While the number of grain elevators nationwide has dropped by more than 2,000 in the past 25 years, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture grain stocks reports, Ely's grain elevator in Nebraska has stood since 1896. It’s helped sustain the local farming community for generations and grown its operation, even as its town of Guide Rock has lost residents and businesses.

Now, in a year of market uncertainty and grain surplus, the elevator is growing again.

This year’s supply is predicted to surpass traditional upright grain storage capacity in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, according to a CoBank analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Ely’s, along with other elevators in the region, is setting up temporary storage to make up for the shortage. And, low crop prices are expected to delay sales, prolonging storage needs.

The USDA is projecting a record-breaking corn harvest and a higher-than-expected soybean yield per acre. John Ely, the elevator’s fourth-generation owner, said favorable weather conditions in the Midwest and increased corn acres have pushed production even higher.

Read more.

Since Congress has not agreed on a spending bill, federal funding for SNAP will run out soon. Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who represents Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, introduced a bill that would fund the program until Congress reopens the government. She says it would cost roughly $9 billion a month.

“As the shutdown persisted, we wanted to allow Americans and children to receive SNAP benefits and to provide access to emergency funds, and also, importantly, to give the Secretary of Agriculture authority to restore missed benefits,” Miller-Meeks said.

Miller-Meeks said Democrats are holding the government hostage by demanding an extension of enhanced premium tax credits for people who buy health coverage through an Affordable Care Act marketplace. Those tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year.

Aaron Brecht, with the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program, said demand at the Cedar Rapids food bank has increased since it became clear SNAP benefits would run out in November.

“People are going to need food and we’re trying to address that as much as we can. So one of the ways is to purchase more inventory,” Brecht said. “All of us are tipping over every can to see where there might be more food donations.”

Brecht said one of the food bank’s partner agencies saw around 20 walk-in customers in the last week, up from around six in a normal week.

It is peak pumpkin season. From pumpkin spice lattes to pumpkin pies, our love affair with this orange gourd is bigger than ever. But few people devote more time and attention to them than the thriving community of Midwestern growers raising giant pumpkins.

These often-amateur horticulturists work in their patches for hours a day to grow the heaviest pumpkins possible. They do it for the love of growing, for the smile pumpkins put on people’s faces, and – for the elite – even a bit of money.

Joe Adkins has won the Illinois Giant Pumpkin Growers Association's annual weigh-off – along with the $1,000 cash prize – multiple years in a row. Last year, he also cracked a personal milestone: his first 2,000 pound pumpkin.

During the summer growing season when pumpkins can pack on more than 50 pounds in a single day, caring for these behemoths is basically a full-time job.

“It's literally like four or five hours a day,” Adkins said. “I've got a schedule on Sundays and Tuesdays, I do about eight hours, and all the rest of the days, I have to do a minimum of two to four hours.”

Growers like Adkins hone their craft for years, hoping to someday hit the perfect combination of the best seed in the best soil in the best weather and land the white whale: a world record-setting pumpkin.

Read more.

A soybean disease with no cure yet has reached Minnesota for the first time.

Red Crown Rot broke into the Midwest in Illinois in 2018. It has since been detected in Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin.

It’s a fungus that rots soybeans' roots, creating a toxin that destroys the bean's leaves. So far, scientists haven't found a way to stop it.

Dean Malvick, a University of Minnesota Extension specialist, said his team doesn't yet know how the disease spreads or where it could be next.

“That's one of the challenges. If we knew exactly how it's spreading, we could focus our efforts more in that way, but we don't know yet,” he said.

Malvick said because Red Crown Rot was detected in Minnesota in the fall, it gives his team time to study it and prepare for the spring planting season.

Alex Watters, a northwest Iowa city council member and disability advocate, said he isn’t running for reelection, in part because of the current political climate.

He said things have changed since he was first appointed to the Sioux City City Council in 2017.

“You're seeing inflamed dialogue and people, you know, making claims that they can't back up or coming to city council meetings and being unruly and unreasonable,” Watters said. “The disrespect that we are really experiencing in, not only political discourse, but just conversations today, is very different than when I started eight years ago.”

Two other council members, Dan Moore and Matthew O’Kane, will not be on the ballot next Tuesday. This means a majority of the Sioux City Council will be new.

A spinal cord injury left Watters a quadriplegic in his first year of college. He said he plans to continue advocating for people with disabilities.

A district court judge issued an injunction Friday preventing the removal of materials from the State Historical Society’s research library in Iowa City. The decision is the result of a lawsuit filed by 17 historians and donors of historical artifacts.

Judge Kevin McKeever also denied a request from the Department of Administrative Services and the State Historical Society to dismiss the case.

The Department of Administrative Services is seeking to close the Iowa City facility because of an $800,000 budget shortfall. But, historians and former employees say Historical Society buildings in Des Moines lack the space to house all the artifacts, and they worry parts of the collection could be privatized or destroyed.

Earlier this month, Iowa Prison Industries workers were seen loading boxes from the Iowa City building onto a truck.

Iowa’s state climatologist is helping cover some of the gaps left by the government shutdown. Justin Glisan said the National Weather Service continues to prioritize protecting life and property despite the shutdown and recent budget cuts that also include the USDA.

“Morale is low and you put on top of this the government shutdown, these are professionals and they do their job whether they get paid or not,” Glisan said.

He said some National Weather Service employees have been furloughed, and he has been helping fill media requests and provide data for the weekly crop report. Fortunately, Glisan said, the weather has been calm this fall.

Glisan made his comments during IPR’s River to River.

Multiple bomb threats caused some school districts in Iowa to dismiss school early Friday morning.

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office received a computer-generated voicemail saying bombs were placed within schools. Schools in Alburnett and Algona also received emails with threats.

Major Chad Colston with the Linn County Sheriff’s Office said the threats are most likely a hoax and that the schools may have been randomly selected from a list.
“We probably have something that's dialing up just through the phonebook and are trying to create panic and fear,” Colston said.

The sheriff’s office is cooperating with the State Fire Marshal Division and FBI to investigate the threats.

School activities are expected to continue Friday evening and over the weekend.

Iowa’s state climatologist predicted the state will see more snowfall this winter.

Justin Glisan said that a weak La Niña system is bringing colder surface temperatures to the Pacific, which means warmer weather in the fall. But when looking at data from the past decades, this usually means more snowfall in the winter.

Iowa saw the 25th warmest and driest September on record, so Glisan said precipitation would be welcome.

“That's why a snowpack is important. Last winter, we were in a strong El Niño, so the reverse of where we are now,” he explained on IPR’s River to River.

Glisan said he would also like to see a wet November to give the soil some moisture before a hard freeze. The statewide average for snowfall for December through February is 22 inches.

Glisan said Iowa could also see more cold-air outbreaks in late January and into February, paired with higher-intensity snowfall systems. 

Saturday is National Take Back Day, where individuals can safely drop off unused prescription drugs.

Gina Roberts, a crime prevention officer with the Sioux City Police Department, said it will have two drop-off locations on Saturday. She said all drop-offs are anonymous and no records are kept of who drops off what medications.

During the last National Take Back Day, Roberts said the police department took in more than 100 pounds of prescription drugs.

“We’re collecting tablets, capsules, patches and other solid forms of prescription drugs,” she said.

The department also accepts vaping devices if the batteries have been removed. It will not accept liquids, syringes or sharp objects.

The Sioux City drop-off event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Find a take back location in your area at the Drug Enforcement Administration’s website.

Engineers at Iowa State University are developing a computer game to help Polk County emergency responders practice thinking on their feet in crisis situations. 

In the game, players are assigned to different roles, like firefighters, paramedics or county emergency managers. In the version ISU is developing, a derecho rolls through an urban setting. Players then have to make decisions about how to respond and effectively allocate resources. 

Cameron MacKenzie, an ISU engineering professor leading the project, said the game gives county departments an immersive, yet flexible training option. 

“That’s more or less the overall goal of what Polk County wants to achieve with it, is creating a different type of training tool that’s engaging, that’s perhaps easier to conduct, logistically, than some of these large-scale exercises.”

MacKenzie said people running the game can make it more challenging by adjusting different variables, like the number of ambulances available.

The National Science Foundation is supporting the project through a $700,000 grant.

Voters in Black Hawk, Johnson and Story counties are suing the state of Iowa over a new law that requires them to elect their county supervisors by district. A state law passed earlier this year requires counties with a public university to elect their supervisors by district instead of at-large.

Now, a group of 14 residents in each of the three counties are saying the law is unconstitutional since it targets the rights of voters in specific counties. They claim the new law delegitimizes student voices and people who live in counties with public universities based solely on where they live.

Proponents say it gives a voice to rural Iowans who live in counties with large student populations.

Across the three counties, there is only one Republican supervisor. 

The lawsuit also names Gov. Kim Reynolds, Secretary of State Paul Pate and each of the county’s boards of supervisors as defendants. The group is asking the court to declare the law unconstitutional and prevent it from being enforced. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a plan Wednesday aimed at increasing cattle herd sizes by expanding grazing on government lands and reducing red tape. But it was overshadowed by the Trump administration’s plan to quadruple Argentine beef imports, a move that is strongly opposed by rural lawmakers and farm groups.

Justin Tupper, director of the National Cattlemen’s Association and a cattle rancher in South Dakota, said domestic producers won’t see the upside of the administration’s plan.

“The only people that are going to benefit is the ‘Big Four’ packers, who are the importers — two of them foreign-owned. They’re going to buy it in a very depressed market. Brazil and Argentine beef is way cheaper right now than our domestic is now,” he said.

Tupper said the packers will buy foreign beef at lower prices from South America before selling it in the U.S., where beef prices are at an all-time high. The prices in the U.S. have been pushed up due to drought and the smallest cattle herd size in 75 years.

Read more from Harvest Public Media’s Molly Ashford.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained an 18-year-old Des Moines high school student last month when he attended a routine immigration check-in. The student was then deported to Central America two weeks later, according to Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice.

Some members of the nonprofit, which provides advocacy and legal services to immigrants, went with the student to his appointment on Sept. 30 to protect him. When they realized ICE had detained him, spokesperson Elena Casillas-Hoffman said the community reacted with anger.

“This was so unjust. They did not expect for this high school student to be ripped from them, to be deported in the manner that it was, and in the quick manner that it was,” she said.

Casillas-Hoffman said the student helped care for his guardian’s children, and because of his deportation, his guardian is struggling to provide for her family. According to his guardian, the student was abandoned by his parents when he was little and came to Iowa seeking safety and a chance to reunite with his family.

A suspected serial killer who was considered a person of interest in the Jodi Huisentruit case from 30 years ago is now linked to the murders of two other women in neighboring states.

Authorities in Wood County, Wisconsin said DNA has positively linked the suspect, Christopher Revak, to the slaying of 21-year-old Deidre Harm after a night out at a Wisconsin Rapids bar in 2006.

DNA also links Revak to the murder of 36-year-old Rene Williams of Ava, Mo., in 2007.

Revak, who was originally from the Wisconsin Rapids area, was arrested for the Williams murder and killed himself in a Missouri jail cell while awaiting trial. He was considered a possible suspect in several other unsolved cases, including the 1995 disappearance of Mason City TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit.

The Wisconsin sheriff said the new DNA findings won’t bring back the victims, but it may bring some closure to the families.

