IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court says police officers can legally stop any vehicle that has a frame covering the county name on its license plate. The court ruled 5-2 on Friday that obscuring the county violates a law that requires motorists to “permit full view of all numerals and letters” on the plate. The decision backs undercover Davenport officers who used the issue to justify stopping a man who was under surveillance for suspected drug dealing.

Dissenting Justice Brent Appel says the ruling is a warning to thousands of motorists who have frames promoting sports teams and auto dealers. He says they need to check whether the frame covers the county name because police now “may stop the vehicle anywhere and at any time” without any sign of other criminal wrongdoing.

A relatively new restaurant in central Iowa has been selected as this year’s winner of “Iowa’s Best Burger” contest. The Brick City Grill in Ames is owned by Jason Mikkelsen.

Best Burger 2014 – Jason Mikkelsen

“We’ve only been open for almost a year now, so to get an honor like this so soon, it’s definitely a surprise,” Mikkelsen said. “But it makes all the hard work…it makes it worth it.” Prior to opening Brick City Grill, Mikkelsen spent 18 years working in several restaurants around Ames. The 36-year-old Creston native moved to Ames in 1996 to attend Iowa State University. He says the secret to a good burger is in the beef.

“We use a flat-top grill to sear in the flavor. All we use for seasoning is just a little salt and pepper,” Mikkelsen says. “We have a really good bun, it’s brioche bun that we toast.” Mikkelsen uses a proprietary blend of Iowa beef, delivered fresh to the restaurant. Brick City Grill has eight varieties of hamburgers and they’re far and away to most popular items on the restaurant’s menu.

“Oh yeah, by far, we go through probably three times more burger than we do everything else,” Mikkelsen says.

Best Burger 2014 – Brick City Pretzel Burger

This is the fifth year for the Best Burger contest, sponsored by the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association and the Iowa Beef Industry Council. Iowans submitted more than 9,600 nomination votes for 456 restaurants in February and March that selected the top 10 restaurants. Those 10 restaurants were then independently visited and judged based on the hamburger’s taste, appearance, and proper serving temperature (160 degrees).

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A former township clerk in western Iowa has pleaded not guilty to misspending $60,000 over several years. The Sioux City Journal reports 64-year-old Peggy Powell of Hornick entered a written plea Wednesday in Woodbury County District Court. She is charged with two counts of first-degree theft.

Powell is accused of mishandling money while she was clerk of Grange Township between 2006 and 2013. A state audit released in March showed improper disbursements from the township’s bank account. There was more than $35,000 in ATM withdrawals and fees, some of which came from casinos in Iowa and one in Nebraska.

The report also said Powell misappropriated money to a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, where she was treasurer. Powell’s trial is scheduled to start on July 22nd.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An elderly Iowa man convicted of four sex offenses has been committed to the Mental Health Institute in Clarinda. The Des Moines Register reports 85-year-old William Cubbage consequently won’t stand trial in civil proceedings based on the sexual assault on a 95-year-old nursing home resident in Pomeroy, where Cubbage was staying in 2011.

Cubbage has been moved into a geriatric ward at the Clarinda facility. He was being held by the Iowa Department of Corrections awaiting a decision on whether he’d be returned to the Iowa Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders, where he’d spent eight years before being sent to the Pomeroy nursing home.