SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Obstacles have arisen in the path of a proposed recreation trail between Le Mars and Sioux City. The Sioux City Journal reports that the Plymouth County Conservation Board has declined ownership and maintenance responsibilities. Also, the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors has told the PlyWood Trail Advisory Board that the county favors the project but only if no county property tax dollars will be sought for construction and maintenance.

PlyWood Trail leaders say that if Plymouth County officials don’t reverse their decisions, the trail leaders will approach the city councils in Le Mars and Sioux City about each city taking possession of segments of the trail closest to their respective boundaries.

The PlyWood name is derived from the first few letters of the neighboring counties of Plymouth and Woodbury.

Four men are jailed after a drive-by shooting in the Campustown area of Ames. Officers were called to the area at 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning in reference to a fight. A short time later, a red passenger car stopped in the 200 block of Welch Avenue. Shots were fired into the crowd from the vehicle. Officers responded by firing into the suspect vehicle. The assailants then fled northbound on Welch Avenue and then west on Lincoln Way.

Three victims were treated for gunshot wounds at the scene. One of the victims was taken to a Des Moines hospital and the other two to Mary Greeley Medical Center for treatment. It is believed that none of the injuries were life threatening. The names of those wounded have not been released.

In a news release, Ames Police reported that 20-year-old Terrion Maxfield and 19-year-old Desmon Siner. both of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. were arrested by Fort Dodge Police for attempted murder. Both men were located at a Fort Dodge hospital with the suspect vehicle also located in Fort Dodge. Two other men, 20-year-old Charles Smith and 21-year-old Traveion D. Henry, both of Milwaukee were also arrested in Fort Dodge and charged with attempted murder-aiding and abetting. All four men are in the Story County Jail in Nevada.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting the Ames Police Department in the investigation. The officers involved in the shooting will be placed on administrative leave pending a review by Ames Police.

(Radio Iowa)

Red Oak Police report the arrest just after 1-a.m. today (Monday), of 28-year old Zachary Charles Burkes, of Red Oak, on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault, a simple misdemeanor, and Obstruction of Emergency Communications. Burkes was being held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

At around 9-p.m., Sunday, Red Oak Police arrested 38-year old Tina Marie Shavers, of Red Oak, on charges of Aiding and Abetting a Theft in the 3rd Degree, an aggravated misdemeanor. Shavers was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.

And, at around 5:45-p.m., Sunday, 32-year old Robert Benjamin Harris, of Red Oak, was arrested by Red Oak Police, for Theft in the 3rd Degree, and Trespass. Harris was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

One of Governor Branstad’s former budget directors says she hopes Iowa lawmakers tackle pension reform soon. Gretchen Tegeler, who served as Branstad’s budget director in the 1990’s, says “I hope they are teeing up the look at what we have. Is it the best thing going forward for new employees? We need to do some things different.”Tegeler is now president of the Taxpayers Association of Central Iowa.

Branstad has indicated he wants Tegeler to be part of a review of public worker pensions. “Pension reform means lots of different things,” Tegeler says. “It’s very important to understand that our approach is about retirement security. The people that are in these plans now, if we don’t do something different for future employees and we continue to compound the risk that is in these plans, then everybody in these plans now is at much greater risk.”

While some public worker pension systems in other states are teetering toward insolvency, Iowa’s system was recently ranked as the 10th best positioned pension system in the country. There are four main systems for public worker pensions in Iowa, but by far the largest is the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System, commonly called IPERS. It covers more than 325-thousand current, former and retired employees of the state, counties, cities and school districts.

Critics say new workers should no long be promised a defined pension, but instead should invest money in accounts similar to the 401-K programs in the private sector. The Republican leader in the Iowa Senate expressed support for that move three years ago. Tegeler made her comments during an appearance on Iowa Public Televisions’s “Iowa Press” program.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After decades as the crossroads of prairie populists and checkbook conservatives, Iowa has suddenly become solidly Republican like many of its Midwestern neighbors. It was one of four states _ along with Kentucky, Missouri and North Carolina _ that flipped to complete GOP control since the November election, but Iowa’s rush of new legislation has been the most intense. In an all-night session last week, the Legislature voted strip long-held collective bargaining rights.

ATLANTA (AP) — A bustling city street filled with cars, buses, bicyclists and college students in the heart of Atlanta is being eyed as a real-world proving ground for self-driving vehicles. It’s one of several communities nationwide vying to be test sites for the emerging technology. Atlanta would become one of the largest urban areas for testing self-driving vehicles if its plans for a vehicle demonstration this summer can be accomplished.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As House Republicans push for a bill that would prevent local governments from determining minimum hourly wages, workers in some Iowa counties are expressing bewilderment over the potential loss of raises that have improved their lives. The Iowa House is ready to debate the bill, which would prohibit Iowa’s counties and cities from increasing their local minimum hourly wages above the state standard of $7.25 and cancel higher wages already approved in Polk, Linn, Johnson and Wapello counties.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A new lawsuit seeks to stop the city of Des Moines from garnishing the state income tax refunds of people it says owe traffic camera violation fines. The Des Moines Register report that the city has seized refunds for such fines for three years. The lawsuit asks that Des Moines be ordered to immediately stop the practice and for the court to declare it illegal.