IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – State lawyers are admitting that an Iowa prison warden ordered a guard to stop shutting off movies that she felt had inappropriate violent and sexual content for inmates. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office released its response Monday to a lawsuit brought by Kristine Sink, a correctional officer at the Fort Madison prison.

Sink’s lawsuit describes how she’d complained about the practice of allowing mentally-ill sex offenders and murderers to watch programs with graphic violence and sex. She says superiors dismissed complaints about the movies, which aroused inmates and made them hostile.  The response denies that Sink’s superiors retaliated against her and failed to protect her safety. But it admits Warden Nick Ludwick ordered Sink in 2011 to “discontinue shutting off movies that have been screened and deemed appropriate for viewing.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Minimum pay for entry level teachers in Iowa would rise from $28,000 to $35,000 annually under a new education plan from Gov. Terry Branstad.  Branstad unveiled the proposal, which will need support from state legislators, on Monday. The plan also includes tuition assistance for some aspiring teachers and pay bumps for teachers who take on more responsibilities.

Branstad says the plan would cost $187 million over the next five years. It will be paid for through the state budget surplus of nearly $1 million.  Branstad called the plan “transformational reform” and expressed hope that it would receive support from legislators. Lawmakers begin the Iowa legislative session Monday, with Branstad set to release his full budget Tuesday.

A recent screening of 125 various shopping bags in a dozen states, including Iowa, found three bags contained high concentrations of lead. Iowa DNR Environmental Specialist Kathleen Hennings says – in past years – plastic bags found to be in noncompliance with laws associated with toxic metals in packaging were manufactured overseas. “This time, we got one from here in Iowa,” Hennings said. “That was a really big surprise to us, as it was to the manufacturer here in Iowa.” The shopping bag was manufactured in Des Moines, but it was the film supplier that was at fault for the lead.

Hennings said the bags were immediately removed from stores. “They’ve been gone, off the shelves, for a good year,” Hennings said. Toxic metals are regulated in packaging by 19 U.S. states, including Iowa. The metals are found in the inks used to print or color the bags and become a problem when the ultimately end up in the landfill. “Over time, that bag is going to break down, but heavy metals won’t. Those heavy metals are still going to be in the landfill for years and years, decades and decades,” Hennings said.

Overall, compliance has improved with state toxics in packaging laws. A screening project released in 2007 showed almost 17-percent noncompliance for plastic shopping bags.

(Radio Iowa)

Authorities in Red Oak are investigating an incident of vandalism. According to the police department, late Sunday morning, a Red Oak resident reported the driver’s side window of her 1996 Ford Taurus was broken, and shattered glass was on the ground as well as inside the vehicle. Also inside the car, was a brick. No arrests have been made in connection with the incident.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office today (Monday), issued its latest report on arrests and accidents. Officials say two people were arrested on Sunday, January 6th: 30-year old Joel Emil Terry, of Glenwood, was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense, and, 20-year old Miriah Leann Florence, of Hamburg, was arrested on a Child Endangerment charge.

On Saturday, Jan. 5th, deputies in Fremont County arrested 25-year old Lauren Michelle Delevan, of Iowa City, on charges of OWI/1st offense, and Speeding. 54-year old John Wesley Kalkas, of Shenandoah, was arrested Wed., January 2nd, for Trespassing, and Driving Under Suspension, and, on New Year’s Day, 47-year old Calvin Hugh Hayes, of Hamburg, was arrested for Disorderly Conduct and Public Intoxication.

Authorities also reported one accident in Fremont County. On Jan. 2nd, Michelle Nelson, of Omaha, suffered minor injuries during an accident at the intersection of Highway 2 and 211th Avenue. Officials say Nelson was driving a 2005 Ford and turning left onto Highway 2 from 211th, when her vehicle was struck by a 1995 Buick LeSabre heading west on Highway 2. Nelson was transported by a family member to Grape Community Hospital in Hamburg. The driver of the Buick, Hailey Hogrefe, of Sidney, was not injured.

(9-a.m. News)

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ONAWA, Iowa (AP) – Nebraska’s Omaha Tribe has reopened its flood-damaged Iowa casino under a new name and with plans for a new building.  Sioux City television station KCAU says the Blackbird Bend Casino greeted old and new customers when it reopened its doors Saturday. It was known as CasinOmaha when it was shut down by Missouri River flooding in June 2011.      Blackbird Bend is temporarily located in the old restaurant of CasinOmaha.

A new building will be built just southeast of the old casino and will be built six feet higher in case of future flooding.  The new casino will have more than 150 employees. Construction is scheduled to begin in March and take about 13 months.  The casino is situated near Onawa, between Omaha, Neb., and Sioux City.

Police in Red Oak say one person was arrested early Sunday afternoon on a burglary charge. 21-year-old Cody Keen Blystone, of Red Oak,  faces a charge of 3rd degree burglary. Blystone was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 bond.

Officials say Blystone was also arrested Saturday, on Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Interference with Official Acts, and Possession of Stolen Property charges.

Just because there’s snow on the ground in Iowa doesn’t mean the drought is over. Experts at the National Drought Mitigation Center are keeping a close eye on conditions across the Midwest this winter. Center spokesman Mark Svoboda says dry weather still plagues the region’s producers who desperately need to feed livestock. “Pasture, range and forage for livestock producers all across the heartland here and they’re coming off already two pretty bad summers especially in the Southern plains and there has been no chance for that pasture and range to recover and there hasn’t been precipitation to do that,” Svoboda says. “That doesn’t just pop right back in a couple of weeks. That can take years to recover.”

It’s still too early to know if the drought will continue well into 2013 but Svoboda says there are already some foreboding signs. “We’re not running with an abundance of precipitation over the fall period so that’s strike one,” Svoboda says. “Then you look at snow. Last year was a low snowpack year that fed the Missouri basin which feeds into the Mississippi. We had low snowpack across the Great Lakes where levels are very low, almost historically low, which feeds into the Mississippi. That was strike two, and so far this year, we’re seeing a repeat of that in a lot of ways.”

There has been a good amount of snowfall already this winter in some northern states, but he says we’ll need a lot of rain this spring or we’ll likely have a repeat of last year. Svoboda says the lack of snowfall for a second consecutive year will cause a lot of problems for some farmers, like wheat producers. “You want that snow not just for moisture but for insulating that crop, helping with emergence,” Svoboda says. “Back in the fall, we didn’t get a lot of widespread good rains to help with the emergence, so we had a lot of exposed soil that was blowing around in the fall, that was still a concern. Because of the lack of forage, they were bailing a lot of the cornstalks to get forage and feed. Without that on the field, you have less stuff to capture that snow when it does fall.”

A federal report last week found more than 60-percent of the country is still under drought conditions, including all of Iowa. That report also said it would take a total of eight-feet of snow this winter to overcome the drought by spring. The National Drought Mitigation Center is based in Lincoln, Nebraska.

(Radio Iowa)