(Radio Iowa) — Iowa’s Attorney General says Iowa is part of an agreement to that will give 143 former students of I-T-T Tech debt relief from some of their students loans. The leader of the A-G’s Consumer Protection Division, Jessica Whitney, says they have been investigating the now bankrupt school for years.  “We were concerned about this loan program for starters and some other just general concerns we had with for profit colleges. And so we had been looking into them — and once they went bankrupt we knew they had this outstanding loan program and outstanding debt for Iowans, and we just wanted to try and address that,” Whitney says.

She says loans that total more than one-point-three million dollars will be forgiven. Whitney says they had concerns about how the credit union service organizations or CUSO handled the loans with students. She says they didn’t tell students about the cost of the loans and they believe the students didn’t realize they were taking out private loans with interest rates of 16 and 17 percent — and then they were graduating and not getting quite the jobs or salaries they were promised. Whitney says the settlement helps ease some of the burden from the students. “Especially these super high interest private loans. We hope that it helps students because they were still seeking to collect these. We hope that it gives students some relief,” according to Whitney.

She says any former I-T-T Tech students with the loans will be notified. “Officials should be reaching out — and if students have questions — we have been working closely with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And students can contact them if they haven’t heard in say a month or so,” Whitney says. She says the number students can call is: 855-411-2372. The settlement also requires the CUSO to supply credit reporting agencies with information to update credit information for affected borrowers. Iowa is one of 44 states involved in the settlement with 18-thousand-664 former I-T-Y students nationwide who will get loan relief.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa health coach accused of defrauding dozens of people who lost more than $6.5 million by investing in a gym program has taken a plea deal. U.S. District Court records say 49-year-old Mark Blankespoor pleaded guilty Friday to one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors dropped 23 more counts in return for his plea. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 24.

Prosecutors say Blankespoor told investors from at least May 2013 through this past January that the medically oriented program would be licensed to fitness clinics nationwide and that investors could earn a 40 percent return on their money. But prosecutors say Blankespoor instead used their money for himself and to pay other investors.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The director of the Iowa Department of Human Services says he resigned at the request of Gov. Kim Reynolds. Jerry Foxhoven released a statement Monday afternoon saying he’d submitted his resignation at the request of the governor and that it was an honor to serve as director of the agency. Neither Reynolds nor Foxhoven gave a reason for the change.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police investigating the shooting deaths of four family members in a Des Moines suburb are classifying three of the deaths as homicides and one as a suicide. West Des Moines police said Monday that autopsies showed 44-year-old Chandrasekhar Sunkara’s death was a suicide. The deaths of his wife, 41-year-old Lavanya Sunkara, and their boys ages 15 and 10 were homicides. Relatives who were staying as guests at the home discovered the bodies Saturday. Police didn’t release details about the deaths.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has almost completed work to close three of the most serious levee breaches on the Missouri River in southwest Iowa. Matthew Krajewski is readiness branch chief for the Corps’ Omaha district. Krajewski says four of about 40 breaches needed urgent attention after the flooding in March and May, and three of those should be closed Monday. The levees needing urgent repair were designed to protect Council Bluffs, Bartlett, Percival and Hamburg.

UNDATED (AP) — Medication withheld, cries for help ignored, routine checks neglected: With suicides a problem in many jails across the U.S., an AP/Capital News Service examination raises troubling questions about whether deaths could have been avoided with more training, better technology and fewer broken rules. What are authorities doing to stop these tragedies? Some are adding staff and changing policies, but one expert says jails are unfairly being asked to become mental health and drug treatment centers.