A southwest Iowa man who was 17-years old when he committed a serious crime 15-years ago and was sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of incarceration without the possibility of parole, had his Taylor County District Court sentence vacated today (Friday) by the Iowa Supreme Court – meaning the previous judgement is legally void. The High Court ordered the case of Jarrod Dale Majors be remanded back to the District Court with specific instructions.

Majors broke into the Bedford home of his neighbors, Jamie and Holly Peckham on May 31st, 2002, while the couple was attending a church meeting. He laid in wait, hidden in a bedroom closet wearing a ski mask and gloves, and armed with a large knife. Majors also had a .22 caliber rifle with a plastic pop bottle attached to the barrel, to act as a silencer.

When the couple came home and Holly entered the bedroom, Majors emerged from the closet and attacked her. While she fought him off, her husband ran into the room and took the rifle away from Majors before tackling him to the floor. Majors attempted to use the machete on Jamie Peckham. Holly Peckham escaped and ran to a neighbor’s home. The neighbor, Gene Ehlers, helped to wrestle the machete away from Majors.

During his court case, Majors pled guilty to attempted murder and burglary in the second-degree. He was sentenced to 25-years in prison with a minimum of 21-years. He was also sentenced to 10-years in prison for the burglary charge. The sentences ran consecutively. Majors sought and received a re-sentencing hearing in Sept., 2015.

Following the hearing, the District Court again sentenced Majors to 25-years in prison for attempted murder, with 70% to be served prior to being eligible for parole. He was also re-sentenced to 10 years on the Burglary charge. After reviewing his appeal and the court records, the Iowa Supreme Court concluded the District Court abused its discretion by imposing a minimum period of incarceration without eligibility for parole, and remanded the case for re-sentencing.

A man wanted on two warrants out of Council Bluffs for Theft in the 2nd Degree and Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree (for Destruction/damage or vandalism of property), was arrested in Shelby  early this (Friday) morning. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports a Pott. County Deputy was dispatched to the Subway Store in Avoca, to meet with Shelby County Deputies and take into custody, 34-year old Michael Richard Carrier, of Carter Lake. The man was transported to the Pott. County Jail at around 2:20-a.m.

Thursday afternoon, 19-year old Kenneth August Block, of Council Bluffs, turned himself-in to the Pott. County Jail, on a warrant out of Pottawattamie County. Block was booked-into the jail for Probation Violation.

An international delegation of ten farmers and ag industry leaders from as far away as Australia and New Zealand is arriving in Iowa today (Friday) to spend a week studying the Iowa way of life. Ed Kee, Delaware’s former Secretary of Agriculture, is now president of Nuffield American. “Nuffield International is a group that sponsors significant travel for young farmers from different countries to go around the world and learn about agriculture in those countries,” Kee says. “They travel 16 weeks divided over a year’s time to do that work.”

That work includes compiling an in-depth report on their experiences. Kee is no stranger to Iowa as he’s had a long working relationship with Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey. “It’s a real treat for me to help these people from these different countries to visit Iowa,” Kee says. “Secretary Northey and his department have been a big help in arranging it but as we did that, the Iowa farmers, the Iowa agribusiness people are so welcoming and encouraging.”

Members of the delegation were expected tol begin their tour meeting with Secretary Northey today. “The group is interacting with the different farm organizations and commodity leaders to really start off trying to understand Iowa agriculture,” Kee says. “The most exciting thing is just getting out on the farms, interacting with different agribusinesses, different farmers.”

The tour will include stops on farms and tours of agricultural industries in the Des Moines area as well as Ames, Anita, Bridgewater, Sigourney, Nevada and Ellsworth. They’ll also take in an Iowa Cubs game in Des Moines, the first baseball game for many of them. Ag officials participating in the tour are from Australia, Brazil, England, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

(Radio Iowa)

(Corrected arrest dates) Audubon Police Chief Matt Starmer reports three people were arrested recently. Thursday, 18-year old Travis Theodore Wolff, and 31-year old Spencer Gordon Heuton, both of Audubon, were arrested for Disorderly Conduct.

And, on Tuesday, 49-year old Jeffrey Robert Albert, of Kimballton, was arrested for Driving While Suspended.

All three individuals were subsequently released on a promise to appear (later) in court.

