Nearly three-dozen student from Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln High School and nine adults escaped injury when their charter bus collided almost head on with a van Sunday in Colorado. According to the Daily NonPareil, Abraham Lincoln’s Jazz I and Jazz II, along with chaperones and a few other students, were returning from a trip that included performances at contests in Des Moines and Greeley, Colo., and a side trip to Estes Park, Colo., when the accident occurred.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa House has approved a spending plan of nearly $535 million for the state justice system. Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House approved the plan yesterday. The House version offers less money than the bill passed in the Democratic-majority Senate. The bill will likely end up in a joint committee to try for a compromise.

PRAIRIE CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman who was babysitting a 4-year-old girl who was attacked by a dog faces charges in her death. The Prairie City Police Department arrested 24-year-old Jena Marie Wright yesterday. Wright is charged with child endangerment resulting in death and neglect or abandonment of a dependent person in the Monday attack on Jordyn Arndt.

BELLEVUE, Iowa (AP) — Record show two lawsuits have been settled over a stampede during a Fourth of July parade in the eastern Iowa city of Bellevue, but details weren’t made public. The lawsuits were filed by the parents of two children injured in the 2010 accident. Two dozen people were injured in all when a team of horses bolted during the parade.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds says she won’t run for U.S. Senate in 2014. The Republican says she plans to focus on the economic and education agenda of Governor Terry Branstad, who is expected to seek re-election next year.

ONAWA, Iowa (AP) – A murder trial is set to begin for a western Iowa woman accused of drowning her 15-month-old son.  Ashley Cameron, of Onawa, is scheduled to have her trial start today (Tuesday) in Monona County District Court. She is charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment in the 2012 death of Markis Dahms.

The Sioux City Journal reports the 25-year-old Cameron waived her right to have a jury hear her case. The trial is expected to be completed this week.  Police say Cameron held Markis under a running faucet in a bathtub until he drowned. The results of an autopsy led to Cameron’s arrest. She pleaded not guilty last year.

(12-p.m News)

(DES MOINES) – Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today joined Altoona’s Mayor Skip Conkling in officially welcoming Facebook to Iowa.  The social networking company, which helps more than 1 billion people around the world connect and share with each other, announced that it will build a new, state-of-the-art data center in Altoona. Facebook will invest a minimum of $299.5 million in the project, which is expected to create hundreds of construction jobs and dozens of full-time operations jobs. The company evaluated several other sites before choosing the Iowa location.

The first phase of the project will result in a 476,000-square foot data center that will be among the most advanced and energy efficient of its kind. The data center will feature an innovative outdoor-air cooling system and the latest in Open Compute Project server designs, and it will be built to LEED Gold standards.

Earlier today the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) board approved $18 million in tax benefits through the High Quality Jobs program to Facebook to create at least 31 new jobs at a qualifying wage of $23.12 per hour. The project will have a minimum capital investment of $299.5 million. Local incentives from the city of Altoona were also approved today.

The 194-acre site selected in Altoona could accommodate up to two additional data center buildings that may be constructed in future phases of the project.

Three farm demonstration projects have won grants to work on ways to make farm activities more energy efficient. Carol Yates of the University of Northern Iowa is working with the farmers through what’s called the Iowa Farm Energy Working Group. “The Farm Energy Working Group is a statewide organization of people interested in helping farmers on small to mid-sized operations find new ways to reduce their energy use and try to change from fossil fuel use to other ways of making energy on the farm,” Yates says. “And if those ways can come from resources on the farm, that’s even better.”

Yates works at the U-N-I Center for Energy and Environmental Education and says the alternative energy can come from all types of sources, including solar panels and windmills. One of the projects involves a farmer near Coralville adapting an electric sickle mower to be used with his electric tractor. “Some other farmers who are in western Iowa are going to install some L-E-D lights in their new energy-efficient dairy processing building. And those are the new very efficient lights that use about 75 to 80-percent less energy,” Yates explains. Tom and Janna Feldman will install those lights at “Doe’s and Diva’s Dairy” in Honey Creek. The third demonstration project also involves dairy farming.

“A dairy foundation near Calmar is going to install two robotic milking systems for some of the cows that it has there,” Yates says. “And this will be used as a demonstration to educate farmers on the best practices in dairy operations. And they are going to collect data usage to show — we hope — that these robotic milkers reduce the use of energy and water.” The end goal is to come up with ways to reduce energy use on the farm that can be shared. “These are farm-scale kinds of ideas, and we are very interested in sharing the results with other farmers,” Yates says. She says they share the information in a variety of ways from reports on the data, to presentations by the farmers, to field trips, with the idea that the demonstrations will show ways other farmers can incorporate what they’ve learned in their operations.

