DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The time is approaching when Iowa lawmakers typically start wrapping up their work for the year, but with budget negotiations moving slowly, it doesn’t look like the Legislature will be adjourning any time soon. May 1 is the final day of expense payments for the part-time lawmakers, as well as the last day for much of the temporary staff and the student pages who work in the Legislature. With just three weeks to go, lawmakers in the Republican-majority state House and Democratic-controlled Senate are still far apart on how much additional funding to provide for K-12 education and remain at odds over basic budget issues. Republican House Speaker Kraig Paulsen declined to predict when the session may end.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The fraud trial for a former lottery worker accused of buying a Hot Lotto ticket and setting up a scheme to try to cash it in is scheduled to begin Monday. Eddie Tipton of Norwalk faces two counts of fraud. He was arrested in January after authorities claimed he had bought the ticket in December 2010. It was worth about $14 million. As director of information security for the Multi-State Lottery Association based in Des Moines, Tipton wasn’t allowed to play or win prizes.

CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — The author of a new report looking at police staffing levels is urging Clinton to hire new officers to deal with the eastern Iowa city’s serious crime problem. The Clinton Herald says researcher Tim Freesmeyer presented the report Thursday to the City Council following a two-year examination of the Clinton Police Department.

MITCHELLVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Some inmates are sleeping in temporary bunk beds at the overcrowded Mitchellville state women’s prison. Warden Patti Watchtendorf tells the Des Moines Register that 84 bunk beds have been installed as a short-term solution. Watchtendorf says she anticipates the issue will be solved when a prison construction project is fully completed this fall.

PEOSTA, Iowa (AP) — A small, single-engine plane has made an emergency landing on a rural eastern Iowa road. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports that no one was injured when the emergency landing was executed Saturday morning on the Peosta road. The pilot, Adam Maritz of California, found a stretch of Cox Springs Road without nearby power lines and landed the plane.

CHARITON, Iowa (AP) — Those in Iowa planning a road trip through the south central part of the state should prepare for delays due to road construction. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that four lanes of Interstate 35 will be cut to two lanes starting Thursday. The construction area will run from just south of the Iowa Highway 2 interchange to just north of the Decatur County Road J-14 interchange.