Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican Julian Garrett has defeated former Democratic lawmaker Mark Davitt in a special election for state Senate. Garrett received about 60 percent of the vote in the election for Iowa Senate District 13. The seat was vacated when former Sen. Kent Sorenson resigned after an independent investigator found he likely broke ethics rules by taking money from presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s political action committee and presidential campaign.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The McCaughey septuplets say they don’t mind that they’re taking a lower profile these days. The now-16-year-olds gained international fame when they became the world’s first surviving septuplets in 1997. But Nathan McCaughey tells the Des Moines Register it’s nice to live a more normal life. He says the attention was fun, but at the same time he never really liked cameras following the family around everywhere.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Des Moines doctor accused of improperly prescribing painkillers to patients won’t go on trial until next year. The Des Moines Register reports the trial of Dr. Daniel Baldi has been pushed back from Dec. 2 to Feb. 3. Prosecutors say Baldi prescribed large amounts of narcotic painkillers to patients including Paul Gray, founder of the band Slipknot, who died in 2010. Baldi’s lawyers say his patients either took more medication than prescribed or also took other drugs.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A jury has found a man guilty of first-degree murder in the 2012 shooting of a man in Iowa City. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that a Johnson County jury returned the verdict Tuesday in the trial of Brandon D. Brown. Brown pleaded not guilty in connection to the June 2012 shooting of 30-year-old Donelle Derrell Lindsey in Iowa City. Witnesses testified that the men got into an argument before Brown shot Lindsey several times.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Forestry Bureau, in cooperation with U.S. Forest Service – State and Private Forestry, has awarded $194,820 in 50 percent cost-share grants to 90 Iowa rural fire departments to aid their efforts in protecting Iowan’s and their property from wildfires. The grants offer valuable funding assistance for wildfire suppression equipment, personal protective equipment and communications equipment. Among the fire departments had their 2013 VFA grant requests approved were those in: Avoca, Creston, Elk Horn, Elliott, Harlan,Irwin, Manilla, Onawa, Pacific Junction, Sidney and Templeton.

Gail Kantak, fire supervisor with the DNR’s Forestry Bureau, said it is important for all fire departments to submit Wildland Fire Reports whenever they respond to a wildland fire or provide assistance to a prescribed or controlled wildland fire. Wildland fire reports are compiled locally and nationally and are reported to Congress. Wildland Fire reporting forms are available at www.iowadnr.gov/fire. Departments actively returning these reports receive priority points when the Volunteer Fire Assistance grant applications are scored.

The Atlantic City Council is expected to act on a couple of property resolutions during their meeting Wednesday evening, at City Hall. The Council will first act on approving a resolution accepting the property at 203 Locust Street. City Attorney Dave Wiederstein reports the Courts have awarded title to the abandoned property to the City, which he will request the Council accept, during their meeting.

The second resolution pertains to the same property, and is with regard to the sale of that property to Rob and Marlo Stamp, for $100. The Stamps have agreed to demolish the structure and provide a performance guarantee, which entails $2,000 being put into escrow until the building is demolished and removed. The City Attorney feels the guarantee would provide the City with adequate assurance the job would be completed in a timely manner.

In other business, the Council will receive a report from Snyder and Associates Engineer Dave Sturm, with regard to the Street Maintenance Study. The Study, which was commissioned in 2010, indicated street repairs are the highest priority of the community’s citizens, and will show that over the past four-years, efforts have been made to repair and maintain the streets, but ongoing deterioration of existing pavement and some backlogged projects continue to be of concern.

One way to address the problem, according to City Administrator Doug Harris, is to refinance old bond issues and issue new bonds, at current low interest rates. The study, it’s hoped, will give the Council the information it needs to make some difficult choices that result in a sustainable Capital Improvement Program (CIP) that will enable the City of minimize future costs, according to Harris.

The City Council meeting begins at 5:30-p.m.

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Officials in Shelby County are planning to focus harder on private driveways and the snow ordinance this winter. During the Shelby County Supervisor’s meeting today (Tuesday), Shelby County Engineer Dan Ahart told the board the past few years and especially last year, the county has been dealing with certain issues with residents plowing snow onto the road and shoulder of a county roadway.

“Snow removal of your driveway is supposed to remain on your property. It constituents a hazard if and when you push it across the roadway, paved or gravel and remnants remain on the roadway and could cause significant liability to us and the public.”

The Engineer says if a resident has no other choice to take snow off their private driveway to the roadway, you will need to push it all the way off the roadway and shoulder and make sure it goes into the ditch. Shelby County has a snow ordinance which can be read online at www.shco.org under the Engineer’s Department.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

The Shelby County Supervisors auctioned off two different pieces of county land this (Tuesday) morning. The two land auctions were held as part of the Supervisors meeting. The first auction was for 145 acres of farm land. John Wingert had the winning bid of $400 per acre. Wingert farmed the ground last year too. The other auction was the county’s 108 acres of solid wasteland and was auctioned to Brandon Wiese for $340 per acre. In other business, the Shelby County Supervisors approved a resolution on the addition of road and bridge projects to the County Urban Renewal Plan. On the same business, the Supervisors approved a Tax Increment Financing Ordinance adding new taxable property for revenue to the county. Shelby County Auditor Marsha Carter informed the supervisors, on which properties are to be added.

“It specifies that we added the Kirkman Farm, Arkfeld Confinement and the properties Arkfeld owned on the road from new 59 to the Confinement. The Farm Service Coop property is spelled out in here.” Supervisor Steve Kenkel explained the reasoning behind the addition of taxable property and the amendment to the renewal plan was for the county to stay out of debt.

“One of the reasons we are doing this is because one-third of the Counties in Iowa are bonding for road and bridge improvements and we want to stay away from that if at all possible. This is an avenue we want to do that. We have road improvements need to be done around the confinement areas and Coop and wouldn’t be done otherwise. We know there will be more wear and tear on it. Dan’s crew has been good about keeping up on the bridge improvements and we need local cost share to do that. This is a way to do that and stay out of debt. It has been a growing trend that more counties are getting in debt and not stay out of it and that’s what we are hoping to do here.”

Carter said this is another avenue for roads and bridges. “We’re giving secondary road the maximum tax money we can give them. Even if the board wanted to raise taxes to put towards secondary roads, we cannot. They are getting the maximum allowed. This is another revenue source to use on roads and bridges.”

The Shelby County Supervisors approved the resolution and ordinance.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)