Members of the Griswold School Board and Lewis City Council held a joint meeting Wednesday evening, with regard to the sale of the Lewis Elementary Building. Griswold Superintendent Dave Henrichs told KJAN News the Board, Council, and about 10-members of the public listened to two, hour-long presentations for use of the facility by prospective buyers Chris Jahnke, with 3HO, LLC in Atlantic, and Alan Kennedy, also of Atlantic. The first proposal was from Alan Kennedy.

The second proposal, from Chris Jahnke, garnered a more favorable response.

Kennedy estimated he would be able to pay the school about $85,000 for the property, whereas Jahnke would pay $40,000. But the offers weren’t the only thing to be considered.

The Board and Council selected Jahnke’s proposal to move forward with the sale process.

Henrichs said both proposals were well received, but the funding issue was the overriding factor in selecting his proposal. There are still some negotiations to proceed forward with before a public hearing is held on the sale. He said also, everyone’s goal for the building is the same, to repurpose it for the long-term, to make sure it’s not an eyesore or detriment to the community.

ELDRIDGE, Iowa (AP) — A judge has reversed his decision barring news media from naming or photographing a 12-year-old boy accused of trying to shoot a teacher in an eastern Iowa school. The Quad-City Times reports that Judge Patrick McElyea also said Wednesday that minors who could testify at the boy’s trial may also be named or photographed. Court records say the boy’s pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and related crimes. Police say the boy’s gun jammed when he tried to shoot the teacher at North Scott Junior High in Eldridge on Aug. 31.

Press freedom and public records complaints were raised after McElyea first barred use of the boy’s name. State law says a criminal complaint that alleges a child 10 or older has committed that would be a forcible felony if committed by an adult is a public record and shall not be confidential.

SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa (AP) — A former building inspector says in his lawsuit that he was fired for reporting code violations that the mayor and other officials in Sergeant Bluff told him to ignore. David Christensen says in his lawsuit that Mayor Jon Winkel and others conspired to fire him for reporting code violations that endangered public safety. He is seeking a jury trial and an award of damages for back pay, loss of salary and benefits and additional punitive damages. The lawsuit was filed last week in Woodbury County District Court.

Winkel told the Sioux City Journal that the city does not comment on pending litigation, but he did say, “Our story will be quite a bit different from what you’ve heard from the other side.”

The Creston Police Department today (Thursday), reports two arrests recently. At around 3:25-a.m. today (Thursday), 29-year old Derek Jason Noble, of Raymore, MO., was arrested in the 100 block of N. Elm Street, for Public Intoxication. His bond was set at $300. And, at around 10:55-p.m. Wednesday, 31-year old Jeffrey Michael Donald Drake, of Creston, was arrested at his home on a Union County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. Drake was being held without bond in the Union County Jail, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former state of Iowa worker who’d used the words “In Christ” in his work emails has lost his lawsuit against the state. The Sioux City Journal reports that a federal jury in Sioux City found Wednesday that the state Department of Human Services did not fail to accommodate Michael Mial’s religious practices. Mial sued the department and several individuals at the sex offender unit in Cherokee in January 2017, saying his firing violated his rights to free speech and religion.

The lawsuit said Mial, a psychiatric security specialist, was fired in April 2016 after a performance review in which supervisors told him his religious faith was beneficial to patients at the sex offender unit. But they asked him to keep his religion separate from his work because he’d been using “In Christ” in the personalized signature block that appeared in internal emails sent to other employees.