(Radio Iowa) – A new program at the University of Northern Iowa could help ease the state’s teacher shortage by allowing paraeducators to become certified teachers without leaving their current jobs. All classes for the two-year program, called the Purple Pathway for Paraeducators, will be offered online outside of normal work hours. Colleen Mulholland, dean of the U-N-I College of Education, says more schools are looking within their own classrooms to develop new teachers. “Paraeducators come to the profession in many, many different ways and many of them are very interested in continuing their career growth in education,” Mulholland says, “so the Purple Pathway is our attempt to fill that need.”

Mulholland says paras have experience in the classroom that makes them good candidates to become new teachers. “Paraeducators are committed to the community. They’re committed to the school,” she says. “They’re, in some cases, the constant or the continuity for students in their school.” Applications for the program will be accepted starting this week. Earlier this year, the state Department of Education announced a grant program to support schools that create apprenticeships for paraeducators to finish their teaching degrees.

(reporting by Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Health experts are encouraging Iowans to make sure their children are up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations before summer vacation starts. In May, the Centers for Disease Control expanded its recommendations for booster doses to include children who are five to eleven years old. Mike Brownlee, chief pharmacy officer at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, says kids should be fully vaccinated — and boosted — before heading off to summer activities. “So as we think about where people are traveling to, they may be traveling into areas that are higher risk,” Brownlee says. “We’ve seen that changing throughout the country where, with this new sub variant, it’s still spreading, the virus is still here, the pandemic is still a real thing.”

Brownlee says state data show just about a quarter of the state’s five-to-eleven-year-olds are fully vaccinated, and COVID cases are rising across the country. “We know that millions of kids have been infected,” he says. “Last I remember, about 30% of those that don’t really have other conditions still end up being hospitalized. Federal health officials recommend children get the booster shot five months after their last dose, or three months after if they are immunocompromised.

(reporting by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

Police in Red Oak report the arrest at around 9:45-p.m. Tuesday, of 29-year-old Isaias Guerra, from Red Oak. Guerra was taken into custody in the 1800 block of E. Summit Street in Red Oak, on a charge of simple Assault. His bond was set at $300.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston report the arrest Tuesday night, of 31-year-old Ashton James Olson, of Creston. Olson was arrested at his residence on a Union County Warrant for Failure To Appear, on an original charge of Operating while under the Influence 1st Offense. He was transported to the Union County Jail and later was released on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

And, a woman residing in the 800 block of Golden Shores, in Creston, reported to Police Tuesday morning, that someone had broke into her home and took multiple items. The missing items include medications, jars of change, Apple Airpods and ONN Headphones. The loss was estimated at $810.

(Radio Iowa) – A 13-year-old from eastern Iowa has made it through the first three rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Edith Dawson just finished 8th grade in Mount Vernon. She correctly spelled the word for the Korean alphabet in the opening round of the National Spelling Bee. In the second round, she was asked to give another word that means hackneyed.

She correctly answered: “Trite.” In the third round, Dawson spelled Tutelary (TOOT-uh-lure-ee) and she will be among the spellers in today’s (Wednesday’s) Quarterfinals.

(Mondamin, Iowa) – A single-vehicle rollover accident late Tuesday evening in Harrison County left one man dead and another injured. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2005 Chevy Silverado pickup was traveling north on Kelly Avenue near 180th Trail northeast of Mondamin, when the vehicle left the road and rolled multiple times before landing on the driver’s side in the west ditch. Alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the crash that occurred a little before 7-p.m..

Authorities say 22-year-old Thomas Peasley, of Pisgah, and 24-year-old Michael Rodriquez, of Council Bluffs, were injured and transported by Mondamin Rescue to CHI Hospital in Missouri Valley, where Peasley died. Neither man was wearing a seat belt. It’s not clear which man was driving the pickup.

The crash remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office.

(Radio Iowa) – U-S Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa says he’s hopeful to hear of efforts to reach compromise on gun control legislation, especially if it includes his bill. Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut are scheduled to meet this week to establish a “framework” to find common ground on a response to recent mass shootings. Grassley says he heard President Biden’s address Sunday, where he promised to do something about gun violence.

Grassley says, “When I heard him talking about what Cornyn and Murphy are the people that are leading this effort to get some sort of a compromise, I heard him not only talk about guns but school safety.” Under his bill called the Eagles Act, Grassley says trained professionals would be tasked with working to identify and manage threats at the high school level before they occur. The bill would direct experts in child psychology to work closely with a federal threat assessment center to develop evidence-based techniques to identify potential threats.

“It builds on a program that was set up in 1998 for the Secret Service,” Grassley says. “It’s been very successful, to teach people how to observe people, and if you observe somebody that appears to be a threat to themselves or a threat to somebody else, that you would try to intervene.” While some bills before Congress have long names that are summarized with an acronym, Grassley says the Eagles Act is different.

“Eagle is the mascot for the Parkland, Florida, school that a student murdered, I think, 13 kids,” Grassley says. “I’ve worked with the parents down there. In fact, within the last two weeks, one of the parents was in my office again, asking how they could help.” Seventeen people were killed at the Parkland school, with 17 more injured. A 19-year-old former student was charged in the Valentine’s Day 2018 killings, which surpassed the Columbine High School massacre that killed 15, including the perpetrators, in Colorado in 1999.

A week ago, an 18-year-old fatally shot 19 students and two teachers, wounding 17 others, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

(Osceola, Iowa) – A man from Union County died in a crash Tuesday afternoon on I-35 in Clarke County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2016 Chevy Impala was driving erratically southbound on the interstate at around 2:13-p.m., when the car left road to the right, re-entered the interstate and crossed over the southbound lanes before it entered the east ditch at near mile marker 31. The vehicle rolled and impacted trees before to rest on its passenger side.

The driver of the car, 33-year-old Tyrell D. Miller, of Creston, was partially ejected and died from his injuries. His body was transported by Clarke County EMS to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Iowa State Patrol, Tuesday (May 31), released information about a crash in Cass County that claimed the life of a man from South Dakota. Authorities say a 2006 Harley Davidson motorcycle operated by 78-year-old James W. Spaulding, of Jefferson, SD, was in the right lane of I-80 eastbound, near mile marker 55, at around 2:25-p.m., Friday.

A 2017 Nissan Rogue SUV driven by 67-year-old Gale Eugene Linden, of Kimballton, was also in the right, eastbound lane. As the SUV slowed due to heavy traffic congestion from a lane closure in front of him, Spaulding was unable to slow down in-time. His motorcycle came into contact with the rear of the SUV in the right lane. Spaulding was ejected during the crash and also came into contact with the rear of the SUV.

When law enforcement arrived, they found him on the south shoulder of the interstate. He was sitting upright and talking with officers as they administered first aid. Spaulding was subsequently flown by LifeFlight Audubon to UnityPoint Hospital in Des Moines, where he died from his injuries over the weekend.

The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Cass County Sheriff’s Office and Iowa DOT.