Food pantries are bracing for a major spike in need as 130,000 Iowa households may not receive their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits next month.

The federal government has told states to not distribute food assistance in November because of the shutdown. Food pantry leaders said this has never happened before, and it could lead to unprecedented use of food pantries during what’s typically their busiest time of year.

“All of us are doing everything we can to meet the need, but … the charitable food system cannot fill this gap. For every meal the charitable food system provides, SNAP provides nine,” said Annette Hacker, chief communications and strategy officer for the Food Bank of Iowa.

Gov. Kim Reynolds said she’s reviewing the state’s food insecurity response plan and has directed the state health department to convene regular calls with food banks.

Read more.

Demolition work is underway to tear down the entire East Wing of the White House to clear the way for a new 90,000 square foot ballroom President Donald Trump wants to build.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Trump isn’t doing anything that hasn’t been done by previous residents of the executive mansion.

“Past presidents have decided to change things at the White House,” Grassley said. “I don’t recall any objections through history of the times where it’s been changed from time to time.”

Trump estimated the new ballroom will cost $300 million — up from an estimate of $200 million just days ago. But the president insists it’s all from private donations, not taxpayer dollars.

Reports state that several corporations have contributed to the project, including Apple, Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Google, Comcast and Meta.

As for the ballooning nine-figure price tag, Grassley said “hardly anything” gets done at the original estimated cost.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump indicated that he will increase beef imports from Argentina to lower prices for consumers, despite pushback from cattle producers and GOP lawmakers.

Tensions flared again Wednesday when Trump posted on Truth Social that cattle producers would be doing “terrible” if it weren’t for tariffs he rolled out earlier this year.

The Iowa Cattlemen's Association said in a statement that Trump’s plan and comments were “disconcerting” and “the administration needs to know and recognize that words matter.”

Economists said beef prices have increased as the national supply of cattle has shrunk in recent years, largely due to higher costs for raising cattle and drought in the Great Plains.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a plan Wednesday that aims to increase the national herd while decreasing prices for consumers. The plan includes increasing grazing access on federal land, cutting inspection costs for small processors and “encouraging protein as the foundation for every meal.”

Fur Commission USA said someone illegally entered a mink farm in southwest Iowa near Woodbine Monday night and released some of the animals.

According to Challis Hobbs, the trade group’s spokesperson, a farmer who raises more than 1,000 mink found damage to his property and perimeter fence. Hobbs said the nesting boxes were destroyed and some of the pens had been left open. About half of the mink stayed on the farm, and the farmer is working to find the others, according to Hobbs.

“What we see time and time again is, like, within 24 to 48 hours, if the farmer can’t recover them, the majority of them die,” he said.

The mink might survive for awhile by eating birds or chickens they can find, according to Hobbs, but released minks often die or are hit on a roadway and killed.

Hobbs said there have been recent incidents on fur farms in Ohio and Pennsylvania. 

Federal law prohibits damaging or interfering with the operations of an animal enterprise. Local law enforcement and the FBI are investigating the Woodbine case

“The government does see this as domestic terrorism because they’re intentionally going on these farms and trying to basically shut them down and put these put these farming families out of business,” Hobbs said.

Two people caught in the Pennsylvania case face multiple charges. Hobbs said the animals’ pelts cost around $45 each, but it can cost the farmer much more in losing animals for breeding.

The Waterloo Police Department is investigating a flyer targeting immigrants.

KWWL in Waterloo reported the flyer was seemingly posted by the Aryan Freedom Network. The words “stop illegal immigration” are printed at the top. It’s similar to flyers posted in Independence in February.

Last year, the Aryan Freedom Network posted recruiting materials across Waterloo, asking recipients to join the group. Mayor Quentin Hart said at the time that there is no place for hate groups in Waterloo. 

Local leaders are urging people in the Cedar Rapids Community School District to vote for a $117 million bond issue that would fund improvements to four schools.

The bond would fund what officials say are long overdue renovations at three middle schools and one high school. The district is paring down as it faces declining enrollment and mounting maintenance costs.  

At a public forum Wednesday hosted by The Gazette, Ron Corbett with the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance said the bond would benefit all the district’s buildings. 

“When you make the investment into the buildings, that frees up the maintenance money that you were using that to be spread around the other facilities,” Corbett said. 

Some members of the audience said they wish the district could provide more information about the specific improvements it would be making to the schools. Operations Director Chad Schumacher tried to address some of their concerns at the public forum. 

“We wouldn’t want to put the cart before the horse. Before we hire an architect and invest money in that, we definitely want to make sure we have the go-ahead to do that,” Schumacher said. “We have a conceptual idea that there are big boxes we know we’re going to have to address.” 

The bond needs 60% of the vote to pass this election.

Read more.

Katarina Sostaric

/

Iowa Public Radio

Republican Senate candidate Jim Carlin said “big government and big business” are driving the high cost of health care, housing and higher education.

At a gathering of conservatives in the Des Moines metro, Carlin said less government regulation and more free market policies would help fix the high cost of living.

“I believe in free market capitalism, fundamentally,” he said. “And when the government facilitates monopoly control of markets, the people lose. They lose their voice. They lose their choice.”

He also said campaign finance reform is needed to ensure elections are truly in the hands of the voters. Carlin wants to ban Super PACs, which can keep donors secret and spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections.

Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson is also running for Senate in 2026 now that U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst announced she’s not running for reelection. Five Democrats are running for Senate.

Read more.

Voters in three eastern Iowa cities will be asked to approve a Local Options Sales Tax on the November ballot. It would add 1% to sales of many goods and services in Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty. It would not include things like groceries, rent or prescription drugs. 

In North Liberty, half of the revenue will go toward capital improvement projects, such as building a new fire station.

“We would like more bedrooms so that people could be here and be on the trucks and out of the door faster,” said Tina Humston, captain of the North Liberty Fire Department. “Also, currently, the station does not have any sort of an alarm system or sprinkler system. The building was not built to be a fire station.” 

The other half of the revenue generated by the tax would go toward property tax relief, which is required under state law. 

Celebrations are planned in both Iowa and Nebraska for what would have been Johnny Carson’s 100th birthday Thursday. The late-night host of NBC's The Tonight Show died in 2005.

Carson was born in Corning before moving to Norfolk, Neb., at age 8. Tours of his home will be free to visitors Thursday.

Roger Sorensen, president of the Johnny Carson Birthplace Society, remembered Carson as having a “warm” personality with a “Midwestern type of humor.”

“His parents were just ordinary people, and [he was] born in the least populated county in Iowa in the middle of our country,” Sorensen said. “And then his rise to stardom — it is truly the American dream.”

Events are also being held at the Elkhorn Valley Museum in Norfolk. Sorensen made his comments on IPR’s Talk of Iowa.

State Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, has formally requested an audit of the Iowa Department of Education’s licensing and background check procedures.

In a letter to State Auditor Rob Sand, Bisignano said revelations following the arrest of former Superintendent Ian Roberts by ICE agents last month raise serious concerns about the integrity and effectiveness of the board’s licensing processes. Roberts faces federal charges that he lied about his immigration status on employment forms.

“This incident represents a glaring oversight and suggests a potential failure in either the background check protocol itself or in the implementation and review process,” Bisignano said in the letter.

Sand has already agreed to a separate audit of Des Moines Public Schools following the resignation of Roberts. Sand’s office sent out an email Wednesday saying he has also agreed to Bisignano's request.

Rachel Cramer

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Iowa Public Radio

This year, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued 156 “swimming not recommended” advisories for state beaches. All but five of the advisories were related to high E. coli levels.

E. coli is a large family of bacteria. Most strains are harmless and live in the intestines of warm-blooded animals, including humans. But some cause stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting if people swallow them.

For decades, high concentrations of E. coli in fresh water have been used as an indicator of possible fecal contamination and pathogens, which include disease-causing bacteria, viruses and protozoans.

“As the numbers go up, the risk of getting a gastrointestinal-type illness at the beach goes up. So, it's all about risk,” said Dan Kendall, an environmental specialist with the DNR.

Part of Kendall’s work is managing the state’s beach monitoring program, which began in 2000. He said 2025 marks the highest “straight count” for state beach advisories due to E. coli, but emphasized the number of beaches sampled has fluctuated over time.

Read more about the DNR’s research to pinpoint potential E. coli sources, better understand the health risks for beachgoers and find solutions.

A monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of Iowa and other Midwest states indicates the region’s economy has dipped to its lowest level since May 2020.

Creighton University Economist Ernie Goss conducts the survey and releases the Mid-America Mainstreet Index each month.
“It was not good news for the month of October,” Goss said. “And certainly, looking ahead, the outlook is also negative for these bank CEOs in looking at the farm economy.”

Goss said that a majority of the bankers indicated that President Donald Trump’s approach to trade with China is “about right.” But nearly 85% of the bankers surveyed support emergency federal payments to farmers due to the financial hit of trade losses.

According to Goss, there may be one bright spot in the survey about farm loans.

“Delinquency rates are very low right now, especially given the weakness in farm income. In other words, the farmers have been judicious about borrowing and the lenders have been judicious about lending,” Goss said. “On the flip side of that, farm equipment sales have really been suffering in the region.”

The Mid-America Mainstreet Index shows farm equipment sales have dropped for 26 straight months. That’s a hit to Iowa, where John Deere has been laying off workers and scaling back production.

Goss said the value of farmland is holding up much better than farm income. The rural bankers surveyed expect farmland prices to decline by 3-4% in the next 12 months.

With Halloween right around the corner, Iowans of all ages are preparing their costumes for trick-or-treating.

Juanita Cameron, with the Theatrical Shop in West Des Moines, said this year’s hot items come from a Netflix movie that was released this past summer.

“The number one thing that the kids are looking for is KPop Demon Hunters,” Cameron said with a laugh. “I didn’t know what a K-pop was until Halloween, but they’re looking for the costumes, they’re looking for the wigs and they’re looking for all the makeup that goes with it.”

As for adults, Cameron said the shop is selling fewer full costumes and more accessories so people can create a unique character or costume for Halloween.

“I don’t know what it is, but they’re doing a lot of DIYs,” Cameron said. “Some are making up their own scary or fun looks. We have a lot of wigs, a lot of mustaches, a lot of makeup that we’re selling.”

Cameron said she has also chatted with some customers who are buying costumes for Halloween-themed weddings that are being planned for the weekend of Oct. 31.

A tiny village project for people experiencing chronic homelessness in Des Moines is moving forward after more than a decade of planning.

The homelessness prevention nonprofit Joppa has had a lot of trouble finding a good piece of land to build on. Now, it has finalized a lease-to-buy agreement with the Des Moines City Council to secure public property for its tiny village on the city’s East side.

Joppa CEO Joe Stevens said that means the nonprofit can start designing what the village will look like.
“Well, after 12 years of working on this project and going through hundreds of properties, you can imagine we're very excited and very grateful to be able to move forward and help 50 chronically homeless people find permanent housing in a supportive environment,” Stevens said.

Joppa plans to start moving people into the village as soon as 2027.

The Polk County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to invest $200,000 to help maintain a network of water quality sensors in rivers and streams across Iowa. The sensors are part of the Iowa Water Quality Information System and collect real-time data on things like nitrates, flow and temperature. 

Polk County Conservation Director Rich Leopold said long periods of data are key for tracking trends and knowing whether certain water quality practices, like adding wetlands, are effective.

