(Radio Iowa) – A delegation of five Kazakhstani judicial professionals are visiting Iowa this week to observe how the U-S system of justice work. It’s a program of the Iowa International Center, where Janet Norton oversees the International Visitors Programs. “They were selected to come and learn basically a best practices type of program. So, they’re meeting with a broad range of individuals involved in the judiciary in one fashion or another to discuss various aspects of how the courts run here,” Norton says.

They are observing the U-S District Court for the Southern District of Iowa in Des Moines and Iowa 5th District Court in action. They are also meeting with the Iowa State Bar Association and faculty and students from Drake University Law School and the Drake Legal Clinic, and are visiting the Polk County Jail. Norton says they are also sharing some things about their system. She says from what she’s heard there are some similarities in the types of cases that come through the court.

And she says there are some differences in how cases make their way through the court. “They are working on developing more of a juvenile court system in Kazakhstan and focusing on young people’s issue, as apposed to the standard courts,” according to Norton. “They have some type of juvenile system currently, but they are looking at expanding.” Norton says it has been interesting to see them talk with their American counterparts about the system. “They witnessed the sentencing of someone who had been brought up on drug charges. And there was a conversation around the rate of incarceration, the number of people being sent to prison, and the differences between the two countries,” Norton says. “I found it interesting that they said in Kazakhstan their rate of incarceration is lower.”

The group visited Washington, D-C before coming to Iowa and is set to return home on Sunday.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — The Davenport School district is investigating reports that a teacher was wearing blackface at a public Halloween party. The Quad-City Times reports that Walcott Elementary teacher Megan Luloff was among people at a Halloween party at the Walcott American Legion who portrayed characters from the movie “Napoleon Dynamite.” She reportedly dressed as Lafawnduh, a character who is black. District Superintendent Art Tate says “the wearing of blackface is never appropriate in any circumstance by any person.”

The district is under state supervision because a disproportionate number of minority students have been identified for special education and subject to disciplinary actions. Betty C. Andrews with the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP Conference of Branches says “the revelation that the woman in blackface is a teacher who is expected to provide a safe and equitable classroom environment for all children is very disconcerting.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — No one has won the big Powerball prize, so the estimated jackpot now grows to $750 million — potentially the fourth-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. The next drawing will be Saturday. On Wednesday night, when it was at $620 million, the Powerball jackpot looked sort of puny given all the attention lavished on the $1.537 billion Mega Millions jackpot won in South Carolina on Tuesday. But with two giant prizes in one week, it was hard not to compare.

Only three lottery jackpots have been larger than the next Powerball prize. No one has won the Powerball jackpot since Aug. 11, when a man from Staten Island, New York, won $245.6 million.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a cyberattacker might have taken patient data from a Sioux City vision and surgical practice. The Sioux City Journal reports that officials for Jones Eye Clinic and an affiliated surgery center, CJ Elmwood Partners, discovered a ransomware attack on Aug. 23. In such online attacks, data is locked and payment demanded for the data to be released. The computer systems were put back into service using backup information, and no ransom payment was made.

Officials say the attackers would have had the ability to access patient information contained in billing and schedule software but not medical records. The compromised patient data included some individuals’ Social Security numbers and insurance claim information. Jones Eye Clinic and the surgery center have told patients about the data breach and are paying to enroll the affected patients in a year of credit monitoring.

Red Oak Police Wednesday, arrested a man wanted on a Polk County warrant for Violation of Probation, on an original charge of 1st Degree Harassment.  34-year old Kyle William Chase, of Red Oak, was taken into custody after a brief foot pursuit that began at around Noon, Wednesday, when officers responded to a tip he was at the 4H Apartments, in Red Oak. Upon officers’ arrival, Chase fled the apartment and ran out the back door. He then ran around the building and northbound across East Summit Street into an open field.

Chase was arrested in the field on the warrant, and transported to the Montgomery County Jail where he was held without bond.