident allegedly occurred at the residence of Eddie D. Delong, in Cleghorn.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s office in conjunction with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. On April 5th, 2017 the 43-year old Delong  was arrested and charged with felony Sex Abuse in the 3rd Degree and Supplying Alcohol to a Minor – Causing Serious Injury (An Aggravated Misdemeanor).

DeLong’s bond was set at $10,000. He has since posted bond and was released, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 17th at the Cherokee County Courthouse.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have released the names of five people killed in a fiery Mason City crash. Police in Mason City say an officer discovered the accident scene around 2:40 a.m. Monday after officials noticed that power had been knocked out to hundreds of customers. Officials say the accident apparently caused the short-lived outage.

Today (Tuesday) the Mason City Police Department identified the driver as 20-year-old Zachary Hartley. His four passengers were identified as 17-year-old Donte Foster, 18-year-old Roderick Lewis, 14-year-old Sydney Alcorn and 19-year-old Alex Wiebke. All of them lived in Mason City.

The crash cause is being investigated. Mason City sits about 109 miles (176 kilometers) north of Des Moines.

CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) – Officials of a city more than 50 miles northwest of Waterloo have asked residents to stay at least 100 yards away from a bridge that partially collapsed. Charles City police chief Hugh Anderson tells the Charles City Press there’s a possibility of falling debris near the Charley Western Bridge or that it could collapse completely.

An archway of the bridge on the Cedar River pulled away from the structure Saturday morning, and part of it collapsed. Charles City Administrator Steve Diers says the river is closed to activities.

Earlier this month, City Council voted in favor of an evaluation of both the Charley Western and the Main Street bridges. Charles City Engineer John Fallis says officials are examining how to move forward with the evaluation.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is reintroducing legislation that would ban packer ownership of livestock. Grassley, a Republican, says he’s seeing more consolidation and “vertical integration” in the livestock industry which will ultimately hurt farmers and consumers. “When four companies control 76% of all the slaughter, there’s not much competition,” Grassley says, “and particularly that competition is even lessened when farmers are up against these packers that own livestock and can butcher their own.”

In the past few decades, large poultry and pork packers have concentrated operations and Grassley says the beef industry is also showing signs of going the same direction.  “I want farmers to have as much competition as they can to get the highest price for the cattle,” Grassley says. “I think it’s compromised when cattle are owned by packers. They can manipulate the market easier. It shows up in lower prices for farmers.”

A report from the U-S-D-A says the amount of cattle traded on the cash market dropped from 52-percent in 2005 to 21-percent in 2015. Grassley says that trend shows how packers are gaining far too much power to control the marketplace. Grassley says, “You’ve heard me say, quoting some president of some company, ‘Why do we own livestock? Well, when prices are high, we kill our own. When prices are low, we buy from the farmer.'”

Grassley has offered packer ownership bans at least twice before in recent years and he’s hoping this Congress will be more receptive to his concerns.

(Radio Iowa)