“We’re investing time, energy and money into all these practices,” Leopold said. “And if we want to make sure that we’re doing something to make things improve, [we check] ‘Are things improving?’”

The Iowa Legislature diverted funding for the University of Iowa program in 2023. As a result, the Walton Family Foundation helped fill in the gap through June of next year.

Polk County Supervisor Matt McCoy said he’s hopeful that Linn and Johnson counties will also provide funding to maintain the water sensor network across Iowa.

A U.S. district court judge heard arguments Tuesday in a federal case involving a man who was detained by immigration officials in Iowa City in September. The judge said he would issue a ruling soon on whether Jorge Gonzalez-Ochoa will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. 

Gonzalez was arrested by federal immigration officers at Bread Garden Market in Iowa City. Videos of his arrest were circulated widely on social media, where the officers could be seen tackling Gonzalez and threatening to shock him with an electric Taser. 

He was held in the Linn County Jail until he was detained by federal officials with the U.S. Marshals Service on charges of providing a forged Green Card and a false Social Security number when he applied for work. Gonzalez was moved to the Muscatine County Jail. 

Gonzalez, who was seeking asylum at the time of his arrest, arrived in the U.S. in November 2024 after immigrating from Colombia. 

Health experts said they have seen an increase in hand, foot and mouth disease cases in Iowa this year. The disease is a highly contagious viral infection that’s very common in kids under the age of five. 

Christine Davis, a family medicine doctor at UnityPoint Health, said she has seen higher than average rates of cases with the warmer temperatures this summer and fall. Davis said the infection can be treated at home with over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and Tylenol. But parents should make sure kids don’t get dehydrated. 

“A lot of times, because they do have these sores in the back of their throats, they're not wanting to eat or drink very well,” Davis said. “And so signs of dehydration, especially in really young kiddos, would be less frequent wet diapers and just refusal to take any oral intake in.”  

Davis said symptoms that parents can look out for include a low-grade fever, low energy and rashes that commonly start on the buttock.

Katarina Sostaric

/

Iowa Public Radio

Gov. Kim Reynolds released recommendations made by her Iowa DOGE Task Force on Tuesday.

After a member of the task force previously floated the idea of providing a 401(k)-style retirement plan for new public employees instead of the current pension plan known as IPERS, Reynolds made it clear that pensions aren’t going anywhere.

“You can rest assured that IPERS will be there for your retirement, just as you’ve planned and we’ve promised,” she said.

Reynolds said there has been public speculation and misinformation about changes to retirement benefits for teachers and law enforcement officers. The Iowa DOGE Task Force is recommending a study of public employee compensation that may explore offering workers a choice between a 401(k) and a pension. 

Reynolds said the state already has a longstanding legislative committee that’s supposed to be reviewing public retirement systems. 

The governor said she will spend the next few months reviewing the 45 recommendations made by the task force for possible implementation.

Read more.

Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra said finding new markets for U.S. soybeans amid China’s boycott of American beans should be the priority, and federal trade disruption payments should be a last resort.

“I think most farmers, we don’t want to take subsidy checks, but if that’s the last resort, we’ll go down that path,” Feenstra said. “But for me, it’s all about, ‘How do we create more export markets?’”

President Donald Trump said in September that he planned to use tariff revenue to pay farmers who have taken a financial hit due to the trade war with China. Feenstra pointed to another September announcement, when Japan — the sixth largest foreign buyer of U.S. soybean products — promised to buy $8 billion in U.S. ag commodities.

“We’ve had a lot of successes with Japan … Taiwan, Vietnam, UK, but we’ve got to try to get that market open in India and China,” Feenstra said. “I know China has been our adversary, and they’ve, over the last three decades, treated us really bad when it comes to trade, but I think there’s opportunity there.”

Feenstra also said farmers will benefit from some subsidy-related changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill signed by Trump in July.

“This is the big thing for all of the farmers right now, we increased the reference prices for corn,” he said. “Corn was at $3.70. Now that reference price is at $4.10. And beans went from $8.40 to $10.”

Under the USDA’s Price Loss Coverage program, payments to farmers are triggered when the national average price for corn and soybeans falls below those “reference prices.”

The Des Moines City Council voted to tighten the rules of its camping ban ordinance. Previously, a person couldn’t be charged with a misdemeanor if they couldn’t find space in a shelter or if they couldn’t afford the $15 fine. Now, those exceptions are gone.

During public comment Monday night, Nina Rickman, who volunteers with the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry, told the story of someone she met who’s experiencing homelessness. Rickman said the person, named Maria, can’t stay in a shelter because of her severe mental illness.
“When you talk with her, what you hear is a quiet desperation,” Rickman said. “Because Maria doesn't want to be homeless, but she's out of options and she's really scared.”

Other commentors shouted “Shame on you!” towards council members who voted for the change. The rule change passed 5-2.

A federal court is blocking the Creston Community School District from firing a high school teacher for a comment she posted after Charlie Kirk’s death. The district was supposed to hold a hearing Tuesday to consider firing her.

English teacher Melisa Crook was placed on administrative leave in September after she wrote that conservative activist Kirk was a “terrible human being.” In her comment, she also wrote “I do not wish death on anyone, but him not being here is a blessing.”

The next morning, Crook issued an apology. A few weeks later, she filed a lawsuit against the district and the school board alleging her First Amendment rights were violated. 

The court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the district from having the scheduled hearing and from taking "any other adverse employment actions" against her relating to the post. The federal court also denied Crook’s request to be taken off administrative leave at this time. A hearing for Crook's request for a preliminary injunction was deferred until Oct. 31.

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This was updated Oct. 22 at 6:34 p.m.

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst said the layoffs President Donald Trump has ordered during the federal government shutdown are long overdue.

Ernst suggested that the president’s Reduction in Force (RIF) program should target Internal Revenue Service employees who owe back taxes. During a speech on the Senate floor, she said it’s time to get “rid of the riffraff with a RIF.”

And there are far more who should be fired, according to Ernst.

“Eliminate the positions of government employees and contractors who weren’t working before the government shutdown,” Ernst said. “There are dozens of National Laboratory employees with nothing to do.”

The U.S. Department of Energy operates 17 national laboratories. Ernst cited a 2023 report in The Nation magazine in which employees at a nuclear weapons complex in New Mexico admitted they had napped and played games during the workday.

“To pass time, one of them started journaling,” Ernst said. “One of his entries reads: ‘Did nothing all day today. Over 10 hours in here.’ The following day, he wrote: ‘I do hope to play another good game of chess.'”

That came from an electrician assigned to work in a restricted area of the facility where the first atomic bomb was created. Department of Energy officials told the magazine they did not find evidence a manager was falsifying time sheets for electricians who are part of a massive workforce upgrading the country’s nuclear stockpile.

On Oct. 1, Ernst released a Congressional Budget Office analysis that estimated 750,000 government employees have been furloughed during the shutdown. Ernst said the shutdown exposes how some of those employees are “nonessential” and “should be put on the chopping block.”

Dallas Tuttle

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Iowa Public Radio

Domestic violence homicide has gone up in Iowa, according to the latest crime data analyzed by the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence.⁠
⁠
The group's study gathered data from all homicides that were a result of domestic violence, which is defined as violence in personal relationships, including romantic and family relationships. It used Uniform Crime Reporting data from October 2021 through September 2024.⁠
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In this timeframe, the coalition found there were at least 88 deaths because of domestic violence. Women and children made up a majority of victims. The most common type of person committing domestic violence homicide was a current or former partner or spouse.⁠

Read more.

Midwestern farmers are taking a hit in the ongoing government shutdown. Many were already losing money because corn, wheat and soybeans are selling for less than it costs farmers to grow them.

Normally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture would help in a situation like this, offering short-term loans to help farmers make ends meet. It would also be publishing comprehensive reports detailing the size of the harvest — and its value — to help farmers market their crops profitably.

President Donald Trump has promised a bailout to compensate farmers for their trade war losses, but University of Missouri Economist Pat Westhoff said even that can’t happen now.

“Things aren't going to go forward until the government’s open again,” Westhoff said. “[That] continues the uncertainty that's been around for some time, obviously.”

Westhoff said getting bailout money to struggling farmers won’t happen until weeks after the shutdown ends.
Read more from Harvest Public Media’s Frank Morris.

The Iowa State Patrol released the name of an eastern Iowa woman who died after her vehicle was rear-ended by a school bus.

The patrol’s accident report indicates at about 1:45 p.m. Friday, 37-year-old Crystal Offerman of Vinton was stopped on Highway 218. Offerman was waiting to turn when her Jeep was rear-ended by a Vinton-Shellsburg school bus. The collision forced Offerman’s Jeep into oncoming traffic, where it crashed head-on with an SUV.

The six students on the bus, the bus driver and the driver of the third vehicle involved in the accident were not injured.

The fatal accident occurred just days before National School Bus Safety Week, which is held during the third week of October every year.

James Kelley

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Iowa Public Radio

Rallies protesting President Donald Trump’s agenda took place over the weekend, even in rural parts of the state that Trump won by a wide margin.

A “No Kings” rally in eastern Iowa’s Clinton County drew hundreds of protesters. Some said they felt that the president was dividing Americans and making it impossible to talk about politics with their friends and neighbors. 

Kerry Notz, who lives in the area, used to teach English as a Second Language courses at the community college. She said the current state of the country is causing her to second-guess some of the lessons she once imparted on students.

“I've told my students, ‘You can stand on the street corner and say the president is an idiot and should go away.’ And I said, ‘You’re fine, nothing will happen to you. Nothing will happen to your family,’” Notz said. “And I’m not completely sure of that right now and that hurts my heart.” 

Dozens gathered at another protest in Maquoketa in Jackson County, an area that voted for Trump by 32 percentage points. Other protests happened across the state, including in Des Moines, Iowa City and Davenport. Organizers for the nationwide day of protests told NPR about 2,600 events were planned for Saturday.

Read more.

Federal prosecutors are charging former Des Moines Superintendent Ian Roberts with making a false statement on employment forms in 2023.

According to a federal indictment, Roberts falsely claimed he was a citizen on his I-9 employment eligibility forms when he was hired by Des Moines Public Schools. 

Roberts is also charged with possessing guns while in the U.S. without legal status. Roberts was detained Sept. 26 by ICE agents in Des Moines.

Drought is shrinking Mississippi River levels — again. That's a big problem for farmers

The Mississippi River is again facing low water levels, pushing up barge rates and making it more expensive for farmers to export crops and import fertilizer.

Stretched out over 2,000 miles, the Mississippi is essential for farmers to sell their crops. Nearly half of all U.S. corn, soybeans and wheat exports travel down the waterway to the Gulf of Mexico.

Decreased rainfall starting late this summer shrank the Ohio River, the main water source of the Mississippi. Before that, Mike Steenhoek, director of Iowa-based Soy Transportation Coalition, was hoping the river could avoid a fourth consecutive year of low water levels.

“A lot of the Midwest has received a pretty substantial amount of rainfall, particularly in spring, and really through the middle part of August, drought conditions have reversed considerably,” he said. “But yet we find ourselves in some low water conditions on the lower part of the river.”

Captain Mike Napper, a Mississippi River tug and pull pilot, said that means barges have to carry lighter loads to avoid scraping the bottom of the ship’s hull on the riverbed. And lighter loads mean extra trips, which make barge travel cost more.

