(Radio Iowa) — Iowans who overshare on social media might embarrass themselves, but they could also lose control of their personal information or become a target for burglars. Consumer protection advocate Lara Sutherlin says Iowans should limit their posts to just the people they trust, like restricting Facebook messages to “friends only” and not to the entire world.

Sutherlin says, “We encourage people to disable their geotagging, which allows anybody to see where you are –and where you aren’t — at any given time.” By showing online you just checked in at a favorite restaurant, that’s also telling everyone you’re likely gone from your house for an hour or so, which could make you a target for a break-in. Posting while on vacation could be exponentially worse. Sutherlin says a few recent high-profile cases have demonstrated how trying to make a joke on social media could end up getting you fired.

“Even if you delete a post or a picture from your profile seconds after posting it, chances are someone saw it and it’s out there in the ether and you can’t get it back,” she says. “So really be thoughtful about what you put out there and whether it needs to be out there.” In one case earlier this month, a Waterloo teacher lost his job after making a threatening comment about climate change activist Greta Thunberg. While social media is a great way to connect with friends and family, Sutherlin says it’s also a good place for crooks to try and find victims to scam. She says it’s important to stay vigilant and to resist the urge to click links or give information online.

“You name it, there’s a number of ways in which scammers online try to elicit information from you through building trust.” Too much shared information could give criminals a way to figure out your routine and the best ways to steal from you.

(Radio Iowa) — A 35-year-old Sioux City woman has been sentenced to nearly seven years in federal prison for doing drug deals within a thousand feet of a city park. Winona Freemont entered a guilty plea this summer, admitting she was part of a group that distributed meth out of a house near a popular city park in Sioux City. Prosecutors say Freemont and others went to Omaha to get the meth, then distributed it to others once they got back to Sioux City. After her 90-month prison sentence, Freemont will be on probation for six years.

In March of 2018, U.S. Marshals listed Freemont as one of Siouxland’s most wanted fugitives, noting in a news release that she could be recognized from the tattoos of the Sergeant Floyd Monument and other Sioux City landmarks on her right forearm. She turned herself in to authorities in April of last year.

(Radio Iowa) — A former postal worker in Pocahontas has admitted to stealing mail. Thirty-year-old Cassandra Rheuport of Rolfe, pleaded guilty to theft of mail by a postal employee and admitted that from about February 2018 through July 28, 2018, she opened mail or stole mail.

Rheuport stole at least 395 dollars along with narcotic medications prescribed for others when she worked as a city carrier in Pocahontas. She’ll be sentenced at a later date where she faces a maximum of five years in prison and a maximum fine of 250-thousand dollars.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Missouri farmer who played a role in the largest organic grain fraud scheme in U.S. history has been sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison. John Burton became the 5th farmer to receive prison time in the “Field of Schemes” case on Monday, when he was sentenced by a federal judge in Cedar Rapids to 22 months behind bars.

Prosecutors said that Burton grew grain that he knew was not organic and sold it to Missouri farmer Randy Constant, knowing that Constant was going to market and sell it as organic. Burton also worked for Constant, often spraying his fields with chemicals and fertilizers that are not allowed to be used on organic fields.

Constant is considered the mastermind of the $142 million fraud scheme, which tainted countless products that were marketed as organic. He died by suicide in August, weeks before he was to report to prison to begin serving a 10-year term.

Three Nebraska farmers have also received prison sentences in the case.

Police in Council Bluffs were called just before 9-a.m. today (Monday), to the area of South 9th Street and 2nd Ave. in Council Bluffs for a possible dead body that had been found wrapped in a sheet. Officers arrived on scene and confirmed the report.

Authorities say at this time this suspicious death investigation is in its beginning stages and as updates arise they will be sent out. No names will be released until the victim’s family is contacted.

If anyone has information on this incident please contact the Council Bluffs Police Department at 712-328-4765 or contact Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867.

Congratulations to Suzette Christensen, the winner of Herman the Hog!

