Firefighters from Griswold were called to a report of smoke coming from several windows at a home located at 310 5th Street in Griswold, at 8:57-a.m., Saturday. A neighbor saw the smoke and called 9-1-1. Firefighters were able to quickly knock down the flames in the home, which was reportedly under renovation. No injuries were reported, and a cause of the fire was not immediately available. The home sustained extensive smoke damage.

The president of the board that oversees the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa says a few ideas coming out of the legislature aren’t that “brilliant.” Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter says “The reality is everyone, just on some of those bills, needs to take a deep breath…It might even be a stupid bill, but you know what? They have the right to do that and we don’t the right to control that, so we’ll all just deal with that and we’ll have reasonable conversations.”

One bill Rastetter has criticized would end tenure for professors at the state’s public universities. Republican Senator Brad Zaun says he’s frustrated by some of the sabbaticals professors take and the number of classes taught by graduate students. Rastetter says Zaun’s bill is “not the appropriate way” to deal with those concerns. “He should know that the universities are focused on, and the faculty is, on wanting high-quality people that work every day and are there to make the university better and the student experience better,” Rastetter says, “and that learning experience better.”

Tenure is “an important part” of the universities, according to Rastetter. “Tenure should be maintained…It’s a part of the national system,” Rastetter says. “For us to have high-quality professors, we’re going to have to have tenure. That’s a reality and we’re going to have to pay people well that are very good at their job.”

Another high-profile proposal targeting the universities came from State Representative Bobby Kaufmann, the son of Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann. In December, the younger Kaufmann vowed to send a “suck it up, buttercup” message by cutting the budgets of universities that had set up counseling for students upset by Donald Trump’s victory. Kaufmann later announced he’d scale his bill back, to impose tougher penalties on political protesters who shut down interstates. Rastetter says it WAS “inappropriate” for protesters in the Iowa City area to close down Interstate 80.

“We will all win some in life. We lose some in life and we all try to move forward together,” Rastetter says, “so I think that’s the key message that I heard being sent that I’d continue to support.” Rastetter made his comments during a weekend appearance on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program. Rastetter, an agri-businessman from Alden, served on Trump’s ad advisory group before and after the election.

(Radio Iowa)

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

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The man who disrupted a flag-burning protest in Iowa City with a fire extinguisher last week won’t lose his job. FedEx said in a statement that Matt Uhrin remains a driver with FedEx Express, and the company has no plans to change that.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will soon become Iowa’s governor, but she isn’t in a hurry to draw attention to herself or point to changes she plans in priorities or style. For weeks since Gov. Terry Branstad was nominated as ambassador to China, Reynolds has said little more than that she’s ready to be governor and intends to implement Branstad’s policies. She says, “There’s one governor at a time.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines police are investigating a homicide after a resident found a neighbor dead in his apartment. Police say officers were called Sunday afternoon to an apartment in north Des Moines. A resident had noticed a window at the apartment was ajar on Thursday and then were puzzled to see it was still open Sunday. The resident checked and found a male person dead in the apartment. Investigators hadn’t made an arrest, and they declined to release the victim’s name.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter says he would like to see tuition at state universities rise no faster than the average income of Iowa residents. The Des Moines Register reports that Rastetter made the remarks Friday during and after his appearance on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press.” Rastetter says any tuition increase higher than the rise in average state income would dramatically affect Iowa families’ ability to access the public universities.