DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — There is probable cause that a southwest Iowa school district violated the state’s open meetings law when it met privately to discuss the firing of a principal, according to a state investigation. The Iowa Public Information Board said the five-member board of the Red Oak Community School District failed to properly vote to close an April 10 meeting and broke the law on April 14 when it failed to appropriately apprise the public of an agenda item.

Each board member could face fines of up to $2,500 per violation, The Des Moines Register reported. The Iowa Public Information Board will make a decision on the issue when it meets on Sept. 18th. The school board voted earlier this year to consider terminating Red Oak High School principal Jedd Sherman’s contract. Sherman said at the time the board was trying to fire him in retaliation for his reporting of two cases of student bullying, among other things.

The school district later agreed to pay Sherman $100,000 in exchange for him resigning. The state’s open meetings law says a government body can hold professional competency discussions in private if the affected employee requests it. Sherman said he wanted the discussions open.

Greg Barntsen, an attorney representing Red Oak, said audio of the April 10th meeting will resolve some of the issues brought up by the information board. He added that he doesn’t expect the board members to be fined since they were acting on the advice of another attorney.

Police in Council Bluffs are investigating a reported home invasion. Bluffs Police Sgt. Chad Meyers said officers were called just before 10-a.m. Friday, to 1714 6th Avenue, for a report of a shot being fired. Officers arrived on scene and came into contact with the victim, Kyle Medearis. According to Medearis, someone knocked on his front door. When he opened the door, a black male and a Hispanic male forced their way into his home. Both suspects were described as being in their 20’s, average height and weight. The black male was wearing all black clothing and the Hispanic male was described as wearing a blue ball cap.

The black male was armed with a handgun and they ordered him to sit down. Medearis did not comply and ran to the back of the house. As he was exiting the rear door of the house, the black male fired a single shot in his direction. Medearis was not struck by the round and was able to escape. The two suspects exited out the same door and ran to a full sized white pickup that was parked on 6th Avenue. The white pickup then fled north on 18th Street.

The Council Bluffs Police are still investigating the incident and are asking that anyone with information on the crime call 328-STOP.

Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Public Safety report a northeast Iowa man was arrested without incident this (Friday) morning. 33-year old Abel Quijas, Jr., of Maynard,  was wanted in connection with the alleged attempted murder Thursday afternoon, of an Oelwin Peace Officer.

Abel Quijas, Jr.

Authorities say no further information will be released at this time.

Floodwaters at the Riverton Wildlife Management Area in Fremont County have receded enough for the boat ramp and access road at both ends of the area to reopen. The Iowa DNR says water is still higher in the main marsh than normal so hunters need to plan accordingly.

Floodwaters had caused a dike on the south side of the main tract to blow out, rapidly raising the water level in the marsh.

The Riverton Wildlife Management Area is a 4,000-acre public hunting and wildlife refuge area popular with waterfowl hunters. Iowa’s special September teal season is open through Sept. 21. The duck hunting season in the south zone is Oct. 4-8 and Oct. 18 to Dec. 11.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A legislative committee narrowly recommended allowing medical marijuana to be grown and sold in Iowa. The 10-member committee was formed to look at problems with a new law that was supposed to allow some epilepsy patients to get marijuana extract. On Thursday, the committee also backed changing state law to reclassify marijuana so it would be easier to get as medication, The Des Moines Register reported.

In May, lawmakers vote to allow people to possess marijuana extract, an oil that doesn’t contain the chemical that makes people high, to treat seizures. But the law didn’t provide any way for people to make or distribute the extract in Iowa.

Parents who pushed for the bill have said in the months since that it’s basically unworkable. Most states where medical marijuana is legal don’t allow people from other states to buy it. And people from Iowa would have to break the law to bring it back home.

State Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, said he saw the original law as a giant step for families, but now it’s clear that it needs to be fixed. He and five other lawmakers voted to recommend the closely regulated production and distribution of medical marijuana for approved patients. It did not say what type of marijuana but did say it should not be taxed.

The committee voted 9-1 on a measure to recommend reclassifying marijuana in a way that would be a step toward making it legal for medical purposes.

