A rural church in northwest Iowa’s Plymouth County has been buzzing with activity after a large bee hive was discovered inside the sanctuary. James Strickland, a beekeeper and pastor of the Nazarene Church in Le Mars, offered to help the nearby Addaville Methodist Church to remove the hive. “We did a little poking around and we discovered the bee hive was in the choir loft between two floor joists,” Pastor Strickland says. “We didn’t know at that point exactly how large it was but when we opened it up to remove the hive, it measured about eight-and-a-half feet in length, 17 inches wide and 11 inches deep.”

Strickland and two other beekeepers removed the active hive, which took the better part of a day to extract the bees, the hive, the comb and honey. “That hive had been there for several years,” he says. “We pulled six five-gallon buckets full of honeycomb off of that hive which is unheard of for this time of year. The bees should have eaten through most of their honey having gone through the winter and not being able to bring in any food of their own.”

Strickland and the other beekeepers were wearing full protective gear as they removed the floorboards in the choir loft. “We discovered this massive hive, teaming with bees, absolutely full,” he says. “It’s hard to estimate bees because they won’t stand still. We estimate somewhere around 50,000 bees.” There are discussions about marketing the honey from the church hive as “Holy Honey.”

(Radio Iowa)

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The author of a book about his father and other men who raised a U.S. flag at Iwo Jima during World War II says he no longer believes his father was in an iconic photograph of the event. “Flags of Our Fathers” author James Bradley says questions raised by two historians prompted him to recall comments his father made about the event. Bradley now believes his father participated in an earlier flag-raising.

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — A 40-year-old man convicted of first-degree burglary has escaped from a Coralville work release facility. Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrections say Curtis Jones didn’t return from his job as expected on Monday and was listed as an escaped inmate. His 40-year sentence began in June 2005.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former spokesman for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has been named senior adviser to the Republican Party of Iowa to help GOP candidates including U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley win in November. Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann says he’s hired Tim Albrecht to help Republican campaigns succeed.

DENVER, Iowa (AP) — Police say one person has died in a northeast Iowa construction site accident. The Denver Police Department says construction workers were digging along the foundation wall of a building in Denver when a portion of the wall tipped over on Monday and trapped 56-year-old Henry Gray, of Clarksville. Firefighters and the owner of Snelling Construction freed Henry from under the wall, but he died at the scene.

MILFORD, Iowa (AP) — A northwest Iowa teacher who failed alcohol tests while chaperoning a high school prom has resigned. Sioux City television station KTIV reports the Okoboji School Board accepted the resignation of 33-year-old Royce Van Roekel, during a special meeting Tuesday (today).

Milford police say officers were sent Saturday night to Boji Bay Fun House & Event Center, where the Okoboji High School prom was being held. Van Roekel failed a field sobriety test and his breath tested out at more than twice the legal limit to drive.

Van Roekel will be suspended until his resignation becomes effective June 1st. Online court records say Van Roekel pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of public intoxication.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Education says the state’s high school graduation rate has increased for the fifth year in a row. Data released by the department Tuesday show about 90 percent of students in Iowa’s 2015 graduating class completed high school within four years. The graduation rate has steadily increased from 88.3 percent for the Class of 2011.

Officials say Iowa became the first state in the country with a graduation rate above 90 percent last year. The U.S. Department of Education has not yet released national data for the Class of 2015. Additionally, there were 3,637 Iowa students who dropped out during the 2014-15 school year, which is a slight decrease from the previous year’s dropout rate.

A man from Council Bluffs was transported to a hospital in Omaha in critical condition after he was struck by a vehicle this (Tuesday) morning. Bluffs Police say 60-year old Clifford Guild was struck by a vehicle driven by 25-year old Jessica Sawyer, of Council Bluffs, at around 8:30-a.m., in the 3800 block of Avenue G.

When officers arrived at the scene, Guild was unresponsive, and officers were unable to obtain a pulse. He was transported to Creighton University Medical Center. An initial investigation determined Guild was crossing the street, and for an unknown reason, crossed in front of the vehicle, driven by Sawyer.

Authorities say at this time, speed and/or alcohol do not appear to be factors in the accident. This case is currently under investigation by the Council Bluffs Police Traffic Unit.