House Democrats have issued a report blaming Republican leaders for not properly investigating the state court system’s misallocation of about $25 million.

Their report follows a Republican report that criticized the judicial branch for concealing the problem and Democratic State Auditor Rob Sand for not quickly investigating it.

The Democrats’ report said the computer programming errors that wrongly distributed court debt collections is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. But Rep. Larry McBurney, D-Urbandale, said Republicans have engaged in “political theater” and have “repeatedly chosen to assign blame to political opponents.”

The report also stated that Republican officials should’ve noticed the problem sooner and should’ve been questioned by the House Oversight Committee.

Coralville city council members have voted 3-1 to end the city’s contract for automated license plate readers, a controversial law enforcement tool that uses AI to capture the license plate and model of passing cars. It comes as several other communities throughout the state are considering renewing their contracts with ALPR vendors or signing new ones.

Council members signed a two-year, $36,000 contract with Flock Safety, which operates the cameras, last year.

Council member Huy Huynh said there has been broad community opposition to the city’s contract with Flock Safety.

“I can honestly say that in my mailbox, in my text messages, in my conversations with community members, that there has been some support. But the number of supporters for Flock: minute, compared to the number that is against it,” she said.

Dan Wohlers, a Coralville resident, spoke during a public comment period.

“By choosing to move away from the Flock system tonight, you are showing that you’ve truly heard us,” Wohlers said. “Throughout this process, we’ve discussed the complexities of this technology, the concerns over data privacy, the importance of strict policy guardrails and the need for local control over our residents’ information.”

City Administrator Kelly Hayworth said Flock will remove the cameras within days but did not provide a specific number.

Nearby, city officials in Iowa City ended a temporary right-of-use agreement with the University of Iowa earlier this month that allowed ALPRs operated by the university to be placed on city property. All those cameras have been removed.

Farmers are closely watching how President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs unfold and whether they affect trade deals struck over the last year.

Aaron Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, said the administration’s approach has been detrimental for farmers and will have long-lasting effects on U.S. agriculture.

“We’re using the wrong tools at the wrong time," Lehman said. "Tariffs can be a good tool, but using them like this, it’s kind of like using a hammer to fix a lightbulb.”

Lehman said that chaos doesn’t get the U.S. closer to fair trade and that Congress needs to provide more oversight.

On Friday, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s use of an emergency law to impose sweeping import taxes.

The American Farm Bureau Federation and the American Soybean Association quickly called on the president to refrain from tariffs “using other authorities,” saying farmers need stable markets.

But soon after the Supreme Court decision, Trump used another law to announce new global tariffs. The farm groups said they would further increase costs for farmers.

Lehman said Congress needs to reset the country’s trade policy.

“For too long, Congress has let the administration go without providing the oversight that’s needed. And as a result, we’ve had a chaotic trade policy,” he said.

Read more from Rachel Cramer.

The American Gothic House Center in Eldon, which sits beside the tiny home that inspired Grant Wood’s famous painting, will see a major expansion with a $412,000 federal grant.

Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, touted the southeast Iowa landmark as a “mandatory stop” for anyone traveling through the state and says he’s thrilled to have played a role in landing the money for the addition.

Nunn said he pushed for the investment in Eldon, which outshined hundreds of thousands of other communities to get the funding through the USDA’s Rural Development program.

The facility will be adding an educational learning center that will be able to host up to 100 learners of all ages. Center administrator Cari Nicely outlined her vision for the expansion.

“I think it’s an important place for the community to be able to come together and feel safe to send their kids there for programs,” Nicely said. “Recently, I was asked, ‘Where do you go in Eldon to meet the locals and to really find out about the people?’ I want that to be the sentiment in this new classroom.”

Nicely hopes the new addition will be open by the 2027 tourist season.

Republicans on the House Government Oversight Committee are calling for an independent audit of the state court system’s misallocation of about $25 million.

Computer programming errors sent court debt collections to the wrong state fund for years. The committee’s report criticizes the judicial branch for concealing the problem and Democratic State Auditor Rob Sand for not quickly investigating the issue.

Rep. Charley Thomson, R-Charles City, wrote the report. He said the judicial branch can’t be trusted to handle court debt collection and should outsource that function.

“When the judicial branch discovered a massive problem with public funds, they made a choice,” Thomson said. “They chose silence over transparency. They chose consultants who couldn’t audit over auditors who could. They chose three years of quiet fumbling over one honest phone call to this Legislature.”

A spokesperson for the Iowa court system says the judicial branch takes full responsibility for the misallocation and is committed to improving court debt distribution.

Kansas might adopt a hotly debated pesticide labeling law.

“The bill ensures our Kansas farmers and ranchers will continue to have access to affordable crop protection products without fear of frivolous lawsuits,” said Rep. Angel Roeser, R-Manhattan, Kansas.

But Democrats say the bill is designed to block people from suing chemical makers for not disclosing health risks.

Modern Ag Alliance is lobbying for the bill. It was founded by Bayer, which has lost billions of dollars over cancer claims related to Roundup weedkiller.

The Kansas Sierra Club says versions of the bill have popped up in a dozen states including Missouri and Iowa. North Dakota and Georgia have passed it.

The Kansas House bill passed and is now in the Senate.

Millions of federal dollars are heading to the Army’s Rock Island Arsenal in the Quad Cities.

The arsenal will receive over $80 million to continue manufacturing one of the military's new wheeled-vehicles. Another $35 million will go toward other projects.

Sen. Chuck Grassley said the new funding package, announced last week, marks a big change from a year ago when the Army was considering scaling back work at Rock Island.

“What Congress, through the appropriators, have done at the Rock Island Arsenal enhances its importance to national defense and in turn enhances the economy of the Quad City area,” Grassley said.

He said maintaining operations at Rock Island Arsenal has been a bipartisan issue, highlighting cooperation between Iowa and Illinois. The Rock Island facility was designated an Army Arsenal in the 1880s.

Sen. Chuck Grassley expects President Donald Trump will address the U.S. military buildup in the Middle East in his State of the Union address Tuesday evening.

The military has moved ships and aircraft into Europe and the Gulf region in advance of a possible strike on Iran.

Grassley believes the president will clarify the administration’s position on Iran during his speech tonight.

“I think he could emphasize that Iran has a real possibility of having some good faith negotiations and at least stop what they're doing to enrich uranium for warfare,” Grassley said.

The New York Times reports there are four American aircraft carrier strike groups either in the Middle East or approaching it. Grassley says he hopes Trump will focus on negotiations.

