Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

UNDATED (AP) — State district court judges in Des Moines and Iowa City have declined to halt enforcement of a state requirement for schools to return students to classrooms. The judges Tuesday rejected arguments from two school districts and a teachers union that local officials could ignore the governor and educate students at home due to surging numbers of coronavirus cases in Iowa. In two separate rulings, a Polk County judge said Iowa law clearly establishes state control over the time schools must hold in-person instruction, and a Johnson County judge concluded the governor has broad emergency powers under the Iowa Constitution that local school boards do not have.

UNDATED (AP) — A state watchdog says an Iowa teenager who died of starvation in 2017 could have been saved if social workers and contractors had been more thorough when they investigated her living conditions. The Iowa state ombudsman released its findings Tuesday in the case of 16-year-old Sabrina Ray. She weighed just 56 pounds and was severely malnourished when authorities found her body at her home in Perry in May 2017. Ray’s adoptive parents, who parented foster kids, adopted four children and ran an in-home daycare, eventually received lengthy prison sentences for kidnapping and child endangerment.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A private eastern Iowa college has announced it will remove a statue of the school’s founder after officials there learned new details about his slave-owning past. The Telegraph Herald reports that Loras College will remove the statue of Bishop Mathias Loras from the Dubuque campus and place it in storage. Loras, the first Roman Catholic bishop of Dubuque, established the seminary in 1839 that would eventually become Loras College. Loras College President Jim Collins says school officials recently learned from a researcher that Loras bought an enslaved woman named Marie Louise while he was living in Mobile, Alabama, in 1836 and kept her as his slave until 1852, and hired her out to collect proceeds for various Iowa ministries.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The spread of the coronavirus continued at a rapid pace in Iowa over the Labor Day holiday as state data revealed increases in hospitalizations and rising numbers of patients treated for the virus in intensive care. The Iowa Department of Public Health reported there were 345 new confirmed cases, reflecting a smaller number due to no testing on Labor Day. Six more people died, increasing the total to 1,173. Numbers late last week and over the weekend, however, remained high with more than 1,000 new cases each day on Friday and Saturday. Over the past seven days the state averaged 750 new confirmed cases a day, an increase of 26% from the average two weeks earlier.

(Radio Iowa) — A 77-year-old state prison inmate has died of complications related to Covid-19. Richard Leroy Peters of Evansdale had been in prison since early 2014. He’d been committed on a special lifetime sentence after being found guilty of sexually abusing two girls when they were six and seven. He had a previous child sex abuse conviction in 1988. Peters died early Sunday afternoon in a prison hospice unit in Coralville. An Iowa Department of Corrections news release indicates Peters had multiple pre-existing medical conditions.

The Iowa Department of Corrections website indicates 74 inmates in the Medical and Classification Center in Coralville, 132 inmates in Mount Pleasant and one inmate at the prison in Newton have Covid. More than 600 inmates and 100 staffers who work in the state prison system have recovered from the virus.

Emergency personnel in Atlantic responded to a two-vehicle accident Tuesday afternoon, at 5th and Olive Streets. The collision between two pickups was reported at around 3:55-p.m. KJAN has learned three teens in a Chevy S-10 pickup suffered non-life threatening injuries and were checked-out at the Cass County Memorial Hospital. The truck was totaled in the crash.

Ric Hanson/photos

It’s unclear if there were injuries people to persons in the second pickup.

No further details are available at this time.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A private eastern Iowa college has announced it will remove a statue of the school’s founder after officials there learned new details about his slave-owning past. The Telegraph Herald reports that Loras College will remove the statue of Bishop Mathias Loras from the Dubuque campus and place it in storage. Loras, the first Roman Catholic bishop of Dubuque, established the seminary in 1839 that would eventually become Loras College.

Loras College President Jim Collins says school officials recently learned from a researcher that Loras bought an enslaved woman named Marie Louise while he was living in Mobile, Alabama, in 1836 and kept her as his slave until 1852, and hired her out to collect proceeds for various Iowa ministries.

State district court judges in Des Moines and Iowa City have declined to halt enforcement of a state requirement for schools to return students to classrooms. The judges Tuesday rejected arguments from two school districts and a teachers union that local officials could ignore the governor and educate students at home due to surging numbers of coronavirus cases in Iowa.

In two separate rulings, a Polk County judge said Iowa law clearly establishes state control over the time schools must hold in-person instruction, and a Johnson County judge concluded the governor has broad emergency powers under the Iowa Constitution that local school boards do not have.

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County report two arrests. Today (Tuesday), 63-year old Ricky Lynn Frame, of Lincoln, NE., was arrested at the Page County Jail, on warrants for two counts of theft in the 5th Degree.

Monday afternoon, 45-year old Tracey Lynn Klahn, of Glenwood, was arrested for: Driving While Barred: Failure to provide (proof of insurance); and Operating a non-registered vehicle. Bond was set at $2,000.

