“The current river management policy needs fixing, and recent flooding makes that more urgent than ever,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican.

That sentiment is appealing in Midwestern states that have endured flooding along rivers the Corps of Engineers is charged with managing, but it may not be as popular with supporters of the Corps’ other priorities such as protecting endangered species.

Congress ordered the Corps to treat all eight of its priorities equally, meaning flood control and prevention takes no precedence over protecting endangered species.

Corps officials say they work to balance all the priorities and maximize the benefit to several when possible.

The Corps has also said that much of the water that caused the flooding in March came from rain and melting snow that flowed into the Missouri River downstream of all the dams it controls. At the same time, massive amounts of water were filling the reservoirs and some had to be released.

Mike Peluso, a longtime professional fisherman who runs an outdoors and guide service in North Dakota, said he doesn’t want to see management of the river “swayed one way or the other” for political reasons.

“They are more populated down south, I get that,” he said. “But it’s the same river regardless of whether or not you’ve got a million people or 100,000 people. It needs to be managed from the top down.”

He added, “I have a hard time believing with all the technology and brainpower we have we can’t find a balance there” between flood protection and other interests like recreation.

Greg Power, fisheries division chief for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said he believes the Corps does “a pretty good job” of managing the Missouri River system.

“Flood control is still a high priority within the Corps, I know that,” Power said. “Some of these water years are pretty incredible themselves and I would hate to be a Corps person, to be honest.”

Rep. Sam Graves, whose district includes the northwestern Missouri area ravaged by flooding in March, introduced a bill this month that would remove fish and wildlife as an authorized management priority on the Missouri River and make flood control the highest priority. The bill would require revision of the Missouri River Master Manuel within 90 days of enactment.

“Time and again, we continue to see fish and birds take precedence over people and property when it comes to managing the Missouri River,” Graves, a Republican, said in a statement. “This latest round of flooding has devastated communities up and down the river. We already know that the management practices are contributing to it.”

After touring flood damage last month in northwestern Missouri, Sen. Roy Blunt said the Corps “should be prioritizing flood control, navigation, and drinking water.

“Environmental concerns are a part of that discussion, but the priority should always be on protecting people and property,” said Blunt, a Republican also from Missouri.

Lawmakers say residents are telling them the same thing. At a meeting last week with mid-Missouri farmers and levee district officials, Rep. Vicky Hartzler, another Missouri Republican, was told repeatedly that flood control needs to be the Corps’ top river priority.

Robert Criss, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis who has been studying flooding for more than two decades, said there may be a more important factor than how the Corps’ priorities are ranked.

The Missouri River has been made narrower over the years, Criss said, and the Corps has worked to maintain a defined channel for barge traffic even though few barges ever cross the river near Iowa and Nebraska.

“We’re having this problem because we messed with the rivers too much,” Criss said.

The Missouri River used to be a wide waterway with wetlands and numerous channels running alongside each other. That allowed floodwaters to spread out and cause fewer problems. Criss said the modern river forces the floodwater into a narrow channel restricted by levees that speeds up the flow and increases damage.

“The only way to make this river stop behaving so badly is to widen it out,” Criss said.

A city news release says Brent Clark and Mayor Roger Steele mutually agreed to end Clark’s employment. The release says Clark has “chosen to explore other opportunities.”

Clark declined to comment when reached by phone on Tuesday. Steele says he can’t talk about the situation because it’s a personnel matter. But he told The Grand Island Independent that “we both agreed there was a difference in management priorities and styles.”

Steele intends to have City Attorney Jerry Janulewicz serve as interim city administrator.

Clark was city administrator in Broken Bow before joining Grand Island to replace Marlan Ferguson when he retired.

The FBI said Sol Pais, 18, is “considered to be extremely dangerous” and “made threats to commit an act of violence in the Denver metropolitan area” just days before the 20th anniversary of the attack that killed 13 people.

All schools in the Denver area were urged to tighten security because the threat was deemed “credible and general,” said Patricia Billinger, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety. Columbine and more than 20 other schools outside Denver lock their doors for nearly three hours Tuesday afternoon before Wednesday’s complete closures were announced.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI say Pais traveled to Colorado from Miami on Monday night and bought a pump-action shotgun and ammunition.

Denver Public Schools said that all facilities and programs will be closed Wednesday, and there will be no afternoon activities or athletic competitions. The district said the decision to close campuses was in collaboration with other Denver metro-area school districts due to the ongoing safety concern.

On Tuesday, some schools released their students after additional security was called in and canceled evening activities or moved them inside.

“We always have heightened awareness close to high-profile anniversaries like this,” Billinger said.

Authorities said Pais was last seen near Columbine — in the Jefferson County foothills outside Denver — wearing a black T-shirt, camouflage pants and black boots. They appealed for anyone seeing her to call an FBI tip line at 303 630-6227, and said she is too dangerous to be approached by civilians. The alert also said police who come into contact with her should detain her and evaluate her mental health.

“This has become a massive manhunt … and every law enforcement agency is participating and helping in this effort,” Dean Phillips, special agent in charge of the FBI in Denver, said late Tuesday night.

The FBI’s Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force issued a notice Tuesday describing Pais as “infatuated with (the) Columbine school shooting.”

Sheriff’s spokesman Mike Taplin said the threats she made were general and not specific to any school.

The Denver Post reported that a call to a phone number listed for Pais’ parents in Surfside, Florida, was interrupted by a man who identified himself as an FBI agent and said he was interviewing them.

Surfside Police Sgt. Marian Cruz confirmed that her parents last saw her on Sunday and reported her missing on Monday. The Miami Herald and WTVJ are reporting that neighbors say the teen is a senior at Miami Beach High School.

The Associated Press left messages at two numbers listed for Pais’ relatives in Florida, while another number was disconnected.

Two teenage gunmen attacked Columbine on April 20, 1999, killing 12 classmates and a teacher.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man wanted in the 2016 shooting death of a man in Mississippi has been arrested more than 700 miles away in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The U.S. Marshals Service says in a news release that its Metro Fugitive Task Force arrested 25-year-old Stephon Clay, of Clarksdale, Mississippi, on Monday night in Lincoln. Members of the Lincoln and Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force and the Lincoln Police Department helped in the arrest.

Clay is suspected in the March 19, 2016, shooting death of 22-year-old Steven Harris in Clarksdale.

A news release from police says the helicopter, Able-1, had just left its base at Omaha North Airport when the emergency happened.

Police say the pilots took immediate action and landed in an open field just northwest of the airport. No one was injured.

The department still has two other aircraft. Police say the helicopter that made the emergency landing was a military-acquired Bell OH58.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.