DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa State Patrol and the Des Moines Police Department are investigating a stabbing at the Iowa State Fair.  At approximately 10:25 PM, Tuesday, a 21-year-old male was stabbed near the SW corner of the fairgrounds.  The victim was transported to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines in a critical, but stable condition.  The investigation is ongoing and more details will be released as they become available.

SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa (AP) – A northwest Iowa school superintendent is facing an October trial on accusations of drunken driving. Dickinson County court records say Sergeant Bluff-Luton Community School District Superintendent Rod Earleywine entered a written plea of not guilty Monday. The charge: operating while under the influence, first offense. His trial is set to begin Oct. 10.

Earleywine was arrested Aug. 5 in Spirit Lake. The records say Earleywine’s blood alcohol was above the legal limit in two tests. The school board president has declined to comment about the case. The district website still lists Earleywine as superintendent.

A crowdfunding campaign is underway this month to keep a program afloat that helps sexual assault victims in Iowa. Adam Robinson, executive director of the Iowa City-based Rape Victim Advocacy Program, says they’ve seen severe cuts in state and federal funding in recent months. Robinson says, “In total, RVAP’s budget last fiscal year was about $1.4 million and we’ve lost about $400,000 this fiscal year.”

The deep cuts forced the office to slash its workforce, eliminating 15 of the 30 part- and full-time staff members. “One of the key programs that we’ve been running since 1999 is the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline,” Robinson says. “That program provides 24-hour, confidential, free support to anyone impacted by sexual violence and that particular program was defunded.”

Even though that hotline was defunded, Robinson says the 800-number is still active and is being staffed by the remaining personnel and volunteers. While the office lost some 400-thousand dollars in funding, the modest goal for the month of August was to raise ten-thousand dollars via the crowdfunding effort. “We’ve raised $7,300 so far, which is tremendous,” Robinson says. “We have a lot more money to raise to try to recoup the dollars we’ve lost in funding but it’s been a great start.”

The fundraiser will help to sustain some services that would otherwise be at risk of vanishing. To donate money or time as a volunteer, visit the Rape Victim Advocacy Program website: rvap.org.

(Radio Iowa)

An R-V carrying some of the state’s historical artifacts is parked at the Iowa State Fair this week. Officials call it a “mobile museum” and they’ve assigned the phrase “Iowa History 101” to describe the experience of touring the interior. Mary Cownie is director of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. “The State Historical Society of Iowa maintains more than 200 million documents and artifacts,” Cownie says, “but they’re only valuable if people can see them.”

The R-V already has traveled to 24 counties, with the goal of making stops in each of Iowa’s 99 counties by the end of 2019. The mobile museum is parked near the livestock pavilion on the state fairgrounds from now through Friday. Governor Kim Reynolds says it’s one way to share Iowa’s legacy with the state’s citizens. “If you get a chance, be sure to walk through the RV and see some of the highlights,” Reynolds says, “things like a patch from astronaut Peggy Whitson with her spacesuit, a jersey from Lynne Lorenzen’s glory days in six-on-six basketball and, one of my personal favorites, the pen that Governor Harding used to sign the 19th Amendment in 1919 — and this made Iowa the 10th state to ratify the 19th Amendment and give women the right to vote.”

The mobile museum will be parked at the Clay County Fair in Spencer from September 9th through the 17th. It’s next stop, though, is this Sunday in northeast Iowa. It will be at the Parkersburg Historical Home on August 20th.

(Radio Iowa)