(Radio Iowa) — A plan to provide 22 million dollars in scholarships, paid internships and other incentives to students in the “STEM” fields of science, technology, engineering and math is under development at the statehouse. Republican Representative Brian Best of Glidden says in addition to helping students get four-year degrees, it will help finance short-term training programs, too. “It’s just such a ‘no-brainer,'” Best says. “They can get a skill in one to two years, come out of a community college with very little debt and be making a good wage. That’s why I’m really excited about what ‘Future Ready Iowa’ does.”

The so-called “Future Ready” initiative is the top legislative priority of Republican Governor Kim Reynolds. While the outline for the initiative has been in place since last year, there’s been no funding to pass along to students. Representative Chris Hall, a Democrat from Sioux City, says both Democrats and Republicans recognize the state must spend more to address the workforce shortage. “But we should also be doing so in a way that is just not rebranding programs or shuffling dollars that already exist and claiming victory by continuing something that’s already underway, but just marketing it differently,” Hall says.

The governor has said her “Future Ready Iowa” goal is to have 70 percent of Iowa workers earn a college degree or advanced training after they finish high school. Just 58 percent of Iowa workers between the ages of 25 and 64 have met those goals today.

Officials with the Burlington Northern-Sante Fe Railroad have confirmed a BNSF train derailed near Shenandoah, Tuesday. According to reports, a wheel of the train slipped off the track, causing a locomotive to become detached from three rail cars.The incident happened on tracks on near Porters Lake off Highway 48. A Shenandoah Police officer reportedly contacted BNSF officials regarding the derailment. No other details are currently available. Crews are working to repair the wheel and get the train back on the tracks by this evening, according to BNSF.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An April sentencing is scheduled for an eastern Iowa school nurse accused of having sex with a 16-year-old student. Linn County District Court records say 47-year-old Angela Beik, of Marion, entered an Alford plea Monday to a charge of sexual exploitation by a school employee. In an Alford plea, a person doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a likely conviction.
Her sentencing is set for April 23.

Beik was the school nurse at Linn-Mar High School in Marion and also employed at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. Police began an investigation of Beik last March. They’d learned that state officials were checking a report that Beik told fellow St. Luke’s nurses that she’d had consensual sex with the boy. They reported the conversation to officials.

(Radio Iowa) — A three-member Senate panel has unanimously advanced Governor Kim Reynolds’ proposal that would expand access to birth control in Iowa. The bill would let Iowa women get birth control pills and some other forms of contraception directly from a pharmacist. Patients would still have to go through a health screening and might be referred to a doctor. Jodi Tomlonovic is director of the Family Planning Council of Iowa.  “We think this is a good step forward and adds to our ability of women, in particularly in the more rural parts of the state, to access birth control,” she said.

Kathryn Kueter of Concerned Women For America, says a woman’s health could be harmed if she takes the wrong dosage of birth control. “We’re also concerned about the lack of accountability this bill provides since there’s no liability for the pharmacist,” she said. “And we think there needs to be some accountability on those fronts.”

Senator Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa, the Republican in charge of guiding the bill through the senate, says she wouldn’t be supporting it if she thought it would endanger women’s health. Miller-Meeks is the former director of the Iowa Department of Public Health. A three-member House subcommittee is scheduled to consider a similar proposal tomorrow (Thursday).

Police in Red Oak conducted a traffic stop in the vicinity of N. Broadway and W. Reed Streets, at around 8:40-p.m., Tuesday. As the result of the stop, 25-year old Shilo J. Major, of Red Oak, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension, with three withdrawals in effect. Major was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on bond amounting to slightly more than $566.