Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Board of Regents has announced that one of its members has resigned. Dr. Subhash Sahai resigned Friday, with less than a year before his term was set to expire. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that Sahai was appointed to his seat in 2013. His term was set to expire April 30. Sahai is currently the medical director of the Van Diest Family Health Clinic in Webster City. No reason was given for Sahai’s resignation in the board’s news release announcing it.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Police in the northern Iowa’s Mason City say two apartment complexes near an overflowing creek have been evacuated. Police say the decision to evacuate Autumn Park and Chelsea Creek apartment complexes on Friday came after nearly 6 inches of rain fell in the area, swelling nearby Chelsea Creek. Police said the creek’s water levels were slowly receding Friday, but that the threat of more rain later Friday and Saturday still posed a flooding threat.

ESTHERVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Police in northwestern Iowa are investigating the death of an infant from Estherville. Estherville police said Friday that 11-month-old Jasmine Rodriguez Sebastian died Wednesday at a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, hospital, two days after she was taken there for undisclosed reasons. Estherville police, the Emmet County Attorney’s Office, the Iowa Department of Human Services and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation are investigating the girl’s death.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say that body found on a Des Moines sidewalk was that of a 17-year-old boy. Police identified him as Tyrese Parson, who lived in Des Moines. The body was found early Friday morning. Police say he’d been shot and that the case is being investigated as a homicide. No arrests have been reported.

Two high-profile celebrity deaths this week have vaulted suicide back into the headlines, as suicide rates in Iowa are rising. T-V chef Anthony Bourdain and fashion designer Kate Spade reportedly took their own lives. Dr. Jonathan Sikorski, a psychologist in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says Spade was known to have depression, anxiety and may have been bipolar, all of which can be treated.

“Bipolar, absolutely, depression, absolutely, you have that chemical imbalance but really, when it comes to suicide, no one is immune,” Dr. Sikorski says. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Iowans between the ages of 15 and 34. A report from the Centers for Disease Control finds the suicide rate in Iowa rose more than 36-percent between 1999 to 2016. Sikorski says to be watchful of certain signs in friends, co-workers and loved ones.

“If you see them all of the sudden talking about how they feel like they’re being a burden to others or they have pain they feel is just unbearable or they, all of the sudden, start giving things away,” he says, all could raise a red flag. Sikorski says people can sometimes be pushed over the edge without being clinically depressed or suffering from other mental health issues.

“There’s always that risk that you have this right combination of little sleep and just life stressful events,” he says, “that no one’s really above being in that point of desperation.” Sikorski, who works at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, says if you believe a friend or family member is at risk, you should sit down with them and have a talk.

“One of the best things you can do is just straight-up asking them,” he says. “Say, ‘I know you’ve been feeling really low and having a hard time. Do you feel safe? Have you thought about hurting yourself or others?’ Talk to them about if they have any reason to live. A lot of times when people are really down, they’re like, ‘I don’t want to be here but I have my kids.'” On average, one person dies by suicide in Iowa every 20 hours. For help, contact the Iowa chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (https://afsp.org/)

(Radio Iowa)

A member of the nine-person board that governs the three state universities has abruptly resigned. Subhash Sahai (suh-BAHSH suh-HY), a doctor from Webster City, was appointed to the Board of Regents by Governor Terry Branstad in 2013. His six-year term was scheduled to end next spring. The board’s president announced Sahai’s immediate departure from the board in a news release, but gave no reason for Sahai’s resignation.

Sahai came with his family from India to Iowa in 1967 when he was 18 years old. He went to the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State and earned his medical degree from the University of Iowa. He’s been a doctor in Webster City since 1976. Sahai was absent from yesterday’s (Thursday’s) Board of Regents meeting. In 2015, Sahai was the only member of the board of publicly raise concerns about the private meetings other board members had with Bruce Harreld before Harreld applied to be president of the University of Iowa.

Sahai supported Harreld’s hiring, but argued the private meetings left the impression Harreld had been chosen before the formal hiring process started. Governor Kim Reynolds will name a replacement to serve out the remaining 10 months of Sahai’s term on the Board of Regents.

(Radio Iowa)