Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — A police officer who obtained a confession from the suspect in the disappearance and death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts says she made an honest mistake by initially failing to read him his legal rights. Officer Pamela Romero testified Wednesday that she tried to read Cristhian Bahena Rivera his Miranda warnings from memory during the Aug. 20, 2018, interrogation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A district court judge has rejected a request by former Gov. Terry Branstad’s lawyers to set aside a jury verdict that concluded Branstad discriminated against a former state official because he’s gay. The ruling by Judge Brad McCall filed Tuesday summarily rejects dozens of arguments including challenges to legal rulings during trial and jury instructions. McCall says substantial evidence exists to support the jury’s conclusions

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Two Iowa men have been sentenced to federal prison in separate child pornography cases. Federal prosecutors for Iowa say 34-year-old Ryan Mitchell Budde, of Clinton, was sentenced Tuesday to more than 10 years in prison for receiving and distributing child pornography. Also on Tuesday, 28-year-old Marcus Henry Benjamin was sentenced to more than seven years after pleading guilty in June to one count of receiving child pornography.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Drake University in Des Moines has announced it’s partnering with Des Moines Public Schools to develop a new community sports stadium in the city. The university said in a news release Wednesday that the 4,000-seat stadium will be located on the Drake campus and serve as the venue for the public school district’s high school and middle school football and soccer games. It will also serve as the home field for the Drake Bulldogs’ soccer teams.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Two Iowa men have been sentenced to federal prison in separate child pornography cases. Federal prosecutors for Iowa say 34-year-old Ryan Mitchell Budde, of Clinton, was sentenced Tuesday to more than 10 years in prison for receiving and distributing child pornography. Budde pleaded guilty to the county in July. Investigators say they found 365 images of child pornography on Budde’s two cellphones and two laptops.

Also on Tuesday, 28-year-old Marcus Henry Benjamin was sentenced to more than seven years after pleading guilty in June to one count of receiving child pornography. Investigators say Benjamin collected child pornography for more than four years, amassing a collection of over 1,200 images videos.

(Radio Iowa)  — Just one dollar. That’s the purchase price for the deal that will see the State of Iowa turn the former Iowa Braille and Sight-saving School campus over to the City of Vinton. John Nash is director of facilities for the Iowa Board of Regents which has managed the site for decades. “The property includes 48 acres and 11 buildings,” Nash says. The main building on the Vinton campus opened in 1862. One of the school’s most famous students was Mary Ingalls, the sister of “Little House on the Prairie” author Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The number of students living at the school dwindled to just 16 in 2008 and by 2011 the school was closed. The state signed a lease 11 years ago with the federal government and the site has been used as a regional hub for the AmeriCorps program.  “Before we finalize the property sale, we do have closing documents to complete, including the transfer of the AmeriCorps lease itself from the Board of Regents to the City of Vinton,” Nash says.

The Board of Regents is expected to review and approve the deal during its meeting tomorrow (Thursday) in Cedar Falls. Most states, like Iowa, now offer technical help to school districts where blind or visually-impaired students are enrolled, rather than run a residential school, but there are still about two dozen residential programs in the country that are managed by states or privately run.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa’s attorney general is joining his counterparts in 21 other states in calling for the forgiving of loans to former I-T-T Tech students. Tom Miller and the other attorneys general are calling on the head of Federal Student Aid to immediately discharge the loans of borrowers enrolled at closed schools. As of May, there were 52,000 former ITT Tech students eligible for closed-school discharge relief, but only 7,000 were granted it.

The for-profit school, which had campuses in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, filed bankruptcy in 2016 after action by the U.S. Department of Education to restrict its access to federal student aid. In a news release, Miller said: “Iowans who attended ITT Tech incurred debts for a questionable education that they could not repay nor discharge.”

The Atlantic Rotary Club will host their Annual Auction Saturday, November 23^rd at the Cass County Community Center. Doors open at 5:30-p.m. Every year, the club partners with an organization to help them raise funds for items needed. This year, they are partnering with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office to help them purchase body cameras and a drug dog. Raffle tickets are one for $20 or six for $100. First prize receives $1,500; second receives $1,000 and third receives $500. You do not need to be present to win.

If you can’t make the auction and would like to support by purchasing raffle tickets, stop by the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce.

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — A jury has found an Ottumwa man guilty of second-degree murder in the 2018 killing of another man. Station KTVO reports that 19-year-old Jacob Heckethorn was also found guilty Wednesday of assault with intent to commit serious injury in the Aug. 23, 2018, shooting death of 43-year-old William Shettlesworth, of Bloomfield.

Heckethorn had been on trial for first-degree murder, but the Wapellow County jury convicted on the reduced count after nearly two days of deliberation. Heckethorn had argued he shot Shettlesworth in self-defense as he tried to rescue a friend from a fight.

Heckethorn faces up to 50 years when he’s sentenced in January.