IOWA – Students at schools in northwest Iowa were held late due to disruptions to travel from blizzard-like conditions on Thursday. KCCI-TV reports the Pocahontas Area Community School District alerted parents it would keep buses shut down until conditions improved as several highways in the state were officially closed due to whiteout conditions caused by quick bursts of snow and 50+ mile per hour winds. Much warmer conditions are coming, with some in the state potentially seeing 60 degrees by Christmas Day, according to the National Weather Service.

DES MOINES – A West Des Moines man was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for exploiting numerous minors on social media and possessing child pornography. According to public court records, 28-year-old Nicklas Ray Stanley exploited multiple minors on Snapchat and Instagram over several years. Stanley falsely told the minors that he was a similar age to them and requested and received sexually explicit images or videos. Stanley’s conduct included threatening to disseminate the minors’ imagery if they did not continue to send images to him.

POWESHIEK COUNTY – The Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office announced that a standoff with an alleged suspect came to an end on Thursday when the individual was found dead in an attic. WHO-13 reports members of the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement attempted a search warrant in Brooklyn, when a standoff followed. Police say that 34-year-old Skoky Gene Strohm was found dead after four hours from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.