COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA — A man from Nebraska was sentenced Tuesday (July 20) in Council Bluffs U-S District Court, for drug and firearms offenses. The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa, reports 35-year-old Daniel James Haacke, of Omaha, received a sentence of 160 months in prison. His term of imprisonment is to be followed by four years of supervised release.

According to court documents, Haacke pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of Drug Trafficking in February of 2021. Acting United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement.

The Council Bluffs Police Department, Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.

(Radio Iowa) – Legal experts say a federal court’s decision on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, means more waiting for Iowans. The court’s ruling in Texas last week found DACA unconstitutional, which means many peoples’ status is up in the air, according to Jody Mashek, co-legal director at Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice. She says people can still apply for DACA, but their applications won’t go anywhere.  “It’s got to be excruciating for people who have an initial application pending, probably a little scary, too,” Mashek says. “They’ve voluntarily submitted their information to the federal government, when maybe the federal government most likely did not have any knowledge of them.”

Mashek says people in Iowa who either just applied for or were about to apply for DACA are now in a state of limbo. “Based on what I’m hearing, it’s just kind of like, ‘Yeah, what else is new?’” she says. “Like DACA has just been so all over the place for four years and there have been so many times when we thought ‘Okay, this is it.’”

Mashek says the court’s decision is not necessarily final, as the case still needs to go through the appeals process. She estimates there are at least 20 people on her organization’s waiting list to apply for DACA. Before proceeding, the agency is waiting for more guidance from U-S Citizenship and Immigration Services.

(By Kassidy Arena, Iowa Public Radio)

The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton School Board met Monday evening in a regular session. During their session, the Board approved the 2021 FFA Convention Trip. There are more than 40 FFA members, with at least half attending the convention. This year, the FFA Convention takes place Oct. 26-29 in Indianapolis, IN.

In other business:

• The Board appointed Jan Greving as Board Secretary, following the retirement of Tammy Jacobsen.
• The Board approved the hiring of: Lexi Griffin as Middle School English Language Arts Teacher, and Dara Svendsen, as Human Resources/Administrative Assistant.
• The Exira-EHK Board also accepted the resignation of JoAnne Morenz, High School English Teacher.

DES MOINES, Iowa — The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa today (Wednesday, July 21) announced federal search warrants were executed at more than a dozen located in the Des Moines metropolitan area. The addresses are as follows:
• 1100 block of 24th Street, Des Moines
• 1300 block of 13th Place, Des Moines
• 800 block of Loomis Avenue, Des Moines
• 1200 block of East 32nd Street, Des Moines
• 6300 block of Hickman Road, Des Moines
• 1300 block of Clark Street, Des Moines
• 5100 block of Ingersoll Avenue, Des Moines
• 1700 block of Logan Avenue, Des Moines
• 400 block of Aurora Avenue, Des Moines
• 2200 block of 32nd Street, Des Moines
• 1800 block of 2nd Avenue, Des Moines
• 300 block of East Grand Avenue, Des Moines
• 800 block of East County Line Road, Des Moines

Authorities say the searches were an official law enforcement action involving officers, agents, and investigators from:

• The Mid-Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force & Mid-Iowa NEF Task Force -East
• Central Iowa Gang Task Force
• Des Moines, West Des Moines, Ankeny, Ames, Altoona, and Norwalk Police Departments
• Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement
• Polk and Story County Sheriff’s Offices
• The ATF
• Iowa State Patrol/Iowa State Patrol SWAT
• Iowa Division of Intelligence and Fusion Center
• United States Marshals Service
• Central Iowa Drug Task Force
• DEA
• Homeland Security Investigations
• METRO Star
• SERT
• Iowa 5th Judicial District;
• FBI from Kansas City, Omaha and Minneapolis Divisions

Additional details were not immediately released.