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.