By late September, barge rates had already risen significantly above their long-term averages, according to the Farm Bureau. For example, barge rates in St. Louis increased by about 49% from their 2019-2021 averages.

If the river shrinks further, as forecasted for October, rates could climb even higher. Among the products impacted would be the fertilizer the U.S. imports.
Read more from Harvest Public Media’s Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval.

(HPM)

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services is alerting Iowans who receive federal food assistance through SNAP about the possibility that they won’t receive benefits next month because of the continuing government shutdown.

In a release, Iowa HHS said the state received a notification from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service last week directing states not to issue November benefits. Iowa SNAP currently serves approximately 131,000 households per month and allocates around $45 million in benefits from the federal government.

Iowa HHS said it has engaged food banks, pantries and other community organizations to prepare to provide additional support to impacted Iowans. The department said individuals that currently receive SNAP should retain their cards even throughout the shutdown.

Iowa HHS is offering an email sign-up to receive November SNAP updates.

Federal funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is not yet known for this year. Utility Analyst Keetah Horras told the Iowa Utility Commission this week that the proposed federal budget zeroed out funding, but both the U.S. Senate and House had proposed bills to increase total funding at the time of the shutdown.

Horras said some states have paused the program, but Iowa has not.

“The Iowa profile for LIHEAP funding year 2024 indicates that the program served more than 83,000 households,” she said. “This includes the one-time heating assistance, year-round crisis assistance and weatherization.”

Sign-up for this winter has already begun for one group, according to Horras.

“The early application period for households with elderly or disabled members opened on Oct. 1,” she said. “Our latest communication with HHS [Health and Human Services] reports over 15,000 applications have been received.”

Horras said other applicants will be able to sign up at the end of this month.

“The general application period for all other households begins Nov. 1, and the deadline for all applications is April 30,” she said. “Eligibility is primarily based on household income, specifically 200% of the federal poverty level.”

Horras said a family of four making just over $64,000 annually would qualify for assistance.

The winter moratorium on utility shut offs starts Nov. 1.

Gov. Kim Reynolds disagrees with an analysis that put Iowa among 22 states that are at a high risk of recession or in one already.

Economist Mark Zandi compiled the list based on factors that include employment and industrial production. Neighboring states Illinois, Minnesota and South Dakota were also on the list. 

Reynolds said the state government is in a strong position with its reserve funds.

“With ag and the connection to manufacturing, we are seeing some softening, a little bit of softening, in our economy, but we're strong,” she said. “We're doing well. I think the revised numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis really underscores that fact.” 

Reynolds said the bureau’s tracking of state GDP placed Iowa at 18th in the nation for GDP growth in the second quarter.

Courtesy of Vote For Your Guy

A Democrat from Boone in central Iowa is running in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. Guy Morgan said that although he lives outside the district, he considers northeast Iowa home.  

Morgan said he’s running an environmentally focused campaign, but also hopes to fight for people’s rights to education and collective bargaining. He said the Republican Party has become more extreme under President Donald Trump’s leadership and he wants to stand up to its agenda.  

“My particular role is to actually stand up and fight for the constituents, to scream and shout at the top of my lungs to make sure that none of this can ever happen again. To make sure that people’s voices are heard,” he said.

Morgan believes there needs to be more extreme punishments for polluters of Iowa’s waterways, including jail time for executives. He pointed to the company 3M, which recently paid $12.5 billion in a class action lawsuit about PFAS contamination in Iowa water systems.

Read more.

Gov. Kim Reynolds is holding meetings around the state to talk about property taxes with local government leaders, business owners and others involved with hospitals and schools. 

Reynolds said she’s gathering input on their concerns about property tax growth and steps that could be taken at the state or local levels to reform the system. After a roundtable in Dallas Center Thursday, she said the discussions could inform legislation in the next session. 

“I think it is the expectations of Iowans that we get something done to address the property taxes, at least to bend the curve and start to look at flatlining and taking them eventually down just a little bit,” she said. 

Reynolds said the meetings around the state have also involved talking with local leaders about how they can cut costs and deliver services more efficiently.  

John Pemble

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Iowa Public Radio

Iowa will have to use more of its reserves to cover a larger budget gap than expected. The state’s revenue estimating panel met Thursday and said the deeper reductions in revenue are happening because of state and federal tax cuts.

The panel said tax dollars coming into state coffers will decline by 9% this fiscal year instead of the initial estimate of 5%. That means the state is planning to spend $1.3 billion more than it’s taking in this year.

House Minority Leader Brian Meyer said Republicans have thrown the state into “a fiscal death spiral.”

“And that death spiral is a result of their corporate tax cuts, vouchers and tax cuts for the wealthy in this state,” he said. “And unfortunately, the economic development and growth that was promised six years ago with these tax cuts has never materialized.”

Republican leaders said Iowans get to keep more of their money, and that the state is still in a good financial position because they’ve saved up $6 billion to cover budget gaps.

Read more.

Nicole Baxter

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Iowa Public Radio

Parents are asking Des Moines Public Schools administrators to elaborate on how a proposed bond could change the school system. This November, Des Moines residents will be able to vote on the referendum that would give the school district $265 million for building renovations.

At public meetings this week, families wondered what transportation is going to look like when schools are consolidated. They also asked if the district could fill staffing gaps, and they tried to imagine how their own kids would navigate a new school system.

Some parents, like Amanda Monfils, are supporting the bond to see more students staying engaged with school. At one meeting, Monfils found out the district’s graduation rate is 72%.
“That is just a scary figure for me, and I would hope that we will be able to increase access to raise those graduation rates,” she said.

Monfils hopes the bond can help create a better school system, but other parents expressed some concern that the Reimagining Education plan might not be enough to reverse years of declining enrollment.

John Deere is moving some positions at its Ottumwa and Des Moines plants to other facilities. KCRG reports it’s not yet clear how many people will be impacted, although employees will be given a choice to move to other locations in Iowa and Illinois.

In September, the Moline-based manufacturer announced layoffs at several of its facilities across the state, including in Des Moines. The company has said the layoffs were a response to a decrease in demand and lower order volumes.

John Deere has announced layoffs of over 400 jobs so far this year.

Early voting for the November election started Wednesday. Iowans who want to cast their ballots in-person early can do so at their county auditor’s office through Nov. 3.

Monday, Oct. 20 is the last day voters can request an absentee ballot. County auditor’s offices need to receive the request by Monday at 5 p.m. Filled out absentee ballots need to be returned to the county auditor’s office by the time polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 4.

This year, Iowans will weigh in on city and school elections. Midterm elections for choosing Iowa’s congressional delegation are next year.

Here’s what else you need to know.

Iowa’s 1st District Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said the effects of the federal government shutdown are being felt in Iowa.

The Republican held a town hall-style event over the phone Wednesday night. She answered screened questions from constituents about immigration, the Affordable Care Act and the government shutdown. 

She said 18,000 federal employees in Iowa are furloughed or working without pay because of the federal government shutdown, which she blamed on Democrats. 

“When I voted to fund the government, I voted ‘people.’ I didn’t vote ‘politics,’’’ Miller-Meeks said. “They need to stop using this as a political football and taking the American people hostage.” 

Miller-Meeks has not held an in-person town hall so far this term. In a video that recently surfaced, she said she would hold an in-person town hall “when hell freezes over.”

Lucius Pham

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Iowa Public Radio

Democrat Jackie Norris is ending her campaign for the U.S. Senate. The Des Moines School Board chair launched her bid in August for the seat that’s being vacated by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. 

Norris is dropping out of the race following the arrest of former Superintendent Ian Roberts on immigration and gun violations. Norris said she needs to focus on helping lead Des Moines schools through investigations into Roberts' hiring and the transition to new leadership. 

Five Democrats remain in the race for the party’s Senate nomination. 

Read more.

Two Iowa airports will not play a video of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem blaming Democrats for the federal government shutdown.

Multiple airports across the country, including the Des Moines International Airport and the Eastern Iowa Airport, have said they won’t play the video due to its politically partisan nature. The video shows Noem saying Democrats are responsible for impacts to TSA operations at airports.

Some experts have said the video may be a violation of federal laws prohibiting executive branch agencies from engaging in political activity.

A spokesperson for the Eastern Iowa Airport said as a public entity, the airport doesn’t play videos that can be considered political or partisan. 

The number of jobs connected to clean energy are continuing to grow in Iowa.

A new report by E2, a national group that advocates for environmentally friendly economic policies, said the energy efficiency sector added nearly 900 jobs to the state economy last year. That’s happening as industries like manufacturing have lost thousands of jobs in the past year.

E2 Director of State Advocacy Micaela Preskill said federal tax cuts might slow down growth.
“State action is critical right now,” Preskill said. “In states like Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota, where 100% clean energy laws are already on the books, states must clear barriers and make appropriate investments to meet these goals.”

She said state leaders should prioritize clean energy projects before federal tax credits expire.

The Trump administration is extending a $20 billion lifeline to prop up Argentina’s struggling economy. Shortly after the deal was announced last month, Argentina waived its export tax on grains and sold over 7 million tons of soybeans to China. This led Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley to question why the U.S. would bail out a competitor of American soybean farmers.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced last week that the U.S. would exchange $20 billion U.S. dollars for Argentine pesos. When asked about the deal Wednesday, Grassley took a more conciliatory tone.

“The help that they're giving, I'm not finding fault with that,” he said. “What I am finding fault [with] is they should have put restrictions on Argentina not taking off their export tax.”

In 2024, China bought over $12 billion of U.S. soybeans. But this year, the country hasn’t bought any because of a tariff dispute with the Trump administration.

Grassley also said there has been no movement on an aid package for U.S. farmers.

State officials have confirmed Iowans in at least three counties are receiving text messages from someone impersonating local public officials and candidates.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said law enforcement has been notified that “an individual or group” is sending fake text messages to residents in Franklin, Johnson and Madison counties. The texts invite the recipient to reply to the message.

Pate said pollsters and legitimate campaigns will not ask for things like a Social Security number or bank account information. In a news release issued Wednesday morning, Pate said Iowans “must remain vigilant due to the continued rise in election-related misinformation.”

Early and absentee voting starts Wednesday for November’s city council and school board elections.

To help address the state’s high cancer rates, Iowa cancer researchers said the Legislature needs to increase the tobacco tax, restrict tanning bed usage and subsidize radon mitigation systems for new homes. Public health experts announced their recommendations Tuesday at the Iowa Cancer Summit. 

Mary Charlton, director of the Iowa Cancer Registry, said the public needs to understand that environmental and agricultural exposures are important, but so are lifestyle habits like smoking, drinking and using tanning beds.

“If you smoke and your house has a high level of radon, you have an exponentially higher risk of getting it,” she said. “It's not one thing at a time, and so we cannot — to the detriment of other risk factors that we know cause cancer — only focus on one.”

Charlton told attendees at the summit to keep advocating for federal funding for cancer research. She said any cuts to the National Cancer Institute often affect cancer tracking in the state. 

As incumbent U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra eyes a run for governor, the field to replace him continues to grow. Douglas Jensen is the latest Republican to join the race for Iowa’s 4^th Congressional District.

Jensen, a retired combat veteran from Silver City in western Iowa’s Mills County, is currently working on his Ph.D. in public policy. He said the biggest lesson members of Congress should learn is how to get along with each other.

