PRIMGHAR, Iowa (KCAU-TV) — An arrest was made Monday in connection with a bank robbery in northwest Iowa.  According to a release from the O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office, a 911 call at about 1:02 p.m. Monday alerted officials of a bank robbery at the Sanford Savings Bank. Bank officials said that a man, identified as Del Martinnez Evans, Jr., entered the bank and allegedly handed the teller a note that said “this was a robbery and demanded cash.” He did not show or mention a weapon, officials said.

An unknown amount of cash was taken, and the alleged robber left the bank. When officers arrived, a perimeter was set up around 201 West 5th Street. Local schools and businesses were advised to lock down until further clearance by officials.  Evans, Jr. was arrested without incident a little more than an hour later. He was charged with second degree robbery and second degree theft and placed into the O’Brien County Jail with a $15,000 bond.

The incident remains under investigation.

URBANDALE, IOWA [WHO-TV]— Urbandale Police have released the name of a man who was found dead outside an Urbandale gas station earlier this month in subzero temperatures.  The body of 52-year-old Ibrahim Shoddo, of Des Moines, was found early in the morning of January 13th near the gas pumps at a gas station in the 8700 block of Hickman Road. Police say he died of exposure. Temperatures that evening were more than ten degrees below zero, with wind chills making it even more dangerous to be outside. His death remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Independent filmmakers in Iowa are appealing to the public for help in getting a movie made in several locations in the state with an all Iowa-cast and crew. Co-director Jake Daniels, founder of Mediaverse Studios in Marengo, says the feature-length film is to be called “Operation: Crimson Night.” It will follow a team of soldiers working for a shadow organization who are sent to find and kill a creature that escaped from its containment area in a small town in Romania. “It’s kind of a mystery and kind of a suspenseful thriller, but there’s also a lot of character-driven aspects to it,” Daniels says. “When we see these kind of movies, we basically just see the action and shoot ’em up stuff, but what we’re trying to create is something that’s more character-driven and has a little bit more heart, and leans more to the horror than the action.”

Daniels says filmmakers don’t need to go to Hollywood, Atlanta or New York to create quality entertainment, as there’s exceptional talent and creativity thriving within the state of Iowa. “The goal of this is mostly to show the film industry that Iowa is here and we are making really good movies,” Daniels says, “and while we have a small budget, we’re able to make it look like something way larger. We’re hoping for film festival releases and then eventually, we’re going to try to get it onto some streaming platforms.” Daniels says he’s also planning for screenings of the film in Iowa theaters. The crowdfunding campaign effort via the website Indiegogo is seeking $7,500 as seed money to make this movie a reality.

Mediaverse Studios image

“We have all of our own cameras and lighting and we’re actually building some sets at our studio, so we’re able to eat a lot of the costs that way ourselves,” he says. “The funding is basically going to the cast and crew to get them fed, get them paid a little bit, and then hopefully on the back end, if we get good distribution, then all that money will go back to the cast and crew.”

It’s hoped the movie will be shot in May and June in locations around Des Moines, Mason City and at the studio in Marengo.

Learn more at: www.indiegogo.com/projects/operation-crimson-night.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report a man from Villisca was arrested Monday night on an Adams County warrant. 36-year-old Jacob Tanner Franson was arrested at around 8:20-p.m. on the warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of OWI/2nd offense, and aggravated misdemeanor.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that’s cleared a Senate subcommittee would require Iowa schools to create expense accounts to help teachers pay for classroom supplies. Senator Kerry Gruenhagen, a Republican from Walcott, is the bill’s sponsor. “Currently they’re using their own funds and this is an attempt to set up a funding stream to assist them with that endeavor as opposed to a lot of them going onto Facebook or setting other fundraising efforts to supply their classroom.”

Under the bill, new teachers would get 500 dollars their first year and all other teachers would get 200 dollars a year. The program would cost eight million dollars statewide for the next academic year and schools would have to shift money from their general budget to cover the expense accounts.

Melissa Peterson, a lobbyist for the Iowa State Education Association, says the teachers’ union isn’t registered in opposition to the bill, but is concerned there’s no new state funding for the program.  “We do appreciate that this bill acknowledges teachers need more resources in their classrooms,” Peterson says, “because we don’t have enough resources.” Margaret Buckton, a lobbyist for Rural School Advocates of Iowa and the Urban Educators Network, says not all classroom needs are equal.  “And we just don’t want to invade on local control and how this might be determined at the local level,” Buckton says.
Senator Lynn Evans, a Republican from Aurelia who’s a retired superintendent, agreed to advance the bill, but he says it needs work.

“Schools are going to budget differently based on their school’s needs, their students’ needs and their school board expectations. This tends to mandate how they’re going to develop their budget,” Evans says. “I don’t disagree that teachers need more financial support in the classroom. I would like to have some further discussion on this bill, on how it would be funded and what the long range, maybe, impact of it would be.”

And Senator Sarah Trone-Garriot, a Democrat from West Des Moines, notes the bill calls for any money teachers don’t spend on classroom supplies to be redirected to raises for all teachers in the district.  “Teachers need to be paid more,” Trone-Garriott says. “We’re not going to accomplish that by just moving the same money around.”

According to a national non-profit that helps raise money for classroom supplies, teachers spent an average of 860 dollars of their own money on supplies for this current school year.