MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former janitor accused of video recording people in a northern Iowa school staff restroom has changed his plea to guilty. Mason City station KIMT reports that 47-year-old David Bemis, of Mason City, entered the pleas to four counts of invasion of privacy. Court documents say the prosecution will recommend a 60-day jail sentence for him and a year of probation in return for his pleas. He’d originally pleaded not guilty. Bemis’ sentencing is scheduled for July 18.

Investigators say Bemis was working at Clear Creek Elementary in Clear Lake in May 2013 when he hid a camera in the restroom and recorded four school employees in varying degrees of nudity. He no longer works for the district. Clear Lake Superintendent Doug Gee has said no students were recorded.

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

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former caretaker has been given three years of probation for stealing from clients of a Sioux City organization that helps people with intellectual disabilities. Court records say Jessica Rivera, of Sergeant Bluff, pleaded guilty Tuesday to dependent adult abuse-exploitation. She also was given a suspended prison term of five years and was ordered to make restitution of more than $1,100 to her victims. The records say that between January and July 2017, while she worked for Mosaic, Rivera made unauthorized purchases using gift cards or other funds from the clients and kept the items.

Republican Governor Kim Reynolds wasted no time in targeting the man who will be her opponent in the general election this fall. Speaking before supporters at the Iowa G-O-P headquarters in Des Moines last (Tuesday) night, Reynolds blasted Democrat and Des Moines businessman Fred Hubbell for his lifestyle and hefty bank account.

“My opponent grew up very differently from most of us and that’s okay, because we celebrate wealth in this country,” Reynolds says. “The issue isn’t that Fred Hubbell has been rich his entire life, it’s that he has no idea what it’s like not to be.” Reynolds talked about her days of growing up in Saint Charles, waiting tables and checking groceries at Hy-Vee, and contrasted that with Hubbell, the former C-E-O of a life insurance company whose family built a fortune over the decades in finance and real estate.

Reynolds says, “He has no idea what it’s like to balance a family checkbook or to make the tough decisions most of us make each and every day when we’re trying to make ends meet.”  Reynolds, who ran unopposed in Tuesday’s primary, continued to poke at her November opponent, painting Hubbell as a wealthy elitist.

“Just last week, Fred admitted that he doesn’t think Iowa is the best state in the country to live,” Reynolds says, drawing boos from the crowd. “Well, Fred, if you don’t think Iowa is the best place to live, then you absolutely don’t know the Iowa that I know.”  Hubbell spent a reported seven-million dollars on this primary election, including three-million of his own money.

“If you think eliminating rural jobs to increase profits is the right way to lead, then you don’t know Iowa,” Reynolds says. “If you think the governor’s office is for sale to the highest bidder, guess what? You don’t know Iowans. You don’t know Iowa, but I do.”
Reynolds called Iowa a “wonderful state, filled with opportunities…a place where dreams can come true.”

(Radio Iowa)