(Radio Iowa) — A group of high school students in a northeast Iowa county have developed a new “app” to manage tips about threats to school safety in the area. Seven students from Osage, Saint Ansgar and Riceville worked with the Mitchell County Sheriff’s office to design and publish the app. Jenna Plotzke is a senior at Osage.

“Messages can get mis-communicated and we have problems where you think there’s a kid with a gun or anything like that, so we wanted an easier way to communicate and a more efficient way to communicate if there was a threat and let administration know,” she says.

The Mitchell County Threat Reporter app lets students anonymously report threats like bullying or an active shooter directly to law enforcement. Mitchell County Sheriff Greg Beaver wanted an easier way for students to report potential threats after 17 people were killed in the Valentine’s Day shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school.

“Go back and look at the history of active shooters in our schools and school violence — so many of our young people say, ‘Well, we knew he was going to do it or she was going to do it,’ but they don’t pick up 911 and call,” he says. “We find out afterwards and it’s too late. If we can get these young people to report confidentially, through an app, what better way to get the information ahead of time.”

The app is available at the Google Play Store right now. The app asks six general questions, from what the threat is to who’s involved and where it could happen. Plotzke says she and the six other students who worked on the app hope it can be used nationwide. “I think it would be really beneficial if we’d be able to get it to other counties in Iowa or even nationwide, if other people could use our interface to then create an app that can then help their county,” she says.

“I know Mitchell County is pretty small and if you had a bigger county, how much more beneficial it could be and how many more reports they could have and help diffuse situations before they get out of hand.” The Mitchell County Threat Reporter app will be released for the iPhone and other Apple devices later this week.

The City Council in Walnut will hold a regularly scheduled meeting 5-p.m. today, at the Walnut City Hall. Among the items on their agenda, is discussion with regard to the Walnut Community Center, including: A lease agreement with the AHSTW School District; Painting of the old gym ceiling; and WCC Foundation topics. The Council will also discuss Building Inspections and the Minimum Maintenance Ordinance, followed by the setting of a date for a public hearing for the possible adoption of the Ordinance.

In other business, the Council will review an annual update of the Walnut Municipal Utility Identity Theft Prevention Program, and act on the possible adoption of a Resolution approving the update. Fire Department discussion will cover Operation E.D.I.T.H, the parade and community dinner. City Maintenance discussion will cover cameras at the park and fire station, and the Council is expected to announce the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) Flu shot clinic will be held from 10-until 11-a.m. Monday, Oct. 15th. They are also expected to set the date for Halloween Trick-or-Treating.

(Radio Iowa) — The Boone-based Fareway grocery store chain has made a change to its iconic employee uniform — going away from the white shirt and black tie with the Fareway logo on it. Company spokesperson Emily Toribio says the uniform change is part of their 80th anniversary refresh that saw an updated logo. “Making sure that our employees feel comfortable, yet professional, and then even as a recruitment tool as well, we are going for general staff to the red polos,” Toribio. The red polos will feature the company logo. “The shirts are the only piece of the uniform that’s changing, we’ll still have black pants, black shoes. So that piece of the uniform will still stay consistent,” according to Toribio.

She believes the white shirts and black ties have been worn since the company began right decades ago. Toribio says they old look isn’t completely going away.”Our management personnel will still be in white shirts and ties,” Toribio says. “Not necessarily the black Fareway ties in all circumstances, but they’ll be able to do a tie of choice.” She says the employees like the change to the polo shirts. “The ties were nice in the sense that they were consistent ties — so you didn’t have to worry about knotting your tie perfect and having at the right lengths and what not,” according to Toribio. “But I think that loosening up that top button with something like a polo will allow employees added comfort. Especially as they do the heavy lifting in the stores and stocking and those sorts of things. Those white shirts, they get dirty pretty quickly.”

Toribio says they will probably have some other changes moving forward. But she says don’t expect a change in their long-standing policy of closing on Sundays.”No Sunday change at this point,” Toribio says with a laugh. Fareway is one of the few stores that is not open on Sundays. The company now operates 121 store in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:00 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a lawsuit filed by an Iowa woman who carried a baby for another couple as a surrogate mother but changed her mind and wanted to keep the baby. The Muscatine woman identified only as T.B. wanted the court to strike down surrogacy contracts as unconstitutional.

JEWELL, Iowa (AP) — Iowa road officials have closed a section of highway in central Iowa’s Hamilton County after several drivers hit a massive sinkhole. Iowa Patrol Sgt. Nathan Ludwig said the 9-by-8 foot hole in Highway 69 north of Jewell was reported sometime between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Wednesday, after five vehicles had hit it. Ludwig says only one minor injury was reported, when one driver’s head hit his steering wheel.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Mason City man convicted of sex abuse counts involving dependent adults he was hired to care for has been jailed for violating pre-sentencing rules. The Globe Gazette reports that 19-year-old Wasfie Ahmed Alshara is behind bars after court documents say had alcohol on Sept. 29, which he was not supposed to have under the rules. Alshara pleaded guilty in August to two counts of misdemeanor assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge’s ruling could mean more Iowa students with learning disabilities will qualify for special education programs. The Des Moines Register reports an administrative law judge ruled last year that Iowa education agencies violated the Disabilities Education Act by denying an Urbandale student’s access to special education classes because she was performing well in her classes. Another judge affirmed the decision. An attorney says students throughout Iowa could benefit from the ruling.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a lawsuit filed by an Iowa woman who carried a baby for another couple as a surrogate mother but changed her mind and wanted to keep the baby. The Muscatine woman identified only as T.B. wanted the court to strike down surrogacy contracts as unconstitutional.

She filed an appeal in May of an Iowa Supreme Court ruling that concluded for the first time in Iowa that gestational surrogacy agreements are legal and enforceable.
The ruling allowed Paul and Chantele Montover to keep the girl, now 2 years old.
The Montovers had decided at age 50 that they wanted to raise a child together and agreed to pay the woman to have a baby using an egg from an unknown donor and Paul Montover’s sperm.

The Iowa court said banning surrogate contracts would deprive infertile couples of a way to raise their own biological children. The nation’s highest court denied the woman’s petition to hear the case on Monday without comment.