The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a woman from Cass County was arrested this (Thursday) afternoon, in connection with the theft on Nov. 24th, of a 2003 Ford Escape belonging to Richard McAlpin, that was later located by the Nebraska State Patrol. 23-year old Alexandria Marie Sindt, of Griswold, was taken into custody at around 1:20-p.m.    Sindt was being held Thursday in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.

A new public-private partnership is offering all Iowa schools new “citizenship” courses for students in Iowa middle schools and high schools. Brent Siegrist is executive director of Iowa’s nine Area Education Agencies. “This type of partnership and this type of curriculum being offered to teachers is extremely, extremely important,” Siegrist says. “This curriculum is research based. It’s been tested and it will be a real benefit to provide to teachers and students — every teacher and every student in the state of Iowa, free of cost.” The course work is all posted online.

“And there is great interest in this curriculum in other states as well as other countries,” Siegrist says. Plus, Iowa’s A-E-As have the authority to charge educational institutions outside the state of Iowa that want to use the online coursework. Character Counts Iowa, a private organization based at Drake University, helped finance the project to collect and organize the coursework for middle schools and high schools. Scott Raecker is the executive director of Character Counts Iowa.

“What’s exceptionally exciting about this particular curriculum is that these are resources that we’ve seen utilized not only in individual classroom settings, that we’ve seen in leadership development at the high school level, they’ve been embeded in community college level in degree programs at Des Moines Area Community College and we’ve seen ongoing professional development of these same resources at some of Iowa’s largest organizations: Principal Financial Group, Unity Point Health, HyVee,” Raecker says, “all using these same materials.” Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds says this citizenship course not only promotes leadership skills, it stresses the importance of working as a team.

“And shapes an intentional culture of safety, respect and engagement,” she says. Governor Terry Branstad says this coursework will help Iowa students be “truly ready” for college and the work world. “This is about educating the whole child,” Branstad says. Go to http://learning.aeak12online.org/ to find a link to the “personalized” learning system set up by Iowa Area Education Agencies. This citizenship curriculum is available there.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa (AP) — Landowners that would be impacted by a proposed oil pipeline through Iowa will be able to get more information at some upcoming public meetings. The Sioux City Journal reports that the Texas-based company seeking to build the $3.8 billion pipeline will start holding informal public meetings on Monday in Northwest Iowa.

Meetings are also scheduled in the other areas the pipeline would touch. A spokesman for the Iowa Utility Board said the company must hold the meetings before seeking a permit.

Energy Transfer Partners, of Dallas, wants to build the 1,100-mile underground pipeline across Iowa and three other states. The pipeline would carry crude oil daily from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois, where it could be redirected.

MONDAMIN, Iowa (AP) — A family from Spain is celebrating their first Thanksgiving in Iowa this year. The Daily Nonpareil reports that a high school teacher visiting from Valencia, Spain will carve a turkey this year in Iowa. Carmen Palmero is teaching at West Harrison High School in Mondamin as part of a program that brings Spanish teachers from Spain to the United States and Canada.

Palmero’s husband and two daughters also came to live in Iowa and her son is visiting for the holiday. Palmero is one of five teachers in Iowa through the program. She said she has applied unsuccessfully before and it has been a good experience.