Parole Granted

Officials have granted parole to a 68-year-old Iowa inmate who has been imprisoned since 1974 for the killing of a man over a gambling debt. The Iowa Board of Parole has approved the release of Rasberry Williams, who was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a man outside a Waterloo pool hall. Over the decades, record show Williams had been a model inmate and in 1979 helped end a prison standoff in which two guards were taken hostage. Gov. Terry Branstad commuted his sentence last year, making him eligible for parole.