DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Attorneys representing a union leader and several state lawmakers argued to the Iowa Supreme Court that Gov. Terry Branstad violated state law by closing two state mental health institutes last year. Mark Hedberg and Nate Boulton told justices Wednesday that state law requires the continued operation of now-closed institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant as well as Cherokee and Independence facilities. They want the closed centers to reopen.

Iowa Solicitor General Jeffrey Thompson, representing Branstad, reiterated his veto authority regarding state appropriations. The president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Iowa and several Democratic lawmakers filed a lawsuit in July 2015, after Branstad vetoed funding for the facilities. Branstad argued patients can access care through other services.

The court could issue a decision within months.

ELK POINT, S.D. (AP) — Authorities say a body has been pulled from the Missouri River in South Dakota, and medical examiners will determine if it’s that of a Briar Cliff student missing since last week. The Union County Sheriff’s Office tells the Sioux City Journal in Iowa that human remains were recovered Wednesday from the river. The remains were sent to the medical examiner’s office in Sioux Falls for identification.

Authorities have been searching the river for the body of 23-year-old Tom Patterson, of Frostburg, Maryland, who was swimming with friends on Sept. 4 southwest of Elk Point when he disappeared. Authorities have said that information from a witness indicates Patterson was trying to help other swimmers back to shore when he was swept away by the current.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest Wednesday of a Villisca man on a Domestic Abuse Assault charge. At 2:46pm officers arrested 52-year-old Gary Francis Morris of Villisca on a valid Montgomery County Arrest Warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault 1st Offense (A Simple Misdemeanor).  He was arrested in the 400 block of West Coolbaugh Street in Red Oak and taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on no bond.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa State University student is suing the school for allegedly mishandling the response to her sexual assault by another student in 2014. The 21-year-old woman alleges in the lawsuit that university officials “actively discouraged” her from formally reporting the assault, then took months to investigate and take action against her assailant.

The lawsuit says the university placed her and her assailant in the same housing complex at the start of the fall 2014 semester. She says his presence made her uncomfortable and contributed to her decision to drop out.

A university spokesman says Iowa State hasn’t been served with the lawsuit, which was filed last week in Story County. The plaintiff’s attorney, Andrew Zbaracki, said his client suffered “considerable emotional damage” from the assault and its aftermath.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court must now decide whether to weigh in on a lawsuit that pits Des Moines Water Works against upstream farmers accused of contaminating rivers with nitrates from fertilizer. The justices heard arguments today (Wednesday) in the case, which asks the court to decide whether agriculture drainage districts have immunity from lawsuits and whether the water utility can seek monetary damages.

Water Works officials say removing excess nitrate from water cost $1.5 million last year alone. The agency sued three northwest Iowa counties that oversee 10 agricultural drainage districts.

The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and corn and soybean growers associations are offering to help pay legal fees for the counties. The lawsuit, in federal court in Des Moines, is on hold until the Iowa Supreme Court makes its ruling.

A Special Election was held Tuesday for patrons of the Tri-Center School District. The election was to fill a vacancy position on the Tri-Center School Board, a petition for which was filed earlier this year. According to the Pottawattamie County Auditor’s Office, there were only two names on the ballot. The winner, with 112 votes, was Katie Ausdemore. The other candidate, Jay Handbury, received just 27 votes.

A Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy early this (Wednesday) morning, arrested a man for Criminal Mischief in the 2nd Degree. A Deputy  was dispatched at around 1:50-a.m. to 211 Mulberry Street in Oakland, for a reported disturbance. After he arrived, the deputy spoke with a few individuals and took into custody, 30-year old Corey Andrew Stephens, of Oakland. Stephens was booked into the Pott. County Jail. Property damage from the incident amounted to $1,500.

New research from Iowa State University may help people who are struggling to make exercise a fun habit rather than an unpleasant chore. Alison Phillips, an assistant professor of psychology at ISU, says people are more likely to stick with exercise if they choose an activity they might eventually enjoy.  “That won’t happen right off the bat, but the good news is the more you do a behavior – any type of exercise – the more you’ll like it. But, I think it’s important for people to start out choosing something that they like relatively more than other activities,” Phillips says.

Previous studies have found, for many people, exercise becomes easier when it’s part of a regular schedule. Phillips says it’s also helpful for people to notice physical or “external” benefits of exercise. “Those are very important because the more you are rewarded with those external goals – if you lose weight or you become more fit – that will make you like the exercise activity itself more,” Phillips says. “That’s what I would refer to as an internal reward, something internal to exercise…so, liking the activity itself, not just what it brings to you.”

Phillips’ study involved monitoring the activity levels for people just starting to work out along with those who had been exercising regularly for at least three months. The results are published in the journal Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology.

(Radio Iowa)

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) – Wapello County has become the third Iowa county to approve a proposal for a higher minimum wage.  On Tuesday the county supervisors voted for a third and final time to raise the wage. Under the plan, on Jan. 1 the county’s minimum wage will rise to $8.20 an hour from the current national minimum of $7.25. On Jan. 1, 2018, the county minimum wage will increase to $9.15 and on Jan. 1, 2019, it will increase to $10.10.

The ordinance will apply to businesses in the unincorporated areas of Wapello County and within any Wapello County municipality that has not opted out of the county plan.     On Monday Linn County supervisors voted to raise its minimum wage. Johnson County supervisors voted a year ago to raise the wage.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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