Herman weighed 284 pounds and no one guessed the weight correctly.  Nine people were one pound off on their guesses, four chose 283 pounds and 5 people chose 285 pounds.  Since there is only one winner, those names were tossed together and Suzette won the drawing.

We had great turnout on Friday with lots of guesses at both locations.

Thanks again and enjoy great local pork products as we celebrate Pork Month in October!

KNOXVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have identified a woman killed in a pipe bomb explosion at a gender reveal party in Iowa. The Marion County sheriff’s office says 56-year-old Pamela Kreimeyer died instantly after debris struck her in the head Sunday in rural Knoxville. Authorities say the Kreimeyer family had been experimenting with different types of explosives in hopes of recording a gender reveal ceremony that could be posted on social media for friends and family.

They say family members used gunpowder to create a homemade stand that was supposed to blow colorful powder indicating the child’s sex, but tape over the top of the metal tubing inadvertently created a pipe bomb that sent shrapnel flying. Kreimeyer was standing 45 feet from the device when it exploded.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Flooding along the Missouri River has stretched on for seven months in some places and could endure through the winter. That could leave some Upper Midwest farmland and possibly some homes encased in ice. The icy flooding is possible due to a still-high river, saturated ground, broken levees and a forecast for a wetter-than normal winter. It’s possible some flooding could continue into spring.

In places along the lower Missouri River where levees broke in the spring, large areas of mostly farmland remains underwater. Fixing the broken levees will take several years. Tom Bullock says there’s no end in sight to flooding in northwestern Missouri, where he is Holt County’s emergency management director. Roughly 30,000 acres remain underwater in Holt County, and some of that floodwater is likely to freeze in place.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports deputies responded at around 2:05-a.m. Sunday, to a two-vehicle accident at the intersection of Highway 71 and Jasper Road. Authorities say a 2012 Buick Enclave owned and driven by 30-year old Ross Milton Campbell, of Omaha, was northbound on Highway 71, when his vehicle struck a southbound 2008 Mercury Milan, owned and driven by 56-year old Lynn Marie Maurer, of Griswold.

Campbell was transported by Medivac Ambulance to Cass County Memorial Hospital, for minor injuries. Upon further investigation, deputies arrested Campbell for OWI 2nd Offense. He was also cited for Failure to Maintain Control and Driving on Wrong Side of Two Way Highway. Campbell was taken to the Cass County Jail and released later that day on $2,000 bond. Damage from the collision amounted to $16,000.

And on Saturday, October 26th, Cass County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 29-year old Jessica Lynn Pierce, of Omaha, for OWI 1st Offense, and Carrying a Weapon While Intoxicated. Pierce was taken to the Cass County Jail and released later that day on $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds says due to legal challenges of executive action in other states, she’s ruled out issuing an executive order that would restrict electronic cigarette sales. Reynolds met Friday with key staff to discuss ways to address underage “vaping” and the illness that’s been associated with the use of e-cigarettes. “Right now I’m not going to do an executive order. I’m not going to look at a ban,” Reynolds syas. “We’re going to continue to raise awareness both in our schools and our universities and just in the public in general.”

Public health officials have identified more than 40 vaping-related illnesses in Iowa and Reynolds says the majority of those involved the use of a vaping cartridge that was laced with T-H-C, the chemical in marijuana that causes the “high.” “We’ve seen it stabilize just a little, but we know like anything else it could escalate tomorrow, so I’m not saying that it’s even close to being addressed,” Reynolds says.

The president of the state Senate this past spring proposed raising the age for buying products that contain nicotine from 18 to 21, but the proposal was not adopted by the 2019 Iowa legislature. The governor says she’s willing to consider raising the age. “I think that would be maybe something that might help, moving forward,” Reynolds says. “…We need to look at everything, so I would say for the most part we’re not going to take things off the table until we evaluate what’s making a difference.”

The governor says she’s asked the Departments of Education, Human Services and Public Health to coordinate a social media campaign talking about the dangers of vaping, especially among minors.