Iowa News Service/Des Moines, IA – Iowa schools are introducing new physical education standards this school year that provide teachers with a framework to strengthen instruction from kindergarten through 12th grade. Stacy Frelund with the American Heart Association of Iowa says the organization was on the team that made the recommendations.

She notes that Iowa has the 10th highest obesity rate for youths ages 10 to 17. She says that’s likely because screen time by kids is creeping up – from phones, to social media, to online gaming – making the new health and physical education guidelines more important than ever.

“Physical education classes are classes, and they have curriculum just like science and math classes do. You can’t just go out and play dodgeball for an hour; it gets into mental health, even, and how to adapt PE to kids that might have challenges.”

The American Health Association recommends parents and kids adopt the daily 5-2-1-Zero rule: five fruits and vegetables per day, two hours of screen time, one hour of exercise and zero sugar-sweetened beverages.

Iowa’s new health and physical education standards, which are optional for schools, outline what a student should know and be able to do at each grade level. Frelund says like adults, kids who exercise report reduced anxiety, better sleep and improved blood sugar control. She notes there also are long-term cognitive benefits.

“Kids’ health is so important that it shouldn’t be something that we forget and make last on the list. Especially when you look at how physical activity and physical education can really impact, like, kids’ brains and the test scores and how they’re doing in some of their other classwork.”

The American Heart Association’s “Kids Heart Challenge” teaches elementary students the importance of keeping their heart healthy by participating in basketball, dance, obstacle-course activity and jumping rope. Funds raised through the program support scientific research and outreach programs.

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa appeals court has upheld a judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging a private jet flight Gov. Kim Reynolds and her family took to watch a football game when she was a candidate for governor. The Iowa Court of Appeals said in a ruling filed Wednesday that a state court judge was right to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Des Moines attorney Gary Dickey.

BONDURANT, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa school district won’t be getting nearly $900,000 it wanted to spend as part of this year’s budget, because officials have learned the budget was based in part on erroneous tax valuations from the county. The Des Moines Register reports that Facebook’s fourth data center building in Altoona is tax exempt. But the county included the $52.4 million building in tax base numbers given to the Bondurant-Farrar school district. Now the district won’t get the erroneous windfall.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — A second murder trial has begun for a southeast Iowa woman accused of the 1992 killing of her former boyfriend. The Muscatine Journal reports the trial began Tuesday in Muscatine for 56-year-old Annette Cahill, who was charged in May 2018 with first-degree murder in the beating death of Corey Lee Wieneke. Wieneke’s body was found in October 1992 on his bedroom floor in rural West Liberty. The first trial ended in a mistrial in March 2019. Cahill, of Tipton, has pleaded not guilty.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Investigators say a suspect has been killed in southeastern Iowa after fleeing from and shooting at law enforcement officers. The Division of Criminal Investigation says the man died early Wednesday at the Great River Medical Center. Police say the shooting occurred after Burlington police officers and a Des Moines County deputy responded to a call of shots fired.

The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education met Wednesday evening at the High School. During their session, Board member Alison Bruckner announced she would not be running for re-election to another 4-year term on the Board. Her current term expires this year. Bruckner said she’s enjoyed her past four-years, but she started working on obtaining her Doctorate of Education last year, which, along with her full-time job, takes up a great deal of her time. Earlier this summer, another Board Member, Dr. Keith Swanson announced he too, would not be running for re-election. It’s unclear whether School Board Member Jenny Williams will run for her seat on the Board. Swanson and Williams’ terms are up this year, also.

In other business, the Board approved a recommendation from Superintendent Steve Barber, to hire Bob Sweeney as Athletic Facilities Project Liaison between the district, contractors and sub-contractors, effective Sept. 26th, the date construction bids are to be opened. Sweeney will be paid $22.50 per hour or an estimated $20,000 for the duration of the project construction.

Superintendent Barber said a pre-bid conference meeting was held Tuesday with FRK Architects, two General Contractors (GC’s) and three Sub-Contractors, two of whom were local. In all three GC’s have taken physical documents and diagrams out for review, as well as other In- State and Out-of-State organizations. Some documents may also have been requested digitally.  The documents and diagrams lay-out the terms and project schematics for interested contractors, which enables them to better draw-up their bids for the Three-Phase Athletic Facilities Projects.

