IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa City officials have named the black-eyed Susan as the city’s official flower. The City Council on Tuesday passed a resolution adopting the flower with gold petals and a black center.

The plant is native to Iowa city and attracts a wide variety of insects, including butterflies and bees. Its seeds are a favorite of songbirds, such as goldfinches, sparrows and chickadees. The flower’s colors are also shared by the University of Iowa.

Project GREEN, a local nonprofit group that supports city beautification efforts, says adopting the black-eyed Susan may inspire residents to plant native food sources for local pollinators.

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) — Simpson College students have staged a protest at the south-central Iowa school over faculty and program cuts announced last week. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that Simpson College President Jay Simmons announced last week that the college will cut 13 full-time employees, the art department, and French and German majors.

Students packed the Kent Campus Center on Friday to voice their anger over the cuts. Some students read a list of demands, including increased faculty representation at future board of trustees meetings. The trustees and Simmons were at a meeting at the center during the protests and allowed the students to be heard.

Simmons says the cuts were made because of low numbers of students majoring in art, French and German. Simmons says college leaders plan to hold student forums in the coming weeks.

The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will meet during a Work Session Monday, in the High School Media Center. No action is expected to be taken during their meeting, which begins at 5:30-p.m.

The Board will discuss: Early Literacy progress; the Pre-School Program; Facility Planning, and a Retirement Incentive Program. Superintendent Steve Barber is expected to issue a reminder to the Board, with regard to some upcoming dates, which includes:

• Parent/Teacher Conferences, Oct. 24th & 25th
• No School Oct. 25th & 26th
• The next Regular Board meeting: Nov. 14th, 5:30-p.m.
• No School Nov. 22nd & 23rd (Thanksgiving)
• and a Board Work Session that’s set for Nov. 28th, at 5:30-p.m.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — China’s propaganda machine has taken aim at American soybean farmers as part of its high-stakes trade war with the Trump administration. The publication last month of a four-page advertising section in the Des Moines Register opened a new battle line in China’s effort to break the administration’s resolve. U.S. farmers are a key political constituency for Trump, and Beijing has imposed tariffs on American soybeans as retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on hundreds of billions in Chinese imports.

China regularly disseminates propaganda in the West through its China Daily newspaper to try to influence public opinion in the United States and elsewhere. But the advertorial in the Register was unusual for deploying not a national publication in New York or Washington but a newspaper in the farm state of Iowa.

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

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(Radio Iowa) — The U-S Small Business Administration approved loans to more than 400 Iowa businesses during the just-ended fiscal year, helping them to start or expand operations. Jayne Armstrong, director of the S-B-A’s Iowa District Office, says the loans totaled nearly 170-million dollars statewide for the fiscal year, that’s up from about 155-million the previous year.  “Sometimes, there are bigger deals out there that they’re looking for expansions or buying commercial real estate,” Armstrong says, “and also times when they just need small amounts of working capital.”

Loans were approved to 405 Iowa businesses during the year, down from 455 the previous year. When the economy isn’t doing so well, that’s when people more often look to start their own businesses, so the decline in loan numbers is being interpreted as a positive. “We don’t really get too hung up on the dollar volume as much,” Armstrong says. “We’d like to put more money on the street and to help more small businesses but it’s going to fluctuate every year. As long as we’re meeting the needs of the small business community, that’s the most important thing to us.”

Figures from Iowa Workforce Development released today (Friday) put Iowa’s unemployment rate for September at two-and-a-half percent. That’s unchanged from August and is the second-lowest in the nation. While that’s great in one respect, it’s also making progress a challenge for small merchants and large employers alike.  “A lot of small businesses are having a difficult time,” Armstrong says. “One of the biggest issues is the workforce issue and being able to identify workers and to attract workers.”

The S-B-A report says the 400-plus loans created 12-hundred-58 jobs in Iowa and retained an additional 26-hundred-45 jobs. She says the S-B-A remains a critical resource for small start-ups and expansions.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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A man convicted earlier this month on murder, attempted murder and arson charges associated with a fatal fire in Guthrie Center, was sentenced Friday to serve two-life sentences. According to reports, a District Judge handed down the sentence for 27-year old Patrick Thompson for murdering his step-sister, 12 year-old Paige Exline and her cousin, 16-year-old Shakiah Cockerham. The Judge also ordered Thompson to pay $150,000 to each family.

On Oct. 8^th, Thompson was found guilty by a Monroe County jury, of two counts of first degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and arson. The May 2017 fire in Guthrie Center resulted in the deaths of the girls, and injuries to their grandmother Shirley Exline and their uncle William Long III.

Thompson’s step-father James Exline was sentenced to 75 years in prison for sexually abusing his daughter Paige in Greene County before her death. Thompson’s step-brother Noah is facing seven felony charges for allegedly sexually abusing Paige. And, while his trial is currently set for October 30^th, court documents indicate plea negotiations are underway.

(Radio Iowa) — Vice President Mike Pence rallied with about 200 of Republican Congressman David Young’s supporters Friday afternoon, in Des Moines. Pence told the crowd the race in Iowa’s third congressional district may determine whether Republicans retain majority control of the U.S. House or Democrats take over. “This race is going to be critical to whether we’re going to be able to continue with the momentum that we have,” Pence said.

Pence returned to that theme several times during his 24 minute speech. “The fate of the Republican majority in the House might just go through Iowa 3…It’s a choice between two different futures, one future under a Republican majority in the United States House of Representatives and another future where Nancy Pelosi is speaker of the House again,” Pence said and the crowd booed.

Pelosi’s name was mentioned often during the event. Young spoke less than seven minutes and mentioned Pelosi’s name seven times. “Now again Nancy Pelosi and her hand-picked candidates want to take us back,” Young said, eliciting boos from the audience. “We can’t have that.”

Pence cited Young’s work on veterans issues, then mentioned Cindy Axne, the Democrat who’s challenging Young’s bid for a third term. “The choice between his opponent is so clear. You know, his opponent Cindy Axne — I know the president called her ‘Cindy Tax-Me’ and there’s a good reason why. Cindy Axne said the first thing that Democrats need to do if they retake the majority in the congress is to repeal those tax cuts. You know, there’s a term for repealing a tax cut. It’s called a tax increase and we’re not going to let it happen.”

Pence praised Young for supporting President Trump’s agenda in congress. “He’s been there, standing with this president every step of the way,” Pence said. The vice president drew the largest burst of applause when he promised that Trump would withhold aide from Central American countries if a caravan of four-thousand asylum seekers winds up at the southern border.

An accident west of Massena yesterday (Friday) claimed the life of a Cass County man. The Iowa State Patrol has not officially released the names of those involved in a head-on collision on Highway 92, but Roland Funeral Service in Atlantic reports 22-year old Patrick L. Schultz, of Wiota, died Friday “near Massena.” 38-year old Jeremiah Juhl, of Fontalle, posted on the KJAN Facebook page that he was the other driver involved in the crash.

Initial reports from law enforcement indicated one person had died and another was injured in the crash that happened at around 6:45-a.m., about two-miles west of Massena. In his post, Juhl said he’s “Going to be okay, for anybody wondering.”

Highway 92 was blocked for more than three-hours after crash, while the accident was being investigated and the vehicles removed from the scene. The State Patrol had not yet released their report on the crash, as of this (Saturday) morning.