The projects are funded through the Leopold Center at Iowa State University. The Iowa Farm Energy Working Group includes farmers and representatives from agriculture, policy, higher education, utilities and farm organizations. For more information on the group, visit: www.uni.edu/ceee/farm-energy-working-group.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa economic development officials are approving tax credits for Facebook to build a $300 million data center in Altoona and increasing incentives for Google that allows it to expand in Council Bluffs.  Both projects are before an Iowa Economic Development Authority board meeting Tuesday.

The board’s due diligence committee has approved $18 million in tax credits for the Facebook project to be built near Interstate 80 in Altoona, a Des Moines suburb. The full board is considering the project, which will create 31 jobs.   Kearney, Neb., also sought the project.

Google has a $600 million data center in Council Bluffs and is building another. It’s increased the cost to $700 million from the original $300 million. The state is increasing tax credits offered to $16.8 million from under $10 million.

The Adair County Board of Supervisors will meet 9-a.m. Wednesday, at the courthouse in Greenfield. During their session, the Board will receive a Manure Management Plan (MMP) update, along with a FY 2012 Landfill Financial report, and responses pertaining to an Iowa Municipal Workers’ Compensation Association site inspection.

The Board in Adair County will also receive a report from the Veterans Affairs Director, with regard to laptop, phone and V-A Office lease matters, and discuss with County Conservation Director Kevin Blazek, a “Safe Room.”

The Cass County Board of Supervisors are expected to receive a report during their meeting Wednesday morning, in Atlantic, with regard to a “Courthouse space” needs study and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation & Cooling) analysis. The study, which was approved by the Board in December, was conducted by Carlson, West, and Povandra Architects, cost a total of $4,300.

Finding more space in the courthouse or on the grounds of the facility is a process that began in the Fall of 2011, after it became clear the Cass County 9-1-1/Communications Center has outgrown its current location, and because new technology will take up more space and require the use of additional personnel to operate it. The board concluded the HVAC study should be done to determine whether it would be more cost effective and feasible to install a Geo-thermal system, or reconfigure the current system, depending on the location of the 9-1-1 Center.

In other business, the  Supervisors will recess to conduct the second of three public hearings and a vote on amendments to the County General Assistance Program. The first hearing and vote on the matter took place last week. he amendments generally serve to clean-up the language in the current General Assistance Program policy, and eliminates any typographical errors.

The Board will also receive a quarterly report from Cass County Veterans Affairs Director Mitch Holmes, and on Public Safety Communications from Shaun Shouse. They’re also expected to act on approving a VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) request for proposal (RFP).  The Board of Supervisors meeting begins at 9-a.m., Wednesday.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest last week of a Malvern man. 34-year old Joseph Lee Mosier was arrested on a Pottawattamie County warrant charging him with assault. Mosier was taken into custody at around 1-a.m. Friday during a traffic stop near 315th and Highway 34. His bond was set at $2,000.

The Harlan Community School District’s Board of Education, Monday, approved the hiring of a new superintendent secretary and board secretary to replace Terry Cox, who announced her retirement last week. The board agreed Kelli Klaassen from the Shelby County Campus of Iowa Western Community College was the best qualified candidate for the position.

Superintendent Justin Wagner says was a big decision for the district. He said “This was a huge hire for us in my opinion. Trying to replace Terry Cox will be difficult as she touches a lot of things and does a super job. We went through the process and talked with Kelli. Right now, she runs IWCC in Harlan, has grown the program and works well with people. She really fits the bill well. We are really excited to get someone in the community on board.”

Klaassen has been with Iowa Western Community College for more than six-years, with the last three in Harlan. She will begin her journey with the Harlan Community School District on June 3^rd. The Board also approved the hiring of Jenna Hucka, former Harlan Community graduate, for primary special education teacher,  and Chris Brown for technical support. In other business, the Harlan Community School Board approved a 4.29 percent wage/benefit increase for the superintendent, administrators and non-certified employees. The increase was the same as the increase to teacher salaries.

And the Board approved a 28-E agreement with the City of Harlan, which Wagner said was for Vision Iowa dollars, destined for Merrill Field.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)