SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for inappropriately touching a preteen girl over a five-year period. The Sioux City Journal reports 38-year-old Bryan Barnhart was sentenced Tuesday in Woodbury County District court, after pleading guilty to third-degree sexual abuse.

Court documents say that Barnhart babysat the girl from 2006 to 2011, starting when she was 5 years old. The girl told police that Barnhart touched her inappropriately many times during that period. Authorities say Barnhart admitted the allegations were true and acknowledged sexually abusing other children.

Police in Council Bluffs have arrested two people in connection with the robbery early Thursday morning, of a cab driver. 23-year old Jessie Caballero, of Council Bluffs, and 36-year old Victor Garcia, of Omaha, were arrested at a residence located in the 200 block of 16th Avenue in Council Bluffs, and are currently in custody at the Pottawattamie County Jail.  Both face charges of Robbery in the 3rd Degree and Interference with Official Acts.

Their arrests followed an investigation that began with a report at around 5:45-a.m., of a robbery in the 1600 block Harry Langdon Blvd. Upon arrival officers located the victim, 64-year old Donald Vanderwerf, of Omaha, who is a cab driver. Vanderwerf told officers that he picked a fare in Omaha and gave the male and female passengers a ride to a business in the 1600 Block of Harry Landon Blvd in Council Bluffs.

At that location the suspects told Vanderwerf they were unable to pay the fare and  Caballero ran from the area. As she ran from area, Garcia allegedly pointed what appeared to be a handgun at Vanderwerf. Garcia then turned and ran from the area as well.

During the preliminary investigation officers were able to establish information on the possible identity of the female suspect (Caballero). They proceeded to a home in the 200 block 16th Ave where they obtained consent to search the residence. Inside the residence they located Caballero and her male accomplice, Victor Garcia.

Officers recovered a pellet pistol and other evidence related to the crime.

Garcia

Caballero

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa education officials expect the state to face a teacher shortage, and leaders are preparing to address the issue. The Des Moines Register reports Iowa universities are graduating 400 fewer teachers, counselors and administrators annually than in 2013. The Iowa Department of Education says about 2,100 graduates are earning education degrees a year.

Education leaders are hosting round-table discussions and increasing recruiting efforts, especially for jobs in special-education. The looming problem is also compounded by the number of teachers nearing retirement. Some education officials are increasing incentives to lure applicants. Des Moines Public Schools is offering a $3,000 signing bonus to special education teachers.

Anne Sullivan, chief of human resources in Des Moines schools, says another incentive for teachers beginning their careers is a free master’s program.

WESTFIELD, Iowa (AP) – A site in northwest Iowa inhabited by Native Americans roughly 800 years ago is now designated a National Historic Landmark. The designation announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of the Interior highlights the location’s significance and offers some protection against development.

The Sioux City Journal reports that historians believe the 1.9-acre Kimball Village Site near Westfield was inhabited between 1100 and 1250 by Prairie-Plains tribes living along the Big Sioux River. The site remains about 97 percent untouched despite several archaeological field investigations.

State archaeologist John Doershuk says the exact location of the site, which is in the middle of a farm field, will be kept confidential under the new designation due to private property rights. The site is marked by a mound that rises several feet above ground.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – MidAmerican Energy has announced that it will build a wind farm in Boone and neighboring Greene counties and another in Mahaska County.
The company said in a news release Thursday that the two will be the first built as part of its Wind XI project.

The Beaver Creek project in Boone and Greene counties will have 85 turbines that will generate 170 megawatts. The Prairie wind project in Mahaska County will have 84 turbines that will provide 168 megawatts of power. Construction is expected to begin in April and be finished by the end of the year.

In April the company announced its planned $3.6 billion investment in the Wind XI project, which calls for construction of 1,000 turbines that will add 2,000 megawatts of wind generation capacity in Iowa.

The keynote speaker at an autism conference tomorrow (Friday) in Davenport is a globally-known author, activist and innovator — and she’s also autistic.  More than half of all cattle across North America are handled in humane systems designed by Temple Grandin. The animal science professor at Colorado State University says before the conference, she’ll meet with Quad Cities F-A-A members to talk about livestock handling and with high schoolers in general to encourage them to give serious thought to their future professions.

“I’ve been working on how to get some of these kids that might be labeled as autistic, dyslexic, ADHD, whatever, on getting them into good careers,” Grandin says. “Schools have taken out skilled trades. I think it’s the worst thing they’ve done because there’s a ton of jobs available in things like auto mechanics and welding. Hands-on classes saved me as a kid.”

Grandin didn’t speak until she was almost four years old. “My art ability was always encouraged. I was building things when I was in high school and those abilities helped me in my career designing livestock facilities,” Grandin says. “It’s just so important to find something the kid’s good at and then work on developing it.”

Grandin is a hero to thousands with autism and their families and she’s widely celebrated as one of the first people on the autism spectrum to publicly share insights about her personal experience. In 2010, she was named by Time magazine among the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World. Her goal is to pass along what she’s learned to the next generation — and the next.

“I’m seeing too many smart kids not learning basic skills,” Grandin says. “They need to learn working skills. When I was 13 years old, my mother got me a sewing job and when I was 15, I was cleaning horse stalls and taking care of a horse barn. That taught me really important work skills, be on time, be reliable, take responsibility.” Grandin says kids also need to be taught basic social skills and table manners.

In 2010, H-B-O aired a semi-biographical movie called “Temple Grandin” starring Claire Danes as Grandin. The network did a “fantastic” job with the film, she says. “They show exactly how visual thinking works and they also showed hard work is required,” Grandin says. “It was not easy. I had to work really hard. A really nice superintendent at the Swift plant said to me, ‘You always have to keep persevering,’ and a cattle buyer told me, ‘The trouble is opportunity in work clothes.’ It was really hard at the time but I really thank those people for supporting me.”

Her mantra is that people with autism are “different, not less” and, often, “different and, in many ways, more.” The conference runs all day Friday at The RiverCenter in Davenport.

(Radio Iowa)

Grandin: http://www.templegrandin.com/
Conference: http://fhautism.com/attend-a-conference/davenport-ia-january-13/