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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man charged with killing two police officers was having intense money problems and had been found by a judge to hit and financially exploit his mother. Scott Michael Greene was ordered to move out of his mother’s basement hours before the ambush-style attacks on Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin. He was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Funeral arrangements have been set for an Iowa officer who was shot to death as he sat in his police car on a suburban Des Moines street. Urbandale police announced Thursday night that the funeral for officer Justin Martin will be held Tuesday at 11:40 a.m. at South Calhoun Middle School in his hometown of Rockwell City. The city of 1,700 is about 75 miles northwest of Des Moines.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton may not be accumulating the type of early-vote advantage lead her campaign wanted, but she continues to maintain an apparent edge over Donald Trump, with roughly one-fourth of all expected ballots cast in the 2016 election. Ballot requests from likely supporters have been weak in parts of the Midwest, and African-American turnout has fallen, too. Still, the tens of millions of early votes cast also point to strength from Democratic-leaning Latino voters.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A judge has denied a request for a new trial by a Dubuque man convicted of killing his daughter. The Telegraph Herald reports that Iowa District Court Judge Michael Shubatt on Thursday denied the request by 63-year-old Robert Stern. Stern was convicted earlier this year of first-degree murder in the June 2015 shooting death of 27-year-old Kimberly Stern.

Police in Council Bluffs said late Thursday evening, that the remaining two juveniles who had gone missing from the Children’s Square shelter in Council Bluffs, Wednesday, were returned to the shelter. Earlier in the day, Thursday, 11-year old Kyle Walding and 15-year old Jacob McBride returned to the facility voluntarily to the facility. The remaining juveniles, 17-year old Adam Guttau-Ford and 16-year old Kimberly Billick were still missing, but have since returned. All four had left the shelter on their own accord, but without permission.

Authorities have charged an Iowa man with two counts of first-degree murder in the ambush shooting deaths of two police officers. The Des Moines Police Department said that 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene was put under arrest Thursday afternoon after being questioned by detectives.

The department says that Greene was put into the handcuffs that had belonged to the officers who were killed, Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin. Greene is expected to be transported to the county jail. He faces life in prison if convicted. Greene was arrested after being released from the hospital and questioned by investigators.

Beminio, 38, and Martin, 24, were shot after 1 a.m. Wednesday while sitting in their patrol cars in separate incidents less than 2 miles apart. Police say they have recovered a rifle that was believed to be used in the shootings.

Officials with the Atlantic Police Department and Richter and Sons Towing are asking for your help in finding a trucker who hasn’t been seen or heard from since Monday. 66-year old James “Jim” Stirek was last seen Monday afternoon in St. Mary’s, Ohio. His last fuel destination was Newton.

Jim Stirek (Commercial Driver’s license photo)

Stirek was driving a 2005 Peterbilt semi (truck #T-150), pulling a Great Dane trailer (#TT-109). The tractor is pinkish or salmon in color. The trailer is white with a purple reefer (refrigerator unit). The truck’s license plate is VB 9374. The trailer has plate # VB9375.

Stirek always travels with his golden retriever, and usually wears western-style shirts and blue jeans. He has no known health problems. If you know where he is, call the Atlantic Police Department at 712-243-3512.

The Cass County Conservation Board has announced the winners of their Lighted Halloween Campground event held last weekend at Cold Springs State Park, in Lewis. First place went to site #2, the Johnson (Terri Ehrman) family, the second place winner was Site 4, the Pangelina family, the third place winner was Site 1, the Amos family, and the fourth place was site 3: Melissa Ehrman-Johnson.

(left to right) Johnson family, Anita Pangelina, Karen Kirchhoff, Haden McAdams, Kaylee McAdams and Bob Amos

The CCCB thanks their business sponsor Cappel’s Ace Hardware who donated the prizes for the Lighted Halloween Campground. They also would like to thank everyone who signed up to decorate a site, and for sharing your Halloween décor with everyone.

Officials say The Lighted Halloween campground will be held again, in 2018!

DES MOINES– Floodplain mapping and watershed planning will be discussed at a meeting of the State Interagency Missouri River Authority (SIMRA) Nov. 18 in Des Moines. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. at the Iowa Utilities Board, located at 1375 East Court Ave.