Madeleine Charis King

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Iowa Public Radio

Sen. Dave Rowley, R-Spirit Lake, said he has been diagnosed with tonsil cancer and will be undergoing treatment over the next several weeks. Rowley said tonsil cancer “is treatable and curable” and he’ll “be fighting this with everything I have.”

Rowley expects to be back at work in the Statehouse later this spring and has filed the paperwork to run for reelection in November.

Sen. Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, has been undergoing treatment for a brain tumor since 2024 and just last month Sen. Catelin Drey, D-Sioux City, announced she’s undergoing treatment for stage one uterine cancer. Drey was elected last fall and filled a vacancy in the Senate created when Sen. Rocky DeWitt, R-Lawton, died of pancreatic cancer in June.

Of the $12 billion promised for the Farmer Bridge Assistance program, only $1 billion will go to growers of more than a hundred fruit, vegetable and nut crops.

USDA has not released how much individual growers can expect, but it won't be enough, according to industry leaders like Tamas Houlihan from the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association.

He said growers are struggling with the same costs hitting corn and soybean farmers. Processors are also cutting back crop purchases due to their own economic pressures.

"There are a lot of scared growers as we head into this planting season, and again, with some of these contracts, the growers don't even know how much to plant," Houlihan said.

The specialty crop industry is asking Congress for an additional $5 billion in aid.

Alyssa Houtby from the North American Blueberry Council said growers have been hit by a spike in the cost of labor, on top of the same costs hitting corn and soybean farmers.

"Your input costs are increasing faster than your sales prices,” Houtby said. “And that's what we've found in not just blueberries, but I would say in a lot of commodities."

She said a recent freeze affecting fruit growers in southern states could push Congress to provide more aid.

The University of Iowa is asking the Legislature for nearly $4 million to boost the number of physicians in rural areas. The plan includes scholarships for medical students who want to practice in rural parts of the state.

The university wants to build a network of rural physicians so they can place more students in residencies and training programs in rural areas.

UI President Barbara Wilson said the university wants to increase the “stickiness” of their medical students. She said where students do their residency is the number one predictor of whether they’ll stay to practice.

“It's not where they came from, it's not where they went to medical school, it's where is their residency,” Wilson said. “So residencies are costly, but they ensure that once you dig in for two or three years of a residency, all of a sudden you're going to love that community and you want to stay.”

The college also wants to double the number of student physicians on their “rural medicine” track over the next four years.

Iowa State University is asking state lawmakers for $3 million to develop more farm technology. More than half of the money would go towards an experiment station for digital and precision agriculture technologies — for both crops and livestock.

The rest would go towards training farmers on the new tech through the college’s extension services. The money would also go towards AI training for 4H programs.

David Spalding, interim president at Iowa State, said the programs are aimed at helping farmers who are struggling.

“We all know the pressure the farmers are under across our state. Input costs are rising. The costs they’re receiving for their crops is not, it is depressed,” Spalding said. “And that’s putting a lot of pressure on the farmers on our state.”

Spalding says the university is experimenting with sprayers that can recognize different plants and precisely administer pesticides.

Iowa State is also asking for $600,000 to support its vet labs.

The Iowa Economic Development Authority Board recently approved the first awards for the state’s new Business Incentives for Growth, or BIG, program.

Department of Economic Development spokesperson Kanan Kappelman said projects from Bettendorf, Bondurant, Hiawatha, Vinton and Waverly are getting awards.

“In total, the awards for these five companies will assist in the creation of 536 jobs and will result in close to $270 million in new capital investment for the state,” Kappelman said.

Arconic, one of the companies, is going to build a new aluminum casting complex at its Davenport Works facility in Bettendorf, increasing its capacity to process and recycle aluminum into ingots used to make sheet and plate products. The $131 million capital investment is expected to create 40 jobs.

Vermeer Corp. plans to build a new production facility in Bondurant. Vermeer is based in Pella and makes agricultural and industrial equipment and plans to develop a 300,000 square foot production facility in Bondurant. The nearly $103 million capital investment is expected to create 182 jobs.

CCB Packaging in Hiawatha plans to add an automated production line for packaging it provides to food and pharmaceutical companies. The $13 million capital investment is expected to create nine jobs.

Kappelman said many of the new jobs in the program will be paying top dollar. That includes Arconic, which is set to create 40 jobs with a qualifying wage of $28.46 per hour. Sixty-two of the jobs Vermeer is looking to create will have a qualifying wage of $35.11 an hour.

The University of Iowa’s Museum of Natural History will be a featured waypoint next month on a historic cross-country journey celebrating the American bison.

Jessica Smith, spokeswoman for the UI’s Pentacrest Museums, said it’ll be the only Iowa stop for a unique shipment celebrating the national mammal.

“The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History has commissioned three, larger-than-life bronze bison sculptures,” Smith said. “They are going to be picked up on a truck with an open bed in Colorado and begin a great American bison road trip from Colorado all the way to the National Mall in D.C., where they will be installed permanently.”

Bison are being recognized in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and Iowa City was picked as one of the rest stops, given the many connections with the wooly beasts.

“Here at the University of Iowa and in the state of Iowa, we have some of the most impressive research and archaeological dig sites that really help us to understand the history of the bison and their connection with Iowa’s first peoples,” Smith said. “And in the galleries themselves, we have a few spots that are dedicated to bison.”

The truck and the sculptures will be parked beside the museum on March 15, offering a rare opportunity to see the bronze bison up close before they continue their trek to Washington, D.C., and the National Mall.

At the museum, visitors are invited to a special bison-focused program featuring short talks and up-close experiences. The day’s events are free and open to the public.

During a visit to the Iowa Beef Expo this weekend, Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra repeated his promise to make Iowa “the most ag-friendly state in the country” if he’s elected governor.

Feenstra said he’ll start showing details of his own policy proposals for the state government soon.

“We’ll roll out more specific ideas,” Feenstra said. “…That’ll come out here in the next several months.”

Feenstra told Radio Iowa that as governor he would sign a bill to shield the makers of Roundup from lawsuits over the product’s safety if the label follows EPA guidelines.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order last week that seeks to provide some legal immunity to Bayer — Roundup’s manufacturer — under the Defense Production Act and to ensure an adequate U.S. supply of Roundup’s main ingredient, glyphosate. That’s sparked criticism from the Make American Healthy Again movement within the president’s Make America Great Again coalition.

Feenstra, who will remain a member of the U.S. House for the rest of the year, also responded to Trump’s latest plan to impose 15% tariffs globally.

