IOWA (IRN) – A new survey report says the Iowa farmland average values have dropped 1.7 percent in the past six months. The report from the Iowa Chapter of the Realtors Land Institute says the decline over the past six months left values at a little over $6,800 an acre. The report blamed the decline in part on tariffs that affected crop prices and on rising interest rates.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – An Associated Press review has found that Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds received approval from a state regulator to fly for free to Iowa State’s bowl game on a jet owned by a company that is a longtime state vendor. That’s despite a law barring public officials and their relatives from accepting gifts. Reynolds flew to Tennessee to watch the Cyclones play in the Liberty Bowl on a plane owned by Sedgwick, which administers workers’ compensation claims filed by injured state employees. The trip was approved by a ethics board member because Reynolds claimed it as a “campaign expense.”

NEWTON, IA (IRN) – A Newton couple is accused of sexually abusing runaway children and teenagers. KCCI-TV reports Zachary Morecock, 21, and Ariel Utterback, 22, are each facing ten counts of third degree sexual abuse.

SIOUX CITY, IA (IRN) – A former church treasurer in northwestern Iowa has pleaded guilty to defrauding the Bethel Lutheran Church in Graettinger of nearly $500,000 over 13 years. As part of a plea deal, 65-year-old Andrew Matheason admitted he wrote checks to himself and paid his credit card balances from church funds. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

DUBUQUE, IA (IRN) – The Dubuque public schools are considering moving back start times for middle and high school students. Across the nation, 300 districts in 44 states have moved secondary school start times to 8:30 a.m. or later. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says junior high and high school students should start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.