CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A former nurse who admitted diverting pain medications from residents at two northeastern Iowa nursing homes has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. The Courier reports that 36-year-old Lacey Staveley, of Evansdale, was sentenced Thursday in Cedar Rapids.

Staveley pleaded guilty last year to one count of acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception or subterfuge and another count of making false statements relating to health care matters. She was later charged with contempt after police say she stole pills from a relative after she had pleaded guilty to the nursing home thefts.

Prosecutors say she took hydrocodone intended for two chronic pain patients at Cedar Falls Health Care in November 2016, then faked medication logs to cover her tracks. Officials say she also took pain medication in 2018 from two patients at Harmony House in Waterloo and replaced them with anti-psychotic and antidepressant drugs.

Atlantic School District Superintendent Steve Barber reports Middle School Chromebook computers will be issued to the District’s middle schoolers, on Tuesday.  The cover has a portrait of a Graduate, and they are protected by a durable cover.  The Dell 3100 computers can be used as a traditional keyboard and a touch screen.  Barber says “All of our Middle School students have had a meeting explaining operations and expectations.  During the month of September parents of middle school children will be required to attend an informational meeting on these computers.”

Cass County Deputy Auditor Sheri Karns reports Mark Harris has filed papers for Anita City Council.  Karns adds, that there are two positions open for city council in Anita and the Mayor position.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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An Adair County man was arrested Thursday evening, in Creston. Officials with the Creston Police Department report 25-year old Jeffrey Dewayne Ott, of Orient, was arrested at around 6:30-p.m. in Creston, for Disorderly Conduct. Ott was later released on a $300 bond.

A Madison County woman died during a residential fire Thursday evening. Fire officials told KCCI 62-year-old Jolene Baker was found dead in her Winterset home. The fire broke out just before 7 p.m. Thursday in the 300 block of South 7^th Avenue. The cause of the fire was being investigated by the Winterset Police Department, Winterset Fire Department and the State Fire Marshall’s office.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines medical center has announced that after three decades of operation, it will shut down its kidney and pancreas transplant operation. MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center announced in a news release Thursday that the closure is effective Oct. 1. The program had been suspended earlier this year as hospital officials questioned the need for two transplant centers in Des Moines.

MercyOne says it will work with the city’s other transplant center at Iowa Methodist Medical Center to help those in need. The release says the closure affects four MercyOne employees. The Des Moines Register reports that Iowa Methodist Medical Center handles more than twice as many kidney operations per year as MercyOne’s transplant team.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Trial has been set next month for a Guatemala man charged with killing an Iowa woman and her two children. The Des Moines Register reports that a judge on Thursday set Oct. 28 as the start of the first-degree murder trial for 31-year-old Marvin Oswaldo Escobar-Orellana. Escobar-Orellana is accused of fatally shooting 29-year-old Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez, her 11-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son in mid-July in a Des Moines home.

Escobar-Orellana is charged with three counts of first-degree murder under what authorities say was a false name he initially gave to police: Marvin Esquivel-Lopez. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have said Escobar-Orellana is in the United States illegally and had twice been deported before the July shooting. He was convicted in 2010 of illegal entry into the U.S.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City teacher accused of sending critical letters to her superintendent and other district leaders has been fired. The Sioux City Journal reports the school board voted to fire middle school teacher Julie Fischer even though a judge cleared her of criminal charges last spring. In March, a judge dismissed six counts of harassment Fischer faced because the letters were deemed free speech, not harassment.

Fischer had other teachers speak on her behalf at the board hearings. She had taught in the district since 1991. Fischer had been on administrative leave from August 2018 until last Wednesday when the school board fired her.