“I just believe that Congress has to work with President Trump to hold countries accountable, but also make sure we that have more markets for our beef, soybeans, corn and things like that,” Feenstra said. “I sit on Ways and Means, I also sit on Agriculture — the only person who sits on both, and we understand how important it is not to get checks, but to get more open markets. We want more markets for our commodities.”

The DNR is warning anglers of deteriorating ice conditions in northern Iowa, even with more seasonal temperatures in mid-February.

A spokesperson says the nightly lows have not been low enough to reset the ice.

Last week, a UTV broke through the ice on East Okoboji Lake and a pickup truck and ice fishing shelter broke through on West Okoboji.

No one was injured.

The DNR said anyone planning to go ice fishing should take great caution and do so on foot with a spud bar to check ice thickness. The agency said anglers should also take a throwable flotation cushion with at least 50 feet of rope.

Several University of Iowa alumni said they feel “profound alarm” about the possibility of the Board of Regents ending the university’s majors in gender, women's and sexuality studies as well as African American studies.

Many alumni said closing the programs would undermine the tradition of public universities offering classes in a wide range of disciplines. In a letter, they accused the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the university president, Iowa's governor and the Board of Regents of attacking intellectual and professional freedom.

The letter comes after a statement from the university saying it’s conducting a review of over a dozen undergraduate majors with low enrollment. The university said it’s to make sure the majors align with workforce needs. Just 23 current students have declared a major in gender, women’s and sexuality studies.

The board is set to hear an update on low enrollment and workforce alignment efforts at its meeting later this week. They’re expected to make a decision about ending the programs at its meeting in April.

One person died early Sunday when a snowmobile overturned into a western Iowa creek.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said it was notified at around 12:15 a.m. about the accident that occurred along Highway 191, south of Portsmouth.

When rescue crews and law enforcement arrived at the scene, they found a snowmobile and rider submerged in a creek.

The rider, identified as 64-year-old Scott Gau of Portsmouth, was removed from the icy water and pronounced deceased.

His body was transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny, where an autopsy will be conducted.

State health officials continue to report high levels of the flu and RSV in Iowa.

Janae Brown, a nurse practitioner at UnityPoint, said emergency rooms in the Des Moines area continue to see high numbers of people with respiratory virus symptoms.

“If you're having symptoms of the flu or RSV or COVID, go to your urgent care, go to your primary care provider,” Brown said. “You know, save the ER for chest pain, weakness on one side, loss of vision, severe abdominal pain.”

Brown said people who are sick should stay home and away from others, especially those who are at risk for getting severely ill, like infants and elderly people.

Brown said it’s still not too late to get a flu shot, as respiratory virus activity can linger until summer. According to state data, 30% of Iowans have received a flu shot so far this season.

The search firm Des Moines Public Schools used to hire former Superintendent Ian Roberts is suing the district for defamation. The Des Moines Register reports JG Consulting filed the countersuit earlier this week.

JG Consulting claims it upheld its end of the agreement with the district, which didn’t require confirming the immigration or work status of candidates.

The company said it was legally prohibited from checking immigration and work-authorization information since Roberts wasn’t an employee of the JG Consulting. The firm said verifying that information was the district’s responsibility.

JG Consulting also said the district still made the decision to hire Roberts despite being informed of resume inconsistencies and a firearms charge.

Roberts was detained by ICE in September 2025. The federal government said he was issued a removal order in 2024 and wasn’t authorized to work in the country.

The school district filed a lawsuit against the firm in October. The consulting company claims the district harmed its reputation with statements they made placing fault on the company.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he imposed tariffs on trading partners, using a 1977 law that allows the president to regulate commerce after declaring a national emergency.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said he agrees the president doesn’t have such authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but that there’s some important points not addressed in the 6-3 decision.

“It happens that the Supreme Court's decision was very silent on whether refunds will need to be issued for tariffs that President Trump has already levied,” Grassley said. "It also didn't address whether the president has authority under other statutory provisions to impose tariffs.”

Grassley said it doesn’t mean Trump can’t use other means to impose tariffs without going through Congress.

“There's enough experience of all kinds of presidents, Republican, Democrat, using the 63 and 74 laws that people in Congress haven't questioned very often,” Grassley said.

In 1963, President Lyndon Johnson used the Trade Expansion Act to impose tariffs on European countries in a dispute over U.S. poultry exports. The Trade Act of 1974 grants the president authority to respond to unfair foreign trade practices.

Grassley said he’d like to see Congress reestablish some of its power to regulate commerce.

In a news conference where he harshly criticized the decision, Trump announced he’ll reimpose a global 10% tariff. Trump also said he doesn’t have to work with Congress to re-impose the tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court.

This legislative session, Gov. Kim Reynolds proposed a tax reform plan she said will save Iowans $3 billion over six years.

However, Mark Nelson, the chairman of the Woodbury County Supervisors is pushing back on a state tax cut plan. He said counties already deal with unfunded state mandates, making it harder to balance budgets without cutting services.

“I don't think anybody wants to pay more for taxes, but that should also be for folks in their communities to decide, because it's not a one-size-fits-all,” Nelson said. “There are certain things that come up that we have to respond to, and caps do not allow you to do that.”

The Republican said he’s also concerned about the loss of local control in government.

“If we continue to take rights and responsibilities away from townships to city councils to county boards to school boards, and it all goes to Des Moines, then none of us are gonna have a voice, none of us are going to have an avenue to actually enact change.”

Nelson said lawmakers who back the governor’s plan accuse critics of wanting to “tax and spend.” He said that’s not true.

The 2% cap does not include property taxes for schools or debt levies.

Federal aid continues to flow into western Iowa communities affected by major disasters in 2024.

FEMA announced approval for about $9.5 million to the City of Rock Valley and the local school district after historic flooding.

However, homeowners in Rock Valley and several other communities are still waiting for buyouts for almost 270 properties.

FEMA also awarded $1.5 million to Minden to restore damaged utilities. A tornado tore through the town located about 30 miles northeast of Omaha.

FEMA didn’t mention if other Iowa communities received funding. The agency said it's continuing to review additional projects and will give out money on a rolling basis as eligibility is confirmed.

Former Iowa First Lady Billie Ray has died at the age of 97.

Billie Lee Hornberger met former Iowa Gov. Robert D. Ray when the two were students at Des Moines Roosevelt High School. They married in 1951 and both graduated from Drake University. It was Drake that announced Billie Ray died peacefully on Wednesday morning.

