DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Governor Terry Branstad says he’s headed to China later this month at the invitation of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (shee jeen ping). Branstad will travel with a group of Iowans from May 29th to June 5th. They’ll participate in a reunion banquet with Xi, who came to Iowa in February as part of his first U.S. trip as the presumed next president of China. February’s trip was a reunion 27 years after Xi first visited Iowa for a diplomatic exchange to Muscatine.
 
AMES, Iowa (AP) – Police say a 46-year-old Ames man had died after he was caught in the hydraulic loading door of a water tanker truck. The Ames Tribune reports that the man died yesterday morning at Manatts Construction in Ames. His name hasn’t been released.
 
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – A 61-year-old former high school teacher in Waterloo has pleaded guilty to having inappropriate conduct with a student. Former Waterloo West High School social studies teacher Michael Lyons pleaded guilty yesterday to one felony count of sexual exploitation by a school employee and two misdemeanor counts. Lyons was arrested in November.
 
TAMA, Iowa (AP) – Tama County authorities have arrested a second volunteer firefighter in connection with a string of recent fires they believe were set intentionally. Eighteen-year-old Joshua Weiermann of Chelsea, Iowa, faces charges of aiding and abetting arson and being an accessory after the fact. He was being held yesterday morning in lieu of $20,000 bond.