The director of the Iowa Department of Education has filed an ethics complaint against an eastern Iowa superintendent who’s tapped into the district’s cash reserves rather than lay off teachers. Staci is a spokeswoman for the department. “We have a lot of respect for the fact that the superintendent of the Davenport School District is trying to do the right thing for kids,” Hupp says. “However, it’s illegal for a school district to overspend its authorized budget and we have an obligation when that happens to file a complaint.”

A couple of years ago, Davenport Superintendent Art Tate began calling on lawmakers to change the formula for distributing state aid to schools. He argues it’s short-changing his district and others. Tate and other Davenport officials appeared before a state panel on Tuesday, seeking permission to spend more than the current legal limit.
“Ultimately, the School Budget Review Committee wasn’t comfortable with granting additional authority to a school district that is intentionally breaking the law,” Hupp says, “so the request…was unanimously denied.”

Hupp says spending cash reserves is not against the law. “But it’s a violation to overspend your authorized limit when you’re a school district,” Hupp says. The ethics complaint against Tate has been filed with the Iowa Board of Education Examiners. Last year, Tate said he was willing to risk losing his license to be an educator to make the point that the formula for distributing state school aid should be changed.

(Radio Iowa)

Red Oak Police early this (Friday) morning, arrested a man on an assault charge. 22-year old Jacob William Avery, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 1:15-a.m. for Domestic Assault. The victim of the assault suffered minor physical injuries during the incident. Avery was being held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:02 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A group of Iowa landowners forced to allow a Texas oil company to put a crude oil pipeline under their farmland is asking the state courts to throw out what they consider “illegal easements” through their land and some say if they win they want the pipeline dug up and removed. A district court judge in Des Moines heard arguments Thursday in the lawsuit challenging the Dakota Access pipeline.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the ambush-style shooting attacks of two police officers last month. Scott Michael Greene entered his written plea Wednesday in a court filing in which he also asked for a speedy trial. The 46-year-old is accused of carrying out the Nov. 1 attacks of Urbandale officer Justin Martin and Des Moines Police Sgt. Anthony Beminio. They were killed within minutes while sitting in their patrol cars miles apart from one another.

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — A 55-year-old Marshalltown man has been arrested and charged with sexually abusing a girl younger than 10. The Times-Republican reports that Marshalltown police began an investigation on Dec. 1 into a complaint of possible sexual abuse involving an adult male and a young girl. The man was arrested Thursday and has been charged with second-degree sexual abuse and indecent contact with a child.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Owners of the Des Moines Marriott Downtown have announced the hotel will be sold for nearly $34 million to Chicago-based Singerman Real Estate. The Des Moines Register reports that City Center Corp., the hotel’s current owner, says the sale is scheduled to close Friday. Constructed in 1981, the Marriott is the third tallest building in Des Moines and includes more than 400 rooms.

A federal analysis indicates at least one out of every five people who lived in a small, southern Iowa county last year had an income below the poverty line. The national poverty rate last year was 13-and-a-half percent. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate in Decatur County, Iowa, last year was 62 percent higher — for a poverty rate of 21-point-seven percent. Decatur County sits along the Iowa/Missouri border and had fewer than 85-hundred residents in 2010. Lamoni and Leon are its largest communities. The poverty rates in Johnson and Story Counties where large batches of college students live both topped 18 percent.

(Go to the following link to find an interactive map with the data for your county:  http://www.census.gov/did/www/saipe/data/interactive/saipe.html?s_appName=saipe&map_yearSelector=2015&map_geoSelector=aa_c&s_state=19#view=Mapping )

Poverty rate for counties in southwest Iowa: Cass County, 13.9%; Adair County, 11.9%; Adams County,12.5%; Audubon County, 10.3%; Guthrie County, 10.4%; Harrison County, 9.9%; Mills County, 10.3%; Montgomery County, 13.4%; Shelby County, 9.2%; Fremont County, 12.1%; Page County, 15.7%; Ringgold County, 14.1% and Taylor County, 14.7%.

The poverty rate in Polk County — Iowa’s largest — was below the national rate. About one out of every 10 residents in Des Moines and the surrounding area had income below the poverty line last year.

(Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Cass County Health System issued a statement Thursday afternoon regarding the passing of Dr. Edward Fisher, an Orthopedic Surgeon with more than 25-years of experience. Dr. Fisher joined Myrtue Medical Center and the Cass County Health System in February 2015.

Dr. Edward Fisher

Sara Nelson, with CCHS Public Relations said the “Physicians and staff at Cass County Health System and Myrtue Medical Center were deeply saddened today to learn that Dr. Edward Fisher, Orthopedic Surgeon, has passed away. Details and funeral arrangements are not available at this time. Patients currently receiving orthopedic services will be contacted by clinic staff in the near future regarding their ongoing care.”