DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines police are investigating a shooting at an elementary school’s parking lot Tuesday. KCCI-TV reports it was reported at Park Avenue Elementary. The man shot, 18-year-old Darrius Colter Jr., told police he knocked on three different doors before someone came outside and called 911. About 3-4 shots were heard by nearby residents. Colter told police he and friends went to buy marijuana from an unknown individual at the school.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IRN) – A White House invitation for U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley to discuss the current U.S. Supreme Current vacancy with President Barack Obama has so far gone unanswered, according to The Des Moines Register. Grassley, a Republican, is Iowa’s senior senator and chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He has vacillated in the past week over whether he would consider an Obama nominee to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia, but he issued a letter on Tuesday saying the committee would not hold confirmation hearings until after a new president take office in 2017.

WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – A mental health patient in the psychiatric ward at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo stole an ambulance and left the facility Tuesday, according to KWWL-TV. He was found shortly after having abandoned the ambulance. When police located him he was walking down a street trying to find an unlocked car. He’s back in custody.

OMAHA, NE (IRN) – A 43-year-old woman has been given jail time and told to make restitution for helping to steal cattle in Nebraska’s York County and selling them in southwestern Iowa. The York News-Times reports that Amy Springer was sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to pay nearly $1,800 to a feedlot owner in York County. Prosecutors say Springer and an accomplice stole two steers from the feedlot and sold them at a sale barn in Massena, Iowa.

WAUKEE, IA (IRN) – Some Waukee students will soon start their day a little differently. WHO-TV reports Monday night the school board decided to require all high school students to begin their day with the Pledge of Allegiance. The issue was brought up by a parent who questioned why the requirement only applied to students through tenth grade.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Roosevelt High School is now the first Des Moines public school to have gender-neutral restrooms. KCCI-TV reports two gender-neutral restrooms are now open in support of the LGBT community. Officials at the school say the restrooms are a part of a widespread effort to make students and staff feel accepted. The idea was put forth by student Zoe Wagner, who said students at the school come from all walks of life. Principal Kevin Biggs says that if the change can make an impact on even one person, then it’s worth it.