OSKALOOSA, IA (IRN) – The Mahaska County employee involved in a Tuesday tractor accident has died. KTVO-TV reports 54-year-old Jerry Barrickman was employed with the Mahaska County Secondary Roads Department. Barrickman was operating a county owned tractor near Beacon when he struck a farm building. He apparently suffered a brain aneurysm.

CRESTON, IA (IRN) – School administrators in southern Iowa have added additional punishment for five Creston high school students who appeared in a photo wearing white hoods and waving a Confederate flag next to a burning cross. The Creston News Advertiser reports that the five students were football players. Head coach Brian Morrison says the boys are off the team.

KEOKUK, IA (IRN) – The former owner of an Iowa-based boarding school has been arrested on sex and child abuse charges. KCRG-TV reports former Midwest Academy owner Benjamin Trane was booked Thursday at the Lee County Jail. Investigators raided the school’s Keokuk campus in January 2016 to investigate complaints that students faced physical, mental and sexual abuse. The school abruptly closed, sending nearly 100 students home and laying off 60 workers.

MASON CITY, IOWA (IRN) – Two people were killed in a Mason City crash Thursday, according to KIMT-TV. Police initiated a traffic stop, and a short high-speed chase followed. The driver of the vehicle lost control and struck a tree. Jerrick Rinnels was driving the vehicle when it crashed into the tree killing him and passenger, Jessica Herker. Both are from Mason City.

LITTLE WALL LAKE, IA (IRN) – A body has been recovered from Little Wall Lake in Hamilton County, according to KCCI-TV. The name of the victim has not yet been released. It’s unclear how the person died.

AMES, IA (IRN) – Iowa students are well below the national average when learning a foreign language. According to a recent study published by The American Councils for International Education, only 15 percent of K-12 graders in Iowa take a foreign language. The national average is 20 percent.