The Iowa Gold Star Military Museum is featuring a new exhibit about World War One on this Memorial Day weekend. Bob Holliday is chairman of the museum’s board of directors. “One of the missions of this museum is to honor and recognize any Iowan who’s ever worn a uniform. There’s no distinction made between branch of service or rank. We don’t care if you’re a two-star general or a brand new buck private,” Holliday says. “If you’re an Iowan, we want to recognize you and honor you.”

About 114-thousand Iowans served during what was called “The Great War” and more than 35-hundred of them died. Holliday says today is set aside to honor the war dead. “Memorial Day was born shortly after the Civil War. It was indeed first called Decoration Day,” Holliday says. “It’s a day set aside to remember those who have given their very lives to protect our freedoms and our very way of life. You have to stop and think what these people gave up so we can live the way we do today.”

The museum’s new exhibit focuses on “life in the trenches” in France during World War One. The Iowa Gold Star Military Museum opens today (Monday) at 5 a.m. and closes a 1 p.m. It is located at Camp Dodge in Johnston, the home base for the Iowa National Guard. Holliday says the museum has grown from modest beginnings. “It started with a mandate from the Iowa Legislature in 1986,” Holliday says. “It was located in the basement of the base chapel, a very small room.”

The Iowa Gold Star Military Museum is now a free-standing building that covers 28-thousand square feet.

(Radio Iowa)

Four dogs from the Animal Rescue League (ARL) of Iowa are living with prison inmates at the Clarinda Correctional Facility as part of a program that will ultimately benefit veterans. The program was launched on May 11 and involves inmates who train the dogs, so they can eventually become well-mannered pets for veterans. The A-R-L’s Mick McAuliffe says the dogs will live with the offenders, in their cell, for six weeks.

“It’s to get these dogs more adoptable…to sit calmly. Our end goal, we’d like to pair these dogs up with…veterans in need. These aren’t service dogs. They are purely trained shelter dogs for companionship and comfort,” McAuliffe says. Eight prisoners were selected for the program — four are primary handlers and four are backup handlers. McAuliffe says the dogs are not aggressive, but do need some intense training.

“These guys are rough and rowdy,” McAuliffe says. “They’re jumping, pushy, they may mouth you when playing, and they pull extremely hard on leash.” McAuliffe says the ARL has seen the benefit of having offenders work with animals through previous partnerships with the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville and the North Central Correctional Facility in Rockwell City. The program is funded entirely by private donations.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — A Freedom Rock completed last fall in Cedar Falls has been vandalized days before Memorial Day. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports the vandalism occurred Saturday night at the Freedom Rock in Cedar Falls Veterans Park. Spray paint was used to damage the rock, along with a fence and utility box. Greenfield artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II painted the rock as part of his effort to create Freedom Rocks in all of Iowa’s 99 counties.

SABULA, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 21-year-old Clinton man has drowned in a lake near Sabula in eastern Iowa. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports Eugene A. Kemp Jr. was pronounced dead at a Clinton hospital. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department says Kemp was taken to the hospital after being found in a small lake Saturday afternoon.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Council Bluffs officials and resident have spent nearly $10,000 on a 3-D image of a historic statue to ensure the artwork can be restored if it’s ever damaged. Residents wanted to be sure the 96-year-old Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial could be restored if it was damaged, so they worked with the city to raise $9,750 for a California company that scanned the sculpture over several weeks, giving officials an exact replica of the artwork.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man who was shot to death in Omaha had been acquitted of first-degree murder in the 2001 death of his girlfriend. The Omaha World-Herald reports 40-year-old Carlos A. Alonzo, who was killed early Saturday, was acquitted in 2005 in the death of his girlfriend, Teresa Windham. The 17-year-old Windham disappeared from a Council Bluffs motel where she was staying with Alonzo. Her body was found near Fremont. Prosecutors allege Alonzo killed Windham at the motel, but a judge acquitted him.

The Iowa State Patrol reports eight people out 13 people riding in a van, were transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, following a rollover accident Saturday afternoon, in Fremont County. None of the victims were wearing seat belts. One of the children was flown from the scene by LifeNet helicopter.

