DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An arbitrator has sided with Iowa state employees who objected to a state proposal that would have forced them to pay up to 20 percent of their monthly health care premiums. The arbitrator sided with the employees’ union on Saturday, saying the employee union’s proposal to instead pay $20 a month toward their health care premiums was the most reasonable.

The wage proposals of both the state and union leaders were much the same. State employees will get a pay hike of about 6 percent over two years. Union president Danny Homan on Saturday lauded the decision, saying it will “help put money in the pockets of state employees.” But Gov. Terry Branstad’s office says the decision will “cost the Iowa taxpayers an additional $24 million.”

An accident on Interstate 80 eastbound in Adair County blocked one of the lanes for a little more than 40-minutes, Saturday. Stuart Fire and Rescue and Menlo Rescue were dispatched to the scene at 3-p.m., near the 92 mile marker, but Guthrie County Deputies arriving on the scene reported there were no injuries. According to scanner traffic, a vehicle, a 2011 Toyota driven by a woman from Lincoln, NE., went through the cable barrier in the median. No other details were immediately available.

The annual “Cancer in Iowa” report released Friday shows the number of skin cancer cases in Iowa has been increasing. Mary Charlton with the University of Iowa College of Public Health says it is one of the most preventable cancers, and many efforts are underway to try and reverse the trend. Charlton says there are many initiatives where groups are handing out sunscreen at events like minor league and little baseball games. “People are starting to build more shade, sort of shelters at ballparks and things like that to keep themselves protected. Wearing hats to keep them protect them, all of that is relatively simple,” Charlton says.

She says you can do a lot on your own to help keep skin cancer from becoming deadly. “Early detection is important, and just looking at your skin once a month and going in to see a health care provider who could diagnose skin cancer about once a year would help detect those lesions very early when they are more treatable,” Charlton says. Charlton is an epidemiologist and says there are many things you can do to avoid all types of cancer.

She says you can not smoke, or quit smoking, minimize your time in the sunlight or in tanning beds and eat a balanced diet. You can see the full state report on cancer at the U-I College of Public Health’s website at: www.public-health.uiowa.edu.

(Radio Iowa)

An economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture says ethanol plants are becoming more efficient. Last month, the agency increased its forecast of corn needed for ethanol by 50-million bushels, but a more recent forecast reduced it by 50-million. The USDA’s Acting Chief Economist, Rob Johansson, says this is a case of less means more. “We’re finding…we’re using less corn to make a gallon of ethanol. So, our ethanol refining is becoming more efficient,” Johansson says.

Iowa leads the nation in ethanol production, creating nearly 30-percent of all ethanol. Across the country, ethanol plants are expected to use 5.2 billion bushels of corn this year. That is 1% less than previous forecasts but nearly one-and-a-half percent more than in 2014. Iowa’s 43 ethanol plants produced 3.9 billion gallons of the fuel in 2014, a new production record, according to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.

(Radio Iowa)

w/ Chris Parks

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The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office released details on Friday about a traffic stop in the early morning hours of March 10th that led to a drug arrest of a Manning teen.

A Shelby County Deputy stopped a vehicle in the 1900 block of Linden Road for an equipment violation. During the stop drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine were found inside the vehicle.  The driver was a 17-year-old female juvenile from Manning.  She was taken into custody and charged with Delivery of a Controlled Substance (methamphetamine) which is a Class B Felony.

The juvenile was then transported to the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs where she is currently being held awaiting a detention hearing.

A teenager who went missing from a Council Bluffs foster care facility has been located in Montana. According to the Creston News Advertiser, 14-year old Dakota Cook and his sister Cheyenne were located by law enforcement in Anaconda, Montana, today (Friday). Dakota and his sister have been temporarily placed with Montana Department of Family Services.

Dakota

Cheyenne

Dakota Cook was reported missing Tuesday afternoon after his mother Carolyn Cook of Prescott failed to return him to Children’s Square, U.S.A., a state placement organization, in Council Bluffs. Law enforcement have been searching for Dakota since Tuesday and believed his mother and possibly her boyfriend Jim Strohman, also from Prescott, had him in the Union and Adams County area.

An investigation into fires at three separate locations in Shelby County has resulted in one person being arrested on arson charges. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office reports 20-year old Collin Brus, of Manilla, was arrested Thursday afternoon on one count of 1st Degree Arson and two counts of 2nd Degree Arson. Brus was being held in the Shelby County Jail on $100,000 bond.

Officials say the investigation began May 28th, 2013, when a structure in the 2200 block of M-56 was intentionally burned. A second incident took place on March 8th, of this year, at Botna where again a structure was intentionally burned. The third intentionally ignited incident happened March 11th, in the 2300 block of 2200th Street. All three investigations were jointly investigated by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa State Fire Marshal’s Division.

A school bus with as many as 20 students on board overturned southwest of Treynor this (Friday) afternoon. KETV in Omaha reports the accident happened at the rural intersection of 290th and Delta Avenue around 2:30 p.m. No students were injured. There were concerns the school bus driver was trapped in the wreckage, but the driver made it out shortly after the accident.

Rescue crews from Oakland, Underwood, Lewis Township, Treynor, Carson and Minden responded to the scene. All units except for those from Treynor were ordered to return to quarters as it became clear there were no injuries, and Life Net helicopter, which had been put on stand-by, was told to “stand-down” at 2:38-p.m. Treynor Fire and Rescue returned to base at 3:20-p.m.

No other details are currently available.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a state law that allows sex offenders to remain under supervised release even if they’ve been found unlikely to engage in acts of sexual violence.
The law was challenged by 57-year-old Calvin Matlock, of Waterloo, who has three sex abuse convictions. He was released from prison in 2000 but confined to a Cherokee sex offenders unit as a sexually violent predator.

In 2013 he was released under supervision of a probation officer after he was found to have a mental abnormality but prosecutors failed to prove he was likely to reoffend.  Matlock claims the conditions violate his constitutional due process rights.

The Supreme Court, ruling Friday, affirmed Matlock’s release but ordered hearings on whether supervised release properly balances Matlock’s constitutional rights with public safety.