Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — As predicted, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it plans to keep water releases into the lower Missouri River elevated, as runoff continues to keep upstream reservoirs full. The Corps said in a news release Tuesday that water releases from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will remain at current levels, which _ at 70,000 cubic feet per second _ are more than double the average amount for this time of year.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state has settled a complaint with a Cedar Rapids woman and her son who threatened to file an excessive force lawsuit over a May 2018 incident in which officers in pursuit of a suspect entered a home and restrained several people. The State Appeal Board on Tuesday approved a $100,000 settlement with Shashona Wright, the mother of Lamonte O’Neal, after they threatened to file a federal lawsuit claiming O’Neal was injured. The state denies injuries occurred.

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — A religious activist accused of burning four LGBTQ children’s books that he checked out of a library in Iowa has been convicted of criminal mischief and fined. Sioux County Attorney Thomas Kunstle says 63-year-old Paul Robert Dorr, of Ocheyedan, was found guilty of the misdemeanor Tuesday and ordered to pay $125 in fines and court costs. Dorr posted a video to Facebook in October in which he denounced the Orange City library and threw the books into a burning barrel.

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least six Democratic presidential candidates are set to attend a forum in Iowa this Saturday organized by gun control advocates in the wake of two mass shootings that killed 31 people in Texas and Ohio. The forum is sponsored by the groups Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action. It will be held in Des Moines while many Democratic White House hopefuls are in Iowa to campaign.

Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Public Safety report the body of an adult female was recovered Tuesday afternoon in a Mahaska County river. Members of the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office discovered the body in the South Skunk River near the Glendale Access, a little after 3-p.m.

The circumstances that lead to the female entering the river and the cause of her death are under investigation by the Oskaloosa Police Department, the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office and the Division of Criminal Investigation. The identity of the female is not known at this time.

An autopsy, which is schedule to be performed by the Office of the State Medical Examiner, will help to identify the female found in the river. Law enforcement is aware that on the morning of August 5th, 24-year old Ashley Shafer was reported missing to the Oskaloosa Police Department. The investigation into her disappearance and current location are part of an active missing person investigation.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Ashley Shafer, or with information on the body found in the South Skunk River is asked to call the Mahaska County Communications Center at (641) 672-2557.

Sheriff’s Deputies in Montgomery County, Tuesday, arrested two 16-year old juveniles from Red Oak. The teens were charged with Forgery – a Class D Felony as the result of an investigation into an incident that occurred August 1st.

Their names were not released. Both were taken into custody, processed and then released to the custody of a parent.

An accident in Adair County Tuesday afternoon claimed the life of a young adult female. The Iowa State Patrol reports a northbound 2012 Chevy Malibu driven by 18-year old Kayci Emerson, of Fontanelle, for reasons unknown crossed the center line of Highway 25 near mile marker 67, or about two-miles south of I-80, and collided with a southbound 2007 Chevy Silverado, driven by 36-year old Nathan Rigsby, of Thayer. The accident happened at around 12:30-p.m.

Emerson, who was wearing a seat belt, was flown by LifeNet helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, where she died from her injuries. The accident remains under investigation.

The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, Fire and Rescue and Iowa DOT Motor Vehicle Enforcement Officers.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — As predicted, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it plans to keep water releases into the lower Missouri River elevated, as runoff continues to keep upstream reservoirs full.

The Corps said in a news release Tuesday that water releases from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will remain at current levels, which — at 70,000 cubic feet per second — are more than double the average amount for this time of year.

The Corps says areas of Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska received two to three times the normal amount of rain in July.

July runoff in the upper basin was 7 million acre feet, more than twice the average. The Corps says this year’s upper basin total runoff is forecast at nearly 53 million acre feet, which would be the second highest total runoff in 121 years of record-keeping. Only the 61 million acre feet seen in 2011 would be more.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A 19-year-old man convicted of stabbing two people to death last year in Sioux City will be sentenced next month. The Sioux City Journal reports Tran Walker faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole when he’s sentenced Sept. 20 in Woodbury County District Court.

A judge last week convicted Walker in a bench trial of two counts of first-degree murder for killing 17-year-old Paiten Sullivan and 18-year-old Felipe Negron Jr.
Police say Walker was in a car with the two on Jan. 28 last year when he first stabbed Sullivan, then Negron when Negron tried to intervene.

Sullivan and Walker had recently broken up before her death. Sullivan’s stepmother testified that Walker and Sullivan broke up because he didn’t want her to finish school.

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — A religious activist accused of burning four LGBTQ children’s books that he checked out of a library in Iowa has been convicted of criminal mischief and fined.

Sioux County Attorney Thomas Kunstle says 63-year-old Paul Robert Dorr, of Ocheyedan, was found guilty of the misdemeanor Tuesday and ordered to pay $125 in fines and court costs.

Dorr posted a video to Facebook in October in which he denounced the Orange City library for having the books and threw them into a burning barrel.

Dorr had fought to have the charge dismissed, saying he was singled out for prosecution because of his anti-gay message. A judge rejected his argument in July, saying the only message being sent to him was “that he cannot burn books that do not belong to him.”

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (AP) — A Waterloo man convicted earlier this year of kidnapping and trying to kill a woman by intentionally wrecking the car they were in has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The Buchanan County Attorney’s Office says 55-year-old Ronald Dean Share was sentenced Tuesday to life for kidnapping, plus 25 years for attempted murder and another 15 years for other counts.

Prosecutors say Share kidnapped a woman who had a restraining order against him and told her he was going to kill her by crashing the car he forced her into. She called 911, and when police spotted the car and tried to stop it, Share led them on a high-speed chase. Police say he then intentionally drove into a guardrail at about 90 mph, causing serious injuries to the woman and himself.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state has settled a complaint with a Cedar Rapids woman and her son who threatened to file an excessive force lawsuit over a May 2018 incident in which officers in pursuit of a suspect entered a home and restrained several people.

The State Appeal Board on Tuesday approved a $100,000 settlement with Shashona Wright, the mother of Lamonte O’Neal, after they threatened to file a federal lawsuit claiming O’Neal was injured.

O’Neal, who was a juvenile at the time, was restrained by one of three troopers who entered a Cedar Rapids home while assisting Cedar Rapids police in pursuit of a suspect with outstanding arrest warrants.

The state denies injuries occurred. Assistant Attorney General Jeff Peterzalek says the suspect ran into a house and officers followed, encountering several individuals in a chaotic situation. Peterzalek says the state believes the amount is a fair settlement to avoid costly litigation.