(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has voted to require teenagers to have a parent’s permission to use social media accounts. If the bill becomes law, social media companies must give a parent access to their minor child’s Instagram, SnapChat or other accounts and the ability to shut down those accounts. Federal law currently prohibits anyone under the age of 13 from having their own social media account. Representative Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City, led House debate of the bill.

“I believe this is an important step forward for parental rights in Iowa,” Thomson said. “It still permits parents to have some supervision over their children, while the children can have the social media accounts with monitoring.” Thomson says some teens have been harassed on social media and subjected to what’s called “sexploitation” on social media — without their parent’s knowledge and with devastating consequences.

“It’s a very sad situation…almost a homicide, because some of these bad actors have to encouraged he suicide victims to commit suicide,” Thomson says. The bill passed the House on an 88-to-six vote and goes to the Senate for review. The House approved another bill targeting the use of artificial intelligence to embed real images into pornographic content.

Representative Helena Hayes of New Sharon says they’re commonly called “deep fakes.” “These A.I. generated images are a more modern take on revenge porn without a defendant needed to obtain compromising photographs of the intended victim,” Hayes says.

The House unanimously approved a separate bill to specifically crack down on deep fakes that manipulate the images of children.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, today (Wednesday), arrested a man on an assault charge. 37-year-old Tyce Samual Watts, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 1:25-p.m. in the 100 block of West Corning Street, for Domestic Abuse Assault – Impeding Air/Blood Flow, Causing Bodily Injury, a Class-D Felony.

Watts was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held without bond, pending an appearance before a magistrate.

(Sioux City, Iowa) – A man who was found with a firearm after being a convicted felon, was sentenced February 29, 2024, to 10 years in federal prison. 34-year-old Kevin DeWolf, of Denison, received the prison term after a September 21, 2023, guilty plea to possession of a firearm by a felon. Shortly after being indicted for the firearm charge, DeWolf set a vehicle on fire in Crawford County, attempting to fraudulently collect the insurance proceeds.

DeWolf was previously convicted of manufacture, deliver, or possess with intent to manufacture or deliver controlled substance, in the Iowa District Court for Crawford County, Iowa on or about July 15, 2022. DeWolf also has a prior assault conviction.

DeWolf was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand and was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime. DeWolf is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ron Timmons.

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa school district at the center of an assault investigation involving its high school wrestling team, is losing two administrators. The Hinton School Board accepted the resignations last night (Tuesday night) of middle and high school principal Phil Goetstouwers and athletic director Brian DeJong, who is also an elementary school principal. No reasons were given for the resignations that are effective at the end of the school year.

The Coralville Police Department launched an investigation after wrestlers said older teammates tasered them at a hotel during a wrestling tournament last month. A video circulating on social media showed a wrestler being held down on a bed during the attack. A police spokesperson says additional information will likely not be released because all involved are juveniles.

Several parents attended the meeting on Tuesday night. (IPR photo by Sheila Brummer)

The public wasn’t allowed to speak at the special meeting, but afterward, one woman who identified herself by only her initials, D-H, says her son was one of seven freshmen targeted.  “There’s still a lot of people who need to be held accountable where we don’t have answers,” she says. The woman says more information will be coming out. “A lot of things have been unraveling more and more. It’s going to hit the Hinton community hard. It’s going to be getting worse before it gets better,” She says.

Hinton’s head wrestling coach is still on administrative leave. Parents say he is being allowed to teach math.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County (IA) Auditor’s Office reports a candidate filing for the June 4th Republican Primary took place, today (Wednesday). Fifth District Board of Supervisor Bernard Pettinger submitted his nomination papers.

On Monday, Republicans Kathy Somers, incumbent Cass County Auditor, filed for re-election, and Chief Deputy John Westering, filed to run for Cass County Sheriff.

Candidates for County Office have until 5-p.m. March 22, 2024, to file their nomination papers.