DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Governor Terry Branstad says he’s headed to China later this month at the invitation of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (shee jeen ping). Branstad will travel with a group of Iowans from May 29th to June 5th. They’ll participate in a reunion banquet with Xi, who came to Iowa in February as part of his first U.S. trip as the presumed next president of China. February’s trip was a reunion 27 years after Xi first visited Iowa for a diplomatic exchange to Muscatine.
 
AMES, Iowa (AP) – Police say a 46-year-old Ames man had died after he was caught in the hydraulic loading door of a water tanker truck. The Ames Tribune reports that the man died yesterday morning at Manatts Construction in Ames. His name hasn’t been released.
 
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – A 61-year-old former high school teacher in Waterloo has pleaded guilty to having inappropriate conduct with a student. Former Waterloo West High School social studies teacher Michael Lyons pleaded guilty yesterday to one felony count of sexual exploitation by a school employee and two misdemeanor counts. Lyons was arrested in November.
 
TAMA, Iowa (AP) – Tama County authorities have arrested a second volunteer firefighter in connection with a string of recent fires they believe were set intentionally. Eighteen-year-old Joshua Weiermann of Chelsea, Iowa, faces charges of aiding and abetting arson and being an accessory after the fact. He was being held yesterday morning in lieu of $20,000 bond.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office received a report on Friday afternoon shortly after 4:00 of stolen property in the 400 block of Broad Ave in Stanton. 

Thirty-eight-year-old Reggie Dean Resh of Stanton reported that sometime earlier in the week between Tuesday and Thursday someone had stolen two I-Pods, two Ford F-250 center caps, one Ford F-250 lock out hub, and one 20 pound propane tank from his vehicle that was parked on Broad Ave.  He estimates his loss at about $1,200.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Stanton man Friday afternoon.  Just before 3:00 Friday, 18-year-old Drew Dale Goodrich of Stanton was arrested for 3rd degree theft.  He was transported to the Montgomery Count Jail where he was being held on $2,000 cash bond.

There’s a dire need for volunteers to help out at several Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. Will Ackerman, spokesman for the V-A’s Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, says the vital corps of hundreds of volunteers absolutely help to keep the system running.

“We’re seeing a lot of our volunteers aging and certainly some of them are retiring or even passing away,” Ackerman says. “We’re really trying to encourage people of all ages, but especially some of our younger population, to get involved.” He says volunteers are needed for a number of services throughout the V-A health care system.

“We have about 800 volunteers throughout our Nebraska/Western Iowa Health Care System,” he says. “They do so many things that we just don’t have staff to do, such as doing coffee rounds in the lobby or around the floors, we have a transportation network and just greeters at our front door.” Ackerman says it isn’t just the V-A Hospital in Omaha that needs volunteers, but there are veterans’ clinics, community living centers and other facilities in many cities around the region, including Shenandoah.

“Volunteers do a lot of very important things and certainly there’s an opportunity for them to volunteer at a location that’s even closer to where they might live,” he says. Volunteer orientation classes are being held frequently in various facilities, often twice a month. An orientation class for teens, between 13 and 18, is planned at the Omaha V-A Medical Center for June 1st. Contact your nearest V-A facility for details on volunteering opportunities.