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

MONTICELLO, Iowa –  An eight-year old died after the tricycle they were riding collided with a van Wednesday afternoon, in Jones County. The Iowa State Patrol says the 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan was traveling north on South Cedar Street in Monticello at around 3:50-p.m., when the tricycle, which was traveling west on W. Washington Street, collided with the front of the van. The child died at the scene. The driver and a passenger in the van were not injured. The accident remained under investigation.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The testing scandal at Iowa’s fire academy is getting a lot bigger. The Iowa Department of Public Safety says that 739 more firefighters have been notified they were improperly issued nationally-recognized certifications despite failing their written exams. In January, the department said that 1,706 firefighters and emergency personnel were issued 2,300 improper certifications over a four-year period.

LAKE VIEW, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 47-year-old Lake View man who initially escaped a house fire with his wife later died after running back into the home. The Sac County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release that first responders were called to the house Tuesday afternoon for a fire. Investigators say Jerry Wayne Brauckman and his wife were upstairs when they smelled smoke and fled, but that Brauckman re-entered the home.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As Iowa lawmakers debate a voter identification bill, county auditors are questioning whether the plan would have adequate funding. The House was moving to vote on Secretary of State Paul Pate’s bill Wednesday amid criticism by Democrats that the proposal would suppress voting. Pate and Republican backers say they want to prevent fraudulent voting and enhance elections technology. For county auditors, another concern is whether there’s adequate funding for the plan.

EARLY, Iowa (AP) — An appeals court has upheld the murder conviction of an Iowa mother who shot and killed her 20-year-old neighbor in 2001. The Iowa Court of Appeals denied post-conviction relief to Tracey Richter, who’s serving life in prison in the slaying of 20-year-old Dustin Wehde. Richter claims she acted in self-defense, but the three-judge panel says there’s “overwhelming evidence” of her guilt.

LAKE VIEW, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 47-year-old Lake View man who initially escaped a house fire with his wife later died after running back into the home. The Sac County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release that first responders were called to the house Tuesday afternoon for a fire. Firefighters found the body of Jerry Wayne Brauckman just outside the home.

Investigators say Brauckman and his wife were upstairs when they smelled smoke and fled, but that Brauckman re-entered the home to find the source of the fire. He apparently became disoriented in the smoke and eventually broke out a window on an enclosed porch to escape, but died once outside.

An autopsy has been ordered. Investigators say the fire started around a space heater.

A Red Oak man was arrested Wednesday on a warrant for Theft 5th Degree. At 2:15pm Red Oak Police arrested 23-year-old Zachary Nathan Gobert of Red Oak on the theft charge from January for stealing $30 in fuel. Gobert was being held on $1,000 cash bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Agriculture says last month was the second warmest February on record in the state with an average temperature of 34 degrees, 10 degrees above normal. That average was exceeded only by February 1954 when the average temperature was 35 degrees.

Last month is the only Iowa February on record to post eight days of 70-degree weather. The warmth is forcing unusually early plant emergence. Ottumwa recorded the highest temperature with 79 degrees on the 22nd, a February reading exceeded only in 1972 when Sidney reported 82 degrees and in 1930 when Clarinda and Mount Ayr posted 80.

State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says a brief tornado on Feb. 28 in Clinton County also was a February rarity. The only previous February tornadoes were in 1922 and 1977.

A student at Red Oak High School was arrested Wednesday morning after making threats against a fellow student. The Red Oak Police report they were called to the Red Oak High School at 9:06am after reports of the threat were discovered. Officers determined a male juvenile student threatened to bring a knife to school and use it to commit a forcible felony against another student.

The student was taken into custody by Red Oak Police and charged with Harassment in the 1st Degree.

This past February was the second warmest in Iowa on record. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the warm start to the year is prompting vegetation to come out of dormancy sooner than usual and could intensify the dry conditions across south central and southeast Iowa due to early evapotranspiration. The report is prepared by the technical staff from the Iowa DNR, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering and the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with The Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department.

Officials say Hydrologic conditions and drought have remained the same throughout the winter months in Iowa. The pattern of wetness in northern Iowa and the dryness in the southern half has changed very little throughout the winter.

Precipitation for Iowa varied across the state. The wettest area of the state is far northern Iowa, receiving double the normal amounts for January and February, while the southeast one-third of the state remains dry. Stream flow conditions are above normal across the majority of the state, except in parts of southern Iowa, which have decreased to normal levels.

For a thorough review of Iowa’s water resource trends, go to www.iowadnr.gov/watersummaryupdate.

EARLY, Iowa (AP) – An appeals court has upheld the murder conviction of an Iowa mother who shot and killed her 20-year-old neighbor in 2001. The Iowa Court of Appeals denied post-conviction relief Wednesday to Tracey Richter, who’s serving life in prison in the slaying of 20-year-old Dustin Wehde.

