Gomers -- What's going wrong

TROUBLE WITH THE BOOKS: Two years ago, the Iowa Association of School Boards' image was tarred by reports of excessive executive compensation and alleged misuse of public money. The IASB's president resigned and its top administrator was fired. Legislators mandated open books for the IASB, which receives about $6 million annually from school districts to provide financial, legal and administrative services. Some districts dropped the IASB services after the reports surfaced. Yet a recent audit shows the IASB is still struggling to provide accurate financial statements and implement sufficient measures to prevent and detect fraud. The new controller promises that the problems are being addressed. Why does it take so long?

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CORN BELT BEWARE: New research by scientists at Stanford and Purdue universities and financed by the U.S. Department of Energy predict that global warming will sock it to the Corn Belt states. They predict that farmers in Iowa and other nearby states will find it increasingly difficult to grow corn within the next couple of decades unless varieties tolerant to more frequent heat waves can be developed.

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