An Exira couple injured during a motorcycle accident last weekend in Pottawattamie County, have succumbed to their injuries. 54-year old Lorena Riesgaard died Monday. Her husband, 61-year old Ronnie Riesgaard, passed away Tuesday.

The accident happened last Saturday afternoon, as the couple  was traveling east on Magnolia Road on a cycle driven by Ronnie Riesgaard. The bike went out of control on a curve and came to rest in the middle of the road.

The accident remains under investigation.

A Clarinda man had an interesting ride Thursday night. The Union County Sheriff’s Office says 20-year old Adam Johnson was traveling west on Rea Road at around 8:45-p.m., when he became distracted by a passenger in the 1996 Toyota SUV he was driving. The vehicle went through a stop sign at the intersection with 125th Street, and entered the west ditch.

After the SUV rolled once and ended on its wheels, Johnson managed to drive the vehicle out of the ditch and park the SUV on the road. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $3,500. There were no injuries reported, and no citations issued.

The Atlantic Student Council has reduced the entry fee for the Oct. 11th “Color the Town 5k Run/walk,” otherwise known as the “Color Run.”  Due to confusion having to deal with the registration website (the issues of which have since been resolved), the Council thought it would be fair to reduce the entry fee from 30-to $25. Registration ends Sept. 14th.

To register for the event, go to schoolathon.org. Click on the “Login/Register” link on the top right corner of the page, and the first option offered (“Register as a new participant”), and enter in the Group ID line 110006. The Group “AHS Student Council” should appear.

From there, enter your information… create a password, and then submit. (For Teachers/Section Leaders use Wiederien, and for Grade, enter High School). Read the message provided and click “Continue Registration.”

Enter $1 in the “Donation Amount” (but note that this number WILL NOT be added to your run fee of $25), then submit. Scroll through the message page and click on the “Proceed to Complete Registration” link at the bottom of the page. Read the message, and click “Continue.”

You will then be directed to the Registration site. Click on the “Visit My Site” link and scroll to the bottom of the page, where you will click on the “I want to participate” tool link. From there, you can continue with your registration for the run, and checkout.

If you would like to pay by cash or check, please contact either Pat Wiederien or Steph Freund, at (712)- 249-4251, or 254-2574. You may also contact Jen Hohenberger, at 712-249-5404.

Police in Creston report two recent arrests. On Thursday, 31-year old David Alan Hosfield, of Creston, was arrested on a charge of Harassment in the 3rd degree. Hosfield was being held Friday in the Union County Jail.

And, on Wednesday, 21-year old Devin Lee Heimke, of Corning, was arrested in Creston on a Union County warrant for OWI/1st offense. He was later released on $1,000 bond.

An anti-abortion group in Iowa is issuing a warning about a website that once offered sex education information to parents and schools but which now directs computer users to pornography. Jennifer Bowen, executive director of Iowa Right to Life, says the website “teenwire-dot-com” had been run by Planned Parenthood but now advertises teen escorts, online sex and other X-rated content.

Bowen says, “We are very concerned for students in Iowa as well as nationally, anybody that uses any curriculum that advises from Planned Parenthood or from the Ellen Guttmacher Institute is very likely using curriculum that points teens to that website, teenwire.com.” Any outdated literature distributed to schools in the past few years, she says, still directs people to that website. Bowen says her organization mobilized and contacted every school district in Iowa to give them a heads up about the website’s change.

“Unfortunately, we only heard back from one and they were not inclined to believe that we were telling the truth,” Bowen says. “We are very concerned about the lack of response that we’ve had from the school districts.” Bowen says the website, when run by Planned Parenthood, had used an Etch-A-Sketch in some of its videos months ago, so Iowa Right to Life contacted the makers of the toy in an effort to have the site shut down.

“At that time, teenwire.com came down for a period of time,” Bowen says. “It went back briefly but then, apparently it came back down again at some point in the last year or two. Unbeknownst to us, it went right into the hands of the porn industry.” Bowen says she’s been told the website is operating within the law so it won’t be forced to go dark.

(Radio Iowa)