Billie Ray became Iowa’s first lady when her husband was first elected governor in 1968. She was instrumental in the restoration of Terrace Hill after it was donated to the state in 1971 and led fundraising as the three-story Victorian Era house was converted into the governor’s mansion. The Rays moved into the historic home in 1976.

Former Gov. Robert D. Ray died in 2018 at the age of 89. Billie Ray is survived by her three daughters, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A winter storm system is predicted across Iowa Thursday afternoon, Thursday evening and early Friday, dropping up to 6 inches of snow.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Lee said it’s thought the heaviest snow will run in a corridor roughly from Council Bluffs to Des Moines to Dubuque.

Lee is urging all Iowans to keep a close eye on the changing forecast, as travel could become hazardous later today and tonight.

“Within the heaviest band of snow, amounts of two to five inches will be common, and there may even be a narrow strip of 6 inches or more,” Lee said. “Again, that would be over a relatively small area, but it is quite possible.”

The winter weather comes after record warmth earlier in the week where many parts of the state saw high temperatures in the 50s, 60s and even low 70s. Lee said this shift back to more seasonal weather means this snow will likely stick around.

“The next several days from Friday through Monday, we’ll struggle to get above freezing during the day, which is actually only a little bit below normal, but it’ll feel much worse because we’ve been so spoiled,” Lee said.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union is condemning Whirlpool Corporation’s latest layoff announcement for the Amana facility.

The union statement said the layoffs on March 9 will impact nearly 400 workers at the facility, which produces refrigerators under the Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag and Amana brands. The union said Whirlpool’s decision continues a pattern of corporate abandonment, after the company laid off 250 workers in Amana last year. It said while Whirlpool cuts jobs in Iowa, it has been aggressively expanding its manufacturing footprint in Mexico.

The union is calling on the Iowa congressional delegation to “stand up for the working families of Amana” and push back against this latest round of layoffs.

The Linn Grove Dam, a popular fishing area, was severely damaged by flooding in 2018 and 2019.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency offered $4.5 million to restore the Linn Grove Dam and the nearby park area. However, Buena Vista County’s conservation director, Greg Johnson says the new offer isn’t enough.

Five years ago, FEMA offered $7.5 million and then pulled all funding. It was restored through arbitration.

“We as a community just want to move forward and make the repairs that are needed to protect the property into the future,” Johnson said. “We're sitting here six, seven years later, and it would be really nice to get this project completed.”

In 2022, it was estimated the project would cost more than $12 million.

County officials have until April 1 to appeal, and Johnson said that will likely happen.

MidAmerican Energy is planning to install lighting systems that can detect aircraft at all of its wind farms over the next several years.

Most turbines are mounted with red blinking lights that turn on at night to warn pilots.

The new lights would only turn on when aircraft are nearby.

MidAmerican Energy says if the Federal Aviation Administration approves the plan it would reduce light pollution while ensuring the safety of small planes. Commercial aircraft usually fly too high to activate the systems.

MidAmerican says it installed the systems at three wind farms in 2023 as a pilot project and more last year. The systems reduce warning light usage by more than 95%.

A bill (HF 2081) that recently passed out of a subcommittee in the Legislature would require new wind farms to include the new lights. Existing turbines would need to be upgraded by the start of 2028.

Linn County supervisors have unanimously approved an ordinance regulating data center developments in unincorporated parts of the county. They say the ordinance builds on the mistakes of counties around the country and protects both the people of Linn County and its water and electricity.

The county’s ordinance requires large data center developers to complete a water study and sign agreements with the county setting out their water use and economic development plans.

Some members of the public have raised concerns about data centers using large amounts of water and electricity, but Planning and Development Director Charlie Nichols said Iowans would be better off if more counties had similar ordinances.

“I am very confident that no ordinance for data centers in Iowa is asking for more information or more requirements to be met than our ordinance right now,” Nichols said.

County supervisors say they have been approached by Google about building a new data center, but Google has not submitted an application yet.

Supervisor Sami Scheetz said Linn County is growing, and that’s good for its residents.

“This kind of growth, if it’s done responsibly, is just good for the county overall,” Scheetz said. “And I think this sets a really good framework for any company that wants to come and develop a data center that basically just says, ‘If you want to do business in Linn County, here is, kind of, the rules that we’re establishing.”

The federal agency that oversees pipeline safety has begun an investigation into the propane pipeline explosion last Saturday in southeast Iowa.

Washington County Emergency Management said no one was injured in the incident and there wasn’t any damage to any residential structures.

During the Iowa Utilities Commission monthly meeting Wednesday, Emily Clapham, an engineer with IUC said the incident involves a “hazardous liquid pipeline,” which is outside the IUC’s jurisdiction for investigations.

However, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration invited two IUC inspectors to be involved.

Last year, the IUC inspected half of the 86 natural gas operators and pipelines in Iowa for compliance with safety requirements. Clapham said this meets the goal of inspecting operators on a two-year rotation.

The IUC identified 178 probable violations of safety code and verified the correction of 235 outstanding violations, which included some identified in previous years.

The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission is referring an alleged water pollution case to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.

Commission Attorney Bradley Adams said Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (SIRE) illegally released sludge from its wastewater treatment facility near Council Bluffs into the Missouri River. He said they got a complaint Aug. 25 of an orange sludge being released into the river. There was no fish kill found, but Adams said the sludge could harm wildlife. He also said SIRE sought to avoid the fees for trucking away the waste.

“DNR estimates that SIRE avoided approximately $53,000 in disposal costs that other similarly situated businesses would pay. And, this is a clear and deliberate attempt to circumvent the law to save money,” Adams said.

He said the DNR can only issue a penalty of up to $10,000, and said by forwarding the case to the attorney general, the state can seek a bigger penalty.

SIRE CEO Eric Fobes spoke at the EPC meeting and said the company was trying to avoid the truck traffic from hauling the material away.

“It was never our intent to subvert a cost. We are not after cost savings of that magnitude at the plant. This is too small. It was more of an ease of execution not to haul it off site,” Fobes said.

The commission voted to refer the case to the attorney general with just two commissioners voting no.

The Iowa City school district faces an uncertain financial future after $10 million was transferred from its health insurance fund to its general fund in September without the school board’s initial approval.

Now, board members are looking at short-term and long-term loans and budget cuts to support the district moving forward.

Superintendent Matt Degner told the board they will be asked to consider a $3 million short-term loan in March to cushion the district’s spending for that month.

“It’s obvious now, we have extremely limited reserves,” Degner said. “We are currently trying to limit spending through the end of the year. As we talked about, yes, it would have been nice to have the whole school year to make those decisions. That’s what we’re actively doing now.”

