Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says there was enough evidence for a jury to conclude that a man shot and killed his mother in 2015, rejecting his appeal and leaving in place the jury’s $10 million verdict even though the man was later acquitted of criminal charges.. The court on Friday denied Jason Carter’s appeal of the civil case in which a jury found him responsible for the June 2015 shooting of his mother Shirley Carter at his parents’ farm home near Knoxville. Jason Carter, of Knoxville, and his father Bill Carter have been locked in legal disputes since Shirley Carter’s death. Carter later was charged with first-degree murder but a jury found him not guilty.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A panel of Iowa budget experts says they expect higher than anticipated state revenue this year and they remain cautious about predicting a quick recovery. The Revenue Estimating Conference on Friday increased the current year estimate of revenue to $8.07 billion or 1.9% growth from the previous year. That is up from a December estimate of 0.5% growth and $7.96 billion in revenue. The panel estimates state revenue will also increase in the following two years. If the estimated 3.8% growth for the 2022 fiscal year is realized, tax cuts approved in 2018 will not kick in. That’s because legislators require at least 4% revenue growth before lowering the tax brackets.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Firefighters in central Iowa have rescued a man trapped under a skid loader at a burial vault business in Waterloo. The Courier reports that the incident happened around 6 a.m. Friday when the hydraulics that operate the arms of the skid loader bucket failed, sending one of the arms crashing down on a mechanic and pinning him. Waterloo Fire Department Battalion Chief Ben Peterson says the bucket happened to be titled downward and hit the cement first, relieving enough weight from the arm that it saved the mechanic’s life. Petersen says crews cut the skid loader arm off the man’s back and took him to a hospital. His condition was not released.

INWOOD, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 9-year-old girl is dead after the car in which she was riding rear-ended a school bus in northwest Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol said the West Lyon Community School District bus was stopped to pick up students when it was hit. In a statement posted on Facebook, the West Lyon Community School District said the victim was a third grade student. She has since been identified as Jessica Yeaman, of Inwood, according to a crash report. The Des Moines Register reports that the 17-year-old driver of the car suffered serious injuries and was transported to a local hospital in Sioux Falls. Her condition wasn’t immediately known.

(Radio Iowa) – Health care systems in rural Iowa are struggling, especially after a year of the pandemic, and an effort is underway in Congress to find a fix. Members of the U-S House are considering the Rural and Underserved Small Hospital Protection Act, known as the RUSH Act. Iowa Farmers Union president Aaron Lehman says rural facilities are having a hard time finding staff.

“You have to have boots on the ground in the health care system to make sure essential services can be met,” Lehman says. “As our rural communities try to see how their community can develop either from an economic standpoint or a social standpoint, if they cannot find the personnel for their health care system, everything else grinds to a stop.” The bill would make changes to how rural health clinics are reimbursed for services by the federal government, changes Lehman says are critical.

“Providing some clarity to that is the first step in addressing whatever inequities there are to get our rural health system up to speed,” Lehman says. “We really have to take a close look at it, but the discussion is going to be vital to us moving this ahead.” He says the pandemic brought on many of the difficulties facing rural health care providers as they attempt to meet the needs of underserved areas.

“They’re on the front lines and they don’t have all the ammunition they need in order to combat COVID issues,” Lehman says. “They’ve had to find all sorts of ways to work together because those resources don’t just sit across town. Challenges are huge and the pandemic has really exposed what our barriers are in our health care system.” Lehman says Iowa Farmers Union will continue to weigh in on the rural health care problem and is studying the legislation to see what will work best.

(Radio Iowa) – The N-C-A-A basketball tournament is underway for the first time since sports gambling was legalized in Iowa. Racing and Gaming Administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says there’s a lot of excitement after last year’s tourney was canceled by COVID. But he says you have to be 21 to do any betting on the games. “The sports operators have a very robust age and identity verification process prior to letting people sign up for accounts,” he says. Ohorilko says you may’ve gone through this type of verification with your bank or credit union.

“Many of the controls that are used in the sports wagering industry are very similar to the financial controls that are used in the banking industry when people are trying to determine the identity of someone accessing their financial accounts. It’s a very similar process,” according to Ohorilko. He says some companies have additional proprietary controls of their own they use to verify identities. And there are some tried and true methods.

He says if they can’t verify the identity of the person signing up then they may request additional information, such as the photocopy of and I-D. Adults sometimes try to sneak underage people into casinos, and Ohorilko says that is a possibility with online gambling as well. “We always have the risk of a willing adult signing up or passing along their account information to a minor. But short of that, it really is very difficult for underage customers to obtain an account,” Ohorilko says.

Sports gambling companies face fines from the Racing and Gaming Commission if they are found to have allowed someone under the legal age to gamble. They are also required to cross-check gambling requests with the state self-ban list to keep people on that list from signing up.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A panel of Iowa budget experts says they expect higher than anticipated state revenue this year and they remain cautious about predicting a quick recovery. The Revenue Estimating Conference on Friday increased the current year estimate of revenue to $8.07 billion or 1.9% growth from the previous year. That is up from a December estimate of 0.5% growth and $7.96 billion in revenue.

