Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A powerful University of Iowa administrator who has helped build its sprawling health care enterprise has announced plans to step down. Jean Robillard says he will soon resign his role in which he serves as dean of the medical school and top administrator for the school’s hospital and clinics system.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — One of three men charged in the stabbing and beating death of a 29-year-old man this summer Romane Nunn Sr., has pleaded not guilty. The Quad-City Times reports that 45-year-old Terrell Bloch, of Davenport, waived his right to a formal arraignment Thursday and filed his plea through his attorney. He and two others, 42-year-old William Crawford and 34-year-old Durell Parks Jr., are charged with first-degree murder and willful injury in the Aug. 18 death of Romane Nunn Sr.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police are looking for suspects in the overnight fatal stabbing of an 18-year-old man in Cedar Rapids. Police say in a written release that officers were called to a southern Cedar Rapids neighborhood just after 2 a.m. Friday and found the man with a stab wound. The teen was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Authorities have not yet released his name.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines authorities have released the name of a woman whose body was found in a parked minivan. Police identified the woman as 49-year-old Angela Eubanks, who lived in Waukee. The body was reported Thursday morning. Police say an autopsy found no evidence of traumatic injury and that toxicology tests are being run. The investigation is continuing.

Red Oak Police Chief Justin Rhamy, early this (Saturday) morning, posted a statement on the Police Department’s social media page, with regard to rumors about clowns harming people. The statement reads “The Red Oak Police Department has been receiving a massive amount of calls in regards to clowns being in and around Red Oak threatening to cause harm to people. There have been social media posts placed on swap pages in regards to a woman and her children being attacked on the square in Red Oak.”

The Chief went on to say that “As of midnight, the Red Oak Police Department HAS NOT responded to or even received any calls to service or incidents involving clowns and them attacking people. False statements have been placed on social media about arrests being made on the square in regards to clown attacks, THESE STATEMENTS ARE FALSE!”

Rhamy said also “We apologize for whoever has taken it upon themselves to post these false allegations on social media creating so much fear within our community. If you were to have any questions or concerns, please feel free to get in contact with our department.”

A movement is underway to bring tourists back to small towns in Iowa and nationwide by promoting a roadway that was around long before Interstate 80. Bryan Farr is the president and founder of the Historic U-S Route 20 Association and he’s working to unite communities all along the very lengthy stretch of road. “What we’re trying to do is connect the longest highway in the country, which runs from Boston, Massachusetts to Newport, Oregon,” Farr says, “and make it a travel destination, to get people to take the original 1926 highway as it was laid out across the country.”

Coast to coast, the highway runs about 32-hundred miles, but in Iowa, the road covers 328 miles from Sioux City to Dubuque.

Hwy 20

Other towns along the way include: Waterloo, Iowa Falls, Webster City, Rockwell City and Sac City. “We are encouraging people to get off the interstates, get off the four lanes and come back into small town America, to see the small towns, mom-and-pop businesses,” Farr says, “to see what we consider to be the best of America, really, in all of these small towns.”

Farr is meeting with city leaders and chambers of commerce officials along the route, promoting historic road signs and banners with the Route 20 logo, much like what’s seen with the more-famous Route 66 in the southwestern U-S. “We understand there is a purpose for interstates and four lanes to get from A to B in a hurry,” Farr says, “but we’re finding people like to take a little bit of a slower pace and see what our relatives and ancestors took at a slower pace to get across the country.”

A national travel guide specifically for Highway 20 is due out in the spring of 2017. Learn more about the Massachusetts-based organization at: www.historicUS20.org

(Radio Iowa)