The Patrol says a 1997 Dodge Ram van driven by 38-year old Tomas Matias, of Omaha, was traveling south on Interstate 29 near the Percival exit at around 4:25-p.m. Saturday, when the right rear tire blew out. The van went out of control, entered the median and rolled onto its top.

The Patrol says among the injured was: 1-year old Edwin Garcia-Zacarias; 6-year old Edwardo Garcia-Zacarias; 5-year old Carolina Garcia-Zacarias; 38-year old Hilario Garcia-Paiz; 35-year old Miguel Garcia, and 37-year old Maria Zacarias, all from Omaha.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man who was shot to death in Omaha had been acquitted of first-degree murder in the 2001 death of his girlfriend. The Omaha World-Herald reports 40-year-old Carlos A. Alonzo, who was killed early Saturday, was acquitted in 2005 in the death several years earlier of his girlfriend, Teresa Windham.

The 17-year-old Windham disappeared from a Council Bluffs motel where she was staying with Alonzo. Her body was later found near Fremont. Prosecutors allege Alonzo killed Windham at the motel, but a judge acquitted him of the first-degree murder charge. Saturday’s killing was the 11th homicide in Omaha in 2016.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — A Freedom Rock completed last fall in Cedar Falls has been vandalized days before Memorial Day. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports the vandalism occurred Saturday night at the Freedom Rock in Cedar Falls Veterans Park. Spray paint was used to damage the rock, along with a fence and utility box.

Tom Hagarty, commander of the Cedar Falls American Legion No. 237, said a Memorial Day ceremony planned for Sunday night was going ahead. Greenfield artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II painted the rock, which includes images of the Five Sullivan Brothers killed in World War II and Taylor Morris, a Navy explosive ordnance disposal expert who lost portions of all four limbs in a bomb blast in Afghanistan.

Sorensen wants to paint Freedom Rocks in all of Iowa’s 99 counties.

(Updated)

One person was injured during a single-vehicle accident northwest of Atlantic, Sunday afternoon. According to Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Ayers, a motorcycle with a single male occupant was rounding a curve eastbound on Highway 83 just east of the intersection with Highway 173 at around 3-p.m, when the cycle left the road and entered a ditch. The cycle flipped end-over-end, ejecting the driver, identified by the State Patrol, as 63-year old Joseph McFarland, of Iowa City. McFarland came to rest under a small tree.

The man was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital. His injuries were described as serious but non-life threatening. Authorities say McFarland was wearing a helmet.

Photos courtesy Cass Co. Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Ayers

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Council Bluffs officials and resident have spent nearly $10,000 on a 3-D image of a historic statue to ensure the artwork can be restored if it’s ever damaged. The Daily Nonpareil reports residents and officials teamed for the scan of the Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial.

The 96-year-old statue was sculpted by Daniel Chester French, who created the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The bronze sculpture had fallen into disrepair but was restored in 1984 and now is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Residents wanted to be sure the statue could be restored if it was damaged, so they worked with the city to raise $9,750 for a California company that scanned the sculpture over several weeks, giving officials an exact replica of the artwork.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Once again, the end of a school year means the end of several school districts in Iowa, continuing a trend seen for decades but one that doesn’t get easier for the communities involved. Because of the closure of the Farragut Community School District and merging of two others, classes won’t resume after summer vacation at three schools in southwest Iowa.

Since Iowa school funding is based on student enrollment, many rural districts have struggled to keep their student numbers up amid declining populations. Staci Hupp, spokeswoman for the state’s education department, says it’s typical to see a few districts merge each school year, usually because of declining enrollment. This fall the Prescott and Creston school districts will merge, along with A-H-S-T and Walnut schools.

HAWARDEN, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say about 5,000 pigs died in a fire at a northwest Iowa hog confinement operation. The Sioux City Journal reports two buildings housing the hogs caught fire Saturday morning near Hawarden. The Sioux County sheriff’s office says the fire apparently began when a pig dislodged a heat lamp, which fell into straw bedding.

When Hawarden firefighters arrived, one building was engulfed in flames and the fire had spread to an adjacent building. Both structures were destroyed. No employees were injured, but the estimated 5,000 pigs died.