KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – An official with the U.S.-led international military coalition says the five troops killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan were all Americans. Capt. Luca Carniel confirmed that the troops killed on Saturday were U.S. service members.  The coalition did not disclose the location of the blast.

However, Javeed Faisal, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province, said a coalition patrol hit the roadside bomb in Maiwand district of the province, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.  With the deaths, 47 members of the coalition have been killed so far this year – including 32 Americans.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – It’s unclear whether a law requiring gender balance on boards and commissions is getting more women involved in local government, but some officials question the need for the law.  Iowa is the only state that requires gender balance of state and local boards and commissions. Legislators who backed the law in 2009 say it pushes officials to give women the encouragement they need to seek public office.

The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University found 49 percent of all county boards and commissions are gender balanced. The group is studying results for city governments.

In the small northeast Iowa city of Calmar, Mayor Cory Meyer says it’s hard enough to find volunteers to fill unpaid, time-consuming positions. He pays little attention to the law.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office says a Union County man was arrested early this (Saturday) morning after authorities investigated a report of a car in the ditch near the 54 mile marker off of Highway 34. Deputies determined the driver, 43-year old Timothy Coleman, of Creston, was intoxicated. He was taken into custody at around 1:15-a.m. on an OWI charge.  Coleman was being held in the Adams County Jail pending an initial court appearance or the posting of bond.

A man suspected of opening fire and wounding a Sioux City Police officer following a traffic stop on Monday, has been captured in Texas. According to Sioux City TV station KCAU,  21-year old Jamal Dean was taken into custody early this (Saturday) morning in Texas, by United States Marshals.  Dean was being held on an arrest warrant for Attempted Murder in connection with the April 29 shooting of Sioux City Police Officer Kevin McCormick.

McCormick stopped a car that Dean was a passenger in when Dean allegedly stepped out of the car and fired on the officer. One of the bullets crashed through McCormick’s windshield and hit him in the head. The officer was treated at an area hospital and has since been released. Sioux City Police Chief Doug Young says after realizing he was shot, Officer McCormick still called in a description of the suspect.

Dean fled the area after the shooting and was the subject of a search that spanned from Omaha to Denver and beyond. Officials say several agencies worked closely together to ensure the suspect was found. Dean is suspected of being involved in several other shootings. He also was wanted on a warrant out for his arrest for burglarizing a Sioux City home with his brother Levon, who was arrested Monday night while they were searching for Jamal. Court records indicate after Levon and Jamal broke into the home, Jamal hit the home’s owner on the head with the butt of a .22 rifle, splitting the victim’s head open. The same weapon is believed to have been used in Monday’s shooting of officer McCormick.

Authorities in Harrison County say a woman from Missouri Valley died Friday morning from injuries she suffered during in a single-vehicle crash near Logan. 39-year old Amy Hardy, died at Alegent Health Community Memorial Hospital in Missouri Valley, following the crash that resulted in her being ejected from her 2002 Ford Taurus when it left the road and hit a tree. The accident happened about two-miles west of Logan on 260th Street.

According to the sheriff’s department, Hardy was traveling west on 260th, when her car’s tires dropped off the edge of the roadway. The woman over-corrected and lost control of her car, which entered the north ditch before striking a large tree. The accident scene was discovered a little after 9-a.m. Friday, but authorities aren’t sure when it actually took place. An investigation into the crash continues.