(Radio Iowa) – Next Wednesday is the first day low income Iowa parents may apply for state-funded accounts to cover a child’s private school expenses. The New York based company hired to run the program will check Iowa income tax returns to verify eligibility. Odyssey C-E-O Joseph Connor says if a parent did not file a tax return, they’ll be asked to upload some other evidence of their income.

“A recent pay stub for both parents or guardians from their employer and a letter from each employer verifying annual income for the employee,” he says. The governor and most Republicans in the legislature voted this spring to make about 76-hundred dollars available to low income parents who enroll their child in a private K-through-12 school. Odyssey, the company managing the program, will first make tuition payments directly to private schools. If money’s left over, it must be used on approved expenses like books, software or tutoring available through Odyssey’s website.

The company has been holding online workshops for interested parents this week, with one scheduled for tomorrow and another on Tuesday. Today’s (Friday’s) will start at noon and will be conducted in Spanish. Applications for the state-funded Education Savings Accounts must be filed online. In the program’s first year, the money may be used for private school students in a household at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty line.

That’s about 90-thousand dollars for a family of four. In three years, all parents — regardless of income — can seek the state money to cover private school expenses, however private schools are not required to accept students.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Council Bluffs Police Department today (Thursday), took to social media to ask for the public’s help in finding a missing woman. 51-year-old Dianna McCulloch Larson was reported missing on Wednesday, May 24th. She was last seen by a co-worker, on May 21st.

Dianna McCullough-Larson is said to be approximately 5-feet 6-inches tall. She has brown hair and fair skin. Please contact the CBPD at 712-328-4728, if you have any information on her location.

Dianna McCulloch Larson

(Shannon City, Iowa) – A cow on a gravel road was struck and killed Wednesday night, northwest of Shannon City, in Union County. According to the Union County Sheriff’s Office, a 2011 Chevy pickup driven by 28-year-old Brandon Parsons, of Shannon City, was traveling south on Pole Road at around 11:18-p.m., when the vehicle struck a cow owned by Craig Hoffman, of Diagonal.

Parsons was not injured. His pickup sustained about $3,000 damage. The cow was valued at $4,000.