DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Public Radio is losing some state support and will have to find more donors, bigger donations or other sources of revenue in order to maintain current programming. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that a proposed budget submitted to the Iowa Board of Regents shows Iowa Public Radio will receive roughly 8% less than it did the last budget year. Government funding makes up around 21% of Iowa Public Radio’s operating income, which is expected to reach $8.3 million this year.

The organization’s executive director is Myrna Johnson, and she says it will need to find more non-government revenue to avoid losing one or two of its programs, which she did not identify.
She says fundraising gains supporting Iowa Public Radio’s expansion in recent years have come from corporate sponsors and its listeners.

Two people were arrested on separate charges Tuesday, in Creston. Authorities say 48-year old John Pace, Jr. of Creston, was arrested on a Department of Corrections Warrant for Violation of Parole. He was being held in the Union County Jail. And, 60-year old Linda Balius, of Creston, was arrested on charges of Interference with Official Acts, False Reporting and Unlawful Possession of Prescription Pills. Balius was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $1,600 bond.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa school nurse has been given 180 days in jail for having sex with a 16-year-old student. Linn County District Court records say 47-year-old Angela Beik, of Marion, was sentenced Tuesday in Cedar Rapids. She also was ordered to pay a $625 fine, restitution of nearly $910 and register as a sex offender. She’d entered an Alford plea to a charge of sexual exploitation by a school employee. In an Alford plea, a person doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a likely conviction.

Beik was the school nurse at Linn-Mar High School in Marion and also employed at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. Police began an investigation of Beik in March 2018. They’d learned that state officials were checking a report that Beik told fellow St. Luke’s nurses that she’d had consensual sex with the boy. They reported the conversation to officials.

(Radio Iowa) — Southwest Iowa communities hit by this spring’s floods still face a critical housing shortage. Mills County public information officer Sheri Bowen says the situation is “very challenging” in her county and widespread in the Missouri River basin. Bowen says officials are looking into options to address the dire need for post-flood housing. “We have a housing coordinator who is working very hard to identify any housing opportunities locally,” Bowen says. “She is keeping a list of those and is actively beating the streets trying to locate additional housing in our community.” While most residents impacted by the flooding have a temporary form of shelter, Bowen says they lack a long-term housing option — which will make a bad situation worse once the weather turns colder.

“Trailers through FEMA have been an option as well, but placement on those has been challenging,” Bowen says. “They’re placing as many as they could in the Glenwood community. The remainder right now are going to Red Oak and Shenandoah — which isn’t really palpable for folks who might work in the (Omaha) metro area.” About 60 residents, including those living in Pacific Junction, have been identified for a home buyout program. Those residents need to fill out a “statement of voluntary transaction” form. “The county is working with identifying the local planning agency that’s going to help them put in their application,” Bowen says. “One of the steps that it requires is for homeowners to sign off on a validation that they are interested. It gives us releases to do more assessments on their properties. So, this is a step in the application process.” In most cases, Bowen says those properties are beyond repair.

“A lot of these properties are what I would call red-carded, which means that they really should not be rebuilt,” Bowen says. “That’s probably a large number of those properties. The remainder have been severely damaged. All of them had a minimum of ten feet of water in them for an extended period of time.” Bowen says many residents are still having issues regarding rental assistance, and have been referred to case managers.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say an officer used pepper spray on a 9-year-old and his 8-year-old brother who were carrying butcher knives on the north side of Des Moines. Police Sgt. Rod Santizo says someone who saw the boys and the knives at a convenience store called police just before noon Tuesday. The boys ran when the first officer on the scene approached them. They soon turned around, and one began arguing with the officer.

Santizo says the officer used the pepper spray when he saw the knives. The boys were soon taken into custody and their eyes flushed with water. They were taken to a hospital as well. Santizo says the boys stole a couple of drinks from the store but didn’t use the knives to do so. They told officers they were carrying the knives for protection. The names of those involved haven’t been released.