“We have way more in common than we have different, and we're too busy focused on the differences —and not to say that those differences are trivial because they are real and substantive — but we need to be able to discuss them respectfully,” he said.

Jensen calls himself a conservative who is concerned with the budget, immigration reform and affordable and accessible health care. On social issues, he said the government should have limited involvement.

The other Republicans in the race are state Rep. Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley, Iowa Tea Party Founder Ryan Rhodes of Ames, Christian Schlaefer from Lakota and Chris McGowan from Sioux City.

Democrats running in the 4^th District include former state lawmaker and prosecutor Dave Dawson of Lawton, stay-at-home mom Ashley WolfTornabane of Storm Lake and Stephanie Steiner of rural Sutherland.

Madeleine Charis King

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Iowa Public Radio

The City of Coralville has passed a resolution affirming its protections for people in the LGBTQ community. It’s the second city to do so after state lawmakers removed gender identity as a protected class from the Iowa civil rights code. 

The city council voted 4-1 in favor of the Equal Protection Resolution. Council member Rich Vogelzang was the only member to vote against the resolution, in part because he said discrimination happens one-on-one, rather than systemically. 

Mayor Meghann Foster said the majority of discrimination is systemic. 

“When we talk about harm, governmental bodies are the ones that do perpetrate the harm,” Foster said. “And so this is a step that we can take to mitigate that where it’s happening.” 

Although Coralville’s city code protects people from gender identity-based discrimination, the resolution directs the city attorney to take certain protective actions considering the removal of gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

Read more.

Rachel Cramer

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Iowa Public Radio

JBS Foods broke ground on a new sausage production facility in central Iowa Tuesday with local and state officials. The plant in Perry is slated to be operational at the end of next year and will scale up to employ 500 people.

“This community embodies the idea that you are more than your circumstances,” said Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority. “With every unforeseen challenge, unthinkable tragedy or business setback, you show us what you are made of — hard work, heart and optimism.”

The groundbreaking ceremony comes more than a year after Tyson Foods closed its pork processing plant in Perry. City officials said it affected nearly 1,300 employees, over half of whom lived in the community.

JBS is one of the largest processors for beef and pork in the U.S. It operates plants in Council Bluffs, Marshalltown and Ottumwa, and recently purchased a facility in Ankeny to produce ready-to-eat bacon and sausage. Some of the raw ingredients will come from the Perry plant.

JBS said the new plant in Perry will be the company’s first sausage production site in the U.S.

Read more.

The Iowa Association of Realtors reported a 5.9% increase in the number of homes sold in September compared to a year ago.

Travis Bushaw, president of the Iowa Association of Realtors, said even though the interest rate on a 30 year mortgage is actually higher than it was a year ago, buyer confidence appears higher due to five straight months of rate reductions, a slower rise in home prices and a continued increase in inventory.

Compared to September of last year, there were 13.6% more Iowa homes for sale last month. The year-to-year comparison also shows the average number of days a home was on the market was 25% higher in September.

The median sales price for an Iowa home in September was about $245,000 — slightly lower than it was in August.

Stabe Auction & Realty

Land prices can offer insight into how the farm economy is doing. When times are good, land prices are quick to respond. When times are bad, land is one of the last things to lose value.

Chad Hart, a professor in the department of economics at Iowa State University, said right now, the agricultural economy is struggling due to a variety of factors, including lower grain prices and stress from tariffs.

“We're seeing a modest decline on the land value side, even though farm incomes have gone through a much more dramatic drop,” Hart said.

The USDA reported that profits have fallen by about 25% over the past two years. Hart said farm values are off only a few percentage points after soaring to all-time highs in 2023.

"It's the canary in the coal mine when things are getting better, but it's the last thing you want to pay attention to when things are getting worse because it's going to be the last thing to decrease,” he said.

Hart believes land holds a special place in agriculture, so farmers will still spend a lot, especially since only a tiny amount of farmland across the state goes up for sale each year.

Read more.

Indian Motorcycle, which has a factory and visitor center in Spirit Lake, will be changing hands.

Minnesota-based Polaris announced this week that it’s selling a majority stake in Indian to the California-based private equity firm Carolwood LP.

Polaris said the deal includes the "full transition" of facilities in Spirit Lake and Monticello, Minn., to Carolwood. The Spirit Lake factory employs around 500 people.

“We are confident and committed to making this a seamless transition for Indian Motorcycle dealers, customers and employees," Polaris CEO Mike Speetzen said in a news release.

People gathering weekly outside of a federal immigration office in Cedar Rapids are urging the Department of Homeland Security not to put up a fence around the building.

Organizers outside the office have been waving down people who are attending their check-in appointments. They ask for their name and emergency contact information in case the person is detained. They said the proposed 7 - 10 foot high fences around the office would make that conversation much harder. 

“The fence is just one way that they can shut us out more and keep operating in the dark,” said Emily Sinwell, an interpreter with Iowa City Catholic Worker. “People need support in these times, especially when they go in. They want support — they need that emotional support. And that’s what we’re here for, to go in with them, sit with them, and they’ve just blocked all of that.” 

Although the city initially gave DHS a permit to build the fence, it later said it didn’t need to since the fence would be on private property.

State Auditor Rob Sand said he can’t fulfill a request from state lawmakers to do a special audit of the Des Moines Public School District’s finances. But he welcomes an audit request from qualified individuals in the district.

Three Republican state senators called on Sand, a Democrat, to audit DMPS following the arrest of then Superintendent Ian Roberts for immigration and gun violations. State law allows lawmakers to request audits of state departments, but not school districts.

Sand said to investigate DMPS, he would have to receive a request from a district employee, a school board member or a petition signed by 100 people who live in the district.

“If we do that, we will conduct a review, because we do think that there are important questions that need answering,” he said. “But that’s about accountability, and that’s about truth seeking. It’s not about politics.”

Sand said his office would keep the names of people who request an audit secret. He said lawmakers could request an audit of the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, which issued a license to Roberts in 2023.

Official Congressional Photo

Former U.S. Rep. Rod Blum suspended his campaign for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District Monday. The Republican said he wants to help the president in other ways. 

In a statement, Blum said it became clear to him that there are more effective ways to help President Donald Trump than by being in Congress. Blum did not say anything else about what other ways he might be considering. He added that he remains optimistic about the future of the country under Trump’s leadership.  

The announcement comes less than a month after Blum launched his campaign, when he said he would run on what he called an “America First” agenda. 

Blum served in the U.S. House from 2015 to 2019, representing northeast Iowa. At the end of his second term, Blum became the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation for failing to disclose his ownership of a digital marketing firm on a 2016 financial statement. 

Republican Joe Mitchell, who is running for the seat, thanked Blum for his service. GOP state Sen. Charlie McClintock and state Rep. Shannon Lundgren also remain in the race. Three Democrats are running for the seat: Clint Twedt-Ball, state Rep. Lindsay James and Kathy Dolter.

Technology has made agriculture and food production more efficient. But cyberattacks are on the rise.

Cybersecurity giant Check Point estimated that the agri-food sectors in the U.S. saw a 38% increase in cyberattacks in the past year.
Many of the attacks that garner national attention target large production or distribution companies. But Doug Jacobson, who runs the Center for Cybersecurity Innovation and Outreach at Iowa State University, said farmers are already a target.

“An adversary steals $5,000 from a farmer, doesn't make the news. An adversary steals $5 million from a meat processing factory, that makes the news,” he said. “So our farm sector is already under attack.”

Jacobson said more education and outreach about cyber threats is needed. Multiple proposals in Congress aim to increase funding for research on the topic. A bipartisan bill would establish five research centers for agricultural cybersecurity at universities across the country.

Read more from Harvest Public Media’s Molly Ashford.

Parents of a child who was sexually exploited by a Humboldt middle school teacher are suing the school district for allegedly knowing about the abuse and trying to hide it.

The lawsuit claims the district failed to remove Samantha Meyer-Davis from her job after learning about her inappropriate behavior. The filing also claims the district only notified the parents of a “rumor” of a relationship between their daughter and a teacher but failed to let them know the relationship was sexual.

The suit alleges the superintendent told staff not to inform law enforcement or open a formal investigation.

Meyer-Davis pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child earlier this year in federal court. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The future of ranching and conservation may be fence-less with high tech cattle collars. Ranchers, conservationists and researchers have been exploring the potential of “virtual fencing” across the Midwest and Great Plains.

Virtual fencing uses GPS collars, sounds and electrical cues to move cattle away from certain areas and into others.

Daniel Mushrush, a rancher in the Flint Hills of eastern Kansas, is part of a five year project testing the technology. He said virtual fencing saves him time and provides more flexibility. Mushrush can change the fenceline and move cattle from an app on his phone.

“Say that you want to go to your kid’s concert, you could move them from the concert, or you can just schedule it to move it eight o'clock at night,” Mushrush said.

More precise control over where cattle graze can also help diversify habitat for grassland birds and protect sensitive nesting sites during specific times of the year.

William Burnidge, with The Nature Conservancy's North America Regenerative Grazing Lands Program, said this new technology provides “unprecedented flexibility and precision” for cattle grazing and grassland management.

“Virtual fence does not replace the human being in the ranching operation,” Burnidge said. “It is a tool for ranchers to use, but it still requires wisdom and knowledge and experience and good decision making.”

The Nature Conservancy has worked on projects in half a dozen states — including Kansas and Iowa — to better understand how virtual fencing can support ranchers, wildlife and water quality.

Read more.

Farmers harvesting their crops this fall are also waiting to hear whether they can expect a check from the government.

The administration is reportedly eyeing $10 billion - $15 billion in aid to farmers. President Donald Trump has said that he’d like to use tax revenue generated by tariffs to provide relief for farmers, who’ve lost a key soybean market due to the trade war with China. Yet the expected announcement has been pushed back indefinitely in the midst of the federal government shutdown.

Matt Rehberg operates a farm near the Wisconsin-Illinois border and is the vice president of the Wisconsin Soybean Association.

He said the boycott from China — which purchased around half of all U.S. soybean exports last year — has made this year especially hard for soybean farmers. But he believes bailout programs are only a temporary solution.

“We want markets. Markets are consistent. We can bet on them,” he said. “When you go to these ad hoc bailout programs, they definitely help. But it's kind of like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound.”

Read more from Harvest Public Media.

Republican candidate Eddie Andrews says if he’s elected governor, he’ll press for campaign finance reform to get the stain of money out of politics.

Andrews said the issue has been a priority for him since he was first elected to the Iowa House in 2020.

“I suggested a $1 limit for out-of-state contributions and people were like, ‘Well, that’s way too low,’ and I said, ‘Make the case that someone from out of state should have an impact on Iowa politics,” Andrews said of the bill, which stalled in the 2021 Iowa legislative session.

Andrews is among a field of GOP candidates that includes U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, who’s been raising money for his race since May.

When Andrews launched his own campaign in June, he told a crowd gathered outside the Statehouse that he wanted his campaign to be a mandate on money.

“When I become governor, we will make a number of inroads on removing the stain of money on Iowa politics,” Andrews said during an interview with Iowa Press.

Several players from Northwestern College in Orange City were injured Saturday in a wreck on the way to a game in Sioux City.

Five players were hospitalized after one of the Northwestern buses carrying the team’s offensive players to Sioux City for a game against Briar Cliff struck a light pole near the entrance to Briar Cliff’s football field. One of the players taken to the hospital has a broken sternum and another suffered a broken nose. Several other players suffered facial injuries when their heads hit the seat in front of them.

