A Fremont County man injured during a crash Wednesday night in Mills County, started a fire to alert rescuers to the accident. The Iowa State Patrol says a 1993 Honda Accord driven by 38-year old Timothy McCollum, of Thurman, was traveling south on 310th Street at around 7:40-p.m., when the car left the road, entered the east ditch and went into a creek bed before coming to rest under a bridge, out of sight from passing motorists.

McCollum freed himself from the wreckage and crawled up an embankment, but due to his injuries, was unable to make it to the road. He started a fire which was seen by a motorist, who found McCollum on the embankment and notified authorities. McCollum, who was wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash, was  flown by LifeNet to Creighton University Hospital. A report on his condition is not currently available.

The accident remains under investigation.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governor Terry Branstad says he is “energized” and ready to run for an unprecedented sixth term in office. The 67-year-old Republican governor announced his bid for re-election last night before several hundred supporters at a conference center in West Des Moines. He will embark on a statewide tour later today. Longtime state Senator Jack Hatch, a Des Moines Democrat, is the leading candidate to oppose Branstad.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a small private plane that reported a problem with its landing gear made it safely to a Sioux City airport. The Sioux City Journal reports the single-engine turboprop plane carrying two people landed at Sioux Gateway Airport around 8 a.m. yesterday. No injuries were reported.

PRESCOTT, Iowa (AP) — A boil advisory has been issued for the city of Prescott in southwest Iowa. The state Department of Natural Resources and utility group Southern Iowa Rural Water issued the advisory yesterday morning. The line was expected to be fixed later on Wednesday.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Linda Stepney scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and West Virginia used a 13-point first-half lead to knock off Number 13 Iowa State 73-59 last night. It’s the second straight year the Mountaineers have beaten a ranked Cyclones squad at Ames. Hallie Christofferson had 21 points to lead the Cyclones, which lost its second straight game. Jadda Buckley added another 15.

Officials with the Iowa College Student Aid Commission (Iowa College Aid), says recent changes have been made to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that take effect with the 2015-2015 form. The changes to the FAFSA for the 2014-15 academic year have to do with the financial information that dependent students are required to provide for their parent(s).

Most traditional-aged, college-bound students are considered dependent and must include financial information for both themselves as well as their parents when completing the FAFSA. Beginning with the 2014-15 FAFSA, dependent students are now required to include income and other financial information from their legal parents (biological or adoptive) regardless of the parents’ marital status or gender, if those parents live together. Additionally, the FAFSA will now use terms like “Parent 1 (father/mother/stepparent)” and “Parent 2 (father/mother/stepparent)” instead of gender-specific terms. Previously, the FAFSA was constructed to collect information about both of adependent student’s parents only if the parents were married.

The FAFSA is a standardized application used to determine eligibility for federal grants, loans and work-study funds from the federal government. In addition, many colleges and states, including Iowa, use FAFSA information when determining eligibility for institutional and state financial aid programs.

Iowa College Aid urges all college-bound students to complete the FAFSA regardless of their financial situations. The collection of FAFSA information for both of a dependent student’s unmarried parents when both parents are living together will not impact the majority of federal student aid applicants. Almost 60 percent of FAFSA filers are independent, and therefore, not impacted by these changes. Another 20 percent, while dependent are not impacted as their parents are married. A portion of the remainder will also not be impacted because the parent with whom the student resides does not live with the student’s other legal parent.

Students and families who have questions about applying for financial aid, or are interested in learning more about the resources available for college and career planning can contact Iowa College Aid at 877-272-4456. Additional resources for Iowa families as they plan, prepare and pay for college are available on Iowa College Aid’s website, www.IowaCollegeAid.gov.