The panel estimates state revenue will also increase in the following two years. If the estimated 3.8% growth for the 2022 fiscal year is realized, tax cuts approved in 2018 will not kick in. That’s because legislators require at least 4% revenue growth before lowering the tax brackets.

INWOOD, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 9-year-old girl is dead after the car in which she was riding rear-ended a school bus in northwest Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol said the West Lyon Community School District bus was stopped to pick up students when it was hit. In a statement posted on Facebook, the West Lyon Community School District said the victim was a third grade student. She has since been identified as Jessica Yeaman, of Inwood, according to a crash report.

The Des Moines Register reports that the 17-year-old driver of the car suffered serious injuries and was transported to a local hospital in Sioux Falls. Her condition wasn’t immediately known.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Firefighters in central Iowa have rescued a man trapped under a skid loader at a burial vault business in Waterloo. The Courier reports that the incident happened around 6 a.m. Friday when the hydraulics that operate the arms of the skid loader bucket failed, sending one of the arms crashing down on a mechanic and pinning him. Waterloo Fire Department Battalion Chief Ben Peterson says the bucket happened to be titled downward and hit the cement first, relieving enough weight from the arm that it saved the mechanic’s life. Petersen says crews cut the skid loader arm off the man’s back and took him to a hospital. His condition was not released.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says there was enough evidence for a jury to conclude that a man shot and killed his mother in 2015, rejecting his appeal and leaving in place the jury’s $10 million verdict even though the man was later acquitted of criminal charges.. The court on Friday denied Jason Carter’s appeal of the civil case in which a jury found him responsible for the June 2015 shooting of his mother Shirley Carter at his parents’ farm home near Knoxville.

Jason Carter, of Knoxville, and his father Bill Carter have been locked in legal disputes since Shirley Carter’s death. Carter later was charged with first-degree murder but a jury found him not guilty.

(Radio Iowa) – The three Republicans who serve in the U-S House have voted against bills that would create a path to citizenship for so-called Dreamers who were illegally brought into the U-S as children AND for farmworkers living in the U-S without authorization. Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Cedar Rapids, says the bill won’t fix the immigration issue. “First of all, we need to point at what’s happening at the border right now. There’s a national security, a public health and a humanitarian crisis happening right now at the southern border,” Hinson says. “That’s a direct result to me of President Biden’s executive orders that incentivized and increased illegal immigration.”

She says she would support a bipartisan approach to fixing the immigration issues. “I am a hundred percent supportive of taking a look at all of our visa programs, the process of immigration, for legal immigration. But is concerning to me when we look at this and say — look there’s a hundred thousand migrants who crossed the border in February alone. That’s up from 78-thousand in January and from the looks of that, the trend is continuing here in the month of march,” Hinson says.

Hinson says the bill is too much. “There are so many immigrants in this country that have gone about it in the right way. And to in essence to create a cut in the line for people who have broken the law to come here — I think is too far,” according to Hinson. “We need to focus on a solution that actually looks at the long-term ramifications of these policies.”

Congressman Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, says the border must be secured before congress explores any substantial immigration reform. Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa also voted against both bills. Congresswoman Cindy Axne of Des Moines, the only Democrat in Iowa’s D-C delegation, supported both bills. Axne says adults who were brought into the country as children know America as their home and deserve the opportunity to get out of legal limbo and fulfill the American dream. Axne says the other bill about farm workers includes provisions she introduced last week that are designed to revise and expand the U-S-D-A’s affordable rural housing programs.

March 19, 2021 (DES MOINES, IA) –  The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) Board, Friday, approved awards for seven established companies, which will assist in the creation of 179 jobs and result in almost $105 million in new capital investment for the state. These projects are located in Burlington, Cascade, Iowa City, Johnston, Nevada, Rock Valley and West Des Moines. The board also approved innovation funding in support of three startups located in Carroll, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

Of the three start-ups, Classroom Clinic in Carroll offers school-based telehealth services to rural school districts. It offers an innovative solution for rural mental health services, which in turn could improve academic achievement, higher graduation rates and advancement to postsecondary education. The platform allows telehealth providers to effectively connect with schools, students and families to deliver the care they need. The company was awarded a $25,000 Proof of Commercial Relevance (POCR) loan for market analysis and IP development and evaluation.

(read more about the other awards, here)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A former Four Oaks youth counselor has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing and exploiting a 14-year-old boy in 2018. The Gazette reports that 29-year-old Danielle Hook entered a written plea Thursday to amended charges of third-degree sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. As part of a deal with prosecutors, a charge of harboring a runaway will be dismissed.

Prosecutors also agreed to recommend lifetime probation for Hook when she’s sentenced May 18. Her convictions on the two counts together carry a possible sentence of up to 15 years in prison. The judge who accepted her plea Thursday ordered her to register as a sex offender for 10 years.