Degner said the district went beyond its limits this year with the things it tried to provide for its students, including large increases in the number of special educators, support staff and teachers.

He said inaccurate data and insufficient financial reports are some of the reasons for the board not finding out about the loan transfer sooner.

The board is set to consider reductions for next year’s budget at its next meeting on Feb. 24.

State Auditor Rob Sand didn’t find any problems with financial controls on Iowa’s education savings account (ESA) program during an annual review of state funds. But he said Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration delayed giving him ESA information, which didn’t leave enough time to take a deeper look. 

Last year, Sand and Reynolds disagreed on whether the State Auditor’s Office should get detailed information about the ESA program. Sand said he received the information six months after requesting it.

“Had they given us this information when we asked for it, we may have expanded the audit because we may have noticed something and performed additional procedures and been able to provide taxpayers with a better understanding of what’s going on in the program,” he said.

Reynolds said Sand didn’t find any problems in his audit of the state education department. She accused Sand of using his official office as state auditor to advance his political agenda while he runs for governor.

Madeleine Charis King

/

Iowa Public Radio

This year’s Color the Wind Kite Festival in Clear Lake has been canceled because of unsafe ice conditions. The event was scheduled to take place on Saturday.

Organizers said that after monitoring the ice with local safety officials, they could not guarantee safe conditions for kite flyers or visitors.

“They tested from shoreline to about 40 feet out, and that's where it's very dangerous,” said Trish Funderman, the event director. “There might be a nice depth of ice, but the top 3 to 4 inches is very soft ice. It's just not safe.”

Color the Wind is known for its giant colorful kites flying over the frozen lake. The festival has only been canceled four times in its 25-year history, including two years ago because of thin ice.

Organizers are now looking forward to bringing the event back next year.

Read more.

Democrat Nathan Sage is endorsing U.S. Senate candidate Josh Turek after announcing the end of his own Senate campaign over the weekend, citing financial challenges.

Sage said that Turek, a Democratic state representative from Council Bluffs, understands Iowans’ struggle to pay bills amid rising prices and "comes from the same kind of working class family."State Sen. Zach Wahls of Coralville is also running for the Democratic nomination.

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst announced in September that she wouldn't seek reelection and has since endorsed 2nd District U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who will likely be the Republican nominee.

The primary elections are set for June 2.

The Iowa State Fire Marshal Division posted burn bans for 12 counties statewide, as unseasonable temperatures soar into the 60s and 70s for much of Iowa on Tuesday.

Meteorologist Kristy Carter, with the National Weather Service, said the warm weather, gusty winds and dry vegetation make for a dangerous combination.

“The dry conditions that have been ongoing … it’s going to lead to another day of elevated fire weather,” Carter said. “So, if a fire does get started, it could spread pretty rapidly.”

Carter said it would be unwise to try clearing ground cover or burning trash in current conditions, even in counties without active burn bans in place.

“Probably not a good day to burn, and that’s going to continue to be true through Wednesday as well, with drier air kind of coming in tonight into Wednesday,” Carter said.

Burn bans are posted for the following counties: Cedar, Clarke, Clinton, Crawford, Decatur, Muscatine, Mills, Scott, Shelby, Union, Warren and Wayne.

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This story was updated at 2:20 p.m. on Feb. 17, 2025, to include Cedar County.

Nathan Sage — the first Democrat to officially declare his candidacy in the 2026 U.S. Senate race — has ended his campaign. Sage said it was one of the hardest decisions of his life, but he was unable to raise the financial resources necessary to keep his campaign viable.

The Democrat from Indianola resigned as director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce last spring to campaign full time.

Democratic candidates State Rep. Josh Turek of Council Bluffs and state Sen. Zach Wahls of Coralville are competing for the seat currently held by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst.

Ernst announced in September that she wouldn't seek reelection and has since endorsed 2nd District U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson.

Sheila Brummer

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Iowa Public Radio

Starting this week, some students in the Sioux City Community School District will ride on electric buses. The district received almost $6 million for 15 new buses as part of a program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that has since been put on hold.

Sioux City Schools Director of Operations and Maintenance Tim Paul admitted that there was initial pushback from some community members who aren’t fans of green energy.

“There was a lot of back and forth with it, but I think it's been the right decision,” Paul said. “Time will tell. I see it moving forward, especially in the city. The rural routes, maybe not so much. But the urban routes, for sure.”

The Environmental Law and Policy Center said at least 46 electric school buses have been funded by federal and state money for 16 school districts across Iowa.

Read more.

Hermes Rivera/Unsplash

The U.S. House recently voted to repeal President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada. It’s one of the largest agricultural trade partners with the U.S. and a major export market for tractors and farm equipment made in Iowa.  

Pam Johnson, a retired Iowa farmer, described her reaction to the House vote as “jubilation” and said it’s “a door opening” to other trade-related resolutions.
 
Johnson previously held numerous leadership positions in the agricultural industry, including as president of the National Corn Growers Association. Earlier this month, she sent a letter with other former heads of farm groups and senior U.S. Department of Agriculture officials to the House and Senate agricultural committees.
 
“We want the administration and Congress to do their jobs,” Johnson said. “What does that mean for us? It means we want them to listen to their constituents and care about the issues that affect our daily lives and our kids’ futures.”
 
The letter recommends nine actions for Congress, which Johnson said could help the U.S. avoid a farm crisis similar to what Iowa experienced in the 1980s. This includes a repeal of tariffs disrupting agricultural export markets.

Read more.

Officials in Washington County are still trying to determine the cause of a pipeline explosion over the weekend.

A statement from the county sheriff’s office said the explosion in a rural part of the county involved an underground pipeline operated by Enterprise Products Partners. It’s not clear yet what caused the explosion, and updates will be shared as more information becomes available.  

Emergency responders who arrived at the scene Saturday morning were able to contain secondary fires that had spread across the nearby Skunk River. Officials said no one was injured in the explosion or the fire, and there is no active threat to the public and no residential structures were damaged.

Enterprise Products Partners did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The utility also owned a pipeline in Texas that exploded in 2020 after it was hit by a dredging boat, resulting in five deaths. 

A proposed federal ruling would limit which waters and wetlands are protected under the Clean Water Act. Conservation advocates argue the revision is much too narrow, while farm groups support the change.

A wave of letters signed by environmental advocacy groups across the country say the new definition of what is considered protected ignores science and leaves the vast majority of remaining American wetlands unprotected.