Scott Ralston from the Iowa DNR will present on the efforts of the DNR and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on providing new and updated flood hazard data for counties along the Missouri River. Larry Weber from the University of Iowa will present on a rural watershed approach to be used in the East and West Nishnabotna River watersheds. Other items on the agenda include updates on basin conditions and from the National Weather Service.

The complete agenda is available on the SIMRA website at www.iowadnr.gov/simra.

Interested people can attend the meeting by conference call. Dial 866-685-1580 and follow the prompts. The conference code is 5152817051 followed by the pound (#) sign.

The Glenwood Police Department reports a Mills County man was arrested on drug charges, Wednesday. 37-year old Jeremy Erickson, of Malvern, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving while revoked. Erickson was being held in the Mills County Jail on $6,300 bond.

And, 55-year old Ray Radican, of Glenwood, was arrested today (Thursday), for Domestic abuse assault. He was being held in the Mills County Jail without bond, pending an appearance before a magistrate.

The latest report on state finances shows state tax collections are “slightly” running ahead of last year, by less than one percent. Jeff Robinson, senior fiscal analyst for the Legislative Services Agency. says “Net receipts for the month of October totalled $434.8 million, a modest $3.1 million and 0.7 percent increase compared to last October.”

Over the past four months, total tax payments to the state are up nearly, but not quite one percent. “This year’s positive drivers for revenue growth have been individual income tax withholding payments, up 5.2 percent, and sales tax, up 3.2 percent,” Robinson says. “Both indicate that the underlying Iowa economy continues to expand.”

However, income tax refunds have been higher than officials had expected, plus adjustments to corporate income taxes and franchise taxes have been “a drag” on overall tax collections, according to Robinson. The state’s fiscal year began July 1. State officials have projected net state tax revenue to increase by five-point-six percent over the previous year.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Small Town Poll will be mailed out soon and everyone who gets one in the mailbox is strongly encouraged to fill it out. David Peters, a sociology professor at Iowa State University, says the survey used to be conducted once a decade. Peters says, “Given what’s happened in the last 10 years with the recession and the slow recovery, we really needed to increase the frequency of how we surveyed Iowans in small towns to better understand how communities are making progress towards achieving their economic goals and their goals of maintaining their high quality of life in their communities.”

The polls are now going out every other year and Peters says that’s providing better benchmarks. “We’re doing it every two years to better understand how things are changing, hopefully for the better,” he says, “and also to communicate those results to state policy makers so they can make decisions at the statehouse that don’t negatively impact small towns in our state.” Peters says the topics in this year’s survey will focus on four areas.

“We ask a number of questions about how people view population change and the challenges that accompany that,” Peters says. “We’ll also be looking at asking Iowans how they’ve recovered both personally and how their communities have recovered from the last recession. We’ll also look at how people view crime and safety.”

The fourth topic will focus on water quality. The survey will be mailed to select recipients across Iowa in towns with populations ranging from 500 to ten-thousand. The surveys take 20 to 25 minutes to complete and respondents will be entered in a drawing to receive one of 30 gift cards worth $100 each. The results will be released next spring. Learn more at: www.soc.iastate.edu/smalltowns/poll/

(Radio Iowa)

(A-P) Police say a gun found by a search dog in a wooded area is believed to be weapon used in the fatal ambush shootings of 2 Iowa police officers. Des Moines police spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek said today (Thursday) that the weapon was found a day earlier “where no person probably could have found it.” He declined to provide further details. Police say the suspect, Scott Greene, turned himself in just hours after the two officers were shot in separate attacks early Wednesday.

Greene is suspected of shooting to death Des Moines Police Sgt. Tony Beminio and Urbandale Police Officer Justin Martin. The men were killed just a few miles and minutes apart as they sat in their police cruisers early Wednesday morning.

Parizek said Greene was expected to be released from the hospital today (Thursday). He says investigators have yet to speak with Greene. Parizek said a motive remains unclear, but that investigators are looking at possible first-degree murder charges. No formal charges have been filed.