DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is planning to attend events in the Des Moines area next week. The State Department announced Friday that Pompeo would be in the Des Moines area on Sunday and Monday to discuss agriculture issue and about how the agency serves U.S. interests by promoting American exports. Pompeo plans to speak at a Future Farmers of America event, tour an agriculture research center and attend an event at the World Food Prize headquarters in Des Moines. He also will meet with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The State Department says former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, now the ambassador to China, will accompany Pompeo. The department is expected to provide more details about the visit later.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa grandmother will stand trial Monday in the 1992 killing of her former boyfriend in a case built largely on an alleged confession heard by a child. The trial will test prosecutors’ ability to get a conviction in a case in which they have no physical evidence against Annette Cahill. Instead, the outcome may hinge on whether jurors believe a woman who says she was 9 when she overheard Cahill confess to killing bartender Corey Wieneke weeks after the slaying. Cahill has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Wieneke, 22, whose body was found in his West Liberty home in October 1992. If convicted, she faces life in prison.

Cahill, 56, is an unusual defendant. She has no criminal history and has continued her longtime job with the Police Law Institute, an Iowa-based company that helps train police officers nationwide, while awaiting trial. She has said that Wieneke was her best friend and that she wasn’t involved in his death, which devastated her. Many of her friends and relatives, who praise her cooking and quilting skills, say she is the victim of a miscarriage of justice. But the prosecution is expected to argue that, decades ago, Cahill was a different person and part of a hard-partying group in the small town with a lifestyle that included sexual affairs, drugs and alcohol. They’re expected to claim that she killed Wieneke in a rage about the former high school football player’s engagement to another woman, Jody Hotz.

“He was a great young man,” said father James Wieneke, who intends to be at the trial in Muscatine. Cahill was a divorced mother of two who had been in a sexual relationship with Wieneke, who tended bar at the tavern owned by his grandmother. Investigators say the pair argued early Oct. 13, 1992 about their relationship and his engagement. Hotz has told police that Wieneke came home and was sleeping when she left for work that morning. She called 911 to report finding his cold, bloody body on the bedroom floor after she returned that evening. Investigators later recovered a baseball bat from a nearby road that they believe is the murder weapon. But they have not found DNA or fingerprint evidence against Cahill from the bat or otherwise.

Cahill was a suspect because she was among the last people to see Wieneke alive. Her attorneys say she has always cooperated and was voluntarily questioned numerous times. After the case went cold, Cahill moved to the nearby town of Tipton, remarried and had another child and grandchildren. In 2009, she began working in customer service at the Police Law Institute, which provides continuing education for 10,000 officers monthly. Her boss David Oliver says she’s passionate about proper policing and “very pro-law enforcement.”

The Division of Criminal Investigation reopened the Wieneke case after an agent received a tip from a woman while working an unrelated case in 2017. The woman, 36, has told police that she was 9 in 1992 and visiting a childhood friend who is Cahill’s niece. One evening, she says she saw Cahill pacing around, lighting candles and making incriminating statements about killing Wieneke. The woman’s mother is expected to testify that her daughter told her about the confession then. Cahill’s lawyers are expected to attack their claims as tainted by animosity. Cahill had an affair in 1991 with the girl’s stepfather, which contributed to the end of her mother’s marriage, they say. A childhood memory expert hired by the defense has called the testimony “extremely questionable.”

Cahill was arrested last May and jailed for months on a $1 million bond. A judge let her out on electronic monitoring in September. Authorities have since disavowed a key claim they made in the criminal complaint: That Cahill knew Wieneke was killed by a bat before that information was public. That claim was mistaken, they say. Defense lawyer Clemens Erdahl said he was disturbed that allegation was made publicly without evidence. He has argued that the prosecution’s case is weak. “This has been very difficult for her and her family, in terms of costs associated with contesting a case of this magnitude,” he said of Cahill.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa Senate subcommittee has advanced a measure that would use public education money for private schools and home schooling. The Des Moines Register reports the committee voted 2-1 for the measure Wednesday, with the two Republicans in support and Democratic member opposed. Sen. Jerry Behn, a Boone Republican who sponsored the bill, says the measure would provide parents opportunities for more involvement in their children’s education. He also says it would encourage competition among schools and lead to improvement.

