Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa woman charged in a string of racially-motivated attacks this month managed to avoid prison in recent years after arrests for previous violent crimes and threats. Nicole Poole is charged with intentionally driving her SUV into a Hispanic girl and a black boy near Des Moines-area schools in separate hit-and-run crashes on Dec. 9. She’s also charged with using racial epithets that day at a gas station. In 2017, Poole was charged with stabbing her then-boyfriend while she was on probation. But a felony charge was dismissed after the alleged victim refused to cooperate. Charges alleging she assaulted and harassed another boyfriend in 2018 were dismissed after he also declined to cooperate.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — In the last presidential election, Iowa swung fiercely to Donald Trump. Heading into 2020, the question is whether it will swing away from him. Few states have changed politically with the head-snapping speed of Iowa. It backed Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. Then four years later Trump carried Iowa by a larger percentage of the vote than in Texas. Some Democrats are seeing signs of a shift their way. If Iowa’s rightward drift has indeed stalled, it could be a foreboding sign for Trump in other upper Midwestern states he carried by much smaller margins and would need to win again.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Newly released documents show that Mason City Community School District settled a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by a former official for more $170,000. The Globe-Gazette reports that the district issued its former human resources director Jodie Anderson $31,500 in wage differential payment and $73,500 for damages. Another $70,000 was issued to cover court and attorneys’ fees. Anderson filed the lawsuit in July 2018, alleging that men employed by the district were being paid more than women for the same categories of work. The settlement was announced Monday, but the amount wasn’t disclosed until Friday in documents obtained by the non-profit Iowa Freedom of Information Council.

SHELLSBURG, Iowa (AP) — A dive team has recovered the body of a man who fell through the ice of an eastern Iowa pond while fishing. Television station KCRG reports that divers pulled the body of 47-year-old Shannan Lee Hughes, of Vinton, from the water Friday. Hughes is believed to have fallen through the ice Thursday while fishing on a private pond near Shellsburg. A passerby reported seeing Hughes fishing out on the ice. The bystander later noticed Hughes had vanished and a hole on the ice and called 911. Searchers found Hughes’ car near the pond, but no sign of him.