Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

HAWARDEN, Iowa (AP) — Wells Fargo has donated a home to the Center for Financial Education, a nonprofit ministry that provides counseling services free of charge in northwest Iowa. Wells Fargo donated the house mortgage-free in October. Through its Community and Urban Stabilization Program, which was started last year, Wells Fargo has donated more than 450 properties to nonprofit and faith-based organizations.

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Police say a Des Moines man has been charged in connection with a stabbing in Newton. Court documents show 25-year-old Quentin Smith was arrested and charged with attempted murder after a stabbing incident Sunday night at a Newton home. Police say a man awoke to Smith standing nearby with a knife in hand.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad took the day off Monday to recover from a cold. Branstad’s spokesman Jimmy Centers said the governor caught a cold while on vacation last week. All his public events were canceled Monday so Branstad could take the day off to rest.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gun control advocates are reiterating their opposition to legislation that would allow a child of any age in Iowa to use a handgun with a parent’s supervision. The Rev. Cheryl Thomas with Iowans for Gun Safety says the legislation, which passed recently in the House, would increase gun violence in Iowa. The bill would allow children under 14 to use a handgun with a parent’s supervision. It would also remove mandatory background checks on some handgun purchases, removing a de facto three-day waiting period, among other things.

A 10-year old suffered from minor abrasions after the bike he was riding was struck by a car in Council Bluffs, Monday afternoon. Bluffs Police say officers responded to a reported car pedestrian crash at the intersection of 6th and Kanesville at 3:48-p.m.  When the officers arrived, it was learned that a 10 year old, his mother, and sister were crossing 6th Street, traveling westbound on bicycles.

32-year old Fernando Vasquez, of Council Bluffs, was traveling northbound on 6th Street in a Mazda. Vasquez stopped for a red light and started to turn right onto Kanesville, when the 10 year old ran into the side of the Mazda, fell to the ground and sustained minor scrapes. The child’s mother refused medical treatment at the scene. The child’s name is not being released.

Authorities right turns on red are allowed at the intersection, when safe to do so. Vasquez was cited for failing to yield to persons in a crosswalk.

Republican Joni Ernst has introduced her first bill in the U.S. Senate — the “Prioritizing Veterans’ Access to Mental Health Care Act.” The bill would make hiring more psychiatrists a higher priority for the Veterans Administration, plus Ernst proposes expanding coverage so veterans could seek mental health care elsewhere if they’d have a lengthy wait at a V-A facility.

“These veterans fought for us and defended us tirelessly. They endured more than some of us can ever imagine,” Ernst said. “The invisible wounds of war can no longer go unnoticed.” Ernst made her comments during a speech late Monday afternoon on the Senate floor. She spoke for more than 10 minutes, mentioning her own military service and the calls she’s gotten from veterans who are suicidal, but cannot get timely help from the V-A.

“We have to do better,” Ernst said. A veteran seeking mental health services from the V-A has to wait an average of 36 days before they get an appointment and Ernst suggests that’s one reason why the suicide rate among veterans is so high. “We hear this number from time to do, but think about it: 22 veterans suicides per days,” Ernst said. Under current practice, veterans are not allowed coverage for mental health services if a V-A facility is within 40 miles of where they live — regardless of the wait time for an appointment at that facility.

(Radio Iowa)