COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A federal judge in Iowa has sentenced a Nebraska man to more than 13 years in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa says 42-year-old Kevin Hershman, of Lincoln, Neb., was sentenced last week to 160 months. Hershman pleaded guilty after his indictment in October.
 
Hershman was found to be an armed career criminal under federal law because he’d been convicted of three or more felonies for crimes of violence or drug trafficking. They include bank robberies in Washington and Nebraska and conspiracy to rob a store in Nebraska.  Court records say Hershman is facing Nebraska charges on four felonies: two counts of theft, one of arson and one of drug possession.

A Central Iowa organizations’ misfortunes have turned into a blessing for students in eight southwest Iowa counties, who will be the beneficiaries of free school supplies. “Teacher Tools 4 Tomorrow” is a volunteer run, FREE store for qualifying teachers in Iowa. The Des Moines store was established to allow teachers of qualifying schools to shop at no cost to them for the supplies that they need to educate the students in their classrooms.

The non-profit group usually works with metro schools to provide the supplies, but because they’ve lost their warehouse, the excess school supplies must be removed from the facility in the Des Moines area.  Adams County Community Economic Development Executive Director Beth Waddle says it’s the first time they’ve been able to partner with Teacher Tools For Tomorrow. 15 pallets of school supplies were donated to help eight area schools, including: Corning, Prescott, Villisca, Lenox, Cumberland-Anita-Massena, Orient-Macksburg, Bedford and Clearfield.

Capital Sanitary Supply and Hy-Vee transported the pallets to Corning. Precision Pulley and Idler allowed use of its facility to store and sort the items. Akin Building Center provided supplies to sort and wrap the boxes. Corning Rotary Club and Southwest Iowa REC brought in volunteers to help sort the items. The schools were then notified to come to Corning to pick up their free materials.

A collision between a semi and a car this (Monday) morning in Crawford County has claimed the life of a Schleswig woman. The Iowa State Patrol says 61-year old Margaret Rebecca Irvine, who was wearing a seatbelt, died at the scene of the crash on Highway 59, about 3-miles north of Denison. Officials say a 2004 International was traveling south on Highway 59 at around 8:35-a.m., when a northbound 1993 Oldsmobile driven by Irvine went out of control on the slick road surface, and crossed the center line. The vehicle was then struck broadside by the truck.

The driver of the truck, 51-year old David Charles Joslin, of Galva, was not injured in the crash.