COLO, Iowa (AP) — A registered sex offender in Iowa faces new charges after investigators say he molested several young boys on camping trips to a Story County park. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that 30-year-old Michael Ferguson took several boys between the ages of 9 and 14 camping at Hickory Grove Park in Colo between May 2017 and February. Court documents say Ferguson forced at least four children to perform sexual acts.

Ferguson was recently arrested in Stark County, Ohio, and extradited to Story County. He’s charged with two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and indecent exposure. He’s being held in lieu of $500,000 bail. Ferguson was convicted of assault with the intent to commit sexual abuse of a teenage boy in 2008.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A western Iowa jury has found a man guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of another homeless man at a Council Bluffs homeless shelter. The Daily Nonpareil reports that 46-year-old Vance Good was found guilty Friday in the March stabbing death of 44-year-old Lee Johnson. Good is one of four men charged in Johnson’s death, including 20-year-old James McCauley, who also faces a first-degree murder charge.

Thirty-two-year-old Brandon Hollis pleaded guilty in June to being an accessory and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Cody Varnes is charged with first-degree robbery and testified against Good at trial. Police called to the Joshua House on March 21 found Johnson’s body outside the shelter with multiple deep cuts to his face and neck.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Incumbent Republican Rep. Rod Blum and his Democratic challenger, state Rep. Abby Finkenauer, are downplaying their own political scandals in the weeks leading to the Nov. 6 election for Iowa’s 1st District House seat.

The Courier reports that the two defended their records Friday in the first of two planned debates. Finkenauer responded to questions about failing to note her change of employment in 2015 when she became the director of a nonprofit organization that advocates equal pay, family leave and other working-family issues. She said she reported the employment to the Iowa House “the second I found there was a new … requirement.”

Blum downplayed his failure to disclose founding a Dubuque company that promises it can help businesses bury negative information below the first page of internet search results. Blum faces a U.S. House Ethics Committee inquiry for his actions involving Tin Moon Corp.

(DES MOINES) –The United States Department of Justice, Office of Justice Planning recently gave notice to the Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) and Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) that the State has been awarded a $200,000 planning grant to help develop policy and programs aimed at addressing reentry and employment readiness for adults being released from Iowa’s prisons. The application was submitted by the Iowa DOC as the primary grantee; IWD was a partner in the submission, and will be a major collaborator in the implementation.

The planning grant will allow for department staff to collaborate with agencies to focus on examination of statewide, multi-agency policies that could be improved to benefit individuals exiting the prison system. The planning will focus on a target population classified as “moderate risk” to “high risk” as identified by DOC risk measurement instruments. These efforts are part of the broader mission of the DOC.

DOC Director Jerry Bartruff said, “I’m really excited for our team to get to work on this new project. We know there is a need to refine some of the policies as well as some practices across our agencies so that we’re preparing incarcerated individuals for success when they return to their community. For every person that we help succeed in reentry- that’s one step closer to our department’s goal of creating opportunities for safer communities.”

Partnering with the DOC in this project, IWD Director Beth Townsend said her agency will play an important role in the success of any policy or practice reforms that need to occur to improve the rate of successful community reentry for the formerly incarcerated. Townsend said “We know that individuals who are gainfully employed as they re-enter the workforce are much less likely to recidivate. We also know that the second largest pool of available workers is comprised of individuals who have been incarcerated. As such, making sure that we are doing everything we can to ensure these Iowans are prepared to contribute meaningfully to Iowa’s workforce is an imperative. This planning grant will help us better align our resources, so we can make that happen more readily.”

The Iowa Reentry and Employment Training Project will run from October 2018 through October 2019, with a final report being submitted to the US DOJ BJP upon completion.