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Iowa early News Headlines: Saturday, Oct. 8th 2016

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October 8th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:00 a.m. CDT

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State University President Steven Leath has told the Iowa State Daily student newspaper that he received personal flight lessons from a former Republican lawmaker who was appointed around the same time into a high-paying university job without a search. The timing of the hiring of former ISU associate dean and accounting professor Jim Kurtenbach is another layer to the scandal surrounding Leath’s use of university planes for a mix of official duties and personal business.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -€” The death of a University of Northern Iowa student whose body was pulled from the Iowa River last month has been ruled an accidental drowning. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports Friday that autopsy results show 20-year-old Nathan Twedt drowned. The autopsy also cites over-consumption of alcohol as a contributing factor to the drowning.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) -€” Bail has been set at $1 million for a 20-year-old Davenport man accused of fatally shooting his parents in their home earlier this week. The bond hearing Thursday was Sean Michael Freese’s first court appearance in the case. The Quad-City Times says Freese is expected back in Scott County District Court on Wednesday for his preliminary hearing on two counts of first-degree murder in the Wednesday deaths of 58-year-old Kevin Freese and 57-year-old Donna Freese.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -€” Sentencing has been delayed for an Iowa man in a sex abuse case involving a mentally disabled woman. Sentencing for 18-year-old Nicholas Fifield is now set for Nov. 21. He entered an Alford plea to misdemeanor assault, which means he maintains innocence but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence for conviction.