The start of the game was delayed for four hours, and 10 players, including several offensive linemen, were unable to play. Northwestern wound up beating Briar Cliff 28-0.

Public libraries across the state are bracing for smaller book inventories and longer wait times after the sudden closure of one of the nation’s largest book suppliers.

North Carolina-based Baker & Taylor will end operations by the end of the year due to financial difficulty.

The supplier had a contract with the State of Iowa that negotiated discounted prices for books, audiobooks and other materials, making it a primary vendor for many public libraries across the state.

“They offered the better discounts, they offered those services at a price point that we could afford. We’re probably going to have to spend more money on that, which means our book budget is gonna be stretched,” said Anne Mangano, director of the Iowa City Public Library.

Mangano said last year, 84% of the library’s book collections were purchased through the vendor. The library will rely on its secondary vendor, Ingram Content Group, while seeking a new main supplier.

Iowans who take in family members in the foster care system can now get financial assistance a lot easier.

State data shows in the last fiscal year about 43% of foster youth were placed with a relative or close family friend, known as kinship care.

The state is implementing a 2023 federal rule that allowed states to make their own kinship specific licensing requirements. Federal money subsidizes kinship caregiver's financial assistance similar or equal to foster care assistance.

Beforehand, Iowa kinship caregivers only could get financial assistance up to four months, unless they got a foster care license. That takes six to nine months.

Kai McGee is with Four Oaks, the state’s contractor for licensing and training foster and kinship caregivers. McGee said this will help keep foster youth with people they know.

"If you add several mouths at the dinner table that they weren't expecting, that was really a challenge for a lot of folks, and so they would do their level best to try to make that work, but sometimes it just didn't work, and that child ended up going into general foster care."

McGee said over 350 kinship households have been referred to the program since it went into effect July 1. At least 13 other states have implemented their own since 2023.

Most of Iowa’s members of Congress spoke at Sen. Joni Ernst’s 10th and final Roast and Ride event over the weekend, blaming Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown.

Democrats are demanding that Republicans agree to extend tax credits that help people pay for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

Ernst said Democrats should vote to continue government funding first and find health insurance solutions later.

“I am hopeful we get the government open, we actually have serious talks about fraud and waste within the program, and then how do we actually make a difference and make health care affordable for those folks that truly do need that support?” Ernst said.

ACA enrollment begins Nov. 1 and some Iowans are facing an estimated doubling of their insurance premiums. The Iowa Democratic Party says Republicans should get back to work to help Iowans afford their health insurance.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Krisi Noem was also in attendance, celebrating the arrest of former Des Moines Superintendent Ian Roberts.

Noem said she’s focused on deporting “the worst of the worst” immigrants to protect U.S. citizens. She said Roberts was “pretending to be a citizen” and previously faced drug and weapons charges, all while interacting with children and making a six-figure salary.

“And now he’s away from your children, and he’s being brought to justice as well.”

Ernst and U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra thanked Noem for Roberts’ arrest. They said the Des Moines school district’s focus on hiring diverse staff and its “liberal progressive agenda” are at fault.

Another Iowa Democrat has entered the race for U.S. Senate. Richard Sherzan said he wants Iowans to have clean water. He also wants health care and higher education to be recognized as individual rights.

A veteran, Sherzan served in the Iowa House from 1979 to 1981. He spent much of his career as an administrative law judge in Arizona, where he launched unsuccessful campaigns for U.S. Senate.

Now retired and back in Iowa, Sherzan said he has the winning message for Democrats, what he calls a New West agenda, that’s focused on bolstering public-private partnerships to compete with China.

“The American democratic government intervened to provide the leadership and direction that were needed to realize and to reach goals that were required for the security and prosperity of the American people, and that’s the kind of time we’re in now,” he said.

Sherzan said public-private partnerships have historically helped the country in times of crisis.

A new child labor report from the nonprofit Common Good Iowa says Iowa’s laws and enforcement aren’t doing enough to protect young workers.

Common Good says Iowa should align its child-labor laws with federal laws. In 2023, the state Legislature relaxed some restrictions on minors, including allowing for longer work hours and waivers to take part in hazardous work-based learning programs.

“The state needs to realign its values when it comes to kids working in inappropriate environments, and what we do about it as well,” said Charlie Wishman.

Policy Analyst Sean Finn said he reviewed state records from last year and found Iowa’s Wage and Child Labor Unit conducted 77 investigations, but only four employers received penalties, which totaled just over $36,000. In one case, a 17-year-old died in a utility terrain vehicle crash while working for an auto and truck repair company in Grundy County.

“This is not something that just goes on overseas. This is not something that's just part of our history,” said Finn. “This is an issue that continues into the present day, and it seriously injures and puts youth at risk on a regular basis in the state.”

The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, which oversees child labor issues, did not respond to a request for comment.

Food and nutrition advocates are warning that a prolonged government shutdown puts low-income mothers, babies and young children at risk.

Over 60,000 Iowans participate in the federal program known as WIC, which provides food assistance and other support for children and new and expecting mothers.

The National WIC Association says current funds are “expected to last only about another week.”

A spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services said the state has received USDA contingency funding and does not anticipate any immediate disruptions in WIC benefits and services.

Luke Elzinga, the board chair at the Iowa Hunger Coalition, said it’s not clear how long that funding will last if the government shutdown drags on.

“We really hope that Congress can get a bipartisan funding proposal in place soon, end the government shutdown, make sure that SNAP and WIC are uninterrupted,” Elzinga said.

Elzinga said both programs are operating normally in Iowa for now. But the funding uncertainty comes as changes to SNAP begin taking effect in November, which is also the month Iowa food pantries typically see the greatest need.

“Nutrition is such a vital piece of child development, brain development, physical development, and the WIC program is really meant to make sure that, you know, young families are starting off on the right foot,” Elzinga said.

Read more.

Dozens of daily Lee Enterprises newspapers will stop printing Monday editions in early November. Last month the Omaha World-Herald announced layoffs. And, last year the St. Louis Post-Dispatch closed its local printing press and laid off the staff. Small Lee papers in Iowa and Nebraska have merged.

Damon Kiesow, who teaches the business of news at the University of Missouri, said an increase in digital ad revenue doesn’t make up for the decline in print advertising.

“If you want that resource to remain as part of the community, as part of the civic infrastructure of the community, someone does have to pay for it,” he said.

Kiesow said eliminating one day’s printed edition is a symptom of a shrinking print customer base.

The publishing company says the move will allow the papers to focus on their growing digital subscriptions, while print continues to decline.

Former Omaha-World-Herald reporter Todd Cooper negotiated with Lee executives as a union leader. He’s critical of Lee’s approach, which includes layoffs.

“That's not a strategy. That's cost containment. You could argue that's maximizing profits, although we differed on that,” Cooper said. “The old expression, you can't cut your way to prosperity, we have felt that.”

Read more.

A former middle school teacher in the Humboldt Community School District has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of a child.

Court records show 32-year-old Samantha Meyer-Davis of Rutland admitted that from May of 2022 through November 2023 she was engaged in a sexual relationship with a student.

Meyer-Davis initially denied the relationship when confronted by school administrators. During her sentencing, Judge Leonard T. Stand said there was “no indication she would have stopped the abuse on her own” and it only ended when law enforcement got involved.

Along with the 20 year term in a federal prison, Meyer-Davis has been ordered to pay over $13,000 in restitution. Meyer-Davis is set to go on trial in state court later this month on state charges of third degree sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by a school employee.

A couple years ago, farmer Chad Moore’s seed dealer was looking for people to try out a new product — short corn, from the agriculture company Bayer.

“I had never heard of it before,” Moore said. “I've always been kind of looking to do things a little bit different, try things out on the farm year after year. And I thought, ‘Sure, I'll try a box of that and see what happens.’”

The new variety doesn’t look too different from the road. It’s only about three to four feet shorter than the rows of corn you see as you drive through states like Illinois — corn that is largely used to feed livestock and make ethanol fuel.

But the small aesthetic difference hides some big changes in how the corn can be grown and what its potential outcomes might be. Those changes have multiple agriculture companies and researchers all working on shrinking their corn – and betting that shorter varieties might become more widespread in the future.

The U.S. produces more than a third of the world’s corn, and most of that grain comes from a swath of the central U.S. called the Corn Belt. It’s such a dominant crop that at certain times of year, a yellow wave can be seen from space, stretching from the Dakotas to Ohio.

Now, this new variety of smaller corn might bring a big change to the region. But that’s only if farmers decide it’s worth the switch.

Read more.

A high school teacher in southwest Iowa is pushing back against her school district for taking steps to fire her over a comment she posted after Charlie Kirk’s death.

Melissa Crook claims in a federal lawsuit the school district is violating her free speech rights. In her comment after the assassination, Crook said she doesn’t wish death on anyone but called Kirk not being here “a blessing.” The next day, she also posted an apology.

The superintendent placed Crook on administrative leave and later recommended firing her.

Crook is asking a judge to block the district from taking steps to fire her.

She argues her comment was her own private opinion.

The lawsuit also points to conservative posts the superintendent and school board president made over the years in support of Kirk, President Donald Trump and other GOP political figures.

The school district has not filed a response to the lawsuit.

Read more.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has set a date to fill the state Senate vacancy created by the death of Sen. Claire Celsi, D-West Des Moines. A special election will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 30, less than two weeks before the start of the next legislative session.

Celsi died on Monday after fighting an undisclosed medical issue for several months. She represented parts of West Des Moines, Clive and Windsor Heights. Celsi was first elected in 2018.

The Sac County Board of Supervisors picked deputy sheriff Katie Stange to take over for Sheriff Jonathan Meyer, who resigned last month due to personal reasons.

Stange is the first woman in Iowa to hold the position of sheriff since 1921, when Gunda Martindale took over in Allamakee County after the death of her husband, who was sheriff.

“It’s really an honor to be a trailblazer in this position," Stange said. "The one part that makes me nervous is, I don't want to mess it up, and so I hope that it's known that, I didn't get the spot just because I'm a woman but it's because of the skills that I have as a law enforcement officer.”

Stange says her top priority is building a new county jail. A bond measure for the project failed by just 1% last year. It’s on the ballot again this November.

The current jail is more than 80 years old and officials say it doesn’t meet current safety standards.

Madeleine Charis King

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Iowa Public Radio

Polk County is increasing the amount of money it gives to Des Moines’ largest homeless shelter.

Central Iowa Shelter & Services (CISS) ended its weather amnesty program this May because it couldn’t afford the cost. Thanks to donations, CISS was able to continue housing people during extreme temperatures.

Now, Polk County will provide funding each year to ensure the nonprofit has enough capacity to help up to 275 people.

The government shutdown comes at a terrible time for Midwestern farmers, who are finding themselves shut off from federal loans and vital information.

Corn and soybean farmers have been losing money for years. This year, they’re expecting huge harvests, but weak demand thanks to the trade war with China.

Normally, they would be able to tap into U.S. Department of Agriculture loans to help cover the costs. But the USDA is mostly shut down right now. Chad Hart, an economist at Iowa State University, said USDA reports that help farmers decide how to sell their grain are missing, as well.

