VAN METER, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa clergyman is buying raffle tickets with the hope that he wins and will be able to spare a city official from being shocked by a stun gun.
The city of Van Meter has been selling raffle tickets as part of a public safety fundraiser. The winner will get the opportunity to use a stun gun on City Administrator Jake Anderson or Councilman Bob Lacy.

A pastor at Van Meter Baptist Church, Paul Porter, has been raising money to buy as many raffle tickets as he can. He told The Des Moines Register that if he were to win, neither man would get shocked. The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa has condemned the event as an improper and dangerous use of a stun gun.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have apprehended two inmates who had been listed as escaped from the Iowa prison work release facility in Waterloo. An Iowa Corrections Department news release says 23-year-old Darius Caston was caught around 6 p.m. Monday. He’s been serving a 20-year sentence since May 28, 2010, after convictions for willful injury and intimidation with a dangerous weapon. Caston was transferred to the work release facility on May 1st.

Another department news release says 20-year-old Jared Brooks was caught around 10 p.m. Monday. On Saturday he was placed on escaped status because he didn’t return from work. Brooks has been serving a 10-year-old sentence for willful injury and intimidation with a dangerous weapon. He was transferred to work release on March 17th.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A top veterinary official with the U.S. Department of Agriculture says more money, surveillance and farm security is needed to fight off a possible return of bird flu this fall. David Swayne, director of a USDA poultry research laboratory, told the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee that no new cases have been detected in three weeks. But he says the government has increased surveillance of wild birds to detect any return of the virus, and is working with farms to improve biosecurity.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad says there was no way to ensure schools would have abided by a call to not use one-time money for ongoing expenses, leading him to veto that part of a budget bill. Branstad also says he doesn’t think Democrats will get enough Republican support to call a special session to vote again on the budget. The Legislature recently sought $135 million in a spending bill that included nearly $56 million for K-12 education. Branstad cut that in a veto, arguing he opposes one-time spending for ongoing expenses.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa prison officials have removed a dozen inmates from a lockdown unit in Fort Madison where a prisoner escaped his cell over the weekend. They’re still investigating how Justin Kestner got out of the prison Sunday. He made it to Illinois before being caught.

(Information in the following story is from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The brother of a man who died after being transferred from a Clarinda mental hospital closed by the state is blaming his death on the move to a private center. Tim Hanson says his brother Robert got superior treatment at the facility in Clarinda and became severely dehydrated and died after he was moved to a nursing home in Perry last month.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad says there was no way to ensure schools would have abided by a call to not use one-time money for ongoing expenses, leading him to veto that part of a budget bill. Branstad also told reporters Tuesday he doesn’t think Democrats will get enough Republican support to call a special session to vote again on the budget.

The Legislature recently sought $135 million in a spending bill that included nearly $56 million for K-12 education. Branstad cut that in a veto, arguing he opposes one-time spending for ongoing expenses.

Republican House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, of Hiawatha, says language in the bill specified the money would go to one-time expenses, but Branstad says that wouldn’t have been enforceable.

Democratic leaders called Monday and Tuesday for a special session.