DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa school superintendent says he intends to resign this week, saying he’s failed to adequately address issues regarding minority students. Davenport Superintendent Art Tate also said Friday that he’d become a liability in the district’s dealings with the state. The district is under state supervision because a disproportionate number of minority students have been identified for special education and subject to disciplinary actions. Also, the Iowa Board of Education Examiners reprimanded Tate in August for intentionally overspending. He’s said was trying to make up for discrepancies in the state per-pupil funding.

Last week the district received unwelcome attention following a report that one of its elementary teachers wore blackface to a public Halloween party. In April Tate announced his intention to retire next June .

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A trial is scheduled to start Dec. 3 for a man accused of robbing a bank in the northwest Iowa community of Moville. Court records show that 43-year-old Brendon Reed pleaded not guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to bank robbery. Authorities say he robbed United Bank of Iowa in Moville of nearly $14,000 on March 30. He was apprehended later that day after crashing a stolen car during a chase by officers near Salix.

He’s pleaded guilty to stealing the car and has been sentenced to 10 years in an Iowa prison.

(Radio Iowa) — State environmental officials plan to monitor sport fish in the Missouri River despite closing Iowa’s only monitoring station on the river earlier this month. Iowa fisheries staff will work with Nebraska scientists to monitor paddlefish and catfish. Chris Larson, with Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources, says there’s been an influx of species like blue catfish north of Omaha and scientists want to know why. “We want to continue to monitor those populations to see if they stay,” Larson says. “If their number stay up above Omaha or do they go back down and decrease and can we tie that to some kind of river operations and-or habitat changes on the river.”

Larson says catfish populations have not changed significantly over the last 13 years, so this recent trend is surprising. “This blue catfish influx a little bit further north than what we’ve seen in the past is interesting on the surface,” Larson says, “and obviously a great opportunity for anglers to get out and catch some of these large individuals that make very good table fare.”

The monitoring station was shut down due to a lack of funding and a need to move staff to areas of higher urgency. The state used the station to monitor Army Corps of Engineers habitat projects, but it’s been two years since that kind of work has been done on the river. Larson says the decision to track these fish with Nebraska scientists combines limited staff resources in two states to better understand population trends.
(with thanks to Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former Omaha Tribal official who admitted using federal funds to give himself a bonus has been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution. The Sioux City (Iowa) Journal reports that former council member Doran Morris Jr. was given five years of probation at his sentencing Friday in U.S. District Court in Omaha. Morris was ordered to pay restitution of more than $13,400. He’d pleaded guilty to misapplication of health care benefit program funds.

Prosecutors say nine former and current officials misused federal funds by awarding themselves nearly $389,000 in bonuses. Officials say the bonuses were paid from Indian Health Service funds meant to provide health care to members of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, who reside on the Omaha Reservation in Macy in northeastern Nebraska and in western Iowa.

Police in Creston report four arrests. Taken into custody Friday afternoon, was 29-year old Eric Shinn, of Creston. Shinn was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Methamphetamine – 1st offense. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond. Saturday morning, a Creston man reported to police, that sometime overnight Friday into early Saturday morning, someone broke out the window to his vehicle, while it was parked in the 500 block of S. Oak Street. The damage was estimated at $500.

Creston Police arrested 37-year old Brian Smith, of Creston, Saturday night. Smith was arrested at the Union County LEC (Law Enforcement Center), for OWI/1st offense. He was later released on a $1,000 bond. At around 12:40-a.m. Sunday, police in Creston arrested 28-year old Ryan Wortman, of Shannon City. Wortman was charged with Public Intoxication and later released on a $300 bond. And, at around 2:25-a.m. Sunday, 30-year old Matthew Clucas, of Van Buren, AR, was arrested in Creston, also for Public Intox. Clucas was released from the Union County Jail after pleading guilty to the charge.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Red Oak, IA – Eight middle school Montgomery County youth are asking for your help to collect non-perishable and canned food items for the upcoming holiday season. The Montgomery County Ricochet Leadership group will be collecting the previously mentioned food items until November 7^th when the items will be sorted and donated to each of the three food pantry organizations in the Red Oak community. Items will be collected at the Montgomery County Extension Office, the Montgomery County YMCA and the Red Oak Hy-Vee.

Ricochet Participants, minus 1

The Montgomery County Ricochet Leadership group is comprised of eight, sixth through eighth-grade youth, from both Red Oak and Stanton. Ricochet: An Extreme Leadership Adventure is a leadership development program created by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach youth specialists, where youth learn about the skills and attitudes needed to become a leader within their school and their communities.

Although the youth spend a large portion of the program participating in activities that emulate the five different dimensions of leadership, participants are also challenged to complete a Community Leadership project to help better the communities in which they are living. The youth work together with adult leaders to identify a need, or needs, within their communities. Once a need is identified, the youth develop goals and an action plan to complete their project.

To learn more about the Ricochet – Community Food Drive or the Ricochet Program, please contact Celine Beggs, County Youth Coordinator, at the Montgomery County Extension Office by emailing cmbeggs@iastate.edu or by calling (712) 623 – 2592.

Just eight days remain until Election Day, so candidates and their supporters spent the weekend chasing down absentee ballots — and claiming momentum is on their side. A crowd at the Scott County Republican Party headquarters in Davenport greeted Governor Kim Reynolds Saturday morning and she asked if they were ready to “finish strong.” “We’ve had great turn-out, great energy, great momentum and you can feel it,” Reynolds said. “You can sense it, so we just have to keep that going.” About 60 miles to the west, rival Fred Hubbell met with a group of Democrats in a Coralville home before they departed for door-to-door work. Later, on a residential street in Iowa City, Hubbell spoke with reporters. “We are very optimistic about what’s going on. We’ve got a lot of people all across the state we’re meeting with and talking to,” Hubbell said. “But we’re going to keep working every single county.”

Reynolds, in the campaign’s closing days, touts the tax cuts she approved and accuses Hubbell of making promises that will require tax increases. “More money, more money, more money,” Reynolds said, repeating a line from her recent debates with Hubbell. “…That’s your money he’s coming after.” Republican U.S. Senator Joni Ernst was with Reynolds in Davenport and echoed those sentiments. “We don’t want to see a Democrat moving into the governor’s office because everything that we have worked for will be taken away,” Ernst said.

Hubbell is suggesting Reynolds has unfulfilled promises that will require more money. “Governor Reynolds, when you really think about it, Future Ready Iowa is 90 percent unfunded, STEM has almost no funding. Her mental health has no funding. You know, Medicaid privatization keeps going up in costs,” Hubbell said. “If she’s going to do anything, she’s going to have to raise taxes.”

This past Saturday at 5 p.m. was the deadline for getting your name on the voter registration list for this year’s election. Iowans may register to vote at their precinct ON ELECTION DAY, but must show a form of I-D, like a driver’s license or passport, as well as proof of residence, like a utility bill.

The Griswold Community School District’s Board of Education will hold a work session today at 5:30-p.m.  The meeting will be held in the Central Office at the Middle School/High School Building, and is for the purpose of Goal Setting. No action will be taken.