“This is one of the worst times within the year to shut down USDA,” Hart said. “You combine that with, you’re shutting it down at a time when you know the ag economy is in a recession, so it’s sort of a double barrel hit there.”

President Donald Trump has promised a bailout for farmers, but that has stalled, in part because the USDA employees aren’t on the job to help distribute the money.

The City of Cedar Rapids determined the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not need to request a permit to build a fence around its immigration office. The city announced that it made a mistake in tracing the federal property lines. 

Last week, DHS requested a permit from the city to build 7 – 10 foot high fences around its immigration detention facility. The city granted the permit, but is now saying errors in its digital mapping tools led it to underestimate the federal property line.  

After reviewing the initial property deed from 1974, city staff determined that the federal property extended further than what had previously been noted. 

An officer at the facility could not comment on whether DHS plans to change the fence location. 

The immigrants’ rights group Escucha Mi Voz, who has organized a weekly presence outside the facility, criticized the city, saying it has cleared the way for a fence without public oversight. 

Residents of Fairfax debated at a public meeting Wednesday night whether to agree to a proposed gas power plant that could be built in the area just south of Cedar Rapids.

The plant’s tall turbines and environmental impact have raised concerns among residents in recent months. Alliant Energy proposed the plant on property it already owns. The company said last week that the Fairfax location had been deprioritized and that it is considering other options. 

One resident said the city’s future land use map meant the plant would face toward commercial and residential developments. 

“If you want to grow your town, you want more households, you want more businesses that are industrial, you don't put a power plant across the street from where you want that other stuff,” the resident said.

Alliant has not revealed which other locations it is considering. Some residents said the City of Fairfax could benefit from the tax revenue generated by the plant and the money it might funnel back into the community. 

Lucius Pham

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Iowa Public Radio

The Des Moines School Board approved a contract for Matt Smith to serve as interim superintendent for the next two years. Smith moved into the position after former Superintendent Ian Roberts was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sept. 26.

Smith first started working in the district in 2010 as a high school principal and has served as associate superintendent since 2018. He previously served as interim superintendent during the 2022-2023 school year before Roberts was hired.

Gov. Kim Reynolds will now require state agencies to verify new employees are authorized to work in the U.S. before they are hired. An executive order signed Wednesday also requires a person applying for a state-issued professional license to have their citizenship or immigration status checked.

Reynolds said the move is in response to former Des Moines Superintendent Ian Roberts’ arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in September. Roberts did not have legal status to be in the U.S. when he was hired, but claimed he was a citizen when he applied for a license through the state Board of Educational Examiners.

To check a person’s legal status, the state will use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, known as SAVE. To confirm work authorization, the state will rely on E-Verify.

Reynolds said the systems are available to the state without charge. Her goal is to have a process in place with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services by the end of the year.

Madeleine Charis King

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Iowa Public Radio

The Iowa Supreme Court will decide if people who can’t afford their own lawyer can have their fees dropped if their case is dismissed.

ACLU Attorney Alex Kornya said Iowa is in the minority of states that charge low-income people the full cost for legal counsel, rather than a flat rate. That means Iowans can have thousands of dollars in legal debt, even if they aren’t ultimately charged.

Kornya said that causes problems for people who thought their legal representation was free.
“We're talking about plea bargains, specifically for low-income people, because low-income people, strangely, are the only ones who really face the prospect of having large debts,” Kornya said.

Low-income Iowans owe over $160 million in legal fees, and only 1-3% of that sum has been collected by the court system each year.

A new natural gas plant at the Scott Area Landfill in Davenport will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from decomposing garbage. It converts landfill gas into renewable natural gas and directs it toward a MidAmerican Energy pipeline.

Rachel Evans, with the Waste Commission of Scott County, said the natural gas from the landfill will help power thousands of homes each year. 

“We’re turning methane into natural gas, which literally goes right into the pipeline, right into the homes of Quad Cities,” she said. “We will be powering about 4,000 homes every year.” 
The plant began operating last week.

The technology was created by the French company Waga Energy, who will operate the plant for an initial 20-year term.  

A 2021 report from the Environmental Protection Agency stated that landfills are responsible for roughly 17% of the country’s methane emissions. Evans said the new plant will reduce CO2-equivalent emissions by more than 15,000 tons each year. 

Black Hawk County Supervisor Christopher Schwartz has been arrested on two separate charges of sexual abuse.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports the alleged incidents happened in August 2023 and involved Schwartz taking pictures of the victim, who was incapacitated.

Schwartz is serving his third term as county supervisor.

He’s being held in the Black Hawk County Jail on bond set at $50,000.

An aid package for farmers hurt by President Donald Trump’s tariffs will likely come in two rounds, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley. He said the money will come from the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation, but there’s currently not enough in the CCC to fund the entire amount suggested by the Trump administration.

“They're thinking about spreading it out over two tranches,” Grassley explained. “Use the money that's available now, and then when Congress gets done appropriating money and supplements the Commodity Credit Corporation, they do the remaining of the $10 to $14 billion.” 

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Grassley said that distributing aid could be slowed by the government shutdown because farmers couldn’t sign up while county Farm Service Agency offices are closed. Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent teased there could be an announcement about a farm bailout as early as this past Tuesday.

The White House is threatening mass layoffs of federal workers if the government shutdown continues — an approach Iowa’s 2^nd District Rep. Ashley Hinson said she supports.

The shutdown is in its eighth day, and both President Donald Trump and the White House budget director, Russell Vought, have also threatened “irreversible” budget cuts. 

Hinson said the country wouldn’t be in this position if Senate Democrats had voted for a Republican funding bill. 

“The thing I’d make about the president’s approach to government is, of course we need to reduce the size and scope of government, that’s what I’m trying to do through the appropriations process as well,” Hinson said. “Unfortunately, the Democrats have set us up to a position where we don’t have money to pay the federal workforce.” 

Congressional Democrats said Republicans refused to negotiate with them about extending health care premium tax cuts under the Affordable Care Act. Those tax cuts make health care cheaper for millions of Americans. 

A member of the Iowa Board of Regents is taking a position in the Trump administration. David Barker was confirmed by the Senate to serve as assistant secretary for Postsecondary Education in the U.S. Department of Education.

Barker joined the Board of Regents in 2019 and pushed to close diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the state’s public universities. At a recent conservative fundraiser, Barker said he hopes to do the same working at the federal level.

Barker has said he would resign from the Board of Regents when he was confirmed.

The Senate also confirmed two new U.S. Attorneys for Iowa. Leif Olson was appointed as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa based in Cedar Rapids and David Waterman was confirmed as the new U.S. Attorney for the Southern District in Des Moines.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the USDA will restart international food aid, but under new branding and with an “America First” focus.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration gutted USAID and fired all the staff through an executive order. The decades-old agency purchased and distributed American farm commodities overseas. When it shut down operations, grain was left to rot in ports and a lucrative market for U.S. farmers was lost.

In a sharp reversal, Rollins said that restarting the program will help use up a mounting glut of excess farm commodities.
“It is a signal of the government and our purchasing power and the importance of ensuring we're moving our row crops out across the world,” she said.

Rollins said the program will buy more than 400,000 metric tons of corn, wheat and other grains “immediately.” Rollins did not say how the USDA would rebuild the globe-spanning operation to distribute that food.

Isabella Luu

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Iowa Public Radio

Some Des Moines residents at a school board meeting Tuesday night asked for more scrutiny over board members after former Superintendent Ian Roberts was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

After his arrest, it was revealed that Roberts wasn’t authorized to work in the country when he was hired by Des Moines Public Schools in 2023. The district filed a lawsuit last week against the search firm it used to hire Roberts. 

Jon von Gillern of Des Moines attended the school board meeting and has kids in the district. He said he has heard glowing reviews of Roberts, but he thinks the board should hire a third-party investigator to examine what the board knew about the discrepancies in Roberts’ background. 

“But I ask you, is that the primary role of a superintendent, a $300,000 a year mascot to rally the troops?” von Gillern asked board members. “Or should a superintendent be someone with integrity, so they can make sound policy decisions for the district? I think that it's the latter.”

A school district in Pennsylvania where Roberts was superintendent before he came to Iowa is looking into a lawsuit against him. The same district is planning to meet with the U.S Attorney’s Office next week to look at Roberts’ documentation. 

The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a case related to the deadly collapse of a Davenport apartment building.

Many former residents sued the city and some city officials, claiming they knew about the building’s deteriorating condition and failed to tell tenants to evacuate. Three people died in the 2023 collapse. 

Attorney Jason O’Rourke, who represents the two city employees named in the suit, is asking the court to dismiss the case. He said the employees have qualified immunity. 

“When a city or its employees doesn't affirmatively create the danger, that’s when it applies,” he said. “If the city creates the danger or owns the property, then a lot of times we get outside of the public duty doctrine. But that’s not what we have here.” 

A spokesperson from the Iowa Judicial Branch said the court will likely issue a ruling within 90 days.

Read more.

The American Heartland has experienced a boom in wineries over the last three decades. But with U.S. wine sales trending down, some producers are feeling the effects more than others.

Globally, wine consumption has been trending down since 2018. In the U.S., volumes fell by 15% between 2019 and 2024. The largest losses were in Florida, New York and California, where many consumers switched to spirits and ready-to-drink beverages, like canned cocktails and hard seltzers.

But the number of American adults who report drinking alcohol has also dropped to 54%, according to a recent Gallup poll — marking an all-time low since the initial poll in 1939. And those who drink say they’re consuming less alcohol.

Health concerns are the biggest driver behind the behavior shift. The rate of participants who said “one or two drinks a day” negatively affects health increased from 26% in 2016 to 53% in 2025. This view was held highest by 18–35-year-olds.

In response to suppressed demand and canceled contracts with large winemakers, some grape growers in California and Washington have pulled out their least productive vineyards. In Iowa, some wineries have closed altogether in recent years.

But not every region of the American Heartland is experiencing the same effects.

Read more from Harvest Public Media’s Rachel Cramer.

Naomi Delkamiller/The Midwest Newsroom

The city of Cedar Rapids granted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) request to build a fence around its immigration enforcement office. Local immigrants’ rights advocates say the decision violates their freedom of speech. 

DHS has used vehicles, police tape and armed officers to prevent protesters from standing in public spaces outside the immigration enforcement office in Cedar Rapids. Now, after the city approved its request, the building may soon have a 7 - 10 foot high fence around much of the area. 

At a city council meeting Tuesday, Abby Long-Williams asked council members to intervene. 

“I'm asking you today, as a preventative measure, to do everything you can to keep them from building this fence,” Long-Williams said. “We watch as couples go in and only one person comes out with tears running down their faces.” 

Long-Williams and many others said the fence would prevent organizers in front of the facility from being able to communicate with people going to their check-in appointments. 

Madeleine Charis King

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Iowa Public Radio

Iowa Sen. Claire Celsi, D-West Des Moines, died Monday, according to a social media post from her daughter and statements from lawmakers.

Celsi, 59, entered hospice care Sept. 18 and was no longer seeking curative treatment, according to her family. She had been battling an undisclosed medical issue for several months.

She returned to the 2025 legislative session following a surgery in April after having missed more than a month of votes. Further details about her medical condition have not been released.

Celsi was first elected in 2018 to the state Senate and won reelection in 2022 representing Iowa Senate District 16. She served as a Senate Democratic assistant leader in 2024 and as ranking member of the Senate Government Oversight Committee in the 2025 session.

