Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) — Nearly 500 vehicles are expected to join the Great Eastern Iowa Tractorcade this year. The three-day event begins Monday at its home base in Mount Pleasant. Monday’s destinations include Danville, West Point and New London. On Tuesday the tractors will roll into Salem, Keosauqua and Houghton before returning to Mount Pleasant. And Wednesday’s lone destination is Wayland.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in western Iowa are investigating the death of a Texas woman found near her dead dog and a burning car. Sgt. David Dawson of the Council Bluffs Police Department says 43-year-old Paula Arnett was found early Monday near a burning pickup truck parked at a local Days Inn. Arnett had a gunshot wound to the head. A handgun was found underneath Arnett. Dawson says police are investigating the death, but they do not suspect foul play.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa agriculture officials are reporting an additional farm infected with bird flu in Sioux County. It’s the 18th case in the county and was found in a flock of 3,800 birds of various species. An Iowa Department of Agriculture spokesman says he can’t be more specific about what type of farm is infected or what species of birds are involved. It is the 73rd case of bird flu in Iowa. The outbreak has cost the state more than 29 million birds.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Officials say cameras are needed to help enforce an Iowa law that increased penalties for drivers who illegally pass by school buses whenever they’re stopped. Under the state law, commonly referred to as Kadyn’s Law, driving privileges are suspended for 30 days for a first conviction. It increases to 90 days for a second conviction and 180 days for a third conviction. The law was prompted by the 2011 death of 7-year-old Kadyn Halverson, who was hit by a vehicle as she crossed a rural road to board a school bus.

Two motorcyclists were hurt during separate crashes last weekend, in Mills County. The Sheriff’s Office says Richard Deboodt, of Bellevue, NE, was transported by Glenwood Rescue to a hospital in Council Bluffs, after Deboodt crashed his 2014 Harley Davidson at around 8:20-p.m, Saturday. The accident happened as the cycle was traveling north on 221st Street and entered a curve too fast. The Harley entered the east ditch and went over Elrod Avenue before going back into the ditch. Deboodt suffered minor injuries to his face during the accident, which required stitches.

The second accident happened at around 3:10-p.m. Sunday, when a 2005 Honda traveling south on 230th Street in Mills County, went out of control on loose gravel. The bike apparently just fell over, according to authorities. The driver, Harry Mount, of Glenwood, suffered severe injuries and was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Omaha.

Two people were arrested last week on drug charges, south of Malvern, while a third person was picked up on a warrant. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports 20-year old David Jesse McConahey, of Thurman, 21-year old Shelby Lynn Conn, of Glenwood, and 21-year old Dakota David Kempton, of Glenwood, were taken into custody at around 10:45-p.m, Friday, near the intersection of Marh Avenue and 315th Street.

McConahay faces charges that include Possession of Contraband, Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $6,300. Conn was charged with Unlawful Possession of a Prescription Drug. Her bond was $1,000. And, Kempton, who was wanted on a warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault, was being held in the Mills County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Arrested at a separate time and location last Friday, was 23-year old Taner Michael Schoening, of Glenwood, who was wanted on a warrant for Violation of Probation. His bond was set at $1,000. Saturday evening, Mills County Deputies arrested 33-year old Melissa Sue Alley, and 43-year old Bret Phillip Samuelson, both of Randolph. The pair were charged with Providing False ID information. Alley was also charged with Driving Under Suspension, and Speeding. Her bond was $600. Samuelson’s bond was set at $300.

And, four people were arrested Sunday, in Mills County on various charges, including 29-year old Brandy Nicole Strange, of Randolph, and 30-year old Jacob Michael Eugene Gill, of Farragut, both of whom were charged with Public Intoxication. 38-year old Michael Raymond Carver, of Omaha, was arrested Sunday for Driving Under Suspension and Speeding. And, 33-year old Joshua David Morrison, of Glenwood, was arrested on a warrant for Violating Probation.

Iowa has one of the strongest job markets in the country according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey. Manpower spokesperson Karen Miller says 96-percent of the state’s employers that were surveyed plan to hire more employees or maintain their current workforce levels between July and September. “We’ve got 30-percent of the employers around the state that were surveyed saying they’ll be adding (employees),” Miller said. “Only three-percent said they would be decreasing staffing levels.”

The fact that so many employers intend to hire more workers means companies will face a lot of competition for top talent. “If they’re going to be hunting and trying to find the right talent to fill their open opportunities, they’re going to have to get aggressive,” Miller said. “They’re going to have to make sure they’re competitive with their salaries and benefit offerings.” In addition, Miller suggests employers consider hiring candidates with “transferable skills” who can be taught to fill needs within the company.

The 30-percent of Iowa employers who plan to add workers over the third quarter of 2015 compares to 22-percent in the survey conducted one year ago. Iowa, North Dakota, Michigan and Virginia were the top four performing states in the latest Manpower survey.

(Radio Iowa)

The latest U-S-D-A crop report shows continued problems last week with wet weather slowing planting in south-west and south-central Iowa. This is a critical week for southwest Iowa — which has lagged behind the rest of the state most of the spring — as the calendar days continue passing. Iowa State University Extension Agronomist, Aaron Sauegling monitors 14 counties in the southwest corner of the state where wet weather has put them behind.

“The majority of all the corn is in in southwest Iowa. Soybean planting lags behind where we would like to be at this time of year. There’s still portions of southwest Iowa that have over half or 50 percent of the beans to be planted yet,” Sauegling explains. The forecast is calling for some warm and dry days that farmers have been needing.

