DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A state report says auditors found dozens of public bidding improprieties by the Iowa Education Department. The report released Monday also says the department ignored a law that requires reports about efforts to prevent discriminatory employment practices.

The Des Moines Register reports the audit was for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015. It found 34 contracts that began service before formal approval while three did not include the state-required monitoring and review clauses. It also found that of 12 contracts that had been amended, six had not been properly authorized.

Department deputy director Jeff Berger says the bidding issues have largely been resolved. Berger also says the employment reports went undone because of an oversight, which he says will be corrected.

Police in Red Oak report a woman was arrested at around 10-p.m. Monday for felony Possession with the Intent to Deliver, less than 5 grams of Methamphetamine. 21-year old Darian Elizabeth Heideman, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at the intersection of W. Washington and N. Broadway Streets and brought to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center, where her cash bond was set at $50,000.

And, a Red Oak man was arrested early this (Tuesday) morning, for Driving While Revoked for OWI test failure. 29-year old Joshua Kenneth Wolcott was arrested at around 12:15-a.m. during a traffic stop in Red Oak. Walcott was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

A 26-year old man from Villisca was arrested late Monday night, for Public Intoxication. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports Gabriel Frances Romero was arrested a little after 9:20-p.m. in the 2300 block of Highway 71. Romero was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 bond.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — State and federal regulators say 32 disposal wells in northeastern Oklahoma must shut down because they are too near a newly discovered fault line that produced the state’s strongest earthquake on record. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission said Monday that 27 wells under its jurisdiction would cease operations, along with five wells in Osage County, which is covered by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules.

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A coalition of agriculture, business and conservation leaders say they support a plan to increase Iowa’s sales tax to raise money for water quality and other natural resources programs. The Des Moines Register reports members of Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy Coalition on Monday proposed raising the tax by three-eighths of a cent. Organizers will push their plan at the upcoming legislative session. Members of the coalition include the Iowa Soybean Association and Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Linn County supervisors have voted to raise the county’s minimum wage a dollar on Jan. 1 the next three years, taking the wage to $10.25 an hour in 2019. The board voted 4-1 Monday for the measure after its third and final reading. Johnson County was the first county in Iowa to raise its minimum wage.

LECLAIRE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have released the names of two people who were killed when their motorcycles collided with an SUV in eastern Iowa’s Scott County. The Scott County Sheriff’s Office identified the motorcyclists who were killed Sunday as 57-year-old William Bruce Griffith of Davenport and 59-year-old Ronald Gene Fox of Blue Grass.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines police say an 18-year-old driver will face a vehicular homicide charge for the death of a 12-year-old who was injured in a three-vehicle crash. Police said Monday that Fernando Lopez Aguilar already was charged with three counts of serious injury by reckless driving and that one of them will be amended to homicide because of the child’s death. Court records don’t list an attorney for Lopez Aguilar.

A traffic stop Monday night in Fremont County resulted in a high-speed pursuit and the arrest of a man on drug and other charges. Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports 25-year old Kevin Junior Booher, of Hamburg, was arrested on Interstate 29 after deputies were able to perform a P.I.T maneuver, which spun Booher’s vehicle around near mile-marker 18. Booher was charged with felony Eluding, felony Possession of a Controlled Substance with the Intent to Deliver, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and numerous traffic violations. He was being held in the Fremont County Jail awaiting an appearance before a magistrate.

Kevin Junior Booher (Booking photo)

The incident leading to his arrest began when the Fremont County K9 Unit tried to stop Booher’s vehicle. Booher refused to yield and instead lead deputies in a pursuit that reached speeds of up to 110 miles per hour. No injuries were reported.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has boosted the expected soybean crop to a new record. The agency’s monthly crop update, released Monday, says farmers are expected to produce 4.2 billion bushels of soybeans, an increase of 3 percent from last month’s estimate. It’s also a record for average bushels per acre at 50.6 and acres harvested at 83 million.

The estimated corn crop was reduced to 15.1 billion bushels as compared to last month’s estimate of 15.2 billion. But that still beats the previous high of 14.2 billion bushels in 2014. The huge harvest is still expected to suppress grain prices below farmers’ cost of production, causing most to lose money on corn and soybeans.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A coalition of agriculture, business and conservation leaders say they support a plan to increase Iowa’s sales tax to raise money for water quality and other natural resources programs. The Des Moines Register reports members of Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy Coalition on Monday proposed raising the sales tax by three-eighths of a cent. Organizers say they’ll push their plan at the upcoming legislative session, which begins in January.

The nearly two dozen members of the coalition include the Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Greater Des Moines Partnership and Iowa Ducks Unlimited. The poor quality of Iowa’s waterways has been receiving more attention, especially following a lawsuit filed by Des Moines Water Works against three northwest Iowa counties accusing them of wrongly allowing runoff from farms.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today (Monday) announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making investments to improve water and waste infrastructure for 168 small towns across the country, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The investment, totaling $283 million, is made through USDA Rural Development’s Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program, which provides assistance and financing to develop drinking water and waste disposal systems for communities with 10,000 or fewer residents.

Funding for each project announced today (Monday) is contingent upon the recipient meeting the terms of the loan, grant or loan/grant agreement. In southwest Iowa, the Fremont County City of Thurman received a $152,000 loan and a $144,000 grant, for water system improvements.

Since 2009, USDA Rural Development (@USDARD) has invested $13.5 billion for 5,739 water and waste infrastructure projects, benefiting 19.1 million rural residents.

A long time entertainment favorite will return to Atlantic this Wednesday (Sept. 14th), when the Atlantic Elks Lodge begins a weekly Bingo night. The Elks will be hosting bingo beginning at 6:30-pm on Wednesday nights with doors open at 6-pm. The event will be held on the lodge bottom floor with access available only from the rear of the building.

The public is invited and welcomed to attend and there will be food and non-alcoholic drinks available for purchase and free coffee. Patrons should be aware that the bathrooms available are not wheelchair accessible.  You must be 21 to be on the bingo floor.

Elks Exalted Ruler Jim Nodskog said “The ELKS are excited to make bingo games available to the public and our members for entertainment on a regular basis. We will be using the proceeds to help with our charitable work, including local school scholarships, boy scouting projects, school and youth projects, and veterans needs.”

The lodge is located at 501 Poplar St and there is parking located in the rear as well as around the streets and lots adjacent to the lodge.