The driver of a stolen vehicle was injured and faces numerous charges after the suspect crashed the vehicle into a total of three vehicles and a house in Council Bluffs early this (Sunday) morning. According to Bluffs Police, 22-year old Mark E. Wilke, Jr., suffered minor injuries during the crash and was transported to Jennie Edmundson Hospital for treatment. When he’s released, he’ll be arrested for Reckless Driving, Theft in the 1st degree of  a stolen vehicle, and OWI.

Police and Council Bluffs Fire and Rescue Personnel were called to the area of the 3500 block of Avenue A at around 4:25-a.m., after they received word a vehicle hit a house at 3515 Avenue A. The vehicle, owned by Terry Hanson, of Council Bluffs, was damaged when it hit two parked vehicles and the home of Scott Mohr, of Council Bluffs. The vehicle was located in the intersection of Avenue A and 35th Street.

Police say the suspect vehicle was apparently traveling at a high rate of speed on Avenue A westbound. At the intersection of 35th Street and Avenue A, it collided with a mini-van before continuing west and hitting the two parked vehicles in front of 3511 Avenue A and then hitting Mohr’s home.

Upon further investigation, it was determined the suspect vehicle was stolen out of Treynor, and that Hanson didn’t know it was missing. A City of Council Bluffs building inspector was called to check the structural stability of the home.

Four teachers in southwest Iowa were recognized recently by the Charles E. Lakin Outstanding Teacher Awards. According to the Daily NonPareil, Joy Best, who teaches fifth grade at AHST in Avoca, and Rhesa Leiding, who teaches sixth through eighth grade social studies at Nishnabotna Middle School in Hamburg, both won the award. They received $10,000 as well as earning $2,500 for their respective schools.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As budget talks drag on in the state Capitol, educators are growing increasingly frustrated. School funding has been a central point of conflict throughout the legislative session, with the Democratic-led Senate seeking to provide more new dollars than the Republican-controlled House for the 2015-2016 academic year. The two sides are about $50 million apart on funding.

Paul Gausman, superintendent of the Sioux City Community School District, says his district removed about 20 instructional assistant jobs from its payroll as it waits for word about additional money. David Benson, superintendent for the Cedar Rapids Community School District, says the impasse has forced his district to keep about 30 teaching jobs on hold.

Legislative leaders say they are making progress on reaching a budget deal. They’ll resume negotiations this week.

MORAVIA, Iowa (AP) — An Oskaloosa man was killed when the boat he was operating rolled at a southern Iowa lake. The Department of Natural Resources says 50-year-old Gregory Alan Williams died Saturday morning after he and a passenger were in a boat that overturned, throwing them into the water at Rathbun Lake, west of Moravia in Appanoose County. The passenger wasn’t seriously injured. The DNR says investigators believe the 33-foot boat rolled after making a sharp turn.

LOGAN, Iowa (AP) — A former Missouri Valley fire chief accused of lying to police about two suspected arsons has been given a suspended jail sentence. The Omaha World-Herald reports that Johnnie Walker pleaded guilty to providing false information to authorities. In return, prosecutors dropped a charge of interfering with official acts. On Friday, Walker was given a 30-day suspended jail sentence and ordered to pay $120 in court costs.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A state board has approved $13.2 million worth of tax incentives for a proposed $264 million pork processing plant in Sioux City. The Sioux City Journal reports that the plant is a joint venture between Merriam, Kansas-based Seaboard Foods and St. Joseph, Missouri-based Triumph Foods and will provide at least 1,100 jobs.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Police are crediting a teenage girl with saving her younger brother from being kidnapped from the family’s home in Ames. The Des Moines Register reports that police responded to a report of attempted child abduction at the home just before 1 a.m. Friday. Family members told police that a male suspect came into the home while the family was sleeping and pulled the child out of a basement window. Police say the suspect also hit the boy in the face. A 17-year-old boy who lives in the neighborhood into custody and to hospital for a mental health evaluation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says millions of Iowa birds killed or destroyed in the wake of a bird flu outbreak should be disposed of or incinerated within the next week. The dead birds are piling up at poultry facilities. Vilsack told The Des Moines Register that the disposal by next week will happen barring another large outbreak. In the past week, two landfills — one in northwest Iowa, the other in southwest Iowa (near Malvern) — have agreed to take some of the estimated 25 million birds either stricken by avian influenza or killed to stop the spread of the disease.

The president of the Greater Iowa Better Business Bureau is urging Iowans to do their research before contributing to a charitable organization. Chris Coleman’s advice is in response to a federal lawsuit involving all 50 states against four phony cancer charities. The complaint states the organizations collected $187 million in donations over a five-year period and very little of the money actually went to help cancer victims.

Coleman said “It gives all of us real heartache because of all of us know family members or friends who are victims of cancer or have suffered through that disease.”  The defendants in the lawsuit include Cancer Fund of America, Cancer Support Services, Children’s Cancer Fund of America, and the Breast Cancer Society. Most donors, upon hearing the charity’s name, probably felt comfortable making a donation. “They borrowed a name of a good charity, I’d say they hijacked it,” Coleman said. “They steal the good reputation of many charities.”

The complaint claims a large majority of the contributions to the sham charities benefited only the defendants, their families and friends, and professional fundraising groups.”If this causes consumers to do more research to verify the legitimacy of charities before they make a contribution, that will help all good charities and we feel confident about that,” Coleman said. “We want our information to spotlight the best charities so people know where to contribute and where their gift can make the most difference.”

Charities can be checked out at the Better Business Bureau’s “Wise Giving” site: www.give.org.

(Radio Iowa)

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy is joining with his Republican colleague Chuck Grassley of Iowa to back patent legislation designed to encourage developers of technologies for use in poor nations. This week’s bill introduction comes as the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to consider broader patent legislation. Leahy and Grassley say the Patents for Humanity Improvement Act expands an existing program to encourage small businesses to participate.

The broader legislation also tries to crack down on patent trolls, who critics say shake down businesses by threatening them with lawsuits based on often spurious allegations of patent violations.