Prosecutors contend Richter lured Wehde into her home in the northwest Iowa town of Early, and shot him several times in her bedroom. They say she killed Wehde as part of a plot to frame her ex-husband during a custody battle.

Richter contends she acted in self-defense during a home invasion. She argued her 2011 conviction was tainted by errors by her defense lawyer, the prosecutor and the judge. The three-judge panel says there’s no merit to her allegations and “overwhelming evidence of Richter’s guilt.”

The Glenwood Police Department reports two arrests took place, Tuesday. 52-year old Terry Jennings, of Glenwood, was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $300. And, 36-year old Randy Burton, of Glenwood, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. His bond was set at $1,000.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office also reports two arrests. 19-year old Jeremiah Michael Abdo, of Omaha, was arrested just before 1-a.m. today (Wednesday), for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possessing Contraband. His bond was set at $6,000. And, at around 10-p.m. Tuesday, 50-year old Jame Kent Otte, of Red Oak, was arrested for OWI/2nd offense, and Driving While Revoked. Bond was set at $3,000.

Iowa’s next governor says she’s reviewing different ways to make Iowa’s income taxes “simpler and flatter.”  “There’s a lot of different scenarios that we’re looking at, how we get the biggest bang for the buck, but have it impact all Iowans in a positive way and so we’re going to continue to run the numbers and you will see something with that. You will.”

Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds will take over as governor when Terry Branstad resigns to become ambassador to China. Reynolds says since lower-than-expected tax revenue has forced reductions in the state budget, now is not the time to make “comprehensive” changes to Iowa’s tax system, but she’s hinting 2018 may be the prime time. “We have to do it,” she says, “because that’s what’s going to continue to make us competitive not only in the nation, but around the world.”

Reynolds says shrinking the number of income tax brackets, cutting the CORPORATE income tax rate AND getting rid of the deduction for FEDERAL income taxes paid are all ideas being considered. “I just had an individual tell me that his son, who’s in the military, is retiring in Texas because of their tax policy and it’s about a $6000 savings and he wants to come back to Iowa and so I told him to tell his son not to hang any pictures,” Reynolds says. “to not get too settled in, that we’re going to work to, hopefully, make Iowa more competitive.”

Reynolds, though, isn’t suggesting Iowa completely eliminate the income tax. “I don’t know if we can get there, but by making it simpler and flatter is a really good place for us to start because, you know, we do have the federal deductability…but it’s too complex,” Reynolds says. “They’re not going to take the time to figure it out…so we need to have it be a bullet that says, screams: ‘We’re competitive and we want you to be here in the state.'”

Reynolds spoke early this (Wednesday) morning to a crowd of more than 100 at the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale. The first question from the crowd was about the timing of Branstad’s exit.

(Radio Iowa)

Two Iowa casinos were issued penalties from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission Tuesday for gambling violations. Harrah’s Casino in Council Bluffs was fined three-thousand dollars for allowing a person who had signed up for a self-ban to get onto the gambling floor and win a jackpot. Casino vice president, Janae Sternberg, says this case revealed an issue with their screening system. She says the casino management system is usually foolproof, but in this case the person involved moved to a different state and changed their name.

Sternberg says the person was named Smith and that added to problem as the system went through thousands of customers at casinos with that name. “Unfortunately it was a very common name and it did not flag on the birth date and the last name,” Sternberg says. She says they’ve made an adjustment to check more information when someone wins a jackpot.

“We’ve implemented some additional procedures for both our casino services teams and our cage teams. Anytime we have a jackpot that’s hit they do obtain the Social Security number — but as a rule that’s put in for W-2 purposes only, for tax purposes only– so we’ve added that to our casino management system,” Sternberg says. “Anytime someone has a jackpot hit that isn’t playing with a car, we now we run that Social Security scan as well.”

The casino also paid the state 16-thousand-200 dollars for the jackpot that was paid out to the person. The Diamond Jo Worth Casino in Northwood paid a 20-thousand dollar fine for allowing an underage person onto the gambling floor. Racing and Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko, explained what happened. He says the underage male entered the gaming floor unchallenged on November 4th of 2016 and was on the floor for more than 30 minutes and was able to gamble.

Casino vice president, Kim Pang: “During this process we did re-train everyone and one of the topics we talk about is: anyone under 35 we’ve got to I-D,” Pang says. “It’s a concerted effort, unfortunately this got past one of our offices and we have re-trained that team member and are moving on, and I apologize for this incident.”

The casino hasn’t had any other such violations in the last three years.

(Radio Iowa)