Police in Red Oak are investigating the theft of a Brooklyn twin-size bed/mattress. Authorities say a female resident on west Hammond Street reported to police Friday evening that a pink bed/mattress was delivered to her home earlier in the day. Sometime between Noon and 2:30-p.m., a person or persons unknown took the bed set from the home’s front porch. The loss was estimated at $105.

Anyone with information about the theft is asked to call the Red Oak Police Department at 712-623-6500.

Montgomery County Emergency Management Director Brian Hamman reports firefighters  from Elliott, Griswold, and Red Oak battled a barn fire on Wednesday afternoon in rural southeast Pott County. The call from 11717 480th Street came in at around 2:50-p.m.

The blaze started in the barn that was being torn down, and extended to the field as well as two grain bins. Several area farmers assisted with removal of grain from the bins as well as providing tractors in the field to contain the field fire. No injuries were reported.

A survey released this week shows Iowa employers are predicting a robust job market between April and June. Karen Miller, a spokesperson for Manpower, Incorporated, says “We found 71-percent of the employers that we surveyed are going to maintain their current staffing levels, while another 24-percent said they’re going to be adding to their staff for this coming quarter.”

The results of the second quarter survey are similar to those from a year ago, but mark an improvement over the first quarter of this year when 18-percent of Iowa employers anticipated adding to their workforce.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say they have arrested one man and are looking for three others in connection with a shooting at an Iowa City apartment complex. Cedar Rapids police arrested 20-year-old Devasier Dungtion of Cedar Rapids on Friday. Police in Iowa City have issued arrest warrants for two other 19-year-old men of Cedar Rapids and one 20-year-old man from Iowa City.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say two juveniles have been charged with starting the fire that damaged playground equipment at a Des Moines elementary school. Police Sergeant Dan Blom tells the Register that the juveniles were charged yesterday with second-degree arson and turned over to their parents. Des Moines fire officials said they responded shortly before 11 a.m. Friday to Park Avenue Elementary.

DENVER, Iowa (AP) — A schools administrators group has named a northeast Iowa woman its elementary principal of the year for 2014. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier says Kim Tierney at Denver Elementary School was cheered during an assembly at the school on Thursday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Georges Niang scored 25 points before leaving with a bloody gash to his forehead in the closing minutes, and Number 16 Iowa State held on to beat Number 10 Kansas 94-83 last night and reach its first Big 12 tournament title game since 2000. DeAndre Kane had five 3-pointers and scored 20 points, and Big 12 player of the year Melvin Ejim added 19 points for the fourth-seeded Cyclones.

The Iowa Supreme Court says drivers can use a “prescription drug defense” in hearings to revoke their driver’s license. Teresa Bearinger drove off the road and hit a mailbox two blocks from her home in Urbandale in May of 2011. She told police she was having trouble with her prescription medication for a nuerological problem. A drug test revealed prescription drugs, but no alcohol in her system.

Iowa law allows drivers to take medications as prescribed by doctors and drive — as long as they don’t take alcohol with them. But the Iowa D-O-T said that “prescription drug defense” does not apply to administrative hearings on license revocations, and revoked Bearinger’s license. The Iowa Supreme Court ruling says the justices do not believe the legislature intended to withhold the prescription-drug defense for an administrative license revocation, and ordered the revocation reversed.

(Radio Iowa)

The Board of Regent’s search for a new superintendent for the specials schools for the blind and deaf should be close to completion by early next month. Regent Nicole Caroll leads the search committee and told the board this week that a search firm has helped them identify possible candidates.

“A job description is now being drafted and will be review by the committee at its April 2nd meeting. And also at that April 2nd meeting, the committee will finalize interview questions and procedures, and the applications received will be review, and candidates to be interviewed by the committee will be identified,” Caroll says. The search committee will then narrow down its choices.

“The committee is planing to interview the finalists on April 9th and determine which ones to refer to this board for final interviews and a decision,” Carroll says. The new superintendent will replace Patrick Clancy who is retiring. Clancy began as superintendent of the school for the blind in Vinton in 2008 and added the same position for the school for the deaf in Council Bluffs in April of 2012.

(Radio Iowa)

DELOIT, Iowa (AP) — Funeral arrangements have been scheduled for the two longtime friends who were believed to be the victims of homicide on a rural western Iowa farm. KCAU-TV says services for 81-year-old Alice Huisenga will be Saturday afternoon at Wheatland Presbyterian Church outside of Breda. The funeral for 80-year-old Marvin Huesling will be Monday at Holy Spirit Catholic Churchin Carroll.

Their bodies were found inside a burning building on the farm in Deloit, about 60 miles southeast of Sioux City. Three people have been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and first-degree arson in connection with the deaths. They are 19-year-old Jayden Chapman, 36-year-old Erika Haberberger-Dains and 26-year-old Michael Schenk, all of Denison.

Police say the suspects were likely on the property to steal scrap metal.