COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska man has pleaded guilty to amended Iowa charges of indecent contact with a child and has been given a suspended six-year prison sentence and two years of probation. The Daily Nonpareil reports that 50-year-old Michael Robinson, of Omaha, Nebraska, entered the plea Tuesday, the day before his trial was set to begin.

Robinson had originally been charged with several counts of third-degree sexual abuse stemming from several incidents spanning from 2007 to 2012. Council Bluffs police say that at that time, Robinson was in a relationship with a relative of the victim. Another relative reported her suspicions of sexual abuse to Iowa Child Protective Services in March 2015.

Authorities say Robinson inappropriately touched the girl from the time she was about 10 until she was 15.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A northwest Iowa woman has been given probation and suspended jail time for biting and tearing her husband’s lower lip when she feigned desire for a kiss. The Sioux City Journal reports 60-year-old Carol Smith pleaded not guilty Tuesday to domestic abuse assault. A charge of willful injury was dismissed.

The documents say the incident occurred in the couple’s Sioux City home on May 24 last year. She approached him for a kiss but then bit him instead. Police say Smith’s husband required plastic surgery.

The judge gave Smith two years of probation, suspended all but 60 days of a 365-day jail sentence and ruled that Smith may serve 120 days on an electronic monitoring device in lieu of serving the jail time. He also fined her $315.

Genelle Deist, Chair of the Audubon County Community Foundation, has  announced that $39,000 in grants was awarded to Audubon County nonprofit agencies.  With the grants, the Audubon County Community Foundation has distributed over $1.5 million in grants and scholarships over the last 19 years.

The following nonprofit organizations, which submitted applications to the Audubon County Community Foundation by the September 1st deadline, were awarded grants by the Audubon County Board of Directors:

• Audubon Community Cinema – $15,000 for a screen, projection and sound equipment, seats and wall covering at the Rose Movie Theater.
• Audubon Recreation Foundation – $10,000 for funding to build a recreation center.
• The City of Exira – $2,000 for a sign at the east entrance to the community.
• The Exira Community Club – $10,000 to complete the renovation of the Rec. Center.
• Exira Fire & EMS Association – $2,000 to purchase and install and automatic standby generator at the fire hall, for emergencies.

Nonprofit representatives receiving grant awards: 1st row from left to right: Lexi Christensen and Peggy Tuft, City of Exira; Dillon and Alex Clemsen, Exira Fire & EMS Association; Linda Blomme, Audubon Community Cinema; Abby Rasmussen, Exira Community Club. Back row: Audubon County Community Foundation board members Shelley Burr and Genelle Deist (Chair).

The amount available included $2,000 from the Leon and Iva Milliman Endowed Fund, $2,500 from the Charles T. and Kathleen K. Manatt Endowed Fund, $650 from the Audubon State Bank/Stephen Garst Endowed Fund, $1,000 from the Audubon Masonic Association Endowed Fund, $450 from the Merle and Norma Petersen Endowed Fund, and $450 from the Fred and Evelyn Nissen Endowed Fund for Audubon.

All grantees met the criteria as Audubon County nonprofit agencies or organizations with charitable missions in the areas of civic, cultural, health, education and social services.  Only organizations providing services in Audubon County were eligible.

Audubon County agency representatives received their checks on November 9th.  During brief check distribution activities Deist commended the nonprofit agencies for their individual efforts to provide a better quality of life for the residents of Audubon County.

A Missouri man was injured during a crash this (Thursday) morning, in western Iowa’s Monona County. The Iowa State Patrol says 36-year old Gene Lawrence Odell, Jr., of Kansas City, MO., who was not wearing a seat belt, was transported by Burgess Ambulance to the Burgess Hospital in Onawa, following the accident that happened at around 6:20-a.m. on Interstate 29.

Odell was driving a 2016 Honda Accord northbound on I-29 above the posted speed limit, when he rear-ended the trailer of a semi that was traveling north in the right hand lane. After striking the trailer, the Honda spun off the road into the east ditch, before hitting a fence. The semi, driven by 59-year old Mikhail Kirilovich, of Lynwood, WA, pulled over onto the shoulder following the collision.

The State Patrol says speed and alcohol were factors in the crash.

The Enhance Iowa Board awarded $878,616 in Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) grants to a fine arts center in Forest City, a pedestrian bridge in Nora Springs and a theater renovation project in Audubon. The three awards mark the first awards made by the new Enhance Iowa Board, created in the last legislative session through Senate File 2308. The Enhance Iowa Board approved the grants at yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) meeting in Des Moines.

Locally, the Rose Theater Renovation Project in Audubon received a requested CAT grant amounting to $61,250, for renovations to the interior and exterior of a historic theatre in Audubon.  Once completed, the theatre will offer family friendly movies on the weekends. The project is expected to cost $323,761 altogether. The grant is contingent upon completion of fundraising by December 31st, 2016.