Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Rep. Steve King is under criticism for how he defended his call for a ban on all abortions. Speaking before a conservative group in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale Wednesday, the Iowa congressman said, “What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled those people out that were products of rape and incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has blocked Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller from joining 21 other states and six large cities in a legal challenge to a Trump administration policy that eases restrictions on coal-fired power plants. Miller sought approval from Reynolds in July but Reynolds, a Republican and Trump supporter, refused to consent.

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Iowa prison officials say an inmate has died after a chronic illness. The Iowa Department of Corrections says in a news release that 54-year-old David Gene Lewis Jr. died Tuesday afternoon in a hospice room of the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, where he had been housed due to the unnamed illness.

FRUITLAND, Iowa (AP) — Officials in eastern Iowa say two people have died in a house fire. Television station KWQC reports the fire broke out Wednesday morning in a home in Fruitland, which is about 7 miles southwest of Muscatine. Arriving firefighters found flames coming from the north side of the home. Officials say two people died in the fire. The victims’ identities had not been released by Wednesday evening.

(Note: Listen to KJAN’s “Heartbeat Today” at 7:30-a.m. Thursday, for an interview with Atlantic Superintendent Steve Barber and Athletic Facilities Committee member Kip Harris, as they discuss the District’s Athletic Facilities and what patrons can expect when all is said and done. The show will also be available on a podcast soon after the live program concludes.)

The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education, Wednesday evening, unanimously passed a Resolution approving the designs for District Athletic facilities and the release of bids, which will take place August 28^th. Bids will be received until 2-p.m. Sept. 26^th, at which time they will be opened and publicly read in the Atlantic High School Media Center. There will be one-week to review the bids and possibly work with the lowest bidder to make any changes in the event the bids come in over budget. Action will be taken on the bids at the Board’s regular meeting 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2^nd.

Voters in the Atlantic School District approved a $9.5-million dollar bond for Athletic facility improvements, but earlier this year, the planning committee and Board elected to install high grade synthetic turf instead of natural grass, which increased the engineer’s estimate at that time to $10.1-million. The Committee said they would solicit donors and find other ways to reach at least half the $600,000 increase, with the intent to raise the entire difference.

At Wednesday night’s meeting, FRK Principal Architect Tom Wollan said the Engineer’s estimate for the project is now $10.5-million. However, the final figure won’t be known until the bids are received. The District saved $250,000 by removing a portion of the planned 4-foot high retaining wall. The field itself will be elevated and the track lowered, putting the bleachers 4-feet above the field level on the visitor’s side and 8-feet above the field on the home side. The “Bowl Effect” would be more evident on the home and south sides of the field.

In other business, Superintendent Steve Barber reported that next Monday, a video will be made at the Washington Elementary School to provide a visual aid for parents and other stakeholders, with regard to the new plan for student pick up and drop-off at the Washington, Schuler and Middle Schools. The plan calls for a portion of Ed Podolak Drive to be closed to vehicle for about one-half hour in the afternoon. Busses will be lined-up in front of the Middle School and Schuler Students will use the catwalk to get in front, to load the bus. Once loaded, the buses will head straight to Olive Street. During this time, parents will be able to get into the Middle School Parking lot to pick up students and leave underneath the catwalk.

Barber said also, they will work with new teachers on Monday to prepare for students to arrive on August 23^rd for the first day of school, with current teachers and staff expected to arrive Tuesday and work through Thursday, in preparation. The Rotary is dedicating a program to new teachers, and the United Methodist Church is providing lunch for staff on Wednesday, next week. Freshman orientation is next Tuesday evening, with open houses for the three other buildings on Aug. 22^nd.

In addition to the previously reported resignations and contract recommendations, the Board Wednesday approved the resignations of Tracy Purkapile and Ernie Hawthorne – Special Ed drivers, and, Contract Recommendations/Letters of Assignment for: Delmy Lam, HS EL Para, Kydie Woolsey, Kay Williams and Aubrey Schuler – High School Para’s, and Food service worker Becky Bonney.

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds says she wants more information about the issues that have caused errors in the state’s distribution of federal welfare benefits and led the feds to fine the State of Iowa one-point-eight MILLION dollars.  “I want to know where throughout the region are we seeing the discrepancy, so that I can make sure that we’re targeting the resources to that area,” Reynolds says, “whether that’s educational or maybe additional people or what we need to do to make sure we’re where we should be.”

W-O-I Television in Des Moines first reported the state had a 10 percent error rate in its distribution of federal benefits commonly referred to as food stamps. The U-S-D-A notified the state a year ago that its error rate was above the national average. The fine was levied June 30th of this year. The governor says state officials are working on an action plan after the U-S-D-A cited the state for inconsistencies in its distribution of food stamp benefits.