Nancy Stoner, a senior attorney at the Environmental Law and Policy Center, said when lawmakers wrote the Clean Water Act over 50 years ago, they intentionally made it broad so it could protect more water resources.

“They thought they were fixing the problem,” Stoner said. “If you went back to the members of Congress from 1972 and you said, ‘We just decided most of the waters in the United States are actually not protected by the Clean Water Act,’ I think they would be appalled.”

Some farm advocacy groups, like the American Farm Bureau Federation, have praised the redefinition, saying it offers needed clarity to farmers about whether parts of their fields should be considered protected wetlands.

Read more from Harvest Public Media.

Sheila Brummer

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Iowa Public Radio

A trial date has been set for a lawsuit filed by the contractor who built the new Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center in Sioux City. 

Hausmann Construction, of Lincoln, Neb., filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Woodbury County and others involved with the project. The company claims that it wasn’t paid almost $6 million, and its image was unfairly tarnished.

The jail was scheduled to open in the spring of 2023, but because of delays, it did not start housing inmates until a year and a half later.

County officials have said they will vigorously defend the lawsuit, including filing counterclaims against Hausmann.  

The trial is set for May 2027.  

Nick Loomis

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The Midwest Newsroom

The City of Burlington is replacing a bridge that has been closed for almost 20 years with the help of federal funding. Iowa’s 1^st District Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks was in the southeast Iowa town Friday to celebrate securing $6 million in funding for the project. 

Miller-Meeks said she fought hard to include the $6 million in a spending package passed by Congress earlier this month. 

“This doesn't happen by accident,” she said. “As we recall, from when we talked about this down at the Cascade Bridge, and people thought it just accidentally happened. Community project funding isn’t handed out. It’s earned.” 

Some Burlington residents accused the congresswoman of being disingenuous for putting in requests for the funding when she had previously voted against a 2021 infrastructure law. During her visit to the district, protesters gathered outside Burlington City Hall, where Miller-Meeks celebrated the funding announcement. 

Iowa’s entire congressional delegation has sponsored legislation to name two Veterans Affairs facilities after the two Iowa National Guard soldiers killed in Syria.

Sen. Chuck Grassley said the VA facility in Des Moines would be named after Staff Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, and the VA outpatient clinic in Marshalltown would be named after Staff Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard. The facilities are in the hometowns of the two soldiers.

Torres-Tovar, 25, and Howard, 29, were shot and killed by a lone ISIS gunman while deployed in Palmyra, Syria, on Dec. 13, 2025.

“We’re forever indebted to them for their dedication and service to Iowa and protecting our country,” Grassley said. “Our legislation ensures their service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.”

Sen. Joni Ernst said she’s “honored to lead this effort and tell the stories of their service” so their legacy lives on for generations.

The legislation is named the Iowa National Guard Heroes Commemoration Act.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order quadrupling beef imports from Argentina, despite objections from some of his biggest supporters — U.S. cattle ranchers.

Bill Bullard, CEO of the rancher advocacy group R-CALF USA, said the bump in low-tariff imports will only help the meat packing industry, not ranchers.

“Increased imports do effectively lower cattle prices, but they do not lower beef prices,” Bullard explained. “Instead, what the increased imports do is provide greater margins for the meat packers and importers at the expense of producers on one end of the supply chain and consumers on the other.”

At the same time, the Trump administration is pressuring ranchers to produce more cattle. Bullard said ranchers are trying to rebuild their cattle herds, which are at their lowest level since the 1950s. But he said the import bump will have the opposite effect.

The Iowa Court of Appeals has denied Walmart’s effort to cut millions in property taxes for its store in Marshalltown.

The Walmart store in Marshalltown sits on a nearly 25 acre site. The main store is around 214,000 square feet, with a 6,000 square foot garden center. The Marshall County Assessor appraised the store at $13,323,780 in January of 2023. Walmart contested the property tax assessment, saying it should be $8,332,680.

Walmart argued the county assessment was not proper because it was based on the building being leased and not owner-occupied. The Iowa Court of Appeals ruled that the methods the county expert used in the appraisal were more credible than Walmart’s appraiser.

Iowa DOT

More people than ever flew out of Iowa’s commercial airports in 2025.

Stuart Anderson, with the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), said December numbers resumed the upward trend after a drop in November. 

“We ended the year up 4.8% over calendar year 2024,” he said. “So, for the first time ever, more than 5 million passengers flew out of Iowa’s eight commercial service airports.”

Anderson said the drop in November travel was due in part to the government shutdown. The state’s top two airports in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids each saw record use in 2025.

Iowa roadway travel

December highway travel was down, but overall travel was up slightly in 2025, according to the DOT.

“Of course, we did have some weather towards the end of the month, which probably impacted that a bit,” Anderson said.

Iowa traffic deaths were at a record low of 259 in 2025. But Anderson said January started the new year with 24 traffic deaths — 7 more than last January. 

“This month, we saw more fatalities in younger and older drivers, and we had at least one multi-fatality incident,” he said.

Anderson made his comments this week during a report to the Transportation Commission.

Officials with Iowa Lakes Community College said they are heartbroken over the death of a baseball player during a bus crash Wednesday in northwest Iowa.

They said 19-year-old Carter Johnson of Rapid City, South Dakota, was killed when the bus left a curve in the road and flipped into a ditch on Highway 4 in Calhoun County. The accident happened about 110 miles northwest of Des Moines.

“Carter was a great teammate, a friend and a valued member of our athletic community,” said Troy Larson, Iowa Lakes’ athletic director. “In his time here, he really impacted our campus, both within our halls and the classrooms, as well as on the playing field.”

There were 32 others injured in the crash. A spokesperson for the Iowa State Patrol said three players who were flown to Des Moines for treatment are in stable condition, but because of the violent crash, it will take time to recover. The accident is still under investigation.

The Atlantic school board voted to terminate the employment of the district’s high school counselor Jesse McCann during a brief meeting Wednesday. Their action was based on a recommendation by Superintendent Beth Johnsen.

Prior to the vote, the board heard from Atlantic High School student Liam Spencer, who was an advocate for a recent student protest. Spencer represented a group of students who were unhappy with the district’s handling of allegations against McCann alleging inappropriate behavior with students.

“In light of recent events, will the employment process be stricter in order to ensure the safety of students and staff alike?” Spencer asked the board during public comment. “There should be plans set in place in order to prevent another situation in the future. We don’t want this happening to us again or another school, obviously.”

More than 40 people attended the meeting, and at least 118 people watched the meeting via YouTube.

The Atlantic Community School District released a statement Thursday regarding its ongoing investigation into the allegation.

