Officials with the U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa said Friday, a District Judge sentenced 45-year old Dale Volney Freeman, of Council Bluffs, to prison for 10-years (120 months), for possession of methamphetamine. Freeman was also ordered to serve seven years of supervised release following his imprisonment and pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund.

Freeman pled guilty to the charge on March 23rd, 2018. The case arose from officers being called to a local motel for a disturbance involving a man with a gun trying to break into a room. When officers arrived they determined that an unknown male had been trying to get into a room which had been rented by Freeman. Officers then found methamphetamine in Freeman’s motel room. Freeman was located in another room where he had over 250 grams of pure methamphetamine. Freeman was also carrying approximately $1,600 cash.

The matter was investigated by Council Bluffs Police Department, Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force and the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation Lab. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

SEATTLE (AP) — More states — including Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota — are suing the Trump administration to dissolve a settlement it reached with a company that wants to post instructions online for making 3D-printed firearms that are hard to trace and detect. Mostly Democratic attorneys general from 19 states, plus the District of Columbia, filed an amended complaint Friday asking a judge make it illegal to share plans on creating printable plastic weapons. One Republican — Colorado’s attorney general — joined the lawsuit.

It comes days after U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik blocked the plans from being released until Aug. 28. He has scheduled an Aug. 21 hearing on the states’ request to reverse the U.S. State Department’s agreement with Austin, Texas-based Defense Distributed.

The settlement jeopardizes states’ ability to enforce gun laws, including background checks, and puts public safety at risk, the complaint said. The availability of plastic guns threatens safety in prisons and jails and makes air travel more susceptible to terrorist attacks, the states said.

Defense Distributed owner Cody Wilson, a self-described “crypto-anarchist,” has said “governments should live in fear of their citizenry.” His company seeks to make guns accessible to everyone, making “meaningful gun regulation impossible,” according to the complaint.

A group of gun-rights advocates called the Firearms Policy Coalition responded to the judge’s order by creating a website with plans for various firearms, including “the Liberator,” a 3D-printable single-shot handgun. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson urged the federal government to enforce the court order prohibiting distribution of downloadable gun files.

The states suing are: Washington, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. The expanded lawsuit comes as a group of congressional Democrats introduced legislation that would block online instructions for 3D-printed guns, which are largely undetectable at security checkpoints, according a statement released Friday by U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, Brad Schneider of Illinois and Carolyn Maloney of New York.

Another measure introduced this week requires plastic guns to have serial numbers and enough metal to make them visible on screening machines. President Donald Trump has questioned whether his administration should have agreed to allow the plans to be posted online, tweeting Tuesday that the idea “doesn’t seem to make much sense!” Since then, he has been largely silent on the issue.

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — Police in southeastern Iowa say one person is dead and another injured following a shootout with officers that sent a nearby elementary school into lockdown.

The Ottumwa Courier reports that the shootout happened after police received a report around 1:40 p.m. of people with guns outside near Liberty Elementary. Ottumwa Police Chief Tom McAndrew says that when officers arrived, the suspects and officers exchanged gunfire. The shooting left one suspect dead. McAndrew says another suspect was taken to a local hospital with “very serious injuries.”

He says another person was arrested and a fourth suspect is still on the run and being sought. Police believe that person is armed and dangerous and urged residents in the area to stay inside their homes.

Police say no one else was injured. Students and staff at Liberty Elementary were taken to a shelter inside the school guarded by police and remained there until late Friday afternoon.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines police say they’ve found a sport utility vehicle believed to have been involved in a fatal hit-and-run crash that killed 56-year-old bicyclist.

Police say the red SUV was found Wednesday abandoned and hidden in a rural area east of Mitchellville. It has been impounded by Des Moines police. An arrest warrant has been issued charging Anthony McGilvrey with leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death.

Police believe McGilvrey was driving the SUV rental the morning of July 28 in Des Moines when it hit the bicyclist, identified as Darrel Ford. Investigators say Ford crossed into an intersection against a red light when he was hit.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Elephant rides aren’t available as advertised as an attraction at the Mississippi Valley Fair in Davenport: State law won’t allow them. Shawn Loter is in his second year as general manager of the fair, and he told the Quad-City Times that he was unaware of the ban until this week. The elephants from Carson & Barnes Circus from Oklahoma are back this year, and Loter says they were used for rides at last year’s fair.

The law forbidding handlers from offering rides was enacted in 2007. Iowa Agriculture Department spokesman Dustin VandeHoef says the state veterinarian alerted Loter’s office of the law after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals notified the state Tuesday that elephant rides were being advertised in the fair’s brochure. Elephant handler Mychelle Omar says neither she nor her husband have offered rides this week. The fair opened Tuesday and is scheduled to close Sunday.

The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) today (Friday) announced the first reported 2018 Iowa death associated with West Nile virus in an elderly adult (81+ years of age) from Central Iowa. A second case of human West Nile virus infection has also been reported in a Palo Alto County adult (61 to 80 years of age) male who has recovered. IDPH Deputy Epidemiologist, Dr. Ann Garvey said “West Nile virus is in Iowa. This death related to West Nile is tragic and reminds us to protect ourselves and our families from mosquitoes. Until the state’s first hard frost, whether it’s for work or play, being outside means there’s a risk for West Nile virus.”

Iowans should take the following steps to reduce the risk of exposure to West Nile virus:

• Use insect repellent with DEET, Picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, or IR3535. Always read the repellent label and consult with a health care provider if you have questions when using these types of products for children. For example, oil of lemon eucalyptus should not be used on children under 3 years of age and DEET should not be used on children less than 2 months of age.
• Avoid outdoor activities at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active.
• Wear long-sleeved shirts, pants, shoes and socks outdoors whenever possible.
• Eliminate standing water around the home because that’s where mosquitoes lay eggs. Empty water from buckets, cans, pool covers and pet water dishes. Change water in bird baths every three to four days.

In 2017, 12 Iowans were diagnosed with West Nile virus and two Iowans died. For more information on mosquito and tick transmitted diseases in Iowa visit https://www.idph.iowa.gov/cade/vectorborne-illness.

(Radio Iowa) — A judge is throwing out much of the evidence against the driver of an SUV who’s accused of killing four southwest Iowa motorcyclists in Nebraska, last year. Authorities say 23-year-old Jeser Cisneros-Hernandes of Liberal, Kansas, crossed the center line of a Keith County, Nebraska, highway in July of 2017 and hit two motorcycles head-on. It killed James and Sheila Matheny of Bedford, Iowa, and Michael and Jerolyn Weese of Council Bluffs. The judge ruled this week much of the state’s evidence against Cisneros-Hernades is inadmissable. The Ogallala police officer reportedly never read him his rights when arresting him for vehicular homicide and reckless driving. The officer’s body-cam footage reportedly shows Cisneros-Hernandes admitting he’d only had one hour of sleep before trying to drive from Montana back to Kansas.