Read more.

Nicole Baxter

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Iowa Public Radio

Iowa ranked fifth in the nation for instances of book bans for the 2024-2025 school year. In a report this month, the literary nonprofit PEN America recorded 113 bans in Iowa. Florida led the nation with 2,304 bans.

During Banned Books Week, which runs through Oct. 11, the American Library Association organizes events to promote free expression. Iowa City Librarian Sam Helmick serves as president of the association.

“It's important for libraries to push back against any abridgment or censorship, but then to also teach our communities that your privacy, your right of inquiry and your freedom to read are things that not only need to be celebrated, but practiced, as practitioners of the First Amendment, every single day,” Helmick said on Talk of Iowa.

In March, a federal judge issued a second temporary injunction to block Iowa’s ban on books with sexual content in K-12 school libraries.

Movers are beginning to transfer items out of a State Historical Society research facility in Iowa City.  The State Historical Society of Iowa is closing the facility because of a budget shortfall.

The move comes a week before a district court hearing where opponents will try to stop the items from being removed and keep the research center open. Historians are concerned artifacts are going to be lost.

Mary Bennett, who was a special collections coordinator and is now part of that lawsuit, said she watched workers with Iowa Prison Industries load boxes into a truck.
“We do not know the destination,” she said. “We do not know what they might determine is no longer of value.”

The Iowa Department of Administrative Services has not confirmed details about what was in boxes moved out of the facility or where the items are being taken.

Iowa’s 1^st District Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said she won’t hold in-person town halls until people stop confronting Republicans about their support for the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The law, which was signed in July, is expected to cause over 7 million Americans to lose Medicaid coverage.

A video recently surfaced from an August meeting with Johnson County Republicans, where Miller-Meeks told them that Republicans like her, who represent swing-districts, have faced harsh criticism over their votes. 

“Bernie Sanders came here in February to attack me,” she said. “Pete Buttigieg has been here to attack me. They've been on broadcast, they’ve been on radio. There are billboards across the district. They have had fake town halls. Even now, Tom Barton and the Cedar Rapids Gazette, ‘When’s Miller-Meeks going to hold a town hall?’ When hell freezes over!” 

Miller-Meeks holds meetings and makes appearances in the 1^st District, but she has not held an in-person town hall during her current term.

The Republican won by just 798 votes in the last election. The 1st District is expected to be a toss-up in 2026. 

Natalie Dunlap

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Iowa Public Radio

The Crown Prince of Norway visited Decorah in northeast Iowa Monday. His visit marks 200 years since the first organized emigration from Norway to the United States. Organizers say it’s a commemoration of the strong bond built between the two countries since then.

“The Norwegian-American story is a reminder that our relationship is not built by political and economic ties alone, but on the belief that by working together, we can create a better future for all,” said Crown Prince Haakon.

The crown prince received tours of the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum and Luther College, which was founded by Norwegian immigrants.

“Being here at Vesterheim, surrounded by all these Norwegian flags and people in bunads and all your nice sweaters, I feel almost more Norwegian than I do at home,” he told the crowd at a ceremony in Decorah.

The crown prince and the Norwegian delegation will travel next to Minnesota and then to New York, where they will welcome a replica of the ship that the Norwegian immigrants traveled on into the harbor.

Google has approached Linn County with plans for a new data center. The company is looking at land near the decommissioned Duane Arnold nuclear plant near Cedar Rapids.

County supervisors were approached by Google about a new data center in rural Linn County a few weeks ago.

Supervisor Kirsten Running-Marquardt said Google will pay for a water balance study to determine whether the county’s water supply can support new data center development.

“I believe that Linn County is best suited to take these considerations and make a fair ordinance taking in considerations of all communities and their water needs throughout the county. Google has been a fair and good partner so far with these communications,” she said.

NextEra Energy is trying to reopen the nuclear plant after it was decommissioned in 2020, and the company expects to have it open in 2028

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security claims former Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts was charged with drug possession and with having a forged document or item in 1996. But the agency didn’t specify the outcome of those charges.

Charges against him in 1998 for unauthorized use of a vehicle were later dismissed. In 2012, DHS says Roberts was convicted of reckless driving and speeding in Maryland.

DHS also mentioned previously reported firearm possession charges from 2020, though it’s not clear how that case ended up. And Roberts disclosed a firearm offense from Pennsylvania to the Des Moines school board during the hiring process.

Last week, he was charged with illegally possessing guns while in the U.S. without legal status.

Roberts went through background checks before working in Iowa. The law firm defending Roberts since he was arrested by ICE last month has not yet responded to IPR’s request for comment.

The Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment – or BEAD – Program is meant to help far-flung places finally get faster internet service.

In 2023, Congress allocated about $42 billion to BEAD through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The National Telecommunication Information Administration oversees the program with the aim “to connect every American to high-speed internet.”

Earlier this year, states had submitted proposals and were preparing to sift through project bids. Then, on June 6, the Trump administration pressed pause, issuing new guidance for BEAD. Changes to the program included asking states to look at technologies beyond fiberoptics, as well as implementing the “Benefit of the Bargain Round,” which requires awards to be given to the lowest-cost option.

The Oklahoma Broadband Office had to shift quickly after the Nation Telecommunication Information Administration, or NTIA, released the new guidelines.

“We were two days from announcing where we were, and then the rules changed,” said Mike Sanders, executive director of the state’s broadband office. “So, where we had eight to ten months leading up to that, we had 90 days. Everything was condensed in a year's work, I kid you not, into three months.”

Some experts say there will be trade-offs in having states move away from a fiber technology preference to consider other types of broadband technology.

Brian Whitacre is a rural economic development extension specialist with Oklahoma State University. He said fiber is reliable, has faster speeds, is easier to update and lasts for decades.

But, Whitacre said, fiber is also more expensive to install.

Oklahoma’s latest proposal for the BEAD program will include more fixed wireless and satellite service — both lower cost internet options.

While Oklahoma is waiting for the federal government's final word on proposals, other states, including Missouri, Texas, Illinois and Indiana, needed extensions, according to the NTIA.

Read more from Harvest Public Media.

A report requested by a legislator suggests adding bachelor’s degree programs at the state’s community colleges could expand access to Iowans with a limited ability to travel and help fill gaps in Iowa’s workforce.

The Community Colleges of Iowa report reviewed the experience in other states where community colleges offer four-year degrees. If the Iowa Legislature approves the move in Iowa, the report recommends that community colleges be allowed to charge higher tuition rates for bachelor’s level courses that would start no sooner than the fall semester of 2028. It suggests community colleges will need $20 million state “seed grants” over the next five years to hire faculty, prepare courses for 40 four-year degrees and expand services for those four-year students.

The report warns, though, that the move would be a stretch for already tight community college budgets, and it’s become more difficult for Iowa community colleges to find faculty in high-demand areas.

The report was requested by Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, chair of the Higher Education Committee in the Iowa House.

Over 200 community colleges in 24 other states are offering bachelor’s degrees. The Community Colleges of Iowa report says making that move here would provide students new pathways to high-demand careers with better pay by making a bachelor’s degree more affordable. It would also address what the report calls “regional educational deserts.”

A new program puts young adults in school and community-based positions to train them to work in the field of behavioral health.

Youth Mental Health Corps is launching AmeriCorps positions for Iowans ages 18 to 24. They get training and credentials toward their careers in mental health while working to help young people.

“They're placed in community organizations across the state, so they're helping to strengthen the programming of those organizations and the work that they can do and building capacity to be able to provide more support for young people all across the state,” said Monica Chavez, the commission chair for Volunteer Iowa.

Chavez said those who are interested can go to the Volunteer Iowa website for more information on how to apply.

GOP candidates for governor Eddie Andrews, Brad Sherman and Adam Steen told an anti-eminent domain rally in Shelby County Sunday that they’d stand up for private property rights.

Steen used to work for Gov. Kim Reynolds as director of the Department of Administrative Services. An audience member asked him how he felt about Reynolds’ veto of a bill to limit the use of eminent domain. Steen said he supported her decisions as her employee.

“I was shocked and surprised at that veto, and as a candidate now out of her administration, I will protect property rights day one,” Steen said.

Steen says he wants the Legislature to pass a “simple, clean” bill that bans the use of eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines.

Andrews said Reynolds was wrong to veto a bill that would limit eminent domain for pipelines.

“You cannot straddle this fence. You can’t say, I support property rights, but I support the governor’s veto. No, it’s one or the other,” Andrews said.

Sherman said using eminent domain for a carbon capture pipeline is “plain old socialism.”

“There are people out there who are socialists who think that government really owns your property, you just get to rent it,” Sherman said.

Iowa Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, said he invited all five Republicans campaigning for governor. He said U.S. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Iowa Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, didn’t say why they weren’t there.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expecting corn production nationally to be about 13% higher than last year. But experts say strong yields across the country tend to drive crop prices down.

“This is going to be the third year in a row that our farmers are going to be selling corn at below cost — yields look great but prices do not,” said Brenda Gudex, with the Wisconsin Corn Promotion Board.

A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis found farm incomes decreased in the second quarter of the year. The report says low crop prices and high input costs drove the decrease.

"Crop prices for what farmers are producing on an acre of land have been coming down, but those operating costs are still pretty high for most of them, or at least they haven't come down in tandem with crop prices,” said Joe Mahon, the region's outreach director for the Minneapolis Fed. “And that's compressing margins and leading to weaker incomes."

The Trump administration reportedly plans to release details about new support for farmers this week.

Filing immigration paperwork in the U.S. now costs significantly more money.

People looking for help from the nonprofit Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice are saying they want to update their legal status for more safety, but spokesperson Elena Casillas-Hoffman said families are already struggling to balance their budgets. The fees are another roadblock to citizenship.

“Can I pay this and meet my day to day living expenses?" Casillas-Hoffman said. "But I also need to pay this because I need to feel some level of safety in a moment where I otherwise have so much out of my control.”

Some application fees have more than doubled.

She said many families are under humanitarian programs seeking asylum.

Historic funding cuts and changes to federal food and nutrition programs could affect free and reduced meals for low-income students in Iowa.

A Congressional Budget Office report estimates 2.4 million people will lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in an average month.

Kaitlyn Scheuermann, a dietitian for nutrition services with the Waukee Community School District, said families that lose access to SNAP benefits will also lose automatic eligibility for free and reduced-price school meals.

“It's really important that we're communicating with families and making sure that they know they may have to apply, because we don't want them to end up in a situation where they start to accrue a negative balance,” she said.

Scheuermann spoke during a virtual town hall hosted by the Iowa Food System Coalition.

Food security organizations are warning that a prolonged government shutdown could have significant consequences for low-income families, food banks and pantries.

A substantial amount of food from U.S. growers and producers comes from the USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program. Food banks often order food through the program several months in advance, which means if the shutdown does not end quickly, local food banks could see a disruption in supply.

“As long as it's a brief shutdown, we'll be fine,” said Kim Guardado, director of HACAP Food Reservoir, a food bank that serves seven counties in eastern Iowa. “If it goes too far, then there won't be staff that will be able to place those orders for the future. So then we would see a disruption in the future.”

She spoke during a virtual town hall Thursday night hosted by the Iowa Food System Coalition. Guardado and other panelists said food insecurity has been on the rise in Iowa.

They said a long government shutdown could also disrupt federal programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which already face significant budget cuts.