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Iowa early News Headlines: Monday, May 8th 2017

News

May 8th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:10 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Some legislators are voicing skepticism about a state agency’s new foster care rules. Lawmakers are saying they’re not sure they can trust the Department of Human Services and question why it’s focusing on seemingly small matters but not addressing bigger issues about child safety. Although the agency’s proposals address many foster care issues, like bedroom requirements, they don’t address factors behind high-profile child abuse cases. That includes the death of a teenage girl last year.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — The western Iowa sheriff’s deputy who was fatally wounded in a jail escape last week will be laid to rest on Monday. The funeral for Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Burbridge will be 10 a.m. Monday at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. It will be open to the public.

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (AP) — A Mount Vernon native and Cornell College alumnus has given $1 million to the Iowa college for a science facilities expansion. Jerry Ringer, a retired ophthalmologist in Bloomington, Illinois, and his wife, Carole, donated the money for the college’s $35 million science facilities project. The project will more than double the college’s STEM space with the construction, already under way, of the four-story Russell Science Center and renovations of West Science and portions of Law Hall.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Dubuque County has installed a camera to livestream footage of a pair of peregrine falcons that have returned to nest on a sixth-floor ledge of the courthouse. Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife diversity program technician Pat Schlarbaum tells the Telegraph Herald the birds of prey are one of nearly 20 nesting pairs in Iowa. They were once listed as an endangered species. Dubuque County staff are streaming footage of the nest on YouTube, which contains three red, potato-like eggs.