Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 5:20 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a legal doctrine that allows agriculture drainage districts to maintain immunity from lawsuits seeking monetary damages. The ruling Friday presents an obstacle for the Des Moines Water Works, which has alleged in a lawsuit that the three counties should be required to obtain federal water pollution discharge permits and reimburse the utility for increased filtration methods to remove the nitrates.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University has released a document that President Steven Leath says supports his use of a school plane for a largely personal trip to North Carolina. Leath has claimed he planned to meet with a donor and so the use of the plane had a business purpose, as required by law. The school released what it called the contents of a text message showing the donor cancelled the day of the meeting due to an emergency.

HARTFORD, Iowa (AP) — Officials in southern Iowa have identified a man whose body was found inside a burning home last week. The Warren County Attorney’s Office says an autopsy shows that 50-year-old Robert Paul Major died in the Jan. 20 fire. Major’s son, 28-year-old Stephen James Major, remains in the Warren County Jail on charges of first-degree arson and operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A 65-year-old woman has been arrested on harassment charges after police say she threatened employees of the University of Iowa’s student newspaper. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that Melyssa Jo Kelly called the Adler Journalism and Mass Communication building on Dec. 1 and threatened people at the Daily Iowan in profanity-laced rants. Police say she also left threatening voice messages at the paper. Kelly has been charged with six counts of first-degree harassment.

Sheriff’s officials in northwest Iowa’s Emmet and Dickinson Counties, along with the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Criminal Investigation, are investigating an incident that resulted in the death on Friday, of a man from Missouri. According to authorities, 19-year old Alexander Lee Graves, of Kansas City, MO., died following a crash that occurred during the pursuit of a vehicle reported stolen out of Sac County.

The incident began when a Dickson County Sheriff’s Deputy saw Graves driving the vehicle and tried to initiate a traffic stop. Graves proceeded to elude the deputy at a high rate of speed. The chase continued into Emmet County, where the deputy lost sight of the stolen vehicle due to poor road conditions. Graves had driven the vehicle off the road and into a ditch before fleeing into a field.

Upon finding the abandoned vehicle, the deputy followed Graves’ tracks into the field, where Graves was found deceased, with a handgun beside him. His body was transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny, where an autopsy was performed. Officials say at this time, Graves’ death is believed to be the result of a suicide.

The investigation is ongoing by the Emmet and Dickinson County Sheriff’s Offices, and DCI.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, joined thousands of people in Washington, D-C today (Friday) for the annual March For Life event. Ernst spoke during the event and says she is going to re-introduce a measure she first introduced in 2015 to cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

“We will redirect Planned Parenthood funding to other eligible womens’ health care providers,” Ernst says. Ernst says pro-life supporters now have backing in the White House and she has plans for another bill. “I am also going to introduce a bill Monday to stop what some have referred to as President Obama’s last gift to Planned Parenthood. Title ten,” Ernst says.

Ernst says it would scrap the Obama administration’s eleventh-hour rule that entrenches federal family planning funding for Planned Parenthood. Ernst says told the crowd the pro-life community must honor the civil liberties, independence, and strength of all women. Ernst says, “And that means both supporting mothers and rising up to protect the most vulnerable in our society — the innocent babies who are unable to defend themselves.” Ernst says the issue is important to her as mother, a grandmother, and a woman.

This the 44th annual March for Life, which was started after the Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion. The defunding of Planned Parenthood issue has been a key issue of debate nationally and in Iowa in recent weeks. Hundreds of people turned out in support of Planned Parenthood at the Iowa Statehouse Tuesday for a legislative hearing on cutting state funds to the organization.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Iowa man who was working for an Omaha street crew when he was hit by a car earlier this week has died. Officials say 48-year-old Salvatore Fidone III, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, died Friday at Nebraska Medical Center from injuries he suffered when he was hit by a car Monday in southwest Omaha.

Police say Fidone was standing on the driver’s side of a city truck as he and others prepared to fill potholes when a car driven by a 53-year-old Omaha man drifted from a northbound lane and struck him. No charges in the case have been filed, and the crash remains under police investigation.

Sheriff’s officials in Guthrie County said today (Friday), they’ve taken two reports within the past month of scams aimed at siphoning money from victims’ bank accounts. One of the scams involved a relationship that developed over the internet, and was brought to the attention of the Sheriff’s Office a couple of weeks ago, after a man lost $16,000.

Authorities say an elderly gentleman from Guthrie County met a much younger lady from Florida over the internet. The two sparked up a relationship and kept in regular contact with each other over the course of three to four months. During that time, the woman from Florida started asking for money to help her pay for things she was in “desperate need of” such as food for her children and vehicle repairs. The Guthrie County resident was kind hearted and felt sorry for her, so he sent her a few dollars to help her out. Over time, the demands kept coming and the situations kept getting more dire.

The gentleman continued sending money to help the young lady out. The amounts of money he was sending her kept getting larger and larger. After a few months, he had sent the “desperate” young lady nearly $16,000. The transactions were usually done through money wire transfers or with gift cards.  When the man contacted authorities, they advised him to quit sending the lady money.

The second scam involved a person who claimed to be the granddaughter of an elderly Guthrie County woman. The resident got a phone call from a person who said she was the woman’s “granddaughter, and that the “granddaughter” had been in an accident in Minneapolis. She also claimed she had been arrested, and wanted the woman to speak with the granddaughters’ female “lawyer.”

The so called “lawyer” told the elderly woman her client had ran a red light and hit an undercover Minneapolis police officer. Due to the officer’s undercover status, the judge had issued a gag-order and the case could not be discussed with anyone under penalty of law. The “lawyer” advised grandma she needed to drive to her closest Wal-Mart and purchase $4,000 worth of gift cards and sent the numbers on the cards to her law office and she would get “granddaughter” released from jail.

The resident drove to the closest Wal-Mart and purchased $4,000 worth of gift cards and sent the numbers off the cards to the “lawyer’s” office.  A short time later, the ‘judge” in the case called grandmother. The “judge” advised grandma that there was also damage to a utility pole and the cost to replace the pole was $3,000. The “judge” told grandma that “granddaughter” could not be released from jail until the utility pole was paid for.

Once again, the woman drove back to Wal-Mart and purchased another $3,000 in gift cards and sent the numbers off the cards to the “judge”.  Somewhere along the line, authorities say the resident got wise that something was not right. She contacted her credit card company, which she used to purchase the gift cards, and was directed to their fraud department. The fraud department advised her she had fallen for a common scam and a report needed to be filed with the local sheriff’s office.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office says it takes similar scam reports like that almost daily. Usually people do not send money, but in the cases mentioned, almost $23,000 was bilked from Guthrie County residents.

Authorities warn you to please be cautious anytime someone asks you for money over the phone or through the internet. Be sure also, your elderly relatives and neighbors are aware of these types of scams. The bottom line, they say, is :If it sounds fishy, it is. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”