DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Some of Iowa’s most powerful interest groups along with environmental organizations are backing efforts to clean up the state’s waterways, but there isn’t unity about how to take action on an issue that has frustrated lawmakers in the past.

The proposals present a challenge for the split Iowa Legislature to reach consensus. Two new coalitions have offered very different plans for trying to fix the problem, with one backing an increase in the sales tax and another supporting a moratorium on livestock confinement operation. Gov. Terry Branstad has rejected both of their proposals.

Neither House Republicans nor Senate Democrats, who now control those chambers, have endorsed a specific water quality plan for the next session. Branstad has been clear he doesn’t support raising taxes to pay for water quality initiatives.

The Iowa Department of Corrections reports an inmate from the Davenport Work Release Facility (WRF) was listed as escaped this (Sunday) morning, after he failed to return to the facility from his place of employment. Department spokesman Fred Scaletta says 28-year old Taurus Allen Bryant was listed as escaped.

Taurus Bryant

Bryant was serving a 10-year term of imprisonment for 2nd Degree Robbery out of Muscatine County following his conviction in July 2009. He was placed in the Work Release program July 11th.

Bryant is an African American male, 6-feet tall, weighing about 259-pounds. He has black hair, brown eyes, and has tattoss on his left and right forearms, right hand, as well as left and right shoulders. He also has a scar on his face.

Anyone with information as to Bryant’s whereabouts should notify the Davenport Police Department or Scott County Sheriff’s Department.

Police in Red Oak arrested a man early this (Sunday) morning on charges that include OWI/1st offense, Serious Assault with Bodily Injury, and 2nd Degree Harassment. Officials say 40-year old Daniel Elmer Bright, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 2:40-a.m. in the vicinity of W. 4th and W. Coolbaugh Streets.  Bright was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 cash bond.

Two Pottawattamie County men were arrested Saturday, following an investigation into a residential burglary, theft of vehicles and other items. According to the Council Bluffs Police Department, 18-year old’s Zachary Sorenson and Austin Marc Downing, both of Council Bluffs, were arrested and charged with Burglary 2nd, Theft 1st and Conspiracy Charges. Downing was also arrested on a valid Theft 2nd warrant out of Council Bluffs.

Austin Downing

Zachary Sorenson

Authorities say officers were dispatched at around 8:30-a.m. Saturday to a home located in the 3100 block of Traders Point, Council Bluffs, with regard the incident the men were allegedly involved in. The home owner, 38-year old Michael Hodtwalker, informed officers that sometime overnight a person or person entered the home, by way of forced entry to a window, and removed several digital items and other property, as the family was asleep. The culprits then entered the garage and placed several dirt bike motorcycles into the bed of the Hodtwalker’s Ford F-150 truck and drove away.

Officers were informed by a neighborhood watch member that the incident may have been recorded on a surveillance camera. The citizen reviewed the recording and observed the truck leaving the residence at approximately 6:15-a.m. At around 10:15-a.m. officers were dispatched to the area of South 29th Street and 7th Avenue in Council Bluffs on a report of an abandoned truck in the roadway. They confirmed the vehicle was the same truck stolen from Hodtwalker’s Saturdays morning.

Additional investigation led detectives to a house in the 2900 block of 3rd Avenue in Council Bluffs, where one of the stolen motorcycles was seen in the rear yard. A search warrant was served upon the property and most of the stolen property and vehicles were recovered and returned to the rightful owners. The suspects were taken into custody. The case remains under investigation.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 5:00 a.m. CDT

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — About 100 homes in low-lying areas of the small Linn County town of Palo on the Cedar River have been evacuated. City Clerk Trisca Dix tells The Associated Press that the mandatory evacuation in the town of about 1,000 took place Saturday afternoon before the river was expected to crest Sunday night at 24.5 feet. Mayor Tom Yock told the Des Moines Register that volunteers and work crews scrambled Saturday to protect as much of the town from flooding as possible.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University is confirming its president was returning from an 11-day personal trip to North Carolina when he damaged one of its airplanes in a rough landing. The school says that President Steven Leath has reimbursed it $1,100 for some costs of the July 2015 flights to Ashe County, North Carolina, where he owns a home and helps manage a Christmas tree farm.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — More rain on the way in parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa had officials on high alert for flooding. Leaders of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, asked residents located within a downtown flooding zone to evacuate by 8 p.m. Sunday and to expect to remain out of their homes and businesses for up to a week. That came even as officials announced that the Cedar River there was expected to crest at 24.5 feet on Tuesday _ nearly a foot below earlier projections.