“The matter remains under investigation by Iowa Board of Educational Examiners and the Atlantic Police Department,” the statement read. “Because this is an ongoing investigation and a personnel matter, the district is limited in the information it can share at this time.  Under Iowa law, certain records are confidential and not subject to public disclosure.”
The district said additional information will be shared as appropriate and when permitted by law.

No charges have been filed against McCann in connection to the allegations.

Even though the Midwest is far from any oceans, the marine industry came up multiple times at one of the largest biofuels policy conferences in the U.S. last week.

Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, which organizes the annual conference, sees the shipping industry as a golden goose for ethanol and soy-based biodiesel.

“There are massive new markets out there that are looking for the very solutions that renewable fuels have to offer,” Shaw said. “The marine industry represents an 80-billion-gallon-a-year opportunity.”

Shaw said renewable fuels have been “stuck in neutral,” pointing to three years of stagnant ethanol production in Iowa, along with a 10-year low for biodiesel.

Iowa, the top-producing state for both biofuels, also leads in corn bushels and comes in second for soybeans after Illinois. But most farmers who grow these crops have production costs outpacing commodity prices.

A recent study prepared for the Iowa Corn Growers Association and Iowa Renewable Fuels Association predicts the gap will continue growing unless farmers and processors can access new and emerging markets.

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media.

Emergency management officials in northwest Iowa said all the people treated for their injuries after Wednesday’s deadly bus crash involving the Iowa Lakes Community College baseball team are in stable condition. The crash left one player dead.

The team was on its way to play North Arkansas College when the bus left the road and flipped into a ditch west of Twin Lakes, located about 110 miles northwest of Des Moines. There were 33 people on board the bus.

Richard Hall, the emergency management coordinator in Calhoun County, said three people were airlifted to a Des Moines hospital, and all the injured people are in stable condition.

“This was the first large mass casualty incident that our county has experienced in a very long time that people can remember. In total, we had 32 individuals that were triaged and transported to area hospitals,” Hall said. “I can confirm that all those patients were accounted for, treated and transported within one hour of the first 911 phone call.”

Students at Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville held a private vigil Wednesday night.

Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a social media post that she is “heartbroken by the horrible news” and is praying for everyone affected by the deadly bus crash.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate plans to settle a lawsuit from civil rights groups over a flawed list used to challenge voter eligibility before the 2024 election. 

Two weeks before Election Day, the state said around 2,000 Iowans must file provisional ballots because driver’s license records indicated they may not be citizens. 
 
But the vast majority of people flagged by Pate’s office were actually citizens.   

The ACLU of Iowa said under the proposed agreement, the state would no longer use the 2024 list or rely on Department of Transportation data to challenge voters. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office said that’s not a concern because the state can now check voter rolls against a federal citizenship database. 

One person is dead, and several others are injured after a bus crashed in northwest Iowa on Wednesday morning. The Iowa State Patrol is investigating the crash involving the Iowa Lakes Community College baseball team.

The team was on their way to a game in Arkansas when their bus went off the road and flipped over into a ditch near Twin Lakes in Calhoun County. There were 33 people on board.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety reported that the injured were either taken by ambulance or flown to area hospitals.

A statement released by Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville asked for “privacy and compassion for all those affected.”

Iowa’s 2nd District Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson accused Democrats of using agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as political pawns.

The federal government faces a partial shutdown if Congress can’t agree on a spending bill to fund DHS by Friday, but Democrats are demanding new restrictions on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Republicans like Hinson say they are holding critical funding hostage.

“What we've told our colleagues is that ICE and CBP [Customs and Border Protection], they’re good on money. They’re funded through reconciliation. We already took care of that,” Hinson said. “So, this is just political showmanship by those on the left at the expense of American safety across the board for the homeland.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement received $75 billion in multi-year funding through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year. If Congress doesn’t pass a new spending bill by the end of the week, DHS agencies providing disaster relief and airport security will shut down indefinitely.

Welcome ceremonies are scheduled Wednesday afternoon for almost 250 members of the Iowa National Guard.

The soldiers worked alongside coalition forces to help reduce the impact of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. They’re returning to their family and friends after being deployed for almost a year.

Two events are planned in the afternoon in Sioux City and Des Moines for the soldiers.

A spokesperson for the Iowa National Guard said other service members who took part in the mission in the Middle East will return later. This includes the cavalry regiment of the two guard members who were shot and killed by an ISIS militant in Syria in December.

Iowa’s 2nd District Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson expressed some concerns over the president’s deal with Argentina to import more beef to the U.S. to offset high prices.

Hinson said it’s important to lower food costs as the price of beef has risen, but she is also focused on protecting American cattle producers. She also acknowledged that they have faced tough market conditions in recent years. 

“I do have real concerns about this policy leading to more uncertainty and more instability for our farmers,” Hinson said. “So, I guess what I would say is, I think it’s the wrong policy at the wrong time right now.” 

Some American cattle producers have accused the Trump administration of favoring Argentinian farmers and have said importing beef from Argentina will hurt their bottom line. 

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said retaliatory tariffs on American goods have had an impact on farm inputs and hurt U.S. farmers.

James Kelley

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Iowa Public Radio

The Coralville City Council is considering revisiting its contract with Flock Safety, a company that operates controversial Automated License Plate Readers in the area. It comes after the city received a letter from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office that states part of its policy prohibiting the cameras from being used for immigration enforcement does not comply with state law.

Council member Mike Knudson supports reviewing the city’s contract for the Flock cameras after seeing the extent of federal immigration enforcement efforts that have taken place since the council approved its policy last September. 

“At that time, last fall, I had no idea how far it would go,” Knudsen said. “I would say it’s far exceeded, maybe, my worst thoughts about how far it would go with that, in terms of shooting people in the streets.” 

The Attorney General’s Office sent the letter to the City of Coralville after receiving a complaint about its policy not complying with state and federal laws. 

Read more.

Rachel Cramer

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Iowa Public Radio

The Ames City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing and education based on an individual’s gender identity. It comes about a year after the state removed gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which sparked some cities to adopt resolutions affirming local protections.

Ames City Council members approved the local ordinance in a 5-1 vote. The lone dissenter was council member Tim Gartin, who raised concerns about a bill that an Iowa House subcommittee advanced Monday.  

The bill (HSB 664), which was proposed by the governor, would ban local governments like the City of Ames from adopting broader protections than the state law outlines.  

Council member Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen said she does not want to bend to what she sees as bullying behavior from lawmakers.

