The electronic billboard signs on Iowa interstates are including the message “Where’s Baby? Look Before you Lock” this week to remind people to not leave kids in hot cars. Iowa Department of Transportation spokesperson, Andrea Henry, says the campaign comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: “This week’s message is an important one, especially given the high heat this week. We want to make sure that people are paying attention when they leave their vehicles,” Henry says. She says children die of heatstroke across the country every year after being left in locked vehicles.

“Any time one child dies in a situation like this it’s tragic so if we can prevent even one death or one child getting sick because they left their child for a small amount of time I think it’s worth it,” according to Henry. Henry says the billboard message was planned even before this week’s high temperatures.

The federal government reports that on average nearly 40 children die of heatstroke each year, and more than half were left in vehicles unintentionally.

(Radio Iowa)

A northwest Iowa man is jailed in the Omaha area on a charge of selling several thousand dollars worth of stolen camera equipment through the website Craigslist. La Vista (Nebraska) Police Chief Bob Lausten (LAW-stun) says it’s an open-and-shutter case.  “Back in May, we had a photographer from California that was staying at the Courtyard Marriott,” Chief Lausten says. “When he checked in with all of his equipment, one of his bags didn’t make it up to his room and he reported it lost or stolen. On July 4th, he sent me an email that said he’d seen a Craigslist ad that had what he believed was his equipment for sale by somebody from Sioux City.” La Vista police detectives posed as buyers and contacted the seller.

“Detectives had an idea this might be our victim’s property and asked the suspect to send us the serial numbers so we could make sure it wasn’t stolen,” Lauston says. “He sent us the serial numbers, we verified it was the stolen property. The suspect still wanted to come down and make the sale. He showed up in La Vista with the stolen camera equipment and he was taken into custody.” The suspect is identified as Keegan Ingram of Sioux City and the chief says Ingram has his version of events.

“His story was that he’d bought that from somebody else, so this may’ve been the second or third time this property had been sold,” Lauston says. “We don’t know exactly who stole it but we know who had possession of it.” The camera equipment is valued at four-thousand dollars.

(Radio Iowa)

Nearly 300 Iowans, who hoped to become teachers, will be getting refunds after taking classes from an online college and later learned their education degree would not allow them to teach school in Iowa. The students took classes with Ashford Online, a subsidiary of Bridgeport Education of San Diego. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners had not approved Ashford for certification for Iowa teachers. The students who were “deceived,” according to Miller, will be splitting refunds totaling more than $5.2 million.

“The checks range from $1,000 up to $55,000,” Miller said. “All of these folks, but particularly the people getting larger checks, have student debt for (Bridgeport), including federal loans, far beyond the checks we are delivering, but they are substantial checks.” Ashford has a physical campus in Clinton that will be closed down next year. Miller said around 99-percent of the students taking Ashford courses do so online. Christina LeBlanc, of Camanche, was shocked to learn she wouldn’t get a teaching certificate after her time at Ashford, but she’s planning to take classes elsewhere in hopes of one day becoming a teacher.

“I’m going to keep pushing forward, so it’s an obstacle and I’ll jump over it,” LeBlanc said. LeBlanc is getting a $21,000 refund as part of the settlement between Bridgeport-Ashford and the Iowa Attorney General’s office. That will cover less than half of her student loan debt. “I’ve got about $50,000 and I’ve still got so much further to go,” LeBlanc said. LeBlanc said she was drawn to Ashford because she could take classes online, continue to work full-time and take care of her family.

(Radio Iowa)

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office says a Corning man was arrested on a simple misdemeanor charge of Harassment, Wednesday evening. Jay John Russell was taken into custody at his home at around 6-p.m., and was being held in the Adams County Jail without bond pending an appearance in front of a magistrate.