Iowa school superintendents proposal delayed; Branstad says gun law changes unlikely; more

Iowa school superintendents proposal delayed

DES MOINES (AP) ? The state Board of Educational Examiners wants more time to discuss a proposal that would let business and military leaders become Iowa school superintendents.

The Des Moines Register says a March 14 work session on the proposal was scheduled by the board at Thursday?s meeting. Iowa Education Department staffers also were asked to prepare other proposals for creating alternative paths for superintendents.

Currently, only licensed educators may become superintendents.

Under the proposal, people with five years of recent experience in the ?upper cabinet or leadership team of an organization? would be eligible for preliminary administrator licenses. That would let them serve as school superintendents or the directors of Area Education Agencies.

They then would be required to spend the next three years completing courses for professional administrator licenses.

Branstad says gun law changes unlikely in Iowa

DES MOINES (AP) ? Gov. Terry Branstad says he doesn?t expect to see any significant changes to Iowa?s gun laws.

Speaking today during a taping of the public television program, ?Iowa Press,? Branstad stressed his support of the second amendment. He says violence in schools would be addressed through anti-bullying programs and his effort to reform the state?s mental health system.

President Barack Obama this week proposed a major overhaul of the nation?s gun laws, including renewing a ban on assault weapons, limiting high-capacity ammunition magazines and requiring background checks for all gun buyers. His proposal came after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Iowa says little movement of invasive insect

DES MOINES (AP) ? Agriculture officials say there?s little movement in northeast Iowa of an invasive insect known for killing ash trees.

The Iowa Emerald Ash Borer Team says final results from surveillance efforts in 2012 show little movement from the emerald ash borer. Two traps last year indicated the metallic green beetles had moved inland from the Mississippi River.

The insect was spotted in 2010 on Henderson Island in the Mississippi River in Allamakee County. The latest data shows the insects are still in Allamakee County but no longer on the island.

The county has been under a federal and state quarantine since 2010. It prohibits the movement of such items like firewood, ash nursery stock and ash timber.

Iowa man files sex abuse lawsuit against Scouts

DES MOINES (AP) ? A lawsuit alleging childhood sex abuse has been filed against the Boy Scouts of America, the Des Moines-based Mid-Iowa Council, and a former Scout leader.

The lawsuit filed today in Polk County District Court named the scouting organizations and Kenneth L. Newell, who now lives in Cedar Rapids.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of an unnamed victim alleges sexual abuse when he was member of a West Des Moines troop. He was then 12 and 13. He is now in his 40s and lives in central Iowa. The abuse allegedly occurred in 1977 or 1978.

Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith says he can?t comment on active litigation.

A telephone number for Newell could not immediately be located. Newell has never been criminally charged in the alleged abuse.