And, authorities say a Silver City man was injured during a single-vehicle accident early Sunday morning at 250th and Barrus Road. 22-year old Kenneth Sobbing was driving a 2020 Harley Davidson motorcycle east on Barrus Road at around 2-a.m., when the cycle entered the westbound lane of traffic while negotiating a curve. The bike went off the road and crashed into the north ditch. Sobbing was transported to a hospital by EMS.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests over the past week. On Saturday, Deputies were dispatched to an area near the intersection of 140th (Highway 48) and Avenue H…about 2 miles east of Essex…for a man that had jumped out of a vehicle. Deputies arrived and spoke with 45-year old Robert Eugene Herr, of Red Oak, and after a short conversation, placed Herr under arrest for Public Intoxication. He was transported to the Page County Jail and held on $300 bond, pending further court proceedings.

Last Thursday, a traffic stop on a vehicle near the intersection of 280th and Highway 71 for a minor traffic infraction, resulted in the arrest of 42-year old James Allan Kieper, of Milwaukee,WI. The man was taken into custody for OWI/1st Offense and transported to the Page County Jail. His bond was set at $1,000.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state watchdog says an Iowa teenager who died of starvation in 2017 could have been saved if social workers and contractors had been more thorough when they investigated her living conditions. The Iowa state ombudsman released its findings Tuesday in the case of 16-year-old Sabrina Ray. She weighed just 56 pounds and was severely malnourished when authorities found her body at her home in Perry in May 2017. Ray’s adoptive parents, who parented foster kids, adopted four children and ran an in-home daycare, eventually received lengthy prison sentences for kidnapping and child endangerment.

The Adair County Sheriff’s Office today (Tuesday), released a report on arrests made over the past week. On August 30th, Deputies arrested 32-year old Duquin Dwight Fleming, of West Des Moines, on a Polk County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault/Bodily or Mental Injury. Fleming was being held without bond in the Adair County Jail. 50-year old Barry Allen Mussman, of Greenfield, was arrested Aug. 30th, for Domestic Assault causing bodily injury to his female victim. His cash or surety bond was set at $1,000.

On Sept. 1st, 36-year old Reginald Augusta Hallman, of Chicago, IL, and 27-year old Allana Jade Wiand, of Omaha, were arrested by Adair Police, following an investigation in a fake $20 bill passed at the Adair Kum & Go. An officer located the suspect’s vehicle shortly after a clerk pointed out the vehicle had just left the store. Police stopped vehicle on the I-80 eastbound ramp, after further investigation arrested the driver, Wiand, for Theft in the 5th Degree, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Theft in the 2nd Degree. Hallman was arrested for Theft in the 2nd and 5th degrees, Felony Forgery, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was also wanted on two outstanding warrants. Hallman and Wiand were being held in the Adair County Jail on $5,000 cash or surety bonds, each.

Also arrested 28-year old John Paul Philippe, of Greenfield, for: Disorderly Conduct by threatening; Public Intoxication; Obstruction of Prosecution or Defense, and Interference with Official Acts. The obstruction charge was with regard to contraband evidence that would be admissible in court that was allegedly flushed down the toilet while Philippe was changing clothes at the Adair County Jail. Bond on all four charges was set at $200. The man was released the next day on his citations.

49-year old Charles Harold Lamb, of Council Bluffs (and formerly of Fontanelle) who as we’ve mentioned was arrested Sept. 2nd on Assault, sexual abuse and other related charges, remains in the Adair County Jail on a $150,300 cash bond. He’s set to appear in court for his preliminary hearing 10:30-a.m. Thursday, Sept. 10th.

The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education will meet Wednesday evening via an electronic session. Their meeting begins at 6-p.m., and includes action on the resignations of:

• Valerie Jaehrling, H.S. Science Teacher
• Carol Duskin, Special Education Paraeducator
• Dan Vargason, JV Girls Soccer Coach
• Becky Bonney, Food Service.

And, the Board will act on contract recommendations for:

• Jacey Hoegh, Zach Christianson and Daltern Franken: Volunteer Boys Basketball Coaches.
• Todd Killion, Peter Smith, Jim Swanson,Mike Greiving, Clarke Gerlock, Adam Smith, Caleb Smith and Ryan South: Volunteer Wrestling Coaches.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board will act on one  “Horizontal Teacher Lane Movement” for the following six teachers who have provided the information required to move one horizontal pay lane, based on educational credits earned:

• Dara Bartz to BA +15, Step 11
• Jenny Madsen to MA +15, Step 16
• Hannah Ridder to BA +15, Step 1
• Jill Miller to BA +15, Step 10
• Steffani Tarrell to BA +30, Step 14
• and Sarah Dorsey to BA +15.

The Atlantic School Board will also act on the Superintendent’s recommendation to approve a bid from Deter Motor Company in the amount of $27,311, for the purchase of an AWD (All-Wheel Drive) Chevy Traverse. The purchase is part of the district’s capital improvements for the year. The Board will also act on a Proposal Request in the amount of $9,129.75, for the State Fire Marshal’s order for a master time clock that prevents operation of electric heaters in the concession stands. The heaters will be thermostatically controlled.  They are expected to approve as well, the purchase of a 26-inch floor scrubber from Home Depot Pro. The current scrubber is 19-years old and needs expensive repairs. Superintendent Barber notes Home Depot Pro is the the only company that is willing to stand behind the unit.

The final order of business is to act on a pay application with regard to the district’s athletic facilities project, in the amount of $1.346-million for labor and materials.