WASHINGTON (AP) – A pro-Republican group says it’s spending $8 million on new TV ads attacking President Barack Obama for sustained unemployment. The ads will air in Iowa and several other states. Crossroads GPS is launching the ads on the heels of recent government figures showing the economy added just 80,000 jobs in June.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – Fort Dodge police have arrested a man in the 2011 shooting of another man who died months later under his family’s care in Florida. Police say 26-year-old Derrick McElroy of Fort Dodge was charged yesterday with first-degree murder. He’s accused of shooting 19-year-old Brandyn Preston on May 8th, 2011, during a backyard party in Fort Dodge.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – A 19-year-old has been given five years of probation for the crash death of a 17-year-old during a party at a bonfire near Davenport. Cody Lantau was charged with vehicular homicide for the death of 17-year-old William Schwener last December.

OTTAWA – Drought conditions across large swaths of the Midwestern United States and parts of Europe are causing concern about a food price shock later this year.  But while consumers brace to pay higher prices for everything from corn flakes to beef, many Canadian farmers hope to reap rewards from historically high grain prices.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that U.S. farmers will see just a fraction of the corn they expected in the spring when the ground was seeded.

MOORHEAD, Iowa (AP) – A horse named Chara is back at the stable after being recused from a ravine in western Iowa. The Omaha World Herald reports the drama unfolded on Monday when the horse was found in the 15-foot-deep hole near Moorhead, Iowa. Three hours later, Chara was led out of the hole. She wasn’t seriously hurt.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – A group of Iowa residents is going to court to require the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions from livestock operations. Some Winneshiek County residents filed a federal lawsuit this week in Cedar Rapids. It claims the EPA’s failure to regulate pollutants commonly found in the air around the operations endanger public health.