Waverly, IA (Radio Iowa) — Hackers hit the Waverly Health Center Wednesday night. Hospital computers began showing signs of irregularities about 5:00 p.m. Heather Solheim, the hospital’s director of community relations, says by early evening it was clear a cyberattack was underway. “By seven o’clock we had disconnected all of our systems, recognizing that we had a significant virus within our entire information systems,” Solheim says.

Solheim says the hospital’s “incident reaction team” was activated. “All of our incident command positions started really just taking care of the projects that we needed to do, making sure that patient safety was our number one priority,” Solheim says, “and determining what types of services we were able to continue offering.”

The ransomware hacker demanded money in order to free up the hospital’s computers. Solheim says fortunately, the hospital’s data is encrypted so the hacker did NOT have access to patient information. “This issue was unsual in that Microsoft had not recognized this virus before,” Solheim says, “so there really were no safeguards to prevent it from getting in our system.”

Healthcare has become a particularly attractive target for ransomware hackers. A group of free standing cancer treatment centers in Florida was subject to a ransomware attack in 2016. The computers at the Waverly Health Center are expected to be virus free sometime today (Friday).

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

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The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – June 16, 2017 – The southbound Interstate 29 on-ramp at 25th Street (exit 55) will be closed after the morning rush hour Monday, June 19th, until approximately late July 2017, weather permitting, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s District 4 office, in Atlantic. The southbound I-29 traffic will be shifted to the northbound lanes (one lane in each direction)

Construction during the 2017 season is part of the Iowa DOT’s Council Bluffs Interstate System Improvement Program. The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

The latest traveler information is available anytime through the 511 system. Visit 511ia.org; call 511 (within Iowa) or 800-288-1047 (nationwide); stay connected with 511 on Facebook or Twitter (find links at https://iowadot.gov/511/511-social-media-sites); or download the free app to your mobile device.

Des Moines (Radio Iowa) — The new leader of the largest agency in state government vows to “improve morale” among “front-line” social workers and conduct a “bottom-to-the-top” review of Iowa’s child welfare system. Yesterday (Thursday) was Jerry Foxhoven’s first day as director of the Iowa Department of Human Services.  “Part of my challenge will be to work with the people in that system right now and for all of us to step back and say: ‘What are we doing that’s working? What we doing that’s not working?’ And if it’s not working, we need to change it.”

An outside consultant has already begun a review of cases involving two teenage girls who died after being adopted by their foster families. After just a few hours as the agency’s director, Foxhoven says what he knows about the cases is what he’s learned from media reports. “These are terrible tragedies. They’re awful. It sickens me and shocks me,” Foxhoven says, “but I certainly know if kids have come to our attention and they end up the way these kids ended up, that we need to look and say: ‘How did this happen and what do we need to change it so that it doesn’t happen again?'”

Foxhoven is a 64-year-old attorney and Drake Law School professor who has spent his career as a child advocate. He led several groups that advised the department on the foster care system and juvenile detention. Foxhoven says after a conversation with Governor Kim Reynolds, he got “fired him up” about taking the reins at D-H-S. “I felt like going to the Kentucky Derby and being one of the horses behind that gate, saying: ‘Open that gate. I want to run!'” Foxhoven says. “And so I’m excited about it.”

Reynolds told reporters earlier this month she was looking for a D-H-S director who wasn’t “afraid…to do things differently.” Foxhoven says he’s a “mission-driven” person and the governor gave him a pretty simple mission. “What she didn’t say was: ‘Keep me out of the newspaper. We’re looking bad. Help me look good.” She never said that,” Foxhoven says. “What she did say to me is: ‘Tell us whatever it is we need to do to make it safer for kids in Iowa,’ and so that made it really easy to say: ‘I want to do this.'”

Foxhoven grew up in Yankton, South Dakota, in what he describes as a “working-class family.” Foxhoven got a degree from Morningside College in Sioux City, majoring in history and political science. After earning a law degree from Drake University, he stayed to work in central Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Kim Reynolds has made it semiofficial: She intends to run for governor of Iowa next year. Reynolds ascended to the governor’s chair from her post as lieutenant governor last month, replacing Terry Branstad after his confirmation as U.S. ambassador to China. She’d been widely expected to run but had yet to make a formal announcement.

A news release from her campaign organization said this Thursday:

“The Governor and Lt. Governor intend to be candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor in 2018. A final decision and formal announcement will be made in the coming months.”

Her running mate would be the state’s acting lieutenant governor, Adam Gregg. She named him to replace her but only in an “acting” capacity in order to avoid any legal fight over her power.