DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced a central Iowa man to life in prison for hooking girls aged 12 and 15 on crack cocaine, having sex with them and later providing them to his drug dealer for sex acts in exchange for drugs.

Federal prosecutors in Des Moines described Clark Wesley Betts Jr. as a dangerous predator who should spend the rest of his life in prison. The 41-year-old Betts, from Urbandale, was sentenced Friday. He was convicted by a jury in June on two counts of child sex trafficking.

He was ordered to pay nearly $350,000 in restitution to one girl and nearly $375,000 to the other, amounts calculated to provide them counseling and appropriate medication for the rest of their lives.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that siblings who inherited a large share of their stepfather’s estate must pay inheritance taxes in a case that challenged the way Iowa’s tax laws treat stepchildren.

The Iowa Legislature in 2003 changed the state’s inheritance law so that children left money from a stepparent after the parents divorced couldn’t qualify for an inheritance tax exemption afforded natural or adopted children.

Paula Tyler and Mark Alcorn sued the state to recover $200,000 in taxes claiming the law violates the Iowa Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. They inherited the bulk of the estate of their stepfather, Donald Hitzhusen, a Rockford area farmer.

The court found that the state did not violate the constitution by revising tax laws as a way to promote close family relationships.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Economic Development Board has approved nearly $10 million in financial incentives for five companies promising to create 436 jobs. The board on Friday awarded TPI Composites in Newton $1.6 million to create 351 jobs. The company leases space in the former Maytag factory to make wind turbine blades. It plans to rent additional space to make bodies for electric powered passenger buses.

The board also approved $1.5 million for Riverdale aluminum manufacturer Arconic Inc. to support a $160 million expansion creating 30 jobs. John Deere received $2.9 million for a project in Urbandale to set up a new software and hardware technologies business to help farmers improve yields, creating 31 new jobs.

Other projects funded included a Swisher whiskey distillery and a Fort Dodge livestock feed additive maker.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office is asking for your help in solving a burglary & theft. Deputies today (Friday) investigated a burglary at 200 3rd Street in Braddyville.  The property is owned by Kevin Douglas Baughman.

Baughman reported that sometime between November 1st & November 16th, someone gained entry into his shop at this address and stole a Miller 110 wire welder valued at $1,200 and 2 Brodix Engine heads for a big block Chevy engine.

The heads were values at $2,800.  Anyone with information about this burglary is asked to contact the Page County Sheriff’s Office at 712-542-5193 or their local Law Enforcement agency.

Two southwest Iowa men were arrested this (Friday) morning, in Page County. The Sheriff’s Office reports Deputies arrested 34-year old Timothy Dean Curphey, of rural Braddyville, on a Page County District Court warrant for Violation of probation on an original charge of Possession of a controlled Substance.  Curphey was arrested at the Page County courthouse when he appeared for another criminal charge.  Curphey posted the $1,000 cash bond and was released pending future court proceedings.

And, 32-year old Joshua Dean Cooney, of Bedford, was arrested on a warrant for Failure to appear from Taylor County District Court.  Cooney was transported to the Page / Taylor County line and turned over to the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office as he was unable to post the $1,000 cash bond.

Cooney

Curphey