Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Documents show the state agency that oversees Iowa’s flagship history museum used infrastructure money designated for building repairs and museum renovation planning to pay some department salaries. Payroll documents obtained by The Associated Press show the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs diverted more than $176,000 from a special infrastructure fund to pay a portion of Director Mary Cownie’s current salary and the salaries of two senior staff. The agency insisted that the move was legal, and it pointed to special appropriations language issued for some of the $3.65 million it received from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund. DCA says it exempts normal rules.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa (AP) — A Pella day care provider has been given probation for her role in the death of a 17-month-old-child. A judge sentenced 32-year-old Valerie Wackerly to three years of probation in the death of Amelia Smith. Wackerly pleaded guilty in January to involuntary manslaughter. The judge also ordered Wackerly to pay restitution and to record a public service announcement about the proper use of car seats that will play weekly on a Knoxville radio station.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sioux City officials say a proposed $20.7 million viaduct to prevent railroad delays in the Hoeven Valley will close at least one train crossing to through traffic. City staff told the City Council that closing three streets to traffic at railroad crossings will force people to use the proposed viaduct. The city is seeking about $14.8 million from the U.S. Department Transportation for the project.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The agency that oversees Iowa’s history museum spent money designated for building repairs and other needs on administrators’ salaries. Payroll documents obtained by The Associated Press show the Department of Cultural Affairs diverted more than $176,000 from a special infrastructure fund to pay a portion of three salaries. It highlights a potential loophole in a law that outlines how infrastructure funding should be allocated.

A survey of business managers in Iowa and eight other states shows the economic picture improving, gradually, in both the Hawkeye State and the Midwest region. Creighton University Economics Professor Ernie Goss says while the situation is getting better, the advances are very slow. “The overall index for the month was up again, for the second consecutive month, but it’s up at 50.6 from 50.5,” Goss says. “We’re just ever so slightly above 50. It wasn’t a good report but it was better than the previous months.”

The scale goes from 0 to 100 with a score of 50 being growth neutral. In the past year, Goss says the state has lost 17-hundred manufacturing jobs. Recent surveys show Iowa’s manufacturing sector is gaining jobs, but at a snail’s pace. “All in all, it was a pretty good report but the jobs index, unfortunately, was not good,” Goss says. “We’re still shedding jobs in manufacturing, particularly anything to do with energy, as you well know that.”

That energy sector includes ethanol production, an industry where Iowa is the nation’s top producer. Due to the prolonged low gasoline prices, managers of some ethanol plants are trimming back on production and personnel. As colleges across the region will soon be sending a new crop of graduates into the working world, Goss says one part of the survey focused specifically on pay for recent grads.

“We asked about salaries for a new worker with a bachelor’s degree and it came in at $47,800,” Goss says. “That may not sound like a lot for a person fresh out of college but it’s up 5% from this time last year when we asked the same question.”

In the past year, the region’s manufacturing sector has lost nearly 2%, or roughly 23,000 manufacturing jobs. Goss projects the broader economy to continue to add jobs but at a slow pace.

(Radio Iowa)

An ember from a torch used to cut steel beams was the apparent causing of a fire that ignited several bales of hay Tuesday afternoon, just north of downtown Atlantic. According to Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon, firefighters were called to 101 Chestnut Street ata round 2:30-p.m. Crews brought the fire under control before the flames could spread to nearby county-owned storage buildings.

The still smoldering bales were brought from the scene to the compost pile a short while later. Crews left the original scene at around 3:20-p.m. and proceeded to the compost pile to soak the bales with more water in an effort to prevent a rekindling of the fire.

No injuries were reported.

Photo’s courtesy Mike Kennon, Cass County EMC

Police have made an arrest in connection with a fire that gutted a restaurant in Greene County. The fire was reported just after midnight on January 27 at the Pizza Ranch in Jefferson. A couple of weeks later, investigators announced they determined that the fire had been intentionally set. Now, the restaurant’s owner, 53-year-old Robert Schultz Jr., is facing charges of arson, criminal mischief, and insurance fraud.

(Radio Iowa)