Iowa mom jailed after leaving kids for European jaunt

IOWA: An Iowa mother who left her four young children alone to go on an 11-day European trip was jailed on child endangerment charges, authorities said on Friday. Erin Lee Macke, 30, traveled from Johnston, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines, to Germany on Sept. 20 without arranging child care for her children, two aged 12 and the others 6 and 7, Johnson police said. The children also had access to a gun in the house. "The police have seen times when people have left their children to go somewhere, but to go to another country is completely different," said a spokeswoman. The news attracted headlines in England, where the Daily Mail newspaper called Macke "America's worst mom".