“We’re optimistic that this week is going to provide us with the break that we need, that we just simply did not get the entire month of May for planting soybeans,” Sauegling says. Sauegling says the delay in planting beans is forcing some farmers to make crop management changes.  “I may increase my plant population. I’d like to narrow up the row — because what I need to do now as a soybean producer, I need to maximize my days,” according to Sauegling. “So, how I can do that is simply have more simply soybeans covering the ground, for ‘A’ weed control and ‘B’ I have to maximize yield. Corn at this point — I would probably be a little more panicked if I didn’t have my corn in.”

Soybean planting reached 88 percent complete and that’s nine days behind 2014, and one day behind average. The crop report shows 96 percent of the corn crop has emerged, which is four days ahead of the five-year average.

(Radio Iowa)

The dean of the University of Notre Dame’s College of Science is pedaling his bicycle across Iowa this week to raise awareness and money about a rare childhood disease that’s always fatal.

From the website http://blogs.nd.edu/gregcrawford/

Greg Crawford is about halfway through his cross-country Road to Discovery ride that’s taking him from New York to California. Crawford is educating people along the way about Niemann-Pick Type C disease, or N-P-C. It’s often diagnosed between the ages of three and five and progresses slowly.

“The child can’t process cholesterol properly or metabolize it, as we say,” Crawford says. “It starts to build up in all of your organs and your cells and ultimately, in the brain, and it becomes neurodegenerative. When that happens, the final days are in a wheelchair with a feeding tube, you can’t eat, you can’t walk, you can’t talk and kids typically only live into their early teens.” The genetic disorder claimed the lives of three of the four grandchildren of Ara Parseghian, the Notre Dame football coach from 1964 to ’74. Crawford will spend about four weeks making the two-wheeled trek across America, covering between 100 and 150 miles a day and a total of about three-thousand miles from coast-to-coast. After stops in Davenport and Iowa City, Crawford plans to be in Des Moines for an event on Wednesday. Another stop is scheduled in Omaha on Thursday.

“We have towns that are picked out from Long Island, New York, all the way to Pebble Beach, California,” Crawford says. “Those towns or cities have a lot of Notre Dame alumni and typically, alumni rally around this cause and we’ll have events like fundraisers, auctions, good times and we actually ask for money to support research into this rare disease.” This is the 5th year Crawford has biked across the country to raise funds and awareness for N-P-C and he says, it may be the last year. About a million dollars was raised during the first four trips and this year’s goal is another full million dollars.

“What happened over the past two years is that one of our professors at Notre Dame actually discovered a drug that was repurposed for this rare disease called NPC,” Crawford says. “The drug is now in clinical trials in phase one. We’re hoping to raise money with this ride to get it to phase two and phase three trials in the very near future.” Learn more and donate at the website: roadtodiscovery.nd.edu

(Radio Iowa)

Authorities in Council Bluffs say foul play is NOT suspected in the death of a woman and her dog, both of whom were found near a burning pickup truck in a motel parking lot, early Monday morning. Officials say Bluffs Police and Fire responded just before 2-a.m. to the Days Inn on south 7th Street, for a vehicle fire. When Officers arrived, they found a Ford F-150 parked on the northern edge of the motel’s parking lot, fully engulfed in flames. Located to the north of that vehicle, in a grassy area, was the body of a deceased female and a deceased dog. The dog and the female each had a single gunshot wound to the head. The female was identified as 43 year old Paula Arnett, of Ingleside Texas. A handgun was located under Arnett’s body and the burning F-150 was registered to her husband. Arnett was also the owner of the deceased dog. Arnett, her husband and her seventeen year old Stepson were traveling from Texas to Sioux City, IA. and were spending the night at Days Inn. The incident is being investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division. An autopsy will be conducted on Arnett tomorrow (Tuesday), but again, authorities say foul play is not suspected at this time.

Audubon County Sheriff Todd Johnson reports an investigation into two separate incidents that took place in the 2100 and 2200 blocks of 300th Street on May 26th, has resulted in the arrest of 35-year old Christopher Matthew Andersen, of Elk Horn. Andersen was taken into custody with the help of deputies from Shelby County, at around 11-p.m. Sunday. He was arrested on an outstanding Audubon County warrant for Operating (a motor vehicle) without the Owner’s Consent, Trespassing, and Theft in the 5th degree.

Anderson was booked into the Audubon County Jail and held on $2,000 bond.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports two recent arrests. Friday afternoon, 31-year old Patrick Lawrence Nolte, of Stuart, was arrested in Stuart on a warrant issued May 29th, charging him with Driving While Barred. He was also arrested for Simple Domestic Assault, 2nd Offense. Nolte was being held in the Adair County Jail on $2,000 bond.

And on June 4th, 25-year old Matthew David Alluisi, of Orient, was arrested in Greenfield for Driving While License Denied or Revoked. Bond was set at $1,000.

Authorities in Cass County located a missing woman Sunday, about three-hours after she was seen leaving Valley Oil, on foot. The Sheriff’s Office says the 19-year old walked away for reasons unknown at around 2:20-a.m., and headed east across Highway 71, into a wooded area.

The Cass County Communications Center reported at the time the woman seemed very confused when she spoke with a dispatcher, and was somewhat uncooperative. She remained on her cell phone until it was either shut off or the battery died. Until the call ended, the dispatcher triangulated the location of her phone, helping authorities narrow down their search.

When she was found, the woman transported to Cass County Memorial Hospital for a medical and mental evaluation. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Iowa State Patrol, the Atlantic Police Department, and Audubon County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff would also like to extend special thanks to the Atlantic Firemen who volunteered to come out and assist with the search.