There was another meeting of key leaders late Tuesday afternoon, but still no end to the statehouse stalemate over state aid to public schools. A 10-member conference committee assembled weeks ago to try to break the impasse met, but both parties kept to their respective bargaining positions. House Speaker Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha, the top Republican in the legislature, says Republicans are not going to budge from their proposal to boost general state aid to schools by about 100-million dollars.

“That is a very real commitment,” Paulsen says. “It’s a significant amount of money and we’re very concerned about going any higher.” Democrats, meanwhile, are sticking to their call to spend 100-million more than Republicans have offered. Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs, the top Democrat in the legislature, says the state commitment to education has declined in the past three decades.

“K-12, tuition grants, community colleges, Regents institutions, the Department of Ed — all of that taken together used to be 62 percent of the state budget,” Gronstal says. “It’s down to 55 percent and people wonder why some things are starting to lag in terms of student achievement.” By law, the decision on how much money the state’s public school districts will get for the school year that starts this fall was supposed to have been made more than a year ago. If legislators fail to reach an agreement this year, districts will get the same amount of money for the next school year as was received this year.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man convicted of killing his parents with a machete on the Meskwaki Nation Settlement in central Iowa has been sentenced to consecutive life terms in federal prison. Twenty-six-year-old Gordon Lasley Jr. was sentenced on two counts of second-degree murder. A jury found Lasley guilty in December of killing his parents, Gordon Lasley Sr. and Kim Lasley, with a machete on Feb. 5, 2014 at their home on the settlement near Tama.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Senate has confirmed Beth Townsend’s appointment as director of Iowa Workforce Development. Townsend had been serving in the role in an interim capacity since the previous director retired in January. Townsend previously served as executive director of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. Former director Teresa Wahlert was accused last year of mismanaging the department and creating a hostile work environment.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A proposal to bar minors from using tanning beds at salons has won approval in the Iowa Senate. Under the plan, those under the age of 18 would not be allowed to use a tanning device at a commercial establishment.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Microsoft Corp. has sued the state of Iowa, claiming their application for a software contract was not fairly considered. The company alleges Iowa officials unfairly approved a competitor’s proposal. The petition seeks a reversal of Iowa’s $7.5 million contract with Tempus Nova to implement a cloud-based software system for thousands of state employees as part of the deal.

Hydroplaning is being blamed for a single vehicle, non-injury accident Tuesday morning, in Red Oak. Red Oak Police say a 2000 Lincoln Town Car driven by 84-year-old Cleo Charlotte Royer of Essex, was traveling north on West Washington Avenue at around 9:15-a.m., when was crossing a bridge and encountered pooled water that caused the car to hydroplane and exit the roadway to the right.  The vehicle hit a street sign and continued through a yard and into a nearby parking lot before coming to rest. Damage from the crash amounted to $7,550.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest of a Red Oak man on Criminal Mischief charges Tuesday.  At approximately 1:25pm officers arrested 31-year-old Zachariah Michael Holland in the 400 Block of North 2nd Street in Red Oak on a valid Red Oak warrant.  Holland is being charged with four counts of criminal mischief in the 2nd degree, which are all class D felonies.  Holland was taken to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center and held on $10,000 cash bond.

A new emergency notification system that will replace CodeRED was launched today (Tuesday) by the Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Agency. Officials said the Pottawattamie County Emergency Notification System is part of the growing statewide notification system “Alert Iowa.” Currently, 80 of Iowa’s 99 counties have or are in the process of implementing this statewide emergency notification system.

A Nebraska man claims his on-and-off again Iowa girlfriend scammed him out of $125,000 and now she won’t return his phone calls. The Daily NonPareil says the unidentified 59-year old victim filed a report with the Omaha Police Department on March 10th, a year after discovering he had been defrauded. He told police that the suspect, a Council Bluffs woman in her 30s, had promised to pay him back.

The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will meet in a Special Session Thursday evening at the High School. During the 6-p.m. meeting in the High School Media Center, the Board will act on ratifying a 2015-16 tentative agreement with the district’s Non-Certified Employees.

During their meeting on March 15th, the Atlantic School Board vote against ratifying the Non-Certified Employees 2015-16 tentative contract agreement, which called for a 47-cent per hour increase in pay, which would cost the district $87, 584. Board member Phil Hascall said “He struggled with” the increase, and other board members agreed.

Hascall said it’s not that he doesn’t think people don’t deserve a raise, but in his business and elsewhere, it’s hard to justify a nearly three-percent raise. “It’s sends a message to the rest of the employees who haven’t [yet] settled.” Board member Rod Hartwig said the amount was “A little higher than I thought it would be,” and Hascall said he didn’t want to vote for something that might result in the elimination of the para-educators.