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

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — The former city clerk of Boyden in northwest Iowa has been placed on probation after pleading guilty to stealing money from the city. The Sioux City Journal reports former city clerk Beth Sipma, of Sheldon, was placed on probation Monday after pleading guilty in Sioux County District Court to one count of first-degree theft. She was ordered to pay a $1,000 civil penalty and nearly $55,000 in restitution to Boyden.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence is doubling down on running mate Donald Trump’s new public push for Hillary Clinton to shut down her long-time charitable foundation. Pence told a crowd Monday at a manufacturing facility in Cedar Rapids that Clinton must shut down the Clinton Foundation immediately. Trump issued the same call earlier in the day through social media.

CLARION, Iowa (AP) — Wright County supervisors have approved a development agreement with a North Carolina-based company that plans to build a $240 million pork processing plant in northern Iowa. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports the supervisors approved the deal Monday with Prestage Foods, of Clinton, North Carolina. The agreement includes building wastewater treatment facilities and improving roads near the plant, south of Eagle Grove. Prestage officials say they eventually plan to employ about 1,750 people.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sioux City police have identified a man who was pulled from the Missouri River and died later at a hospital. The Sioux City Journal reports Monday that police identified the man as 42-year-old Conrad Parker, of Sioux City. Witnesses told police the man walked into the river Friday and began floating downstream. They called 911 after losing sight of him, and he was unconscious when rescuers pulled him from the river. His death was determined to be accidental drowning.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest late Sunday night, of 43-year old Michelle Lee Kalkas, of Imogene. Kalkas was arrested at around 11:10-p.m. following a traffic stop on Highway 34. She was charged with two counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance, along with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Driving While Barred, and No SR-22 Insurance. Her bond was set at $7,300.

And, Mills County Deputies arrested 61-year old Larry Edward Eggeling, of Malvern, Friday afternoon. Eggeling was charged with OWI/2nd offense. His bond was set at $2,000.

In an update to our earlier reports, the Atlantic Police Department Monday afternoon released additional details about an accident that happened at around 7:40-p.m., Sunday. Officials say Jadon Jahnke, of Lewis, was cited for Failure to Maintain Control, after his Ford Ranger pickup rear-ended an SUV driven by Megan Magers, of Atlantic.

The accident happened near the intersection of 7th and Pine Streets, when Magers pulled over to yield for a passing fire truck responding to a fuel spill incident near the Pizza Ranch restaurant in Atlantic. When Magers slowed to a stop, Janke, who was distracted by the passing fire truck, failed to notice. Magers was transported to the Cass County Hospital by Medivac Ambulance for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Damage from the collision amounted to $5,000.

The A-PD reports also, 26-year old Joshua Olwell, of Atlantic, was arrested Sunday on a Cass County warrant for Possession of a Controlled Substance. And, 18-year old Kyle Hansen, of Atlantic, was arrested Sunday for Domestic Abuse Assault. Both men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

A new report shows students who participate in Science Technology Engineering and Math or STEM projects in their schools score better on tests and are more interested in working in Iowa once they graduate. Jeff Weld is executive director of the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council. “Over half of the children of the state have now participated in one or more of these STEM programs, so we’re really at an interesting tipping point,” Weld says. “And I think we’re beginning to prove the concept here, that we’re going to provide a talent pipeline for the IT, agriculture, medicine, engineering, advanced manufacturing pipeline as a result of the work that we’re doing here.”

The State of Iowa began spending money on STEM programs five years ago. Back then, only one out of four Iowans knew STEM stood for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Now, nine out of 10 Iowans say STEM education should be a priority, but only 46 percent think it is in their local school. Governor Terry Branstad says sometimes it takes a while for perception to catch up with reality. “It really is phenomenal, the change that we’ve seen in five years, but we know we still have a ways to go and we want to continue to work on it,” Branstad says.

Branstad wants 70 percent of working-age Iowans to have at least two additional years of college or vocational training beyond high school by the year 2025. Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds is co-chair of the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council. “‘Greatness STEMS from Iowans’ — our brand that we have — we are hearing more and more people tell us that, you know, they recognize it at STEM festivals that we’ve having across the state, STEM Day at the State Fair, so I mean it’s building and growing and we’re working on really driving public awareness and getting more parents and grandparents involved, so we’ve made a lot of progress,” Reynolds says. “We’re just admitting that there’s more work to do.”

According to the report released today (Monday) by the governor, students who participated in STEM projects scored an average seven percentage points higher on the Iowa Assessments in mathematics, six percent higher in science and four percent higher in reading than their peers. Among the STEM “Scale-Up Program” participants, 45 percent of them said they were “very interested” in working in Iowa someday. That compared to 39 percent of all students who said they wanted to work in Iowa when they became adults.

(Radio Iowa)