IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A man wielding a fire extinguisher has rescued a burning U.S. flag from protesters in Iowa City. Organizers told the Iowa City Press-Enterprise  that Thursday’s demonstration across from the Old Capitol Mall was aimed at racial and social injustice and U.S. imperialism. The protesters’ actions drew angry comments from some bystanders.

Iowa City Press-Enterprise/Citizen (photo) (A-P)

One man, Matt Uhrin, used the extinguisher against the flames and, despite some pushing and shoving, took one of the flags from the protesters and walked away. Uhrin returned when they set another flag aflame. More pushing and shoving ensued, but he was unable to retrieve the second flag and lost his extinguisher in the effort.

An Iowa City police officer says two of the protesters were cited because they didn’t obtain a permit for the open burn.

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County say an unknown medical condition was likely to blame for a single-vehicle accident Thursday night on 200th Street at Highway 71, about three-miles north of the intersection with Highway 34.  Authorities say 34-year old Daron Dean Blackman, of Elliott, was driving a 2002 Dodge Ram pickup eastbound on 200th at around 8-p.m., when he passed out.

The pickup ran the stop sign at Highway 71 and entered the east ditch, striking a road sign, a ground transformer and multiple trees before coming to rest. Blackman was transported by Villisca Rescue to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital for evaluation. Damages from the accident amounted to $10,500.

Blackman was later cited for Failure to Maintain Control and Failure to Yield to a Stop Sign. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies were assisted at the scene by Villisca Fire and Rescue, Red Oak Rescue, and the Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency.

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

DENISON, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials say the body of a 15-year-old Denison girl missing for a week has been pulled from the Boyer River. Crawford County Sheriff Jim Steinkuehler tells Omaha, Nebraska, television station KETV that searchers found the body of Yoana Acosta around 3:45 p.m. Thursday in the western Iowa tributary. The teen disappeared Jan. 19 after a car she was riding in crashed into the river.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Workers were expected to complete cleaning some 140,000 gallons of diesel fuel that spewed from a broken pipeline onto an Iowa farm, the largest U.S. diesel spill since 2010. Vacuum trucks were sucking up the fuel that spilled onto an acre of grass and tilled farmland when the pipeline broke. The spill was discovered Wednesday morning.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University is detailing the trips in which a university airplane flew President Steven Leath to and from Minnesota so that he could attend personal medical appointments. Leath announced last month he was reimbursing the university $3,800 for costs of flying to doctors’ visits at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, a three-hour drive from Ames. The school says the reimbursement covered flights in October 2015 and March 2016.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Senate Republicans have approved a bill that would resolve an immediate shortfall in Iowa’s $7.2 billion state budget. Lawmakers in the GOP-led chamber voted along party lines Thursday for the legislation, which has cuts totaling about $117 million. The reductions require some Iowa departments to cut about $88 million for the budget year that began last July, leading to less spending on corrections, higher education and public safety.