SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The superintendent of Sioux City schools says he won’t block plans by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to hold an event at a district high school. Superintendent Paul Gausman announced Friday that despite complaints and a threatened protest, he won’t stop Trump from using West High School on Tuesday for a campaign event.

The Sioux City Journal reports a 2012 West High graduate organized a petition calling for the district to not allow use of the school for Trump’s event. He’s now planning a protest at the site. Former student Francisco Valadez says Trump shouldn’t be allowed to use the school because of his views on immigration.

Gausman says many candidates have held events at Sioux City schools, so it’s not fair to exclude Trump.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says a Glenwood man will not face a kidnapping charge in connection with an incident in which he is accused by a girl of molesting her eight years ago. Daniel Walden was charged with kidnapping, sexual abuse and indecent contact with a child. He appealed the kidnapping charge alleging Iowa law requires it to be filed within three years.

Prosecutors say a girl complained last year Walden locked her in a bedroom of his home and molested her. Walden denies ever touching her. Justices said Friday they must uphold the Legislature’s kidnapping filing limitation and dismissed that charge.

Walden faces trial on the remaining charges. He could have faced life in prison if convicted of kidnapping. The sexual abuse charge carries a maximum 25 years.

Law enforcement personnel and firefighters from Cass County lined the bridges and overpasses to Interstate 80 this (Friday) afternoon, as a contingent of Patriot Guard riders, veterans and Emergency Services personnel escorted a piece of history through Iowa on its way to Colorado.

Members of the Marne Fire Department salute a piece of the World Trade Center as it goes by the Marne Interstate Exit to honor the fallen of 9/11. Photo courtesy Ashley Haupert

An Iowa State Patrol Trooper leads the WTC Beam convoy along I-80 in Cass County. (Photos courtesy Mike Kennon, Cass County Emergency Mgmt. Agency)

A five-foot long, more than 3,000-pound piece of steel which was part of a World Trade Center wall that fell during the 9-11 attacks, was carried on a trailer pulled by a pickup with custom graphics. An American flag covering the beam fluttered in the wind as it made its way west on I-80 between 1:30-and 2-p.m., today (Friday).

The steel beam is being transferred to the Poudre Fire Authority in Ft. Collins, CO. Members of the Poudre Fire Authority’s Urban Search and Rescue Team, Colorado Task Force 1, were tasked and dispatched to the scene of the World Trade Center Twin Towers collapse shortly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The team worked for several weeks to locate victims.

A ceremony to mark the arrival of the beam in Ft. Collins is set to take place Saturday. For more information, go to www.poudre-fire.org/what-s-new/wtc-artifact-journey. A map will be updated on the half-hour as the beam and its escort travels westward.

Photo from the Omaha Fire Dept. Facebook page

Photo from the Stuart Volunteer Fire Dept.’s Facebook page

Firefighters from Minden stand ready to honor the WTC beam convoy as they prepare to pass by. (Minden Fire & Rescue Facebook page photo)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Nine employees have now been fired or resigned amid a widening investigation into security breaches at a maximum-security Iowa prison. Four former tower guards at Anamosa State Penitentiary were charged this month as part of a federal investigation into the smuggling of cell phones and drugs inside the prison. A fifth person who didn’t work at Anamosa is accused of supplying marijuana and prescription drugs that guards used and traded among themselves.

The tower guards had already left employment when U.S. Attorney Kevin Techau announced the charges against them Oct. 6. Since then, five others have departed as a result of the investigation. Prison spokesman Matthew Eivins says the five others aren’t charged with criminal activity but the investigation found serious violations of “work rules that relate to security practices.”

Sheriff’s officials in Shelby County say two young people were hurt, while a third was checked for injuries, following a three-vehicle accident Thursday afternoon. Authorities say the accident happened at around 3:40-p.m. just south of the intersection of 110th Street and Highway 59, in the northbound lane.

The crash occurred after a Harlan Community School District bus stopped to unload students at 1132 Highway 59. Officials say a 2006 Ford pickup, driven by 61-year old David Thies, of Earling, stopped behind the school bus. A 2013 Ford Explorer driven by 43-year old Cynthia Schechinger, of Earling, pulled up and stopped behind the pickup.

17-year old Joshua Mulligan, of Defiance, who was driving a 2001 Pontiac, was unaware both the pickup and SUV had stopped. His car hit the SUV from behind, causing it to be pushed into the rear of the pickup. At no time, was there any contact by the vehicles with the school bus.

Two passengers in Schechinger’s SUV, 11-year old Abby Schechinger, and 9-year old John Schechinger, both of Earling, were transported to Myrtue Memorial Hospital in Harlan, for treatment of minor injuries, and released. Joshua Mulligan was examined at Myrtue for possible injuries, and also released. All of the vehicles involved (except the school bus), sustained major damage.

Mulligan was cited for Failure to Stop within an assured and clear distance. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by personnel from the Harlan Fire Department and the Iowa State Patrol.

A five-foot long, more than 3,000-pound piece of steel that was part of a World Trade Center wall that fell during the 9-11 attacks is making its way through western Iowa this afternoon, and should be passing through Cass County on Interstate 80, between 1:30-and 2-p.m. The steel beam is being transferred to the Poudre Fire Authority in Ft. Collins, CO., and is being escorted across the country by more than 100 different Emergency Service Agencies, including the Patriot Guard Riders and American Veterans.

From the Poudre Fire Authority’s Facebook page.

Members of the Poudre Fire Authority’s Urban Search and Rescue Team, Colorado Task Force 1, were tasked and dispatched to the scene of the World Trade Center Twin Towers collapse shortly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The team worked for several weeks to locate victims.

A ceremony to mark the arrival of the beam in Ft. Collins is set to take place Saturday. For more information, go to www.poudre-fire.org/what-s-new/wtc-artifact-journey. A map will be updated on the half-hour as the beam and its escort travels.