“I think, as we face a state government that is increasingly inserting its control of our every move, I believe that it is important to make Ames’ stance on this issue clear,” Beatty-Hansen said.

The city’s new ordinance goes into effect Saturday. First-time violations are set at $750, with $1,000 for repeat offenses. 

Read more.

The Food & Water Watch and the Iowa Environmental Council plan to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unless it returns seven Iowa waterways to the state’s impaired waters list.

The EPA removed the waterways from the list in 2025, reversing an earlier decision by the agency that said segments of the Cedar, Des Moines, Iowa and South Skunk rivers exceeded safe drinking water standards for nitrate. 

Every two years, states must submit a list of every impaired waterbody or river segment to the EPA. The causes for impairment include fish-killing fertilizer spills, E. coli and high nutrient levels. 

The state works with the EPA to set a target to reduce pollutants and create a restoration plan.

Naomi Delkamiller / The Midwest Newsroom

The flow of immigrants into Iowa in 2025 was about half of what it was in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. If the trend continues, it could have consequences for the state’s population growth. 

Census data shows that between 2020 and 2025, more than 90% of Iowa’s population growth was due to new arrivals from other countries. 

David Peters, an agriculture and rural policy professor at Iowa State University, said immigrants have been a lifeline for some rural communities, where growth stalled after the pandemic.

“It’s addressed workforce shortages that we have all across the state,” Peters said. “They buy homes, they spend their money in the community, they keep the schools running. It keeps the state revenues relatively robust.”

Iowa’s population growth rate is about 4%. Without immigrants, Peters said it would be about 1%.

Read more from Holly Edgell with The Midwest Newsroom.

Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City is on Billboard magazine’s 2026 list of top music venues, alongside sites such as The Sphere in Las Vegas and Preservation Hall in New Orleans.

Billboard calls Hancher “a quiet powerhouse for indie touring in the Midwest,” and cites its acoustics, sightlines and technical capabilities.

Hancher is located on the University of Iowa campus. It opened its current building in 2016 after the original auditorium was destroyed in the 2008 flood.

A bipartisan group of ag leaders and former government officials sent a letter to Congress last week warning that President Donald Trump’s economic policies could cause the “widespread collapse of American agriculture.”

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley agrees that Trump’s tariffs on farm inputs and retaliatory tariffs imposed on U.S. ag exports are hurting U.S. farmers. He said Congress has ceded power to impose tariffs to the president over many decades, and they should pass legislation to take that power back. But he admitted such a bill faces long odds.

“I think any president's going to veto power that they have today,” Grassley said. “If we pass the law, then you have to have two-thirds to override the veto. I don't think that's going to happen, but that's what should happen.”

The New York Times reported the group signing the letter includes former heads of associations representing corn and soybean farmers and officials from the Bush and Reagan administrations. The group said farmer bankruptcies have doubled, barely half of all farms will be profitable this year and the U.S. is running a historic agriculture trade deficit.

The Cedar Rapids school board has agreed to explore two options for consolidating many of the district’s schools as it tries to cut costs.

The first proposed model would group fifth and sixth graders into intermediate schools. The second proposed model involves creating kindergarten through fourth grade elementary schools and fifth through eighth grade middle schools. Both options aim to reduce the number of elementary school buildings. 

Superintendent Tawana Lannin said the board’s vote gives her a clear directive. 

“Tonight, we saw the power of what the next phase of this work will bring,” she said. “While there were no final decisions that were made, we know that this requires deeper study, deeper voice and deeper engagement.” 

The school board is set to make a final decision on the consolidations in April. It comes after the district approved nearly $13 million in cuts to next year's budget. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a man arrested by federal agents in Sioux City on Feb. 4 has an extensive criminal record. Raul Torres Olivares, 46, was arrested last week after running his vehicle into an ICE vehicle before attempting to flee from officers.

In addition to pending felony charges for forgery and defying an order of removal in 2023, ICE is pursuing additional charges against Olivares for assaulting officers and resisting arrest.

Federal court documents show he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection to the death of his girlfriend’s baby in 2003. After serving his sentence, Olivares was deported in 2011 and removed from the U.S. three additional times before his most recent arrest.

MidAmerican Energy called the Des Moines Police Department (DMPD) Sunday morning to report an injured trespasser who had damaged equipment at a power substation, knocking out power to over 5,000 customers.

DMPD said its investigation indicated that around 5:45 a.m., a man climbed over a fence at the substation that provides electricity to downtown Des Moines. KCCI TV reported when first responders arrived, they found a man who was naked. Police said the man had burns that covered about 20% of his body. He was taken to a Des Moines hospital for treatment.

Power was restored in the area by 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Sheila Brummer

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Iowa Public Radio

Iowa’s dry start to the new year is affecting some winter activities and raising concerns about the ecosystem.

The National Weather Service reported that since meteorological winter began on Dec. 1, most of the state has experienced below-normal snowfall. This includes Sioux City, home of the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center.

Theresa Kruid, education director at the western Iowa nature preserve, said a snow drought has forced the cancellation of snowshoeing activities.

“It's been a roller coaster,” Kruid said. “I think it's been warm and then really cold. It was kind of weird, with lots of snow in December and not very much since then.”

Kruid is also worried about the impact on plants and hibernating animals. She said plants can sprout too early, and animals burn through their fat reserves too quickly if they are forced to wake up more frequently due to weather conditions.

A Fairfield High School teacher has been placed on administrative leave after being accused of making inappropriate contact with a student.

Vannen Crabtree, 57, of Richland, has been charged with sexual exploitation by a school employee, grooming and lascivious acts with a minor. The Fairfield Community School District’s website shows Crabtree is an industrial arts teacher.

KCRG reported authorities began investigating Crabtree on Jan. 28 after a parent notified police that Crabtree had communicated with their teenage daughter through social media.

Sheila Brummer

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Iowa Public Radio

Former Iowa House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl has dropped out of the race for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District. The Republican from Missouri Valley said after recent developments in the race, it became clear that staying in would not best serve the people of the district.

Last Thursday, President Donald Trump endorsed Republican candidate Chris McGowan, who leads all candidates in fundraising. McGowan is the president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce.

Windschitl is now backing McGowan in the Republican primary on June 2.

Two other Republicans are still in the race: Iowa Tea Party Founder Ryan Rhodes of Ames and software consultant and farmer Christian Schlaefer of Lakota.

Democratic candidates include: former state Rep. Dave Dawson of Lawton, Ashley WolfTornabane of Storm Lake and Stephanie Steiner of Sutherland.

Current 4th District Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra is running for governor of Iowa.