The Cass County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of two scams Thursday morning. One was on a marketplace site (unclear if it was the Facebook marketplace or not), where a person was trying to sell items that are not really for sale. The scammers request payment via EBAY cards.

A second scam appear to originate from Cass County on a caller ID, and shows a local number. The caller asks about an Apple computer account and wants to log onto your computer.

Do Not falls for these types of scams!

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa has landed an eight-million dollar grant to purchase three semi-sized simulators that will help Iowa’s rural first responders and community hospital staffs brush up on emergency medicine. Cormac O’Sullivan, a U-I nursing professor, says each of the three simulators will be equipped with a mock-up ambulance cab and an emergency room.

Teams from the U-I will work with the rural Iowa crews on medical procedures and in situations they don’t often encounter in sparsely-populated areas.

The grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to the U-I College of Nursing will allow O’Sullivan and other health care professionals from Iowa City to offer valuable hands-on experience to rural agencies in their own backyards for those seldom-seen situations.

O’Sullivan is co-director of the U-I’s Simulation in Motion program. The first of the three vehicles is expected to be delivered in the spring of 2022, with the other two arriving that summer.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds is asking developers to submit proposals to the state for creation of a system that will help Iowans schedule Covid vaccinations.

Since vaccinations began on December 14th, about 70-thousand Iowans have received both doses. Nearly 137-thousand others have gotten a first dose. Iowa has the 3rd lowest per capita rate of vaccinations compared to other states.

Iowans with internet access may go to the Iowa Department of Public Health’s coronavirus website where there’s an interactive map with information about each county health department’s vaccination plan. Starting tomorrow (Friday), Iowans over the age of 65 who don’t use the internet and haven’t been able to get a Covid shot can call their local Area Agency on Aging for help. Iowans who’ve gotten a first dose, but haven’t been able to schedule a second dose should call the provider who administered the first shot.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The amount of water being released into the Missouri River from a key dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will likely remain low this month because conditions remain dry and snowpack levels are below average throughout the region. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday that it will keep the amount of water flowing out of Gavins Point Dam at the winter release rate of 17,000 cubic feet (481.4 cubic meters) per second.

That means river levels will remain low headed into spring. Officials say it still appears that 2021 will be somewhat drier and only about 89% of the normal amount of water is expected to flow down the Missouri River.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Attorney General’s Office says the state will receive nearly $4.7 million over five years as part of a multistate settlement with a firm that worked with opioid manufacturers to promote addictive painkillers. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said Thursday that the settlement will be used to address problems caused by opioids, including paying for substance abuse treatment services for Iowans.

Iowa is part of a coalition of 53 attorneys general who collectively won $573 million in a settlement with McKinsey & Company, one of the world’s largest consulting firms. The settlement will be split among 47 states, five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA— A Council Bluffs man, 52-year old Thomas Donald Boatright, entered a plea of guilty, Wednesday, to four counts of coercion and enticement of a minor. His plea was received in Council Bluffs U-S District Court. Boatright is scheduled to be sentenced in Council Bluffs, on June 4th.

Thomas D. Boatright

Boatright worked as a foreign exchange coordinator and host for a program in which students from other countries enrolled in a year of high school in the United States. The students were assigned a host family to live with while they attended high school. In February 2020, a student reported that a hidden camera was discovered in Boatright’s bathroom where two minor foreign students were assigned to live as part of this program.

An investigation unveiled that Boatright used his cellular phone and computer to engage in conversations with the students prior to and after arriving in the United States that were sexual
in nature. Boatright used his position as a foreign exchange coordinator and host parent to coerce and entice the students to engage in sexual activity.

The case was investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials at Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines have announced the name of a male giraffe born there in January: Raza. The zoo says in a news release Thursday that the name was the overwhelming pick of thousands of people who voted among three names selected as possible choices. The zoo says 45% of the vote went to Raza over the other choices: Mosi and Ikemba. The zoo says Raza means “hope.”

The calf will be on public display for the first time starting Thursday afternoon and was expected to be available for public view on a limited basis in the coming days. Zoo officials said viewing times would increase in the coming weeks.