438 high school seniors across Iowa will be honored Sunday, April 28, 2013, at the Eleventh Annual Governor’s Scholar Recognition Ceremony, held at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines starting at 1:00 p.m.

The Governor’s Office, the Iowa High School Athletic Association, and its title sponsor, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, are presenting this recognition program.

The Honorable Governor Terry Branstad and Honorable Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds will host the event and address the audience of 2,500-plus. Iowa Farm Bureau President Craig Hill, Brett Nanninga, Superintendent at Tri-Center Community Schools, and chairperson of the Board of Control of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, and Tania Johnson, 2013 Iowa Teacher of the Year from Cedar Rapids, will welcome the students and their guests.

The seniors being honored were selected by their high schools as the highest academic achievers. Each student will receive a photo plaque of themselves with Governor Branstad and Lt. Governor Reynolds and a certificate to commemorate their achievement. Each student’s most influential teacher will also receive a certificate of appreciation.  A reception for the students, their parents, their most influential teachers, and other guests will follow the ceremony.

In addition to being recognized as the state’s brightest students, over 99 percent of the group participates in school activities, with approximately 80 percent participating in at least one interscholastic sport. More than 60 percent plan to pursue their post-secondary education in Iowa.

Among the local honorees:  Elizabeth Mulder of Adair-Casey, Kaelly Welsh of A-H-S-T, Scott Caslow of Atlantic, Marissa Haubrich of Audubon, Trevor McKee of CAM, Brendan McAllister of Coon Rapids-Bayard, Andrea Beck of Corning, Jacob Hartvigsen of Exira/EHK, Haley Scmidt of Griswold, Therese Frels of Guthrie Center, Adam Zaccone of Harlan, Jakob Croghan of IKM/Manning, Emily Dickinson of Logan-Magnolia, Hannah West of Missouri Valley, Julie Bricker of Nodaway Valley, Morgan James of Orient-Macksburg, Brenna Hafner of Panorama, Geoffrey Sellers of Red Oak, Rachel Faga of Riverside, Kara Allen of Stanton, Ryan Hempel of Treynor, Charles Peters of Tri-Center, Madicen Fanslau of Underwood, Jill Vanderhoof of Villisca, Lauren Sievers of Walnut and Alyssa Blum of Woodbine.

Click this link to view the entire list: Governor’s Scholar Award Winners

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest Monday afternoon, of a Corning man. 24-year old Cody Sanson was taken into custody on a charge of Domestic Assault. His bond was set at $1,000.

Officers with the Atlantic Police Department investigated a minor accident during the prom, Saturday. Authorities say vehicles driven by Ashley Freund, of Lewis, and Barbara Waters, of Cumberland, collided at 14th and Plum Streets (near the entrance to the high school), at around 9:55-p.m.  The accident happened in the middle of the intersection, after both vehicles stopped, but then proceeded into the intersection. The damage amounted to $12,000.  There were no injuries reported, and no citations issued.

The Atlantic Police Department reports the arrest of five people over the past few days. On Sunday, 38-year old Troy McCurdy, of Atlantic, was arrested for Tampering with a Witness. McCurdy was arrested Saturday as well, for Disorderly Conduct.

Also arrested Saturday, was 26-year old Justin Knutsen, of Atlantic. He was charged with Public Intoxication, 2 counts of Theft in the 4th degree, 3 counts of Burglary in the 3rd degree, and theft in the 5th degree. The charges are in connection with a rash of recent car burglaries. He was taken into custody after he was found inside of one the vehicles that was allegedly broken into. Knutsen was also found to allegedly be in possession of the stolen property.And, 24-year old Joseph Fredericksen, of Atlantic, was arrested Saturday on a Cass County warrant for Theft in the 5th degree.

And, officers with the A-PD arrested 23-year old Tyler Mills, of Atlantic, on Friday. Mills was arrested on a warrant for Violation of Probation. All four of the individuals were booked into the Cass County Jail.

Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds says it’s time for Democrats in the Iowa Senate to respond to the offer Republicans made last week on education reform.  “I think anytime that you’re in good faith negotiations you anticipate either an acceptance of the proposal or a counteroffer,” Reynolds says. “To my knowledge we haven’t seen either one yet.” Republicans in the House and Republican Governor Terry Branstad say they’ll agree to increase general state aid to schools two percent next year, with one-time, two percent bonus tacked on, followed by a four percent increase the following year. But they’ll only agree to that spending level if Democrats accept all the education reform policies House Republicans endorsed in February.

Reynolds says Republicans “delivered” a compromise and it’s up to Democrats to “move.” “I think the ball is in their court,” Reynolds says. Last week Democrats dismissed what they called the G-O-P’s “my-way-or-the-highway approach” and said they could not accept all the policy proposals House Republicans drafted. Reynolds is singling out Senator Herman Quirmbach — the top Democrat negotiating on education reform — for criticism, saying it’s time for him to rethink his opposition to the Republicans’ proposal.

“I hope he’s had some time to think about it over the weekend,” Reynolds says. “I hope he’s had some time to talk to his superintendents and the educators and the administrators and they can talk to him about how important it is to get this done and I hope he’ll come back and really sit down with that conference committee and figure out a way to get this done and move forward on education reform.” The lieutenant governor made her comments this morning (Monday) during a statehouse news conference. Legislators will return to the statehouse this afternoon (Monday), but there the 10-member conference committee trying to hammer out a deal on education reform does not have a meeting scheduled.

(Radio Iowa)

Home prices continue to climb across Iowa last month. Don Marple is President of the Iowa Association of Realtors (IAR), which keeps track of the average price of homes sold in the state. “From March of last year to this year, we’ve gone up (4.4%)…from about $138,000 to $144,000, which has been consistent that way for the last three years,” Marple said. A total of 2,672 homes were sold in Iowa last month. That’s up less than one-percent compared to March 2012 (2,654 homes sold). Marple is slightly concerned with the statewide inventory of homes as there are roughly 1,000 fewer homes on the market today in Iowa compared to a year ago.

“We need to start going out there and telling people now is the time to put your home on the market because they are getting such a great value for them – a lot better than they were two to three years ago,” Marple said. “And they’re getting a quicker value because they seem to be getting a lot of offers out there from the pent up demand of buyers wanting to buy.” The average days a home sold in Iowa spent on the market in March was 107 days. That’s down from 120 days a year ago.

(Radio Iowa)