EARLY, Iowa (AP) – A man arrested in western Iowa on charges of assault and kidnapping had been released from prison just two days earlier.  Sac County Sheriff Ken McClure said his office received a call about 8 a.m. Thursday after someone encountered a 21-year-old Storm Lake woman who claimed she had been kidnapped. After talking with the woman, officers searched the area and found 21-year-old Kirk Riley Levin hiding in a barn.

Levin is in the Sac County Jail on charges of assault and kidnapping.  While investigating the kidnapping, officers found a woman’s body at the rural Early farmhouse where Levin lived and are investigating how she died. McClure says her death is suspicious.  The Iowa Department of Corrections says Levin was released from prison on Tuesday after serving a sentence or burglary.

By this time in 2014, all Iowans who take the G-E-D to complete their high school education will be taking it on a computer. Three Iowa community colleges have launched a pilot project to test and implement the new technology. Rick Carpenter, director of program development for the Des Moines Area Community College, says five students were the first in Iowa to take the computerized G-E-D tests. It happened a month ago, on December 3rd, at a  classroom in Des Moines.  “In the year’s past, we’ve been doing the tests just by paper, but we have transformed over to computer-based testing and for all new students who take the GED, it will be on the computer,” Carpenter says.

Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs and Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa are joining D-MACC in the first wave of converting to computerized G-E-D tests. Classes for students who want to get a G-E-D — which stands for General Education Degree — are held at the state’s 15 area community colleges and the tests are taken on the community college campuses. It takes up to 10 weeks for a student to find out if they’ve passed the G-E-D when they take the paper exam. Carpenter says there’s a much quicker turn-around for the computer exams. “The students instantly get their feedback results when it’s on computer-based testing,” Pennington says.

The state’s 15 area community colleges have been administering G-E-D tests since 1966. The G-E-D test was first devised in 1942 to help returning World War II veterans finish high school, without having to go back to classes inside a high school. Five years later the state of New York began offering the G-E-D as an alternative method of earning a high school education. In 2009, 99 percent of the Iowans who took the G-E-D exams passed and almost four-thousand adults earned an Iowa High School Equivalency Diploma.

(Radio Iowa)

The Walnut City Council, Thursday, adopted upon the first reading, a new section to the Code of Ordinances, prohibiting the use of compression brakes (commonly referred to as “Jake Brakes”).  The Council waived the second and third reading of the ordinance, which means tractor-trailer drivers will not be able to use their engine brake system to slow their rig. Most communities have enacted a similar “No Engine Braking” Ordinance, to prevent the annoying and disruptive sound the systems make, within city limits.

In other business, the Walnut City Council took no action on a proposal by the fire department, to purchase a new “Quick Attack” vehicle. City Clerk Terri Abel says department officials will hold a meeting with leaders of the Layton, Lincoln and Monroe Townships on January 15th, to discuss the matter. The meeting takes place during the Fire Board meeting at 5:30-p.m. Jan. 15th, in the Walnut Fire Station.

The Council also took no action on a recommendation of a replacement for the Zoning Commission.

CAM School District Pre-K through 8th Grade Principal Larry Hunt says as part of a statewide effort to reduce or eliminate bullying and harassment in Iowa schools, the CAM (Cumberland-Anita-Massena) School District, in cooperation with First National Bank, and Cornbelt Insurance, will host a special program for Middle- and High- School students, on Thursday, January 10th. The program “Rachel’s Challenge,” is a series of student empowering programs and strategies which equip students and adults with the mental tools to combat bullying, while at the same time allaying feelings of isolation and despair, by creating a culture of kindness and compassion.

The student sessions take place from 8:45-a.m. until 9:45-a.m. Thursday, at the CAM Middle School, and from Noon until 1-p.m. at the CAM High School. There will also be student training at the High School in Anita, from 1:30 until 3-p.m., Thursday. In addition to the student program, a parent/community session will be held Thursday evening.

The “Rachel’s Challenge” program is based on the writings of 17-year old Rachel Scott, who was the first student to die at Columbine High School, in 1999.

Rachel Scott

The core component of the program, is a school assembly that tells her story, and serves as the inspiration for change, among students. Hunt says the CAM Board of Directors and district administrators believe the program will bring “Real life meaning” to their students and community, on the problem students face when it comes to bullying and harassment. For more information, go to www.rachelschallenge.org.