DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Davenport has hired a gaming consultant to assist the city with its purchase of the Rhythm City riverboat casino. The city will work with Gary Buettner, the former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Jumer’s Casino and Hotel. The Quad City Times reports Buettner will review the $46 million asset purchase agreement for the Rhythm City casino.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Records show a former University of Iowa athletics department counselor at the center of a sexual harassment scandal was rehired in 2002 without mention that he had been fired from another university for performance or had earlier worked at Iowa. The university released records yesterday related to Peter Gray, who resigned last month after being accused of sexually harassing athletes through improper touching that allegedly dated back to his employment at Iowa from 1993 to 1995.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa City official are troubled by the loss of students to other school districts. A record 445 children who live within the district opted through the state’s open-enrollment rules to attend school elsewhere this school year. That’s a net loss of 325 students because 120 students from other districts are attending Iowa City district schools.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in northwest Iowa say freezing weather may have caused a pipe at a community college to break and flood several rooms. Students and staff were evacuated from the affected classrooms after yesterday morning’s flooding at Western Iowa Tech Community College.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in northwest Iowa say freezing weather may have caused a pipe at a community college to break and flood some classrooms. The Sioux City Journal) reports students and staff were evacuated after the Monday morning flooding at Western Iowa Tech Community College. Officials say the pipe spewed water into a hallway and later spread into a manufacturing lab. The broken pipe also activated the building’s fire alarm because of a drop in pressure to the school’s sprinkler system. Classes were canceled for rooms affected by the flooding. They were expected to resume Tuesday.

EWING, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of two homicide victims whose bodies were found after a fire destroyed a mobile home near Ewing in northeast Nebraska. Antelope County Attorney Joe Abler on Monday identified them as 25-year-old Victoria Lee, of Missouri Valley, Iowa, and 30-year-old Gabino Vargas, of Omaha.

Abler also says 33-year-old Matthew Hinrichsen, of Ewing, has been charged with arson and two counts of first-degree murder and remains jailed. Court records don’t list the name of Hinrichsen’s attorney. The Nebraska State Patrol says a 911 call early Saturday morning reported a domestic dispute. Another call reported a fire at a mobile home in the same area. The two bodies were found in a bedroom of the home. Another man escaped the flames, and he was released after questioning.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The mother of a Nebraska teenager accidently shot by his father during a hunting trip says her son could be released from the hospital this week. The Omaha-World Herald reports Lisa Rearick says her son has all his motor skills and suffered no brain injuries from the Saturday shooting. Authorities say 18-year-old Ryan Rearick of Omaha was shot at fairly close range in the back of his head by a shotgun being carried by his father, Christopher Rearick, also of Omaha. The two were hunting for pheasant in Page County.

The younger Rearick was taken to a Red Oak hospital and later flown to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha. Authorities say the shooting likely would have been fatal if the gun had been loaded for deer.

EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) — Police in Iowa say an autopsy has confirmed that two bodies found last week in a wildlife area are those of two young cousins who have been missing since last summer. Evansdale Police Chief Kent Smock says he received confirmation Monday from the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office that the bodies were Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook, who had been missing since July 13. The full autopsy hasn’t been released to police. Elizabeth was 8 and Lyric was 10 when they went for a bike ride and didn’t return. Hunters found their bodies last week in the Seven Bridges Wildlife Area, about 25 miles from where the girls were last seen. Authorities closed the park while they searched for evidence but now have reopened the area.