IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Johnson County’s top prosecutor has cleared an Iowa City officer who shot a woman who’s accused of shooting him with a BB gun. County Attorney Janet Lyness says in a report issued Monday that Officer Michael Clark acted with reasonable force on July 29. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says the exchange of shots occurred after police were called to check a shoplifting report. The officers found a suspect who was later identified as 25-year-old Cierra Lewis. Police say she shot Clark several times, including in the face. He then fired five shots at her, striking her in a hand.

Lewis has pleaded not guilty to theft, willful injury and assault with a weapon on a peace officer. A mental competency hearing is scheduled for Dec. 16 to determine whether she can go to trial.

The Adair County Sheriff’s Department reports two arrests took place last Friday, while another occurred on Nov. 9th. A little after 4-p.m. Friday, Adair County Deputies took 30-year old Brian Keith Cunningham, of Greenfield, into custody at the Grundy County Jail. Cunningham was wanted on an Adair County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault/3rd or subsequent offense. He was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $10,000 cash only bond.

Also arrested Friday, was 37-year old Chad William Johnson, of Creston. He was taken into custody following a traffic stop, and charged with OWI/3rd offense, and Driving While License denied or revoked for OWI. His cash or surety bond was set at $6,000. Johnson posted bond a few hours later, and was released.

And, 47-year old Bobby Glenn Agan, III, of Stuart, was arrested at around 11:35-p.m. on Nov. 9th, after a Deputy who went to Agan’s residence to serve civil papers along with an arrest warrant out of Madison County, during the course of a conversation outside the home, saw a little plastic baggie containing a substance that later tested positive for methamphetamine. Agan was arrested on the felony warrant, and for Possession of Meth. His cash or surety bond was set at $1,000. Agan posted bond later that same morning, and was released.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CST

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Military experience is a tricky balancing act for Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. The South Bend, Indiana, mayor points out that he has more military experience than the current commander in chief, President Donald Trump, but he’s also careful not to overstate his seven-month deployment in Afghanistan as an intelligence officer. While careful not to call himself a combat veteran, Buttigieg has promoted a photo showing him holding an M4 rifle.

MIDDLETOWN, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines County sheriff’s office deputy has been injured when his car collided with a truck hauling a trailer. The Iowa Department of Public Safety says 51-year-old Lt. Clinton Williams was injured in the crash Monday on Highway 79. The crash happened about 12:15 p.m. when an eastbound car driven by Williams crossed into the westbound lane and collided with a truck pulling a grain trailer. The truck driver wasn’t injured. Williams was flown to a hospital at the University of Iowa.

HAMILTON, Iowa (AP) — Crews have found the body of a woman while fighting a mobile home fire in the tiny southern Iowa city of Hamilton. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office says firefighters found the body of 56-year-old Rhonda Kiler early Monday after being called to the fire. Firefighters worked for about 45 minutes to douse the fire before finding Kiler’s body in the home. Local and state investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire. Hamilton is about 45 miles southeast of Des Moines.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa jury has awarded $1.4 million to a Burmese immigrant who wanted a circumcision but instead got a vasectomy. The Des Moines Register reports that the jury last week leveled a $2 million judgment against Dr. Kevin Birusingh but decided Zaw Zaw was 30% responsible. Birusingh’s attorney says Zaw, who isn’t fluent in English, signed two informed consents that were translated into Burmese, and completed four consultations. The lawsuit says there’s no word for “vasectomy” in Burmese.

Members of the City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Department Board of Directors expressed their frustration and concerns with a recommendation the City’s Personnel and Finance Committee made during their meeting October 24th, with regard to proposed changes to the City’s Code of Ordinances that would affect the Board’s Powers and Duties. The first reading of the Ordinance will take place during the Atlantic City Council meeting Wednesday evening.

Atlantic Parks & Rec Board (11-18-19)

Most of the Board members were particularly annoyed by having read about the proposal in the local paper and/or hearing about it on KJAN, instead of being notified directly. City Administrator John Lund said had spoken about the matter with Parks & Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen and intended to talk with the Board and considered sending out an e-mail. He admitted would have been considered dismissive or disrespectful, but in retrospect, “Maybe that would have been helpful.”

Lund said there are some aspects of the Board that will change, while other aspects would not change, such as the Board being elected, as opposed to be appointed. He explained what responsibilities would be shifted to the City Council. They include bills and Human Resources matters, which will be shifted to the City Administrator’s Office.

Lund said the changes were based off of what West Des Moines is doing. That City has a Parks and Rec Advisory Board. Lund said he “Always looks to West Des Moines as a role model for the best practices for government management.” In response, Parks Board member and former Atlantic Mayor John Krogman asked Lund, “What’s driving all this?” He said “The City may have the right to do this, but I just don’t think it’s right. This is an elected Board, and it’s elected for a reason.

Parks member Jolene Smith felt the same way. Board Chair Stuart Dusenberry said it would have been nice to have received a “heads-up” on the matter.Instead, he said, he was essentially blind-sided by the proposal. Dusenberry said he is not in favor of making the change. Smith said she too first heard about it Monday afternoon. She questioned why even have a Board if the City is going to take away their financial and human resources oversight.

Newly elected Board member Ashley Hayes said as a former Councilperson, she had concerns when she sat on the Council, about the Parks & Rec Board’s oversight. She said on the flip-side of coin, she understands where there would be conflicting views. The only possible solution, she said, would be to discuss some HR roles as far as the Board’s concerned. She asked Lund if West Des Moines’ Parks Advisory Board was elected. He said he wasn’t sure.

MIDDLETOWN, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines County sheriff’s office deputy has been injured when his car collided with a truck hauling a trailer. The Iowa Department of Public Safety says 51-year-old Lt. Clinton Williams was injured in the crash Monday on Highway 79 between Middletown and Lake Geode.