OSAGE, Iowa (AP) — A former Osage school board member accused of stealing from the Mitchell County Treasurer’s Office has received a deferred judgment. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that 46-year-old Tracey Mooberry, who had worked as a clerk in the treasurer’s office from 2011 until May, was also put on probation Friday for a year and fined $350. She originally was charged with felony theft but pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of misconduct in office.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – The Latest on flooding along rain-swollen rivers in Iowa (all times local CDT): 5:30 p.m….About 100 homes in low-lying areas of the small Linn County town of Palo along the Cedar River have been evacuated. City Clerk Trisca Dix tells The Associated Press that the mandatory evacuation in the town of about 1,000 took place Saturday afternoon before the river was expected to crest Sunday night at 24.5 feet. Mayor Tom Yock told the Des Moines Register that volunteers and work crews scrambled Saturday to protect as much of the town from flooding as possible.

Yock said the town, which was devastated by record flooding in 2008, is trying to be more proactive this time around. He says many people moved their belongings to the upper levels of their homes and built sandbag barriers before evacuating.

4:10 p.m.: Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and several other state leaders on Saturday toured flood damage in Clarkesville and Shell Rock and assessed flood preparedness plans underway in Cedar Rapids.  Branstad was joined by Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa National Guard Adjutant General Tim Orr and Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Mark Schouten. Branstad and Reynolds also expect to assess flood damage next week.

On Friday, Branstad signed a disaster proclamation for 13 northeast Iowa counties affected by flooding. It activates the Iowa National Guard to assist in preparedness and in response when there’s damage.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports a woman wanted on a warrant connected to an accident that occurred on or about Sept. 19th, turned herself-in to the Sheriff’s Office Saturday morning. Samantha Eslinger, of Panama City, FL, was charged with OWI and Driving While Suspended. Eslinger was later released on a $1,500 cash bond.

Governor Terry Branstad is deploying the National Guard to respond to flooding in 13 Iowa counties and prepare for future flooding downriver. “We just have to deal with whatever situation comes our way,” Branstad told reporters. “We need to be as well-prepared and in a situation like this in major cities like Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, obviously,we have a little time to prepare and we want to do everything we can for the state to assist the communities and doing the best job we can to avoid and mitigate damage.”

Branstad has signed a proclamation declaring a “disaster emergency” in 13 counties affected by flooding. The counties included are Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Cedar, Chickasaw, Delaware, Floyd, Franklin, Linn and Wright. Iowa National Guard Adjutant General Timothy Orr says there were lessons learned during the significant flooding of 2008.

“I think it starts with the community preparedness,” Orr says. “We’re seeing that all up and down our rivers, the pro-active approach of our communities.” Orr has deployed teams of soldiers to emergency management offices in 11 counties. Three more teams will be deployed today (Saturday), focusing on areas south of Iowa City.

We’ve learned that by working from the Mississippi River north, we can get after some of those big issues early on and identify potential issues that will give us time and an ability to bring resources.” Flooding is NOT expected in Iowa City, but Orr says communities like Columbus Junction and Oakville may need to brace for flooding.

Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds will tour flood damage in Clarksville, Shell Rock and Cedar Rapids today (Saturday).

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 5:30 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Wisconsin emergency officials say preliminary estimates show flooding over the last few days has caused millions of dollars in damage across a number of western Wisconsin counties. Richland County reported more than 40 homes have been damaged, with one destroyed. Vernon County officials are reporting between $2 million and $3 million in damage to roads and bridges.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University President Steven Leath damaged a university-owned airplane he was piloting when it made a rough landing at an Illinois airport in an incident that was made public 14 months after it happened. Accident reports obtained by The Associated Press show both wings on the plane suffered damage after Leath failed to navigate windy conditions and hit the runway at the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, Illinois.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge has sentenced a Sioux City man to life in prison for the shooting death of a man in the western Iowa city of Sloan. The Sioux City Journal reports Timothy Schroeder was sentenced Friday to the life term after a jury found him guilty in July of first-degree murder in the January 2015 death of 29-year-old Dustin Wilder in his Sloan home.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court is reducing a judge’s $368,000 award of legal fees to an Iowa State University whistleblower who was viciously mistreated by his superiors. The court says that Dennis Smith isn’t entitled to the full award because his case was only partially successful.

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers says three students were reported as having absconded from the Clarinda Academy sometime around 10:30-p.m., Friday.  Law enforcement and Clarinda Academy personnel are searching for the escaped students. No additional information is available at this time.

The Clarinda Academy is a residential foster care facility that provides residential treatment to at-risk and delinquent male and female youth from several states.