(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University is moving ahead with plans to renovate the Scheman Building after getting approval from the Board of Regents. The I-S-U athletic department oversees its operation as part of the Iowa State Center complex I-S-U’s Shawn Norman says Scheman has gotten a lot of use through the years. “This is a 48 year old building has thousands of people come through for events. And one thing that we want to do in this project is the renovation of the first and the second floor,” Norman says. He says they will upgrade the lobby, restrooms, entrances, lighting and food and beverage amenities.

“But the one big thing is the Benton Auditorium space, we want to make that a flexible event space that we can have these people that come in these visitors that visit our museums in our athletic events,” he says. Norman says they also want to improve the link to other facilities. “We want to elevate the walkway between the Seaman Building and the Hilton Coliseum. But we want that to be evaluated during the process to see if there’s any repairs that are needed. So this would not have anybody having to move out…so everybody, everything would be good in that instance,” Norman says. “…our estimated budget is about ten to 12 million dollars at this point. So funded by athletic operating revenues.”

Norman says they won’t know how long the renovations will take until they get estimates back from the designers.

(Radio Iowa) – The Woodbury County Sheriff released more information Sunday on a shooting in Sergeant Bluff Friday evening. Sheriff Chad Sheehan says it appears 43-year-old Raymond Rogers shot his estranged wife and the man she was living with, and then shot himself. Deputies who responded to a shots fired call looked through a window and saw Rogers on the floor. “Deputies immediately entered the residence. And inside the residence were able to rescue a 12 year old boy who was seeking refuge inside the residence during the time of the attack while removing the boy. Deputies discovered a both a male and a female victim both suffering from what appeared to be serious life threatening gunshot wounds,” he says.

The 50-year-old man, Gerele Jones died, and the woman, 40-year-old Ashley Rogers was taken to the hospital. Raymond Rogers is hospitalized in critical condition. Sheriff Sheehan credited the boy with calling deputies in the midst of the shooting. “I can’t imagine what that young man went through while this was going on he had the courage to make a phone call and give us information that was that was vital to us getting there quickly,” Sheehan says. He says the boy is the son of Jones, who was killed.

“Any chance that anyone would have had to survive this incident is due to the due to the courage that this young this young boy this young man exhibited that evening,” he says. Sheehan says it is fair to term the case as a murder and attempted suicide — though the investigation has not been completed.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill eligible for debate in the Iowa Senate would prohibit judges from requiring a divorcing parent to cover some of the costs of their child’s college education. Senator Scott Webster, a Republican from Bettendorf, says the bill is sponsored by another senator, in response to a specific case.

“A father was weaponizing this particular system against a mother who couldn’t afford the college. She then had the opportunity to go to court and it got dropped, but she still had to pay all the legal fees,” Webster says. An Iowa judge currently has the option of ordering a parent getting a divorce to pay up to one-third of the total cost of their child’s undergraduate education. Webster says it’s an equal protection issue.

“The subsidy does not currently apply to any other parents: married, single or never married,” Webster says. Senator Nate Boulton, a Democrat from Des Moines, says his parents were divorced when he went to college and their divorce decree helped navigate the financial aspect of getting that degree. “There are ways to make this system better,” Boulton says. “There are ways to make it more fair and I think we are all open to that discussion, but simply to pull the rug out from underneath kids from divorced families who want to go to college is the wrong way to do this.”

The bill cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames who voted against the bill, says parents have an obligation to provide for their children and college is a big step forward in life. “It’s certainly possible for people to get good jobs without a college degree and have a perfectly happy life,” Quirmbach says, “but on average college graduates earn significantly higher over a lifetime. They have a greater degree of marriage stability. They have a longer life span, on average.”

Webster says that kind of criticism is a little bit disrespectful. “It’s been said, maybe discussed that college is the way to go,” Webster says. “I didn’t go to college. My wife didn’t go to college. We turned out good.” Iowa is one of 17 states that allow judges to order a divorcing parent to pay at least part of a child’s college tuition and fees.