WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Waterloo officials have identified parts of three city parks as potential candidates for sale. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that council members broached the idea of selling portions of parks for development. The thought is such sales could reduce maintenance costs, generate sales revenue and grow the tax base with new homes built on the land.

Neighboring property owners have resisted the idea in past discussions about selling park pieces. They feared losing direct sightlines and access to the parks or losing spots for recreation.
Leisure Services Director Paul Huting told the council earlier this week that if a portion of the sale proceeds were to be used for park improvements, the park neighbors might be happier with such sales.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Woodbury County officials have been discussing plans for a new county jail and a bond issue to pay for it. County board chairman Keith Radig told the Sioux City Journal on Thursday that it makes more sense to build a jail that could cost between $35 million and $50 million than pay $12 million to $14 million for repairs on the current, 234-bed facility. It opened in 1987.

Radig says a new jail with 300 to 440 beds would provide extra space to accept federal detainees. The county could contract with federal immigration officials and receive around 80 inmates a day on average. The resulting hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue could possibly eliminate the need to pay back construction debt with property taxes.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A woman from Colombia has been sentenced for her role in an email scheme that defrauded companies in Iowa and other states. Prosecutors say Karina Henao was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids to 13 months in prison. Henao also was ordered to pay more than $297,000 in restitution. She pleaded guilty in November to wire fraud. Prosecutors say she’d been living in Florida.

A court document says Henao admitted that from September through November 2017 she participated in a scheme to infiltrate or otherwise gain access to email systems in order to divert money from the businesses’ bank accounts.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports a traffic stop at around 5-p.m. Thursday resulted in an arrest. A vehicle was pulled over for failure to display license plates. The K9 “Baxo” was deployed, and alerted to the odor of narcotics. Upon further investigation, Janet Scuturio (no city of residence given) was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance – Tramadol/1st offense. And, at around 9:15-p.m. Thursday, Adams County deputies responded to a reported domestic disturbance. As a result of their investigation, Robert Loe was placed under arrest for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense.