DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The chairman of the state’s Public Employment Relations Board says aides to Gov. Terry Branstad pressured the board to hire a friend of the administration in the latest accusation that top government officials pushed to fill government positions with allies. Board Chairman Jim Riordan told the Senate Government Oversight Committee Thursday that Branstad’s former chief of staff, Jeff Boeyink, and current staff attorney, Brenna Findley, threatened the board with budget cuts if it didn’t make the hire. The board hired former Judge Robert Wilson to be an administrative law judge.

Questioned by reporters, Branstad flatly denied the claims and accused Riordan, who hasn’t been reappointed by the governor, of making false accusations. Riordan, a former Democratic state senator, will be replaced by a Republican confirmed Wednesday by the Senate.

AMES, Iowa (AP) – A task force has been formed to determine if an annual celebration at Iowa State University should continue in the future following a large crowd disturbance near campus. University President Steven Leath announced the 20-member group Thursday. Tom Hill, senior vice president for student affairs, will lead it. The group includes student leaders and staff, as well as the mayor of Ames and the police chief.

Plans for the task force were announced shortly after a crowd disturbance this month near campus. People gathered during the multi-day Veishea celebration are accused of overturning cars and toppling light poles. One student was injured. The disturbance led to Veishea’s suspension this school year. The group will study the celebration’s history and offer recommendations to Leath before the end of June.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on Wednesday of an Anita man. 36-year old Shawn Joseph Williamson faces a charge of Driving Under Suspension. Williamson was taken to the Cass County Jail where he was released later that day on $300 bond.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports a Clarinda woman was transported to the hospital following a single-vehicle accident that occurred Tuesday afternoon near Clarinda. 26-year old Kahla Morrison suffered unknown/possible injuries after the 1997 Ford Taurus she was driving went out of control on a curve and slid into a ditch.

The accident happened at around 12:30-p.m., as she was traveling east on 150th Street and attempting to negotiate the curve northbound. Morrison was able to get out of her car and walk about a mile. She denied any pain, but was transported by Clarinda Ambulance to the Clarinda Hospital.

The car sustained $2,500 damage. Morrison was cited for Failure to hold a valid license.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The overall index for an economic survey of bankers in 10 Midwestern and Plains states has risen for a second consecutive month, suggesting more growth in the months ahead.  The Rural Mainstreet Index hit 53.2 in April, compared with 50.1 in March. The survey indexes range from 0 to 100, with 50 representing growth neutral. A score above 50 suggests growth in the months ahead.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the results indicate that areas highly dependent on agriculture and energy are experiencing slower growth than they were a year ago. But he says recent increases in commodity prices should boost the economy in the months ahead.

Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The assistant director of the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy will retire after facing months of criticism for making inappropriate sexual and threatening remarks to female cadets and colleagues.  A letter released Thursday to The Associated Press shows 71-year-old Michael Quinn will retire June 30. The move comes after Senate Democrats held him up as an example of personnel mismanagement by Republican Gov. Terry Branstad’s administration.

Quinn was the subject of reports by the AP last year showing that he was allowed to keep his job despite a state investigation that found he violated anti-discrimination and violence-free workplace policies.

The investigation found that he made remarks to cadets and employees about his testicles and his sex life and told one subordinate that he would “slit your throat” if she acted up.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has rejected a Sioux City riverboat casino’s challenge to renew its gaming license, and has set July 1 as the deadline for the gambling boat to shut down.  Penn National Gaming, the parent company of the Argosy riverboat casino, had challenged the commission’s decision last year to reject a one-year license renewal.

The commission said it had issue with the Argosy’s dissolving partnership with a nonprofit group. Iowa’s casino gambling laws require casino operators to partner with licensed nonprofit groups that hold the license. Argosy’s operating agreement with its long-standing nonprofit, Missouri River Historical Development, expired in July 2012.

Following the commission’s decision Thursday, Penn National officials released a statement saying they were “beyond dismayed” by the decision.

A meeting between a local historian group and township trustees was held Wednesday evening in Shelby County to discuss a pioneer cemetery. The Grove Township Trustees and the Western Iowa Pioneer Cemetery Association or WIPCA held a group session at the Fire Hall in Earling with Shelby County Supervisor Steve Kenkel as the moderator. The meeting was to gather the two groups together in order to find a solution to the Doyle Pioneer Cemetery in rural Shelby County.

WIPCA has been working on cleaning up rural cemeteries throughout Shelby and Harrison County with the Doyle being one of them. However, the pioneer cemetery does not have a road to it so the association is only able to get to the cemetery when crops are not planted in the fields surrounding the cemetery. The first item on the agenda was the maintenance schedule for the cemetery. Kenkel said the trustees’ budget was set for this year but there is money to be had in order to keep up the maintenance at the Doyle. Trustee Mike Tremel agreed.

“When I came into this thing, there was no money to be spent. My son and I use to mow those two north cemeteries and they knocked us down from three mowing to two a year five to ten years ago. We were thinking there was no money to be had but now that we know there is money, we will mow it more often.”

The discussion then moved on to the boundaries of the cemetery and where the fence will be placed. The trustees are currently working with the landowners on where the outlining area is for the cemetery. The biggest topic was in regards to gaining access to the pioneer cemetery during the whole year as oppose to twice a year as it is now. Kenkel then laid the ground work on options for an access lane to the cemetery. The first was leasing a portion of land from the landowners but he said the landowners were not interested. “The main two reasons they are not interested in that is: one liability and two, they don’t think it’s a long term solution. And that’s really our goal here.”

The supervisor also stated he had talked with the landowners about purchasing land and one would be interested in selling a half an acre for a lane from Highway 37 into the Doyle Cemetery. During the meeting, Kenkel walked the group through what it would take in order for the lane to be established. In the report, the total cost would be between $20-30,000 for the half acre, new fencing, creating an approach off the highway, new gates at the cemetery and installing a drop tube culvert and berm over the washout area. Kenkel said this plan would be something WIPCA could discuss and possibly implement in the fall.

“And we are going to be looking at this fall to a year from now as a timeframe when this could maybe get done and implemented. So it gives us some time to work on this, if that’s what you (WIPCA) want to look at.” As a 501© (3) organization, WIPCA would have the opportunity to apply for and receive grant funding from organizations such as Shelby County Community Foundation and the Iowa West Foundation. WIPCA members said at the end of the meeting they will take the information provided and discuss amongst themselves as to what their next step. More information regarding the Doyle Cemetery will be released at a later date.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

A Nebraska man was injured during a single-vehicle rollover accident near Atlantic, just before 5:30 this (Thursday) morning. Cass County Chief Deputy Sheriff John Westering says 25-year old Michael J. Schrader, of Lincoln, NE, was driving a 2001 Chevy Impala registered to Steven Barbier, of Omaha, when the accident happened. Westering said the car was traveling south on Highway 6 about 3-miles south of Lansing Road, when Schrader swerved to miss a dog.

The German Shepherd, which belongs to Schrader, had gotten away from him earlier. He told authorities he had taken the dog for a walk when it got away from him. He was driving the car in an attempt to find it.

When the dog  ran out of the ditch in front of the car, Schrader swerved to avoid hitting the animal. The vehicle crossed the road and entered the east ditch before rolling onto its top. Schrader suffered minor injuries and was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Atlantic Police located the uninjured dog about a half-hour later. The car sustained about $3,500 damage during the accident. No charges will be filed.

Some climate change activists blame at least part of the planet’s weather problems on methane gas emissions from livestock. The Obama administration is ordering the U-S-D-A and the E-P-A to create a bio-gas roadmap to find ways to reduce those emissions. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the roadmap is a questionable notion and he’s writing a letter to Gina McCarthy, the head of the E-P-A.  “The roadmap is intended to reduce dairy sector greenhouse gas emissions through voluntary strategies by 25% by 2020,” Grassley says. “My questions for Administrator McCarthy center on the impact the plan has on the average U.S. dairy farms.”

Grassley, a Republican, says much of our country’s midsection was populated by some 600-million buffalo when pioneers first began settling in the region and there wasn’t a greenhouse gas problem back then. “You’ve gotta’ have a historical approach,” Grassley says. “Are you going to put diapers on cows? I don’t think so. I don’t think you’re going to shut down cows from producing methane gas. That’s the way God made ’em.” The plan calls on livestock producers to make changes that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions voluntarily, but Grassley remains skeptical of the motives.

“It’s hard to forget only a couple of years ago, this administration was trying to push Cap & Trade through Congress,” Grassley says. “It seems only right to be suspicious of the administration’s intentions. All you’ve got to do is look at fugitive dust as another example.” Dust can be stirred up during routine farming and that so-called “fugitive dust” was labeled by some as air pollution responsible for a host of negative impacts on human health, eroding the soil, strangling plants and causing reduced visibility that leads to traffic accidents.

(Radio Iowa)