SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former U.S. Postal Service worker in northwestern Iowa has been sentenced to probation for stealing items from the mail he was supposed to deliver. Federal prosecutors say 42-year-old Kirk Baird, of Sergeant Bluff, was sentenced in a Sioux City federal court Friday.

He pleaded guilty in March to one count of theft of mail by a postal service employee. At his plea hearing, Baird admitted that from August to October, he removed cash and gift cards from items in the mail at least 22 times. Baird had originally faced up to five years in prison without the possibility of parole.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in Des Moines are investigating a shooting that sent one person to a hospital. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that the shooting happened Saturday morning on SE Third Street. One person was taken to a hospital by ambulance.

Police tell KCCI that an arrest has been made and that investigators believe the shooting was a domestic violence incident. Witnesses told the television station that a man tried to flee on foot after the shooting, but was caught and arrested.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports two separate arrests on Friday.

At 11:04am Officers arrested 35-year-old Kendra Mary Fry of Red Oak on a warrant for Theft 5th Degree. She was later released on $30 bond.

At 4:50pm Officers arrested 30-year-old Nathan Al Ward Jr. of Red Oak in the alley of the 300 block of Joy Street. Ward Jr. was arrested for Violation of a No Contact Order. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former U.S. Postal Service worker in northwestern Iowa has been sentenced to probation for stealing items from the mail he was supposed to deliver. Federal prosecutors say 42-year-old Kirk Baird, of Sergeant Bluff, was sentenced in a Sioux City federal court Friday.

He pleaded guilty in March to one count of theft of mail by a postal service employee. At his plea hearing, Baird admitted that from August to October, he removed cash and gift cards from items in the mail at least 22 times.

Baird had originally faced up to five years in prison without the possibility of parole.

w/ Chris Parks

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The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Massena woman late Friday night on a prior warrant. Deputies arrested 19-year-old Kalyn Smith of Massena at 11:40pm following a traffic stop. Smith was arrested on an Adams County Warrant for Possession of a Controlled Substance (Marijuana) 1st Offense that stems from a traffic stop back on April 15th.  Smith was held on $1,300 bond.

A Pottawattamie County man was sentenced Friday (May 19th) to slightly more than eight-years in prison on child pornography charges. According to the U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa, 41-year old Mitchell Eugene Obrecht, of Carter Lake, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger to 97 months in prison for possession of child pornography. Obrecht will be required to serve 10 years of supervised release following his imprisonment.

On January 30, 2017, Obrecht pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with possession of child pornography on or about September 18, 2015. The charge resulted from an investigation into the posting of a video and an image, each depicting child pornography, on a social networking site. Law enforcement followed up with a search warrant of Obrecht’s residence and located two computers that contained over 1,000 of images of child pornography.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Carter Lake Iowa Police Department, and Douglas County Nebraska Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

The Iowa Supreme Court issued a mixed ruling in a lawsuit against an Iowa City landlord. Tenant Joan Walton sued landlord Martin Gaffey in 2014 saying some of the fees and charged in the lease — including carpet cleaning — were not legal. Walton also sought to have the lawsuit made a class action to include other tenants. Gaffey contended the contested provisions are not prohibited under Iowa Code, and Walton has no claim because the provisions were never enforced against her.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled the carpet-cleaning provision is unenforceable, but left open the possibility that other fees and damages are recoverable by Gaffey after the case goes back to the district court for review. The Supreme Court also reversed the class action ruling in favor of the tenant, but says that does not rule out that Walton can establish the grounds for certification when the district court reviews the case.

The Supreme Court issued a similar ruling in a case involving tenants of Southgate Property Management. It also sent that case back to the district court for review.

(Radio Iowa)

Governor Terry Branstad says the parents accused of mistreating two Iowa teenagers who’ve recently starved to death will be held accountable by the justice system — and the governor says staff in the Department of Human Services who did child welfare checks in both homes are trying to do the best they can.

“We have to review what went wrong and how we can do a better job to prevent these kind of things from happening in the future,” Branstad says. An outside consultant is being hired to review the state’s child welfare system. Natalie Finn of West Des Moines starved to death last fall, despite reports from neighbors and school officials who raised concerns about her home environment. Sabrina Ray of Perry, who also was 16, died last week and the medical examiner says she was severely malnourished. Child abuse investigators had visited her home as well.

“It just breaks my heart to see this happening in our state and I want to do all I can to try to prevent it from happening again,” Branstad says. A few Democrats in the legislature have called for the resignation of Iowa Department of Human Services director Chuck Palmer after this second case of an adopted teenager dying of starvation. Branstad says Palmer’s running the biggest agency in state government and it deals “tens of thousands” of child welfare cases.

“It’s such a terrible tragedy when you have a teenage child that starves to death or is mistreated,” Branstad says. “But I also want you to know that Chuck Palmer is a very dedicated public servant who has worked hard to deal with a lot of important issues, everything from the redesign of our mental health system to Medicaid, to protecting children.” Branstad says Palmer has “done a lot of good”and the agency has prevented tragedies.

“But we are very, very disappointed and upset that we have lost these young children and we obviously want to make sure we do everything we can to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Branstad told reporters this afternoon. The Republican chairmen of the Government Oversight Committees in the House and Senate released a statement about their own investigation of the state agency.

The G-O-P legislators say the starvation death of a second child who was “on the Department of Human Services’ radar…confirms the need” for an examination of the state’s foster care system and how child abuse reports are handled.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City teen has been arrested and charged with a felony after police said he intentionally shot his 3-year-old sister twice in the face with a BB gun, severely injuring her. The Sioux City Journal reports that the 17-year-old shot the preschooler Wednesday, breaking her jaw and requiring surgery.

The teen has been charged with willful injury. The Associated Press generally does not name juveniles charged with crimes. Doctors say one BB was removed during surgery, but the other BB entered near her eye and lodged next to her brain. Doctors say it was too risky to remove, so has been left in place.

The teen is being held in Woodbury County Jail.