DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Chicago law firm is suing Templeton Rye, alleging that the Iowa company broke consumer protection laws and misled drinkers with stories of its whiskey’s origins.

The class-action lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois on behalf of “all individuals in the United States who’ve purchased a bottle of Templeton Rye.” It comes after news in August that the whiskey is made using the stock recipe in an Indiana distillery, according to the Des Moines Register.

Since the company released its first bottles of whiskey in 2006, its marketing materials have said the founders were inspired by the Prohibition-era recipe of Alphonse Kerkhoff, handed down through his family on a scrap of paper. But in an interview last month with the Register, company chairman Vern Underwood said federal regulations prevent the company from making the whiskey using the Kerkhoff recipe.

The company also announced plans to begin printing on its labels that the whiskey is distilled in Indiana. According to the lawsuit, Templeton Rye worked to deceive drinkers into believing “the good stuff” was a craft whiskey made in Iowa. The complaint includes pictures of the company’s marketing tools, including a T-shirt that reads, “Templeton Rye: Made in Iowa.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa is launching a statewide effort to recruit mentors to encourage young women to consider careers in science and technology, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Wednesday. The effort is part of a national campaign called Million Women Mentors. The Iowa program seeks to enlist 5,000 mentors for young women in the state over the next four years to encourage women to pursue science, technology, engineering and math, often called STEM, education. Officials said 1,500 have already signed up. Reynolds said STEM education “continues to grow momentum across the state.” She stressed that there are good job prospects in related fields and said women should seek out those opportunities.

The program will be geared at girls aged 12 and older, and mentors will be expected to offer at least 20 hours a year in service. Some companies and universities have already pledged to participate, including Hy-Vee, Vermeer Manufacturing, the Principal Corporation, Drake University and all three of the state’s public universities.

For those interested in participating, the program is online at www.mwmia.org .

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Early voting by absentee ballot will begin in Iowa on Thursday, and the secretary of state is encouraging all eligible voters to participate. Iowa allows absentee voting by mail and offers early in-person voting at the offices of county auditors beginning the 40th day before Election Day.

Residents have increasingly opted for voting by absentee ballot in recent elections for the convenience and in response to increasing pressure from political parties striving to get as many votes as possible cast by Election Day.

Secretary of State Matt Schultz announced earlier this week that the number of absentee ballots requested by Iowa voters this year is nearly double the number sought 43 days before the 2010 election.

Democrats have in recent election cycles excelled at the strategy but the numbers released Monday show Republican absentee ballot requests are up nearly 145 percent from 2010 to just over 31,000. Democratic requests have climbed nearly 67 percent to nearly 58,000.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Turning the Creighton University Medical Center into a veterans hospital has surfaced as a new option for replacing Omaha’s aging federal facility. Rep. Lee Terry, an Omaha Republican, says the option was one of three discussed Tuesday during a meeting between the Nebraska delegation and the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Robert McDonald.

Local financing to build the replacement and lease it back to the federal government also was discussed. Officials say renovating the Creighton hospital would cost about $250 million, compared with the $560 million estimated for a new, replacement facility. Federal funding for the replacement facility remains mired on a list of VA construction projects.

The Omaha hospital serves more than 160,000 veterans in the VA’s Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System.

The Exira-EHK School board is set to meet on Friday, September 26th at 7:30am at the Superintendent’s Office in Elk Horn.  The short agenda includes discussion and action on approving a resolution to set a public hearing for the sale of Exira Elementary School land.