Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:30 a.m. CDT

LOCKRIDGE, Iowa (AP) — A southeastern Iowa man has been charged with vehicular homicide for a March crash that killed a passenger in his car. The Hawk Eye reports that 21-year-old Maxwell Spalla, of Lockridge, was charged earlier this week with vehicular homicide while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The crash happened around 1:30 a.m. March 6 near Brighton, killing 21-year-old Jacob Nelson of Lockridge, and seriously injuring another passenger. Investigators say Spalla was driving the pickup.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Nearly a dozen church properties in eastern Iowa are getting roof repairs because of a tornado last fall, including some projects that have required intricate scaffolding that surrounds soaring spires. The Quad-City Times reports that the damage to the Davenport area churches was caused by an Oct. 6 tornado. An Insurance agent says the Diocese of Davenport inspected the roofs of church properties in the Iowa Quad-Cities and determined that 11 sites need repairs.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A Nebraska tribe has received a more than $17,000 grant meant to help address elder abuse throughout its 15-county service area in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. The Press & Dakotan reports that the Ponca Tribe received the Elder Abuse Innovation Grant Award through the National Indigenous Elder Justice Initiative Innovation program. Andrea Rodriguez is the tribe’s domestic violence program coordinator. She says the grant allows the tribe to offer outreach and prevention work on elder abuse.

HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — With Friday marking four years since the disappearance of a Hampton man, police are reminding the public of a $100,000 reward for information in the case. Hampton police say they’re still searching for answers in the 2013 disappearance of Ethan Kazmerzak. Kazmerzak was 22 years old when he was last seen in the early morning hours of Sept. 15, 2013, at a party northwest of Hampton. No one has reported seeing Kazmerzak or his car since.

Police in Council Bluffs, Saturday afternoon arrested a man from Nebraska following an investigation into a road rage incident that escalated into a car-verses-pedestrian accident. Officers were called to 1801 Valley View Drive at around 12:37-p.m. After an initial investigation, it was determined that 27-year old Randall Maresch, of Bellevue, NE.,  and 41-year old Anthony Kimball, of Crescent, were involved in a road rage incident which continued into the Family Fare parking lot.

Kimball exited his vehicle in an effort to confront Maresch. Maresch then accelerated his 2005 Chevy Malibu towards Kimball striking him and causing him to roll across the hood of the vehicle before falling to the ground. Kimball was transported to the UNMC in Omaha, where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Maresch was located inside the store and was cooperative with officers. Maresch
was transported to Pottawattamie County Corrections where he was charged with Willful Injury.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Nearly a year after Des Moines Airport Authority’s board adopted a $500 million plan to expand the airport’s terminal, officials now say funding problems may delay the project for years. The Des Moines Register reports that a consulting firm told the board earlier this week that construction on the terminal may not start until 2026 because of federal delays on funding airport upgrades. The board had planned to start construction on the 14-gate terminal in 2022.

About $300 million in funding was identified last year for the project, coming from cash on hand, passenger and airline fees, authority-issued bonds and grant money. But that left a funding hole of about $200 million. Since then, officials say, rising construction costs have pushed that deficit up by another $25 million.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The FBI’s Omaha field office is warning college students in Nebraska and Iowa of a phone scam that spoofs the FBI’s telephone number on the victim’s caller ID.

The FBI says its offices in at least eight states have received multiple calls reporting the scam involving someone claiming to be an FBI agent and demanding repayment of a school loan and tuition. The caller sometimes threatens the victim with arrest and not graduating from school if payment isn’t immediately made via MoneyGram or some other method.

The FBI says the caller often knows the name of the victim and calls a personal cellphone number, as well as a work number, to reach intended victims.

The FBI says it does not call people demanding money.

w/ Chris Parks

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The Red Oak Police Department and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office report the arrest of two men after officers were called to the intersection of North 8th and East Reed Streets in Red Oak late Friday night. At 11:37pm Officers arrested 48-year-old Darrell Lee Walter and 29-year-old Mark Frederick Meyer, both of Red Oak, for Public Intoxication.  Both men were taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond each.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest early this (Saturday) morning of a Red Oak man. At 1:02am Officers arrested 24-year-old Dillon Roy Karwal for Criminal Mischief 3rd Degree. Karwal was arrested in the 300 block of East Prospect Street. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $2,000 bond.

A top state administrator is considering a change that would have state employees conduct the screening for prospective foster parents rather than out-source that work. Iowa Department of Human Services director Jerry Foxhoven says it’s one of the ideas he’s heard from the employees in his agency.

“One of the things those case workers are telling me: ‘What if we didn’t contract that out? What if we took that money and hired more case workers and let us do that work that we traditionally do?’ That’s some of the things we want to look at.” Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, says under the current system, groups like Lutheran Social Services have won contracts to conduct initial home visits and screen potential foster parents.

“And so if their agency is to be paid, their agency must succeed at recruiting and retaining and oftentimes it is taking people they should be passing on,” McCoy says. Licensed social workers on the state payroll need to be making those calls, according to McCoy. He also suggests there is a “profit motive” involved on the part of some parents who adopt foster kids and get state subsidies.

“If they’re going to receive those kind of subsidies, we need more oversight,” McCoy says. “We need more transparency and we need to ensure they are the type of people we want to entrust these already damaged and abused children with.” Foxhoven took over as director of the Department of Human Services in mid-June. Foxhoven says if the outsourcing continued, he’s evaluating how to write accountability into the contracts for organizations that screen foster care families.

“To make sure that we get good people,” Foxhoven says. Foster care parents in West Des Moines and Perry have been charged in connection with the recent deaths of two teenage girls who had been adopted. Both were extremely malnourished. Foxhoven and McCoy discussed the state’s child welfare system during taping of the Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program that aired Friday night, and is available for viewing online at: site.iptv.org/iowapress.

(Radio Iowa)

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest Friday of a Red Oak man.  At 10:30am Officers arrested 26-year-old Devon Keith Hale for Public Intoxication, a simple misdemeanor. Hale was arrested in the 700 block of East Knuckols Street. He was taken to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center and held on $300 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa judge has ruled that the details of “shadow insurance” subsidiaries created by several life insurers can remain confidential. Indiana University professor emeritus Joseph Belth sought the documents last year under Iowa’s open records law, saying he believes they would expose risky financial practices that could bankrupt some insurers.

Judge Lawrence McLellan sided Thursday with the industry and state regulators, saying the documents are part of the companies’ “plans of operations” and exempt from disclosure. Companies such as TransAmerica have taken advantage of an Iowa law to transfer billions of dollars in liabilities to subsidiaries. Insurers say the arrangements free them from accounting rules mandating that they hold excess cash reserves.

Belth is seeking copies of the financial guarantees the companies made to their subsidiaries, saying policyholders and shareholders should know whether they’re sound.