The number of homes sold in Iowa increased again in April. The Iowa Association of Realtors (IAR) reports two-thousand-606 (2,606) homes were sold last month. That’s just 22 more than in April of 2011, but association president Dale Gross, of Atlantic, says it marks the “eighth or ninth” consecutive month of increased sales. “It’s not up much, but it continues in the same direction,” Gross said. He noted the first four months of 2012 marked the strongest first quarter in terms of homes sold in Iowa since 2007. The median sale price of a home in Iowa last month was $124,375. That’s an increase of 8.2% over the previous year.

“People are beginning to think that the dream of home ownership is affordable with our low interest rates, so they’re stepping up and buying a home,” Gross said. The April report from the IAR shows the average home stayed on the market for 112 days before being sold. That’s up just one day over last year. The inventory of homes being sold, statewide, dropped from roughly 23,000 in April 2011 to just over 21,000 this year.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy charged in the slayings of his grandparents in their home in Manchester. Larry Hedlund of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says police captured Isaiah Sweet on Monday night in a wooded area of Cedar Rapids after a short chase. Earlier Monday, the teen was charged with two counts of first degree murder in the death of his grandparents, Richard and Janet Sweet. Their bodies were found Sunday afternoon when relatives arrived for a Mother’s Day gathering. Police say their grandson had been living with them.

PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. (AP) — Authorities are treating the case of a missing Nebraska woman and her 11-year-old son as a kidnapping but they say there’s no evidence of a crime. Charlotte and Owen Schilling were last seen Thursday morning in the Plattsmouth area, when she checked her son out of elementary school. They haven’t responded to cellphone calls from relatives. Schilling’s vehicle was found Friday near Lake Manawa near Council Bluffs, Iowa. Her cellphone and wallet were in the car. Police say the two were spotted at a Kohl’s department store in Council Bluffs before her car was found. Investigators say they’re proceeding as if the boy was kidnapped, but they don’t believe anyone is in danger and the mother doesn’t face any charges.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Postal Service spokesman Richard Watkins says the agency is stalling plans to close 600 urban and suburban postal branch offices and satellite stations. Watkin’s announcement yesterday follows the agency’s decision last week to halt the planned shutdown of hundreds of rural post offices.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is planning his first trip to Iowa since effectively locking up the presidential nomination. The former Massachusetts governor will give a speech today about debt and government spending at Drake University in Des Moines.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The maker of the beef product dubbed “pink slime” by critics says it’s laying off 86 employees from its South Dakota corporate office, and company officials are blaming what they call a “campaign of misinformation.” Beef Products Inc. announced earlier this month it was closing its three plants in Kansas, Texas and Iowa.

A documentary debuts tonight (Monday) on Iowa native Johnny Carson, who was once the king of late night television. Carson was born in Corning in 1925 and his family moved to Norfolk, Nebraska, when he was eight.

Corning native Johnny Carson

Emmy-winning filmmaker Peter Jones worked for 20 years to get permission to do the documentary. Jones says the two-hour film shows Carson at his best — and his worst.

“America, when they see this, may even love Johnny Carson more because they see he is a flawed man, just as everyone is in various ways,” Jones says. “I think they’ll come away feeling, perhaps, a connection to him in a way they didn’t when he was the host of ‘The Tonight Show.'” Carson hosted the program for three decades, from 1962 to 1992, and he died in 2005.

The documentary includes interviews with 45 individuals and family home movies of Carson’s childhood. Jones says it explores the life, career, complexities and contradictions that were Johnny Carson. Jones first proposed the idea to Carson more than 20 years ago and wrote to him every year, asking for an on-film interview. He says every year he got a letter or call from Carson’s assistant, denying his request.

“In 2003, I wrote my annual letter and received a call at my office from Johnny Carson,” Jones says. “He said, ‘I admire your persistence and style but I’m not going to do anything because I’m going to let the work speak for itself.” Jones says he was finally able to convince the Carson family that Johnny would be forgotten if something was not done to preserve his memory. The documentary, “American Masters – Johnny Carson: King of Late Night,” can be seen tonight at 8 on P-B-S.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

Authorities in western Iowa are now helping with the search for a missing woman and one of her children from eastern Nebraska. The last anyone heard from 41-year-old Charlotte Schilling and her 11-year-old son Owen was last Thursday when Schilling drove to her son’s school and picked him at 10 a.m. The elementary school is located in Plattsmouth, a town on the Missouri River about 20 miles south of Omaha. Plattsmouth Police Chief Steve Rathman says, so far, there no evidence of foul play or suspicious activity.

“It is a mystery at this point,” Rathman says. “Hopefully, with the agencies partnering together, we can get an answer for the family real soon.” Schilling’s husband and their 20-year-old daughter say the situation is “very out of character,” but police say there’s no evidence of a crime. Charlotte’s car was located Friday at Lake Manawa, just south of Council Bluffs. Schilling had been known to fish in the lake. Rathman says Council Bluffs police searched the land surrounding the lake this (Monday) morning.

“In addition, I had the Plattsmouth Water Rescue go down with their boat and sonar equipment and get out on the lake and check in the lake to see if there was any evidence of suspicious activity or foul play. Both of those searches came back negative,” Rathman says. Schilling’s cell phone and wallet were found in the car’s trunk. Rathman says, right now, investigators have few leads.

“We have investigators out doing follow up interviews. We’re looking for any surveillance videos we can find from gas stations, restaurants or fast food places that the mother and son may have visited so we can get a timeline as to when the last time they were seen and where they were at,” Rathman said.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Atlantic Firefighters were called to the scene of a barn fire this (Monday) afternoon, about a mile and a-half south of town. The call from the Calvin Knop farm at 58748 630th Street (Highway 71), came in at 2:55-p.m.

Barn Fire south of Atlantic, Monday.

Several sheep were housed in the barn, but they were moved out before firefighters arrived, and buckets were being used to douse the area where smoke was seen. Atlantic Fire Department 2nd Assistant Fire Chief Tim Cappel told KJAN News when the first crews arrived there were no visible flames coming from the building. Upon further investigation, they did discover charred, smoldering wood in the upper floor near a corner of the barn, where  electricity comes into the building.

Cappel said Brown Electric arrived and quickly shut off the power. They were also working to fix the problem with an apparent electrical short. Cappel said there was minimal damage to the structure.

Firefighters were on the scene for about 35-to 40-minutes. There were no injuries, and none of the animals were harmed.