SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) – An Iowa man will face federal charges in a bank robbery, now that Nebraska is dropping its case.  The Sioux City Journal says 67-year-old Max Lafferty, of Sioux City, Iowa, was indicted last week in U.S. District Court in Omaha. Dakota County Attorney Kim Watson filed a motion Friday to dismiss the Nebraska case against Lafferty.

Lafferty is accused of robbing a Bank of the West branch in South Sioux City on Sept. 11. Police say he flashed a steak knife when he demanded cash from a bank worker and left the building with about $1,500. He was arrested about a block away. A Dakota County jailer said Monday that Lafferty has been turned over to federal marshals.

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports southwest Iowa man was sentenced October 19th to more than two-years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt says in addition to the 26-month prison term, United States District Court Judge Ronald E. Longstaff also 35-year old Brandon Scott Sutton, of Tabor,to 3 years of supervised release. The Court also ordered Sutton to pay a $100.00 special assessment for the Crime Victim Fund, and, he must forfeit the firearm and ammunition found in his possession at the time of his arrest. Sutton
remains in the custody of the United States Marshal pending designation of the Federal Bureau of
Prisons facility at which he will serve his sentence.

Officials say on November 29th, 2011, Sutton was charged in a one-count Indictment with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Sutton entered his plea of guilty to the firearms charge on June 1st ,2012, in United States District Court in Council Bluffs. The charges arose from an incident on October 6th, 2011, at a truck stop on Interstate 80, near Underwood. Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call regarding threats of assaultive behavior and found Brandon Scott Sutton in possession of a 9 mm pistol and ammunition. Sutton had previously been convicted of various felony offenses, including an offense relating to assault on a police officer.

The case was investigated by the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

(12:40-p.m. News)

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Iowa drivers need be on the lookout for deer as the harvest thins the corn fields and the mating season begins.  Iowa ranks second among the states in the number of car-deer crashes.  Only West Virginia has more.  The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier says this is the time of year for drivers to be most watchful. State Farm, which tracks statistics on deer-related accidents, says November, October and December, in that order, are the most common months for deer accidents.  Tom Litchfield of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says corn crops make good cover for deer, and as the harvest progresses, the deer scatter.  Deer are on the move mostly at dawn and dusk, but Litchfield says it could be anytime during the mating season.

These pictures were taken northwest of Atlantic, by photographer Charlie Lloyd, of Nevada, Iowa, in a plane flown by Jim Kurtenbach, also of Nevada, IA. (Photos supplied by Radio Iowa). According to the Cass County Assessor’s Office, the land near the Scott Small farm, is owned by Jim Warren, of CA, and farmed by Jim and Nancy Pellett, of Atlantic. (Click on the image to enlarge)

Fire stations and other entities in Shelby County can change their Fire Danger placards to “Low,”from now through Thursday. Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert says with recent rain and the moist conditions,  and the likelihood of more rain this week, the danger of grassland and field fires is low.

The Atlantic Police Department reports two arrests over the weekend. Officials say 18-year old Kyler O’Brien, of Atlantic, was arrested Friday on a shoplifting charge (5th degree theft). And, 22-year old Kevin Engles, of Atlantic, was arrested Sunday, on a Willful Injury charge.

According to police, Engles allegedly hit his step-father Sunday evening in the face, with a stick of wood. 38-year-old Kevin Ralph Burg was transported to CCMH for treatment of his injuries.

Kevin Engles and Kyler O’Brien were booked into the Cass County Jail and held, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

w/ Ric Hanson

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24-hour rainfall in Atlantic (ending at 7-a.m. today), was .21″ at the KJAN studios, the official National Weather Service reporting site for Atlantic. The rain began early this morning, and ended just after 6:30-a.m. Other, unofficial rainfall totals include: 1″ near Oakland; .94″ Villisca; .75″ in Emerson; and, .50″ near Essex. Other locations received anywhere between two- and three-tenths of an inch of rain.

Public meetings will be held today in Atlantic, and tonight in Creston, to discuss a proposal to reorganize statewide victim services. Federal and state funding cuts since 2007 have forced eight programs in Iowa to close, and that’s resulted in larger service areas in pockets of the state – with inequitable divisions of both programming and funding. A reorganization plan would divide the state into six multi-county service areas with the state awarding funding on a competitive basis to programs in each region. Wendy Richter, Director of the Family Crisis Support Network in Atlantic, says they learned of the plan in July. Richter says shelters across the state have saved lives by preventing abuse from escalating into a homicide.

One of 13 public meetings scheduled around the state to discuss the proposed changes in Victim Services in Iowa, takes place at 1:30 this afternoon in Atlantic, in Room 141 at Iowa Western Community College. Another will be held in Room 180 at Southwestern Community College in Creston, beginning at 6-p.m. Richter says officials with the State will talk about funding issues and seek to gather input from communities about Victim Services and how cuts in funding would affect those services.

Plans for the regionalization of services in Iowa, according to Richter, are being modeled after those in other states. She says the apparent goal of regionalization is to maintain some sort of satellite office in the rural areas, but past experience has shown that doesn’t happen effectively. She also questions why there’s a rush to close some shelters and regionalize, when there are funds available to keep the shelters open. The good news is, regardless of funding cuts, the shelter in Atlantic will remain open. She says the Atlantic shelter is independently owned, and, they have a reserve fund to operate from. Other facilities she says, are not that fortunate.