SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City elementary school has been given a monetary prize for their computer programming efforts during an international week dedicated to teaching code. The Sioux City Journal reports that Loess Hills Elementary received the Code Iowa award from the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and code.org, a computer science nonprofit, this week.

The school received $4,000 to be used toward instructional technology for their efforts in Hour of Code week. Millions of students work on a computer-coding related activity in the worldwide event. Loess Hills Elementary is a computer programming specialty school. Instructors teach core subjects through a computer programming lens.

The students dedicated their Hour of Code week to spreading knowledge to City Council members, business owners and representatives of higher education institutions.

Police in Council Bluffs are investigating the armed robbery of a bank. The incident took place at around 4:40-p.m. Thursday, at the Frontier Savings Bank, located at 509 South 23rd Avenue, in Council Bluffs. Upon arrival officers learned that the suspect, a white male, was last seen running westbound on foot from the bank.

Suspect, was described as being about 6-feet tall and weighing about 225-pounds. He wore an orange, hunting-style stocking cap, mirrored sunglasses, a gray sweatshirt, black knit gloves and faded jeans with work-style boots.

Surveillance still image of robbery suspect.

He entered the bank and as he approached the female bank teller, said “Are you all ready for Christmas?”. The suspect then handed the teller a hand written note which demanded all of their money and not to set off any alarms. He also produced what appeared to be a small caliber handgun, and laid the weapon down with his right hand on the counter towards the teller.

The suspect then pulled from his pocket what appeared to be some type of a retail store bank bag with a drawstring and the teller gave him an undetermined amount of U.S. currency. The man made no threats towards the teller or any other person in
the bank.

Anyone with any information regarding the identity of the suspect is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker is expected to release sometime today (Friday), the name of the pilot who died late Thursday morning, after his plane crashed into the median between the north and southbound lanes of Interstate 29, near the northwest side of Council Bluffs.

Sheriff’s officials told the Daily NonPareil Thursday, that the pilot, flying a Piper Malibu Meridian single-engine plane, left Eppley Airfield at 11:51 a.m. Shortly after takeoff, the man radioed back to Eppley that he was having plane troubles and requested an emergency landing. A motorist who witnessed the crash said the plane was flying low, parallel above the railroad tracks, when it pitched hard right and the wing clipped a power line. Authorities said three lines were cut during the collision. One of the lines landed across I-29 northbound, causing one lane to be closed for about an hour.

The witness, an off-duty police officer and former firefighter, said the elderly male pilot had no pulse when he checked him after arriving on the scene. He was believed to be the lone passenger in the plane. The pilot was still in the plane hours after the crash as authorities waited for investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board to arrive.

The U-S Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary report shows there were 90 fatal workplace injuries in Iowa in 2014, an increase of 18 from 2013. Bureau economist, Paul Laporte, says 32 fatal accidents involved transportation issues, the most in any category. He says transportation accidents were up by three, while there was also an increase for a category of in falls, trips or slips.There were 25 deaths in the falls, trips or slips category. Laporte says one of the key industries in the state had the most deaths.

“In Iowa, farming related occupations are still on top of the list. Construction and also, truck drivers as well,” Laporte says. The category of agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting had 28 deaths, up from 22 the previous year. Laporte says the construction industry saw an increase in deaths on the job. They experienced 12 workplace fatalities in 2013 and that edged up to 20 in 2014,” according to Laporte. He says many of the construction workplace deaths involved falls. Eighty-five of the 90 — or 94 percent — of those who died in workplace accidents in Iowa last year were men. Laporte says that is about the same percentage seen in the rest of the country.

“Women nationally accounted for eight percent of all fatal occupational injuries in 2014,” Laporte says. “So, nationwide, 92 percent of those who died on the job were men.” Iowa’s 90 workplace deaths are more than several of the surrounding states. “South Dakota 28, North Dakota dropped down to 38, and Nebraska was at 54. So, among some of the plains states Iowa did unfortunately experience the largest number of fatalities.”

The recent numbers for Iowa have ranged from a high of 110 in 1992 to a low of 54 in 1995. You can see more information on the workforce deaths at www.bls.gov/regions/midwest.

(Radio Iowa)

A new report (issued Thursday) shows Iowans rank 10th in the country when it comes to volunteering. In 2014, 33-percent of Iowa residents volunteered their time helping others. In total, nearly 808-thousand volunteers across the state gave over 69 million hours of service worth an estimated 1.6 billion dollars.

The data comes from the Volunteering and Civic Life in America report released by the Corporation for National and Community Service. In addition to volunteering, more than half of Iowa residents donated $25 or more to charity last year.

(Radio Iowa)