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

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say three bodies were found inside a car pulled from the Missouri River in Sioux City. Police have not identified the bodies, but they are believed to be those of a missing Sioux City family. The search began Monday afternoon after someone reported that a car had been driven off a road into the water near Larsen Park.

Dangerous water conditions hampered the search. On Saturday a diver battling a current in 20 feet of water found the car several hundred feet downstream from where it had gone in. The diver hooked the car to a winch so it could be brought to shore.

The Creston Police Department said today (Monday), a woman who lives in the 100 block of E. Ringgold Street reported that sometime between 5:30- and 6:30-p.m. Sunday, someone hit their mailbox. The damage was estimated at $60. And at around 8-p.m. Friday, 59-year old  Daniel Hansen, of Creston, was arrested on a charge of OWI/1st offense. Hansen was later released from the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

A new report indicates faculty at Iowa’s three public universities work, on average, about 55 hours per week. Officials from the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa presented the results of a “faculty activities” survey to the board that governs the universities. Rachel Boon, the chief academic officer for the Board of Regents, says this is the third time in six years the survey has been conducted. “Faculty are randomly selected on which week they get it and they’re reporting on their activities throughout that week, so that we can get a sample across the entire sort of ebb and flow of a semester,” Boon says, “so it doesn’t bias towards being in midterms or being around finals week or the start of a term when things are different.”

Iowa State University provost Jonathan Wickert says the survey shows I-S-U faculty are teaching more “credit hours” and bringing in far more research dollars than they did a decade ago. “Our faculty are arguably more productive in research and education than before,” Wickert says. University of Iowa associate provost Kevin Kregel says the survey shows how much the faculty in Iowa City work with students in research labs and at the university’s hospital. “There’s experiential learning in many different avenues,” Kregel says, “…hands-on, collaborative kinds of work.”

John Valentine, U-N-I’s associate provost for faculty, says the survey shows faculty on the Cedar Falls campus are focused on preparing students for life beyond college. “Our professors spend more than 30 hours per week on student instruction,” Valentine says. “They are in the classroom teaching.” The rest of their time is mostly spent grading students’ work, overseeing research and mentoring students outside the classroom. The three state universities employ about 45-hundred full-time faculty.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have recovered the body of a man believed to have drowned at the Sioux City Marina. Police say the man had been acting bizarre at the marina early Sunday morning, but officers sent there couldn’t find him.

Around 10 a.m. a person working on a boat heard a splash and soon found the man in the marina’s Missouri River water. The person unsuccessfully tried to help the man, who slipped beneath the surface. A dive team member eventually found the body. Police say the body was that of 34-year-old Allen Clay, who lived in Sioux City.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — One of two cousins charged in the death of a gender-nonconforming Iowa teenager is set to go on trial. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has highlighted the case against 23-year-old Jorge Sanders-Galvez by taking the unusual step of assigning a federal prosecutor to assist state and local authorities in the case.

Sanders-Galvez and his cousin Jaron Purham are charged with first-degree murder in the March 2016 slaying of 16-year-old Burlington, Iowa, high school student Kedarie Johnson. Sanders-Galvez’s is set to start Tuesday. Relatives say Johnson was gender fluid, identifying as both male and female. A prosecutor says Sanders-Galvez tried to have sex with Johnson and became enraged after learning that Johnson was gender nonconforming.

Purham is expected to be tried later.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says President Trump is making the right call in releasing the final classified papers from the investigation of J-F-K’s assassination. “Government over-classifies and after 50 years, it’s about time,” Grassley says. Thousands of documents about the November, 1963 assassination of President Kennedy have been kept in the National Archives. The papers will be released Thursday — unless some agency like the C-I-A can convince the president to keep the material secret. Grassley says “for the sake of history” he wants to see all the documents released — and he predicts the move would put a stop to all the “conspiracy theories” about J-F-K’s assassination.

“I don’t think there’s any arguments anymore, maybe they ended 20 years ago, but for sure the ‘single’ or the ‘double bullet’ argument — this ought to put an end to it,” Grassley said, “and take a little mystery out of government.” Earlier this month, Grassley introduced a resolution in congress urging President Trump to make a “full release” of the documents.

(Radio Iowa)

A man whose pickup truck was stopped mostly on the right front-hand lane of southbound Interstate 35, was struck and killed by a semi, early Sunday morning. The Iowa State Patrol reports 90-year old Bernard Wayne Zelinsky, of Carlisle, was standing outside his 2015 Dodge truck at around 4:20-a.m. near the 13 mile-marker, in Decatur County, when he was struck by a southbound 2015 Peterbilt semi, driven by 53-year old Richard Eugene Brooks, of Albert Lea, MN.

The Patrol says Brooks swerved to miss Zelinsky and his pickup, but sideswiped the pickup. The semi went out of control after the collision and flipped into the median where it landed on the driver’s side. Brooks was not injured in the crash.

The accident remained under investigation.

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

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — One of two cousins charged with killing a gender-nonconforming Iowa teenager is scheduled to stand trial in a case that is considered a possible hate crime. The March 2016 death of 16-year-old Kedarie Johnson stunned the city of Burlington, where he was a popular high school junior. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has brought attention to the case by assigning a federal prosecutor to help local and state authorities.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A performing arts group wants to buy and refurbish a historic building in downtown Sioux City, with plans for a 200-plus seat theater, cabaret-style bar and classrooms. The Sioux City Journal reports that the Sioux City Council will decide on Monday whether to approve the Lamb Arts Regional Theatre’s project. The theater is seeking approval for a development agreement that would award it a $350,000 loan to buy the property from a private owner.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Democrats have elected a new leader in the state Senate. State Sen. Janet Petersen of Des Moines was chosen Sunday to be the new Democratic leader of the Iowa Senate.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska real estate development firm has announced redevelop plans for three historic buildings in downtown Sioux City in northwest Iowa. Sioux City television station KTIV reports that J. Development of Omaha, Nebraska, purchased the Commerce Building, the former Hatch Furniture Building, and the former St. Luke’s/Methodist hospital building. The developer says it plans to convert the buildings into mixed-use and market-rate residential facilities.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A performing arts group wants to buy and refurbish a historic building in downtown Sioux City, with plans for a 200-plus seat theater, cabaret-style bar and classrooms. The Sioux City Journal reports that the Sioux City Council will decide on Monday whether to approve the Lamb Arts Regional Theatre’s project.

The theater is seeking approval for a development agreement. The deal would award the theater a $350,000 loan, which would be used to purchase the property from a private owner. The nonprofit plans to launch a fundraising campaign to repay the loan and pay for the restoration.

City documents say the theater group has leased the former Webster School building for more than 30 years, but has outgrown the space. The downtown building has been vacant since February.