The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests:

• Today (Monday), 39-year old Brian James Johnson, of Plattsmouth, NE., was arrested for Possession of Controlled Substance. Bond was set at $5,000.
• Early Sunday morning, 31-year old Bobby Brice Horn, of Maryville, MO., was arrested on I-29 for OWI/3rd offense, Eluding, Speeding and Reckless Driving. Bond was set at $10,000.
• Friday morning, 36-year old Terence Chevy Magill, of Red Oak, was arrested at the Montgomery County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Probation Violation. Bond was set at $12,000.
• On Sept. 25th, 58-year old Michael Earl Gillenwater, of Bellevue, NE., was arrested for Theft in the2nd Degree, and on a Pottawattamie County warrant for Theft in the 2nd Degree. His total bond was set at $10,000.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge is questioning the University of Iowa’s decision to deregister dozens of student organizations following a lawsuit by a Christian student group that accused university officials of discrimination. U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie Rose said in a ruling Friday that the university can’t selectively deregister student organizations.

The group InterVarsity Christian Fellowship sued the university after administrators deregistered its local chapter along with a dozen other religious groups. Rose says she “does not know how a reasonable person could have concluded this was acceptable” given her previous ruling in a related case.

Another faith-based group, Business Leaders in Christ, sued the university for kicking it off campus following a complaint that it wouldn’t let an openly gay member seek a leadership post.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa House Speaker Linda Upmeyer says she will not seek re-election next year and plans to resign as speaker before lawmakers return in January. Republican lawmakers in 2015 chose Upmeyer to be the first woman in Iowa to hold the job as speaker of the House, the presiding officer over the legislative chamber.

The GOP lawmaker of 17 years says Monday she wants to step away from the legislature to spend more time with her family. Upmeyer, a nurse practitioner from Clear Lake, was first elected to the Iowa House in 2002. She became the first woman in Iowa to be elected House majority leader in 2010.

A date hasn’t been set for a House leadership election. Upmeyer’s father, Del Stromer, served as House speaker in the 1980s.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state panel has approved the latest bill for former Gov. Terry Branstad’s continued fight against a jury verdict that found he discriminated against a former state executive. The Iowa Executive Council approved payment Monday of a bill for over $488,000 to a Des Moines law firm. That raises the taxpayer costs of defending Branstad to $2.4 million.
Jurors unanimously found in July that Branstad, now U.S. ambassador to China, and his former legal counsel Brenna Findley discriminated against former Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Chris Godfrey in 2011 because he’s gay.

State taxpayers also may end up paying Godfrey’s legal costs of $3.5 million if they’re approved by a judge as well as the $1.5 million in damages the jury awarded Godfrey. Gov. Kim Reynolds, Secretary of State Paul Pate and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, the Republicans on the council, supported paying the bills. Democratic Auditor Rob Sand also voted to pay the bill but says he won’t support paying appeal costs. State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald, a Democrat, opposed paying the latest bill.

DUNDEE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are trying to find the source of a fish kill at a state park in eastern Iowa. The Iowa Natural Resources Department reports that trout anglers reported spotting dead trout and other dead fish in Richmond Springs and Fenchel Creek at Backbone State Park. The park sits about 2.5 miles north of Dundee. Authorities found dead fish but also live fish in several sections of the stream on Saturday. The department says heavy rains Friday night might have washed contaminants into the streams.