West Des Moines Democratic Sen. Claire Celsi says schools aren’t businesses and don’t compete with one another. The bill would provide students in grades K-12 “education savings grants” to pay for a nonpublic school or “competent private instruction,” more commonly known as home schooling. The grant would equal the average per-student amount the state pays each year for students at public schools.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A man accused of setting his stepson aflame in Des Moines has taken a plea deal and avoided a murder trial. The Des Moines Register reports that 42-year-old Randy Miles Jr. pleaded guilty Friday to involuntary manslaughter and fleeing the state to avoid prosecution. Prosecutors dropped charges of arson and first-degree murder in return for Miles’ pleas. Prosecutors say he’ll be sentenced later this month to up to 30 years in prison.

Authorities say Miles fled to Grand Forks , North Dakota, following his confrontation with 26-year-old Christopher Lenhart on Aug. 25, 2017. Witnesses told police that Miles had argued with Lenhart and then threw gas on him while Lenhart was inside a vehicle. The gas then ignited. Lenhart died two days later at an Iowa City hospital.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Institute for Supply Management, formerly the Purchasing Management Association, began formally surveying its membership in 1931 to gauge business conditions. The Creighton Economic Forecasting Group uses the same methodology as the national survey to consult supply managers and business leaders. Creighton University economics professor Ernie Goss oversees the report.
The overall index ranges between 0 and 100. Growth neutral is 50, and a figure greater than 50 indicates growth in that factor over the next three to six months.

• In Iowa: The state’s overall index climbed to 56.9 in February from 54.8 in January. Index components were new orders at 55.5, production or sales at 52.2, delivery lead time at 50.9, employment at 58.9 and inventories at 56.3. It’s estimated that Iowa exported $561.8 million in goods to China last year and that those exports supported about 5,600 jobs in Iowa, Goss said.
• In Nebraska: The state’s overall index climbed to 52.4 in February from January’s 50.5. Index components were new orders at 50.9, production or sales at 48.3, delivery lead time at 57.1, inventories at 52.1 and employment at 53.5. Nebraska is estimated to have exported $462 million in goods to China for 2018. Those exports supported about 4,600 Nebraska jobs, according to Goss.

Here’s a look at some other, neighboring States’ economic indices:

• Kansas: Kansas’ overall index hit 55.2 in February, compared with 53.3 in January. Index components were new orders at 53.1, production or sales at 51.2, delivery lead time at 60.5, employment at 56.2 and inventories at 55.2. Kansas is estimated to have exported $674.9 million in goods to China for 2018. Those exports supported about 6,800 Kansas jobs, Goss said.
• Minnesota: The state’s overall index dropped to 53.4 in February from 54.5 in January. Index components were new orders at 51.7, production or sales at 49.4, delivery lead time at 58.4, inventories at 53.2 and employment at 54.5. The state is estimated to have exported $1.9 billion in goods to China last year, and those exports supported about 19,000 jobs in Minnesota, he said.
• Missouri: Missouri’s overall index rose to 57.0 last month from 55.0 in January. Index components were new orders at 54.5, production or sales at 53.0, delivery lead time at 62.6, inventories at 57.1 and employment at 58.0. Missouri is estimated to have exported $888.7 million in goods to China last year, supporting about 8,900 Missouri jobs, according to Goss.
• South Dakota: The South Dakota overall index rose to a regional high of 68.7 last month from 66.2 in January. Index components were new orders at 63.7, production or sales at 64.6, delivery lead time at 76.3, inventories at 69.7 and employment at 69.2. South Dakota is estimated to have exported $60.8 million in goods to China last year, which supported about 600 South Dakota jobs, Goss said