COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Repairs and improvements on Council Bluffs river and creek levees could cost the city $50 million. The Daily Nonpareil says the estimate comes from a study on the work needed to repair river and creek levees to meet federal standards.

City engineer Matt Cox says the improvements are necessary to have the Federal Emergency Management Agency certify that the city’s levee systems are adequate. Without that certification, FEMA would redraw its city maps to show the entire west side of the city could be prone to flooding. And Cox says that would force property owners there to pay high flood insurance rates.

Cox intends to ask the City Council today (Monday) to approve hiring an engineering firm to oversee the work.

SALIX, Iowa (AP) – A submerged pickup has been found at Snyder Bend Park near Salix in northwest Iowa.  The Sioux City Journal says a park ranger spotted the truck around 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Sgt. Don Armstrong of the Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office says the pickup belonged to Ronald Mathison, of Sioux City. Mathison told officers that he’d been ice fishing Saturday night when the ice started to break up beneath him and the truck. He was able to get away before the truck plunged into the water.

Recovery of the truck could come as early as today (Monday).

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report a Red Oak woman was arrested Sunday evening on a charge of Driving While Barred. 32-year old Michelle M. Storm was pulled over at around 7:30-p.m. for allegedly making an unsafe turn and Failure to use a continuous signal. A check of Storm’s driving record revealed she was barred from operating a motor vehicle for being a habitual violator.

Storm was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and released after posting a $2,000 bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Civil rights groups and some Democrats in the Legislature say Iowa has a wage theft problem and it needs to be fixed. Senator Bill Dotzler, a Waterloo Democrat says it’s an epidemic involving up to 1,000 workers a year in Iowa. He’s proposed a bill that holds employers responsible and forces them to tell workers up front in writing how much they’ll get paid and what deductions will be taken from their checks.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The chairman of Iowa’s Republican Party will step down later this month once a replacement can be chosen. The Iowa GOP said Saturday that A.J. Spiker had submitted his letter of resignation. The party will chose a new chairman on March 29th. Spiker plans to become a political adviser to U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s political action committee after supporting Paul’s father, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — The streets of Waterloo are a bit smoother now thanks to the efforts of a group of volunteers who spent part of their weekend filling potholes. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports the volunteers filled about 400 potholes Saturday.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Iowa authorities have identified the 34-year-old Waterloo man who died in the Black Hawk County Jail. The Black Hawk County Sheriff’s office says James Terrell Taylor died Friday evening after being found unresponsive in a cell. The State Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on Taylor Sunday, but toxicology reports are still pending.