“I’m also hoping that the fine that we were assessed, we’ll be working with (USDA) to see if there’s an opportunity for us to take some of that and reinvest it into technology so that we can do a better job of really being more accountable,” Reynolds says. Reynolds says at this point, state officials do not know why Iowa’s 10 percent food stamp error rate is three percent higher than the national average.

“We serve a lot of vulnerable Iowans and we have state workers that are doing a phenomenal job,” Reynolds says, “but I think there’s opportunities that we can bring to the agency and just some changes that will help them do their job more effectively and efficiently.”

Reynolds says while she’s look for a new D-H-S director to take a “fresh look” at this problem, she’s not blaming former D-H-S director Jerry Foxhoven for the higher-than-average food stamp error rate. Reynolds asked Foxhoven to resign in June.

(Radio Iowa) — A convoy of olive drab-painted jeeps, trucks and other historic military vehicles will make its way across Iowa next week, part of a journey that’s taking the collection of privately-owned, restored vehicles coast-to-coast. Jan Gammon, the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway coordinator for Prairie Rivers of Iowa, says there should be about 60 vehicles in all making the long trek from the East Coast to California.

“People are welcome to line the Lincoln Highway and wave at people as they go by,” Gammon says, “or if they’re stopped in your community for a lunch break or overnight or whatever, the public is welcome to come up and look at the vehicles and talk to people on the convoy.”

This is a recreation of a 1919 convoy that first drove from Washington D-C to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, then followed the Lincoln Highway all the way to San Francisco. It was the brainstorm of Henry Osterman, the first field secretary of the Lincoln Highway Association, who led convoys along the East Coast during World War One.

“Just after the war was over, he had this idea to test the nation’s roadways,” Gammon says. “Since he was involved with the Lincoln Highway, he suggested that they take military vehicles across the nation using the Lincoln Highway, so, that’s what they did. They started at the South Lawn of the White House and then headed to Gettysburg.” The 100th anniversary convoy is a project of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association.

A century ago, the original transcontinental convoy included some 285 enlisted men and 24 officers, including a certain ambitious lieutenant colonel. “The first military vehicle convoy had Dwight Eisenhower on it,” Gammon says. “He later became president and signed in the Interstate Act to create the interstate system, so that’s kind of interesting.”

The convoy is scheduled to cross the Mississippi River into Iowa on August 22nd, passing through Clinton, with overnights stays planned in DeWitt, Marshalltown and Denison. There should be stops in: Lowden, Marion, Belle Plaine, the Tama Lincoln Highway Bridge, Nevada (nah-VAY-dah) during the Lincoln Highway Days Parade, Boone, Jefferson, Woodbine and Missouri Valley or Crescent. The convoy should pass through Council Bluffs on August 25th.

Learn more at https://www.mvpa.org/

URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Rep. Steve King is defending his call for a ban on all abortions by questioning whether “there would be any population of the world left” if not for births due to rape and incest.

Speaking Wednesday before a conservative group in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale, the Iowa congressman reviewed legislation he has sought that would outlaw abortions without exceptions for rape and incest.

King said, “What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that? Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can’t say that I was not a part of a product of that.”

The Des Moines Register reports that the Republican added, “It’s not the baby’s fault for the sin of the father, or of the mother.” A King spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Atlantic City Councilperson Linda Hartkopf today (Wednesday), announced her intention to run for re-election to her 4th Ward seat in the November General Election. Hartkopf has been on the Council since she won a write-in campaign in 2007. Her current term expires Jan. 1st, 2020.

Linda Hartkopf

She highlighted street and sidewalk improvements as some of the highlights of her past term, and will continue to work on trying to bring new and expanding businesses to town.  Hartkopf said the Council will continue to work on improving blighted properties as well, to provide housing to people looking to move to Atlantic.

She said “I look forward to serving people, and I enjoy it when residents call me, have concerns…that I can try and help them with.”

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A 37-year-old Missouri man is charged with kidnapping the 4-year-old daughter of a woman whose body was found on a hillside in southwest Missouri.
Federal prosecutors say 37-year-old Mahamud Tooxoow Mahamed, of Noel, was charged Tuesday. He is not in custody. The body of 25-year-old Jessica McCormack, of Noel, was found July 29. Investigators believe she was stuffed into a suitcase that rolled down a hill after being thrown from a moving vehicle.

Her three children, ages 4 years to 6 months, were missing until a woman in Des Moines, Iowa, told authorities Mahemed brought them to her home Aug. 5 but left three days later.
The 4-year-old’s father told authorities Mahemed didn’t have consent to take the children to Iowa. Prosecutors say Mahemed is the 2-year-old’s father. The 6-month-old’s paternity has not been determined.