Board Secretary/District Finance Director Sarah Sheeder reported during the meeting, Wednesday, that the District is running close on their General Fund Line-Item Budget of $16.995-million, but she and Superintendent Barber are confident they can keep a tight reign on that part of the budget so they don’t hit $17-million.

Superintendent Barber said the District’s Official Enrollment Count begins Oct. 1st. He said their most recet review of the students the District is serving, shows a small decline in both the Certified Enrollment and number of Open enrolled-in students, with the ratio to open enrolled vs. Out a small increase. Those numbers are subject to change. He said also, and the other Administrators agreed, that the new student pick-up and drop-off system for Schuler and Washington Elementary students has been going very smooth, and their have been few complaints since the new driveway and parking lot were constructed this summer.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa appeals court has rejected a Des Moines attorney’s challenge to Gov. Kim Reynold’s use of a businessman’s private airplane, upholding previous rulings that Reynold’s use of the flights did no real harm and were allowed by Iowa law. The Iowa Court of Appeals said in a ruling filed Wednesday that a state court judge was right to dismiss the lawsuit filed by attorney Gary Dickey.

Dickey, a Democrat, filed a complaint last year with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, alleging Reynolds, a Republican, underestimated the value of the flight she and her family took to the Liberty Bowl in Tennessee in December 2017.

The jet was owned by Reynolds’s campaign contributor David North, CEO of a company that has a contract with the state. The board dismissed Dickey’s complaint, ruling the flights were allowable under Iowa’s gift law. Dickey appealed and a judge agreed with the dismissal. The appeals court says Dickey failed to show he suffered perceptible harm required by Iowa law to justify a court overturning the board’s decision.

Dickey says he will ask the Iowa Supreme Court to review the decision.

The Harlan Police Department reports two recent arrests. On Sunday, 47-year old Jody Kay Bails, of Audubon, was arrested following a traffic stop. Bails was transported to the Shelby County Jail where she was charged with operating while intoxicated, child endangerment, permitting unauthorized person to drive, operating a non-registered vehicle, and open container.

And on August 30th, 29-year old Cameron Stuart Cunningham, of Harlan, was arrested following a call for service. Cunningham was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with public intoxication and supplying alcohol to a minor.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case Tuesday where an Iowa City man says he should have been allowed to use the state’s “stand your ground” law in his defense in the fatal 2017 shooting at the pedestrian mall. The law was passed just a few months before Lamar Wilson shot and killed Kallek Wilson of Iowa City. Wilson was found guilty by a jury of voluntary manslaughter and other charges. Wilson’s attorney Melinda Nye, told the justices Wilson should have been given a hearing to determine if the “stand your ground” provision applied,

“The procedure that the court ultimately relied on resulted in a fundamentally unfair trial and an unfair hearing,” Nye said. Nye says if that pre-trial hearing had found the “stand your ground” provision applied, then Wilson should have received immunity from criminal prosecution. Justice Christopher McDonald questioned Nye’s argument.

“Immunity from damages, which is what the statute says,” Justice Christopher McDonald said. “It doesn’t say immunity from criminal liability or criminal conviction.” “The immunity applies to both the criminal liability and the civil liability,” Nye replied. Other justices asked how this type of pre-trial hearing would be different from the actual trial. Nye said it would be an evidentiary hearing, and the burden of proof would be on the defendant to prove they acted in self-defense.

Assistant State Attorney General Louis Sloven argued that the statute shouldn’t be interpreted to include immunity from criminal prosecution because that phrase was purposefully left out. “That language is not in this statute at all,” Sloven said. The justices discussed the wording of the law and Justice McDonald asked this question.

“This might be poor drafting?” Justice McDonald asked. “Maybe this language isn’t doing any work.” Nye said there isn’t a procedure for cases like this outlined in the statute simply because the statute didn’t exist before, but she added that procedure would be determined through decisions like this one. The justices heard the oral arguments at Muscatine High School. Chief Justice Mark Cady said the court would most likely come to a decision “months from now.” Wilson is serving a 24-year sentence.

(Radio Iowa) — New U.S. Census Bureau data shows the percentage of Iowans who lack health insurance remains among the lowest in the country. The state is ranked seventh best for having a 4.7 percent rate of people without health insurance in 2018 – the same percentage as the previous year. That’s about 148,000 uninsured Iowans.

Nationwide, the 2018 rate increased for the first time since 2009 with 27.5 million Americans without health insurance at any point during the year – up from 25.6 million the previous year. The data shows the shift was mainly driven by a decline in Medicaid coverage.