The Republicans who represent Iowa in the U.S. House and Senate are praising the capture of Venezuela’s president, while top Iowa Democrats suggest the move may trigger another endless war. Senator Joni Ernst and the four Iowans who serve in the U.S. House say Maduro and his cartels have illegally trