A plan by two Pottawattamie County men to sell items on a social media page backfired Tuesday night, when the men were assaulted and robbed. Council Bluffs Police Lt. Mark Galvan said in a press release, that 20-year old Ronald Kleckner and 18-year old Scott Evans, both of Council Bluffs, had advertised items for sale on a local buy/sell Facebook page.

A person contacted the men, and a date, time and location was set up to meet them and purchase the advertised items. At around 11-p.m. Tuesday, Kleckner and Evans arrived at the location in the 100 block of 4th Avenue in Council Bluffs, and were approached by four people, two black males, an Hispanic male and an unknown male subject.

The men assaulted Kleckner and Evans with a club and robbed them of several items. The victims, who suffered minor injuries, were able to get in their car and drive away. As they left, they reported hearing a gunshot. The black male suspects were described as being between 19 and 24-years of age. No other details about the suspects is available.

If you have any information about the robbery, contact the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division at 712-328-4728.

A meeting is set to take place this Saturday morning in Clarinda, with regard to Governor Branstad’s proposal to close or re-purpose the Clarinda Mental Health Institute. The meeting, featuring Dept. of Human Services Director Chuck Palmer, will be held in the Clarinda MHI auditorium beginning at 10-a.m.  Saturday, January 31st. District 24 Republican Representative Cecil Dolecheck also plans to attend.

Governor Terry Branstad said earlier this week his administration wouldn’t be violating state law if they continue to run “significant” prison operations and a military-style academy on the Mental Health Institute campuses in Mount Pleasant and Clarinda.

Key legislators says they were “disturbed” because they didn’t learn of Branstad’s plan to close the two mental health care facilities in Mount Pleasant and Clarinda until they were shown the details of Branstad’s proposed budget.

Iowa Lottery players continue to win large prizes across the state. Officials with the Lottery say an Atlantic man is the latest, big instant-scratch game winner, in Cass County during calendar year 2014. Douglas Holtz won $5,000 in the “SUPER CROSSWORD” game with a ticket purchased at Caseys in Atlantic. Carolyn Johnson, also of Atlantic, was the county’s latest and biggest lotto winner during the same period, winning $30,000 in the HOT LOTTO game with a ticket purchased at Caseys in Atlantic.

Iowa Lottery players won a total of $186.9 million in prizes in fiscal year 2014, the latest complete year for which the lottery has records. However, there are a significant number of prizes that expire each year without being claimed. The lottery reminds its players to double-check their tickets. In fiscal year 2014, nearly $1.4 million in lotto prizes expired in Iowa without being claimed.

Prize money left unclaimed after redemption deadlines goes into the lottery’s prize pools for future games and promotions. On the lottery’s website at www.ialottery.com, there is a current list of unclaimed lotto prizes of $10,000 or more.

A bill in the Iowa Legislature would allow more strip searches of inmates in city and county jails, in accordance with a U-S Supreme Court ruling. Under the bill, people arrested for simple misdemeanors such as public intoxication or possession of drug paraphernalia could be searched for contraband even without probable cause. Lisa Davis Cook with the Iowa Association for Justice objects. “It’s still taking their clothes off. You still have people taking their clothes off and to make people take their clothes off you should have probable cause for something such as that,” Davis Cook says. Iowa law already allows so-called visual searches without probably cause for more serious offenses. A-C-L-U attorney Pete McRoberts says the bill should only cover violent offenders.

“And leave the college student who is arrested for public intoxication out of this list,” McRoberts says. Marshall County Sheriff’s Department chief deputy, Steve Hoffman, says that could pose a threat to officers. The college student who is arrested for public intoxication, well perhaps he’s also carrying a weapon on him,” Hoffman says. Law enforcement officers say those arrested for minor crimes can still carry weapons into jails, sometimes at the urging of accused felons temporarily housed at the jail. The bill cleared a three-member House committee after skeptics insisted on exempting those who are in custody for a short time and don’t end up in the jail’s general population.

(Radio Iowa)