DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governor Terry Branstad made a rare public plea for lawmakers to approve his proposed overhaul of Iowa elementary and secondary schools. He spoke Monday night at a House hearing about the education plan and argued that student test scores have fallen and school reform is needed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The governor is defending Iowa’s new law that he signed Friday. The law makes it a crime to lie in order to gain access to a livestock operation to record animal abuse. Governor Terry Branstad says gaining access to property under false pretenses is a serious matter and property owners deserve protections.

MANCHESTER, Iowa (AP) — Delaware County supervisors will proceed with a $3 million bond to help fund the rebuilding of the Lake Delhi dam. The dam in northeast Iowa collapsed during flooding in 2010 and nearly drained the 9-mile lake that’s surrounded by private homes on the Maquoketa (muh-KOH’-kuh-tuh) River. A public hearing is scheduled for March 19.

SAC CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a western Iowa man was electrocuted in a tree trimming accident. Police say 63-year-old Edward Peters who owned Peters Painting and Tree Trimming was leaning on a boom truck, while a worker in a bucket on the truck was cutting branches. The 50-foot boom touched an overhead power line and electricity traveled through the truck and Peters. The co-worker wasn’t injured.

The State Archeologist’s Office has confirmed human remains recovered from the Hamburg Cemetery, are NOT those of a man missing since 1968. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday afternoon, the Archeologist’s Office has determined the skeletal remains belonged to an unidentified man of European ancestry, 16-to 23-years of age, who lived sometime between 1850 and the early 1900’s. The remains were found in mid-February, while crews were excavating a new burial shaft.

Prior to receiving official word from the State on the identity of the remains, many had speculated they might have been those of Hamburg resident Gary Sebek, who disappeared in 1968. The Sheriff’s Office says the remains will be returned to Hamburg for reburial within the city cemetery.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A public hearing at the Statehouse on proposed changes to Iowa’s public school system is expected to draw a crowd of lobbyists and regular citizens tonight. The House is holding the hearing to offer people a chance to speak out on Governor Terry Branstad’s plan, which includes new testing and performance requirements for students.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — University of Northern Iowa professors whose programs are downsized will receive a year’s salary and other benefits to retire or resign under a program created by the Iowa Board of Regents. The regents voted 8-0 today to approve the Early Separation Incentive Program. Employees interested in receiving the benefits will have to apply for the program by April 23rd.

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Highway 20 in north-central Iowa has reopened after two separate chain-reaction collisions that sent eight people to the hospital. The pileups happened this morning east of Webster City. The Iowa State Patrol says 22 vehicles were involved in the westbound crash, with seven others on the eastbound side. Two people are in serious condition.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A man charged in a deadly 2010 motorcycle crash in Mason City has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide. James Bollinger entered his plea during a hearing today. Bollinger told the judge he was drunk the night he slammed his car into a motorcycle, killing Tim Wurtzel of Hanlontown.