School board elections are being held today (Tuesday), but a small segment of registered voters are expected to participate. Secretary of State Paul Pate is the state’s commissioner of elections. “This year alone we have 330 school districts roughly and over 900 school board positions on the ballot and when you only see four-to-seven percent turnout out to vote for those kind of positions, we can do better,” Pate says, “especially when you think about there are 480,000 K-12 kids in our public schools and it’s 60 percent of our state budget.”

This is the last time school board elections in Iowa will be held in September. Starting in 2019, school board elections will be held in November, on the same day as city elections. Today (Tuesday), there are many school board members who are unopposed as they seek another term. In addition, Pate says there are a number of ballots which show no candidate filed nominating papers to run, so the school board slot may be filled by a write-in candidate.

“The write-ins tend to have a higher role in some of these elections that have low turnouts,” Pate says. Pate says most of the people who step forward to serve on a school board tend to have children in the district. “Or they just have a real strong bond in wanting to see their education system be up to par,” Pate says. School board elections are managed by county auditors. Many school districts extend into more than one county. In those situations, the auditor in the county that has the greatest number of students from the district takes the lead in managing the school board election.

“It’s just like any other normal election, they’ll total ’em up this evening,” Pate says. “Most people, before they go to bed tonight, they’ll know who won the school board elections.” Some precincts open at 7 a.m., others at Noon. The polls close at 8 p.m. That’s an hour earlier than most elections in Iowa. Pate says the new voter verification procedures former Governor Terry Branstad approved this past spring do not go into effect until January.

(Radio Iowa)

A man and a 7-year old were injured during an ATV refueling accident Saturday afternoon, in Fremont County. Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports deputies were called to 2982 250th Avenue, just outside of Hamburg, at around 4:40-p.m., for a single vehicle ATV accident. The caller reported that while fueling-up an All Terran Vehicle, the fuel ignited and caught 43-year old Shane Daniel Adams and 7-year old Chevy Adams, both on fire.

The man and child were transported by Hamburg Rescue to Grape Community Hospital, for treatment of serious injuries. They were flown shortly thereafter by LifeNet, to Saint Eves Burn Center, in Lincoln, NE., for treatment of severe burns to their arms and legs.

No foul play was determined at the scene.

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

GLENWOOD, Iowa (AP) — A western Iowa woman has been charged with giving her 8-year-old daughter a fatal amount of an antidepressant last year. The Mills County Attorney charged the 34-year-old Glenwood, Iowa, woman Monday with child endangerment and providing drugs to a minor without a prescription.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say the Iowa State University College of Business will be renamed because of a $50 million commitment from two California benefactors. The university said Monday that the college will be renamed the Debbie and Jerry Ivy College of Business, pending approval by university regents. Officials say it’s the largest-ever commitment to the college. Jerry Ivy earned a bachelor’s in industrial administration from Iowa State in 1953.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a gunshot victim in southeast Iowa. Police say officers sent to a northeast Burlington neighborhood around 6 a.m. Sunday found the wounded man, who died later at Great River Medical Center. Police identified him Monday as 26-year-old Demarcus Antonio Chew. No arrests have been reported.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police say an officer was injured by a hit-and-run driver in Cedar Rapids after a car crashed into an unoccupied police cruiser around 11:20 p.m. Saturday. Police say the officer opened the car’s passenger door but was struck and briefly dragged when the car driver accelerated backward and then sped away. The unidentified officer was taken to a hospital. No arrest has been reported.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office says a man was killed Sunday morning in an A-T-V accident northwest of Coon Rapids. At approximately 8:30 a.m., 42-year-old Jason David Macke, of Coon Rapids, was traveling westbound on 300th Street, just north of Timber Ave., when he lost control of his 2017 Polaris Ranger. The ATV entered the north ditch, rolling several times before catching fire and being consumed by the flames.

Macke was pronounced dead at the scene. The accident remains under investigation. The Coon Rapids Fire Department and Carroll County Emergency Medical Services assisted at the scene.

(Radio Iowa)

A report of a person walking around with a gun and possibly breaking into vehicles in Shenandoah, late Monday morning, prompted an investigation by the Page County Sheriff’s Office and Shenandoah Police Department. During the investigation, 27-year old Codey James Jansen, of Shenandoah, was arrested on a Warrant from Atchison County Missouri for Probation violation from an original charge of Possession of a controlled Substance.

Codey James Jansen

Jansen was found to be hiding in the basement of an apartment building in the 300 block of South Elm Street in Shenandoah. He was transported to the Page County Jail where he was being held without bond, pending extradition proceedings on the Missouri Felony charge.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a theft that occurred in the 1800 block of Bluebird Avenue. Officials said today (Monday), that the theft occurred in July. A trailer, welder, scrap metal and numerous tools were taken. The value of the property is over $12,000.00.

Anyone with any information about this incident or may have seen any suspicious activity in this area is urged to contact the Audubon County Sheriff’s Office at 712-563-2631 or Audubon County Crimestopper’s at 712-563-2234. A reward is being offered.

Sept. 11, 2017—The Better Business Bureau (BBB) serving Nebraska, South Dakota, The Kansas Plains and Southwest Iowa is warning business owners and consumers that scammers are using the BBB name and logo to fraudulently claim companies are “violating the Fair Labor Standards Act,” the “Safety and Health Act,” and other ominous sounding notices.

These emails are fake!!! They are designed to get the recipient to click on a link, which may be used to download malware that can infect the recipient’s computer, steal passwords, or hack a company’s records.

If you get an email that claims it is from BBB:

1. Do NOT click on any links or attachments.

2. Read the email carefully for signs that it may be fake (for example, misspellings, grammatical errors, generic greetings such as “Dear member” instead of a name, etc.).

3. Be wary of urgent instructions to take specified action such as “Click on the link or your account will be closed.”

4. Hover your mouse over links without clicking to see if the address is truly from bbb.org. The URL in the text should match the URL that your mouse detects. If the two do not match, it is most likely a scam.

5. Send a copy of the email to phishing@council.bbb.org (Note: This address is only for scams that use the BBB name or logo)

6. Delete the email from your computer completely (be sure to empty your “trash can” or “recycling bin,” as well).

7. Run anti-virus software updates frequently and do a full system scan.

8. Keep a close eye on your bank statements for any unexpected or unexplained transactions.

9. If you have clicked on any of the links within the email, immediately change your email and network passwords AND notify your local IT provider for next steps and actions.

If you have a business and are not certain whether the complaint is legitimate, contact your local BBB at bbbinc.org or 800-649-6814. BBB is working with law enforcement as well as a private deactivation firm to shut down as many criminal websites as possible. To date, we have shut down well over 100 sites.

For more information on data security for your business go to bbb.org/cybersecurity.