The crash happened about 12:15 p.m. when an eastbound car driven by Williams crossed into the westbound lane and collided with a truck pulling a grain trailer. The truck driver wasn’t injured. Williams was flown to a hospital at the University of Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) — Despite an increasing number of reports about the health hazards of electronic cigarettes, studies find the popularity of vaping continues to rise in Iowa. Erika Sward, spokeswoman for the American Lung Association, says more Iowa adults are using e-cigarettes, but they’re especially alluring to teenagers.

“Among adults in Iowa, just over 16% use and smoke cigarettes, and 5.3% use e-cigarettes,” Sward says. “The most recent high school data we have for cigarette smoking in Iowa is about 4.4%.” The latest study from the Iowa Department of Public Health finds e-cigarette use among Iowa 11th graders has rocketed in recent years to more than 22-percent, that’s almost one in every four. Sward says e-cigarettes were initially billed as being a safe alternative to help smokers transition away from traditional cigarettes to eventually quit.

“The Food and Drug Administration has not found any e-cigarette to be safe and effective in helping smokers quit,” Sward says, “but we have certainly seen these false and unproven claims from e-cigarette manufacturers and retailers.” The American Lung Association is continuing to press the F-D-A for more significant action on e-cigarettes, but she says the agency is moving very slowly.

“We’ve seen one warning letter go out to one manufacturer, Juul, but unfortunately in the ten-year history of these products in the U.S., that’s really been the major action,” Sward says. “We know that smokers are confused.” The state of Iowa is offering a program called, “My Life, My Quit,” which focuses on teens.

Through the program, teens work with a coach who listens and understands their unique needs, provides personalized support, and helps them build a quit plan to become free from nicotine. For details, text or call 855-891-9989 or visit mylifemyquit.com.

(Radio Iowa) — Authorities in Northwest Iowa are investigating two fatal car crashes that occurred within 30 miles of each other on Friday. Sheriff’s deputies in Kossuth County received a report of a single-vehicle accident about two miles east of Burt around 6:30 Friday morning. Upon arrival Deputies found 57-year-old Steven Michael Schindler, of Algona, unresponsive. Schindler was taken to Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona where he was pronounced dead. Authorities say Schindler was traveling north on a county road when his vehicle left the roadway and entered the east ditch and eventually came back across the road and ended up rolling in the west ditch.

Just before 11:30 p.m. Friday deputies in Humboldt County received a report of a single-vehicle accident near Bode. They say 46-year-old Joel Haynes, of Bode, was eastbound on a county road when he lost control of the vehicle he was driving and left the roadway and hit several trees. Haynes was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.

Both accidents remain under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) — A Las Vegas man who was convicted of sending marijuana plants to Iowa has been sentenced to five years in federal prison. Sixty-two-year-old Oliver Maupin was found guilty in June by a jury of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana. Court records show Maupin created two separate marijuana grow operations in Oregon that sent large quantities of marijuana to Iowa.

Maupin studied Oregon’s medical marijuana laws and learned how to use them to avoid the detection of the illegal marijuana operations that court records showed created hundreds of pounds of marijuana worth several hundred thousand dollars. He was sentenced to the 60 months in prison and ordered to pay a ten-thousand dollar fine.

(Radio Iowa) — A Denison High School teacher has been placed on administrative leave after students complained the teacher used the “n” word in the classroom. Crystal Holt says she had divided students into juries, to discuss a court case involving the death penalty, and they were making poster boards about the case.

“I asked why they put ‘hate crimes’ on their board,” Holt told KDSN Radio. “And one of the students said: ‘Because in the reading it said he used pejorative terms.’ And another student in that group said: ‘What does pejorative mean?’ And I said it means derogatory. And the student said: ‘What does derogatory mean?’ And I said it means terms that are not nice to race and continued trying to explain that. And I said he used the ‘n’ word and then I said he used the word.”

Holt says there appeared to be no issue that day with the discussion, but the next day the dean of students asked her to speak with another class that had taken issue with her decision to use that word. “I went to that other teacher’s class and tried to explain the context of how I was using the word, the explanation of my teaching,” Holt says. “And I believe there is a videotape that is circulating (online) of me and the other teacher’s voice talking in that class trying to explain how we were using that word in instruction.”

A group of students are planning a protest tomorrow (Tuesday) morning to call for Holt’s firing. The school’s superintendent posted a statement on Facebook Friday, saying the district is conducting an internal investigation. Holt says her use of the word was not a racial slur. “A racial slur, in its intent, is directed at a person or an individual and that did not happen in this case,” she says. “The word was used to teach and help people understand the seriousness of racism in a capital punishment case and racism is a major part of several capital punishment cases.”

Holt spoke with a reporter at Denison’s radio station and was asked if the use of that word outside of an academic setting would be appropriate. “Never, never,” Holt said. “I cannot imagine that being used except in a classroom to combat and explain issues of racism.” Holt’s husband is State Representative Steven Holt, a Republican who in 2018 tabled a bill in the legislature that would have restored the death penalty in Iowa.

Denison’s superintendent — in a statement posted on Facebook — said the district takes the issue of racism “extremely seriously and regret and apologize for any impact” this classroom incident may have had. The superintendent said he’d work with students, their families and the school’s faculty to resolve the situation.

HAMILTON, Iowa (AP) — Crews have found the body of a woman while fighting a mobile home fire in the tiny southern Iowa city of Hamilton. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office says firefighters found the body of 56-year-old Rhonda Kiler early Monday after being called to the fire.

Firefighters worked for about 45 minutes to douse the fire before finding Kiler’s body in the home. Local and state investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire.