CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A northeast Iowa man has pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography. Prosecutors say 31-year-old Derek Clemens, of Evansdale, entered the plea Monday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. He admitted that, between March 2018 and October 2018, he knowingly received child pornography. Clemens faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years of imprisonment. His sentencing hearing hasn’t been scheduled.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County report a Council Bluffs man turned himself-in to the Sheriff’s Office, Monday afternoon. 27-year old Skyler Ian Goodwin was wanted on a warrant for Violation of Probation. Once the warrant was confirmed, Goodwin was transported to the Pott. County Jail, and booked-in.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Construction has begun on a free lodging facility for families of sick or injured Nebraska and western Iowa veterans being treated at the veterans hospital in Omaha.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that the $8 million Fisher House will include 16 hotel-style suites at a site near the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. It is funded by the Fisher House Foundation with local donations and will be given to the VA when complete to operate as a federal building. It is expected to open in late 2020.

There are more than 80 Fisher Houses at military and veterans hospitals around the United States, as well as two in Europe. The program was begun in 1990 by philanthropist and real estate developer Zachary Fisher.

(Radio Iowa) – Investors across Iowa are taking advantage of new federal tax incentives designed to spur economic development in distressed communities. They’re called Opportunity Zones. 62 of these areas have been designated across the state. One of them is in Denison, where Mayor Jared Beymer announced last week 45 housing units will be built to address the community’s housing shortage. “It’s brought in local investors, and it’ll probably bring in some money from outside of the community. It could turn out to be quite a very useful tool.”

Naomi Hamlett is a Des Moines city official, where an Opportunity Zone project is underway near Drake University. It will include a restaurant, retail space and a hotel. “We haven’t seen a new hotel in that part of the city for a very long time,” she says. “…The hope is that the program will provide economic stability, job growth, and improved housing conditions in disadvantaged areas that have traditionally been overlooked by the private sector.”

Two U.S. Senators have touted Opportunity Zones during political events in Iowa. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, a Republican, and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who’s also a Democratic presidential candidate, say the tax breaks help direct needed investment in both rural and urban communities. Click HERE to see a map of the 62 Opportunity Zones that have been designated in Iowa.