DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa hog farmer accused of using a corn rake to kill his wife says he didn’t do it and doesn’t know who did. The Telegraph Herald reports that 43-year-old Todd Mullis also testified Thursday in Dubuque that he didn’t know who used his iPad to conduct internet searches about cheating spouses. He said his wife, Amy, and others knew his password.

Mullis is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Amy Mullis on Nov. 10 at the farm about 40 miles west of Dubuque. A prosecutor has said Todd Mullis was irate over his wife’s affair. A state investigator testified that Mullis never denied killing his wife. Mullis said he told the investigator that he wanted Mullis “to confess to something I didn’t do.”

With the closing of the nomination filing period Thursday, the stage is set for the Nov. 5th City/School Elections in Cass County. This list will be updated with School Board candidates later today. Here is current list of candidates whose names will appear on the ballot (I= Incumbent, TFV= To fill a vacancy):

City of Atlantic

• Ward 1 – Jim Behrens
• Ward 3 – Pat McCurdy (Incumbent by appointment)
• Ward 4 – Linda Kartkopf (I)
• At Large (vote for 1) – Grace N. Garrett, Dana Halder (I)
• Parks  Recreation Board (elect 2)- Erin McFadden (I), Ashley Hayes.

City of Anita

• Mayor – Thomas R. Harris
• City Council (elect 2) – Mark Harris, Kevin Littleton and Pat Cassell

City of Cumberland

• Mayor – N. Virginia Coughlin (I)
• City Council (Elect 2) – Sandra Eversole (I), Scott Becker (I)

City of Griswold

• City Council (elect 3) – Carmen Sorensen (I)

City of Lewis

• Mayor – Russell Hansen
• City Council (elect 3) – Richard L. Clark, Ryan Lockwood (I), and Duane Scott Anderson (I).
• The following is the Public Measure that will be included on the ballot for the City of Lewis voters: “Shall the City of Lewis, Iowa be authorized to amend Section 5-1-2 of the City of Lewis 2018 Code of Ordinances changing the composition of the Lewis Library Board of Trustees as follows from: “Five (5) voting members shall be from the Community At-Large, and one (1) non-voting member shall be the Librarian” And changing to: “Five (5) member Board of Trustees with Four (4) Bona Fide Citizens and Residents of the City and One (1) Non-Resident?”

City of Marne

• Mayor – Randall I. Baxter (I)
• City Council (elect 5) – Vergil W. Anderson, Jericho Schmitt, Mark Opbroek, Wayne Preister, Aaron Williams, and Angela Redler (I).

City of Massena

• City Council (elect 3) – Micah Lee, Kevin McCunn and Adam McCunn, all incumbents.

City of Wiota

• City Council – Jim Fisher and Steven R. Havens, both incumbents.

Griswold School Board

At Large – Ryan Askeland.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man who admitted embezzling from his union has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. U.S. District Court records say 54-year-old Theodore Watson had pleaded guilty to embezzlement and mail fraud. He was sentenced Tuesday in Des Moines and ordered to pay restitution of more than $125,000. The Altoona resident was employed as business manager for Local 74 of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers.

Prosecutors say Watson took cash advances and made unauthorized purchases on a union credit card and then submitted altered credit card statements and false monthly reports to the union. Prosecutors also say Watson defrauded United Way of Central Iowa by sending fraudulent requests for grant funds to train adults.

Police in Creston report a traffic stop Thursday evening resulted in the arrest of 19-year old Elyice Bolin Stow, of Creston. Stow was taken into custody for Driving While Suspended. He was being held in  the Union County Jail on $300 bond.  (7-a.m. News)

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Board of Regents is seeking 18 million more dollars from the state for next year and the amount of tuition students pay at the three state universities will be tied to what they receive. Board president Mike Richards says they plan to stick with the tuition model the used last year. “If the state fully funds our appropriations request, the base undergraduate rate increase will be three percent. If the state provides no additional funding — the base rate increase will be three percent plus the projected Higher Education Price Index or HEPPI,” Richards says.

Total state funding would be a little more than 642 million if they get the additional dollars. The Regents asked for the same 18 million dollar increase last year and got only 12 million dollars more. “If the state partially funds our appropriations request — the base will be somewhere within the defined range,” Richards says. “For U-N-I, if the state fully funds their request, we will continue to take steps to make them more competitively priced with our other Midwest comprehensive universities.”  If the 18 million dollars is approved this year — the University of Iowa and Iowa State University would each receive an additional seven million dollars and U-N-I four million. Richard says they hope to also find other money. “As the governor asked us to do, we have been exploring and researching possible additional funding methods,” Richards says.

The same tuition formula was used last year and tuition rates were frozen at U-N-I last year after the school received the full four million more dollars it requested. The rates at I-S-U and Iowa went up three-point-nine percent. University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld told the Regents one of the things the school is looking at to raise more money is a public-private partnership for its utility system. He says if the school completes a deal, the school would still own its utility system. Harreld says there are benefits for a partner — such as tax breaks that the school cannot take as a non-profit entity. Harreld says the partner would pay the school. “The U-I will receive a significant up front payment that he university would place in an endowment. The univeristy on funding its strategic plan,” Harreld explains.

The Regents met Thursday in Council Bluffs.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Floodwater from the Missouri River has forced officials to close a portion of Interstate 29. The Iowa Transportation Department said Friday (Today) the 10-mile stretch extends north from the Crescent exit to the Missouri Valley area. A detour is in operation. Several I-29 interchange ramps are closed in southwest Iowa as well.

Flood waters from the Missouri River, left, swollen following heavy rainfall upstream, breach Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, a levee meant to protect Honey Creek, Iowa, and Interstate 29 from flooding. The Iowa Department of Transportation warned drivers that if the river continues to rise there might have to close a portion of Interstate 29 north of Council Bluffs, Iowa. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

The river continues to rise and flood mostly rural land in Nebraska and Iowa and is expected to crest Saturday near Omaha. Officials blame the flooding on recent heavy rains over eastern Nebraska and northwest Iowa and on exceptionally heavy rains last week in Montana, North and South Dakota and Nebraska.

Officials don’t expect the floodwaters to cause significant damage to communities. Floodwater broke through two levees Wednesday in a rural Iowa area northeast of Omaha.

(Radio Iowa) — After national party leaders raised security concerns and rejected the Iowa Democratic Party’s plan for “virtual” caucuses, Iowa Democrats have come up with a plan for “satellite” caucuses. Satellite voting is a familiar term for Iowans who have cast General Election ballots at “satellite” locations like churches, schools and even grocery stores before Election Day. For the 2016 Iowa Caucuses, though, the Iowa Democratic Party approved four “satellite” precincts on Caucus Night.

Last (Thursday) night, the Iowa Democratic Party’s governing board unanimously approved a plan to significantly expand “satellite” caucus locations on February 3rd. Iowa Democrats may apply to establish a satellite site at places like factories, group homes or community gathering spots. A group of “neutral” party leaders who have NOT endorsed a presidential candidate will review the applications and decide which to approve. Each satellite location will be like a “mini-caucus” — following the same rules and using the same reporting system as all the precinct meetings elsewhere.

This new plan to expand participation in the Iowa Caucus will be reviewed later today (Friday) by the Democratic NATIONAL Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Senate’s Oversight Committee will hold a hearing to examine the state Judicial Branch contract with a security firm that led two employees break into two county courthouses.  Two employees of an international cybersecurity firm were caught breaking into the Polk County Courthouse in Des Moines — and the two were arrested inside the Dallas County Courthouse in Adel.

The company issued a statement Wednesday. It said the scope of the contract for testing the security of Iowa’s electronic court system wasn’t clear to them or officials in the court system who hired them. Senator Amy Sinclair a Republican from Allerton, is chair of Senate’s Oversight Committee. She says the panel has “a number of questions” — including how “staged burglaries” improve court services.

A date for the oversight panel’s hearing has not been set.