(Creston, Iowa) – Two people were arrested late Wednesday night in Creston. At around 10:30-p.m., 36-year-old Melissa Kay Stephenson, of Leon, was arrested at the Creston Wal-Mart for  5th Degree Theft 5th. Stephenson was cited and released from the scene on a Promise to Appear in court. And, at around 11:30-p.m. Wednesday, Creston Police arrested 18-year-old Keaton Michael Ballinger, of Creston.

Authorities say he was arrested at his residence for Possession Purchase of Alcohol by Person under the legal age/1st Offense. Ballinger was cited and released from the scene, on a Promise to Appear.

(Carter Lake, Iowa) – The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a house fire that occurred last week, in Carter Lake. Authorities say 84-year-old Elizabeth Clark died after the fire at her residence near 15th and Avenue P on June 5th. Carter Lake firefighters called for mutual aid from Omaha and Crescent for help to knock down the fire. It took crews about 40-minutes to bring the blaze under control.

A cause of the blaze was unknown, and the incident remained under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – The State Board of Regents approved an increase in salary or retention bonuses for the three presidents of the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa Wednesday. Board President Michael Richards read the proposed increase for U-I president Barbara Wilson. “Authorize a 50-thousand dollar increase to her annual base salary effective July 1st 2023. Amend the 2021 deferred compensation plan to increase the total principal value by 25 percent,” he says.

The raise moves Wilson’s yearly salary to 700-thousand dollars. For I-S-U president Wendy Wintersteen, there will be a new deferred compensation plan starting July 1st with annual contributions of 415-thousand dollars, and her new employment agreement extends through June 30th of 2026. Her salary stays at 650-thousand dollars. U-N-I president Mark Nook also receive a raise. “Authorize a 15-thousand dollar increase to his annual base salary effective July 1st 2023,” Richards says.

This moves Nook’s salary to 372-thousand-110 dollars a year. The executive director of the Board of Regents, Mark Braun is also getting a change in his deferred compensation. “Establishing a new deferred compensation plan commencing with July 1st, 2023 and terminating on June 30th, 2025, with annual contributions of 155-thousand dollars,” Richards says.

The Regents discussed the salary issues in a closed meeting Tuesday and did not make any comments before voting to approve them Wednesday. After raising the compensation packages for the Board and university leaders, the Regents then approved a three-point-five percent tuition increase for in-state students. Iowa State University student body vice president, Jennifer Holiday spoke before the vote. “We understand the decision to increase tuition is not one taken lightly or made out of apathy, but rather out of necessity. The deficit between state allocations, and unnecessary costs must be supplemented for the sake of student success,” Holiday says.

Holiday says the increase can also inhibit students as they have to choose between eating and paying for textbooks. “As we prepare for the next meeting of the State General Assembly, Iowa State student government is ready to advocate alongside the Board and our other Regent universities to secure increased allocations from the state,” Holiday says. “Increased tuition and fees may be the short-term fix, but it is not a viable long-term solution for our students attending Iowa State University.”

University of Iowa student body vice president Carly O’Brien also discussed the burden on students. She says 30 percent of undergraduate students report using more than half of their income for housing and struggle with paying for food. “Sixty-seven percent of students in Iowa report eating less because they could not afford food. As a STEM major, I regularly learn about the importance of nutrition for daily functioning, and I’ve seen students struggle with the ultimatum to buy textbooks or food,” O’Brien says.

U-N-I student body president Micaia Krutsinger says he encourages the legislature and the Board of Regents to look at how the school is being funded. “If the core inflation is expected to be around four percent in 2023 and three percent in 2024, why is the state’s 2024 appropriations for general funding staying flat, while tuition is proposed to increase three-point-five percent?,” he says.  Krutsinger says state funding for higher education has not kept up. In fiscal year 2001, 63-point-seven percent of the three universities’ general funding came from the state, and 30-point-six percent from tuition,” Krutsinger says. “Now, for fiscal year 2023’s budget is nearly flipped with 30-point-five percent from the state and 63-point-eight percent from tuition.”

Krutsinger says the three universities combined currently have 57-point-five million dollars less in general funding from the state as compared to 2001. The Board of Regents approved the tuition increase and also an increase in mandatory fees without discussion.

(Radio Iowa)- There’s an open house in Oskaloosa later this month for the unveiling of a replica that will help tell the story of a massive animal that roamed the area 10-thousand years ago. A life-size model of a woolly mammoth is going on permanent display at the Environmental Learning Center in Oskaloosa. Chris Clingan is director of the Mahaska County Conservation Board, which operates the center.

“It gives you a real life idea of how large these creatures were and just how unique they are,” Clingan says. In 2010, after a heavy rain, a man who owned property about six miles east of Oskaloosa found the leg bone of a mammoth sticking out of a ravine. “We actually have that actual bone, that first bone that was found, on display here,” Clingan says. Bones from three different mammoths were eventually discovered in the area.

“That was significant because I think it was the first time that it actually gave scientific evidence that there was a population of mammoths in Iowa,” he says. “There was a saber toothed tiger over in southwest Iowa that was discovered just a few months ago, a skull and everything, and so there’s evidence that these creatures once roamed the lands here and that’s truly amazing.”

Clingan remembers seeing a replica of a giant sloth at the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History when he was a kid and he says seeing this full-body replica of a woolly mammoth is equally awe inspiring. “At one point in time here in Iowa anywhere from 11,000 to 13,000 years ago, during end of the last Ice Age, there was a woolly elephant roaming around,” Clingan says. “It was really fascinating to me to realize the world we live in now was so much different not too long ago when you think of how long the Earth’s been around.”

The mammoth themed open house will be on June 27th, from 4 until 8 p.m. The Learning Center in Oskaloosa opened just a couple of years ago and the building was designed around getting a life sized woolly mammoth replica inside.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican candidate Tim Scott is promising to fire the head of the F-B-I if he’s elected president and clean out all the Department of Justice staff appointed by President Biden. “Americans must have a justice system where the lady of justice wears a blindfold,” Scott said. “We cannot target Republicans and protect Democrats.” Scott held a town hall style forum in Pella last (Wednesday) night.

The final question from the crowd came from a man who said the Department of Justice is weaponized against Americans and “it’s not going to stop with Donald Trump.” Scott did not mention the recent indictment of the former president or even refer to Trump by name in his answer, but Scott used the word corrosive to describe the culture inside the Department of Justice.

“We don’t survive when the majority of Americans don’t have confidence in our justice system,” Scott said. “…You cannot be the city on the hill if you cannot trust law and order.” Scott also told the crowd of about 250 he would make changes in the Department of Education. He proposed redirecting some federal funds to provide performance bonuses to teachers whose students advance beyond grade level.