An Atlantic man arrested in June, 2015, on a charge of Indecent Contact with a Child, Lascivious Acts with a Child and one count of Second Degree Sexual abuse, has plead guilty to a lesser charge. According to online court records, 30-year old Tad Haskins plead guilty, Monday, to an amended Count of Lascivious Acts with a child. The remaining counts were summarily dismissed.

Judge Mark Eveloff also suspended a 5-year prison sentence and $750 fine, and instead required Haskins to serve 2-years of supervised probation. He’ll have to: Live at the Residential Corrections Facility in Council Bluffs until maximum benefits are reached; Pay restitution in the amount of $172 within 30-days; Complete a Sex Offender Treatment Program; Submit a DNA sample, and, have no contact with his step-children for a period of two-years.

A highway stop in which Iowa police officers pointed weapons at an innocent dark-skinned man and his 6-year-old son has prompted a federal lawsuit and racial profiling claims. Details of the September 2014 incident in northwest Iowa have emerged in a lawsuit filed by the driver, 32-year-old Levi Wilson of Orange City. He alleges the stop and search were illegal.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says officers acted appropriately because they were searching for Wilson’s brother, David Wilson, a sex offender who was wanted on outstanding warrants. Officers say the brothers sometimes drove the same truck. Levi Wilson denies that.

U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett refused to dismiss the case this month, ruling that claims of unreasonable search and seizure, excessive force and invasion of privacy could proceed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A Council Bluffs man has been indicted on one count of bank robbery in federal court in Des Moines. Documents filed Tuesday say Jesse Daniel Specht took by force, violence and intimidation money from Farmers & Merchants State Bank in Neola on Oct. 14. Specht was arrested five days later in Omaha.

The bank was robbed by a man wearing a mask who told employees and customers to get down on the floor before he ran away with an undisclosed amount of cash.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Several northwest Iowa colleges have turned to their communities to find families offering seats at their dinner tables for international students who can’t make it home for the holidays. The Sioux City Journal reports that students are frequently able to find a home away from home through a host-family program, a campus-sponsored dinner or local students offering a seat at their own table.

Briar Cliff University has offered the “Friend Family” program, which matches international students with a local family. Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, also offers a host family program, so students can stay overnight with families while the university is closed for the holidays. Some students, including those who are not international students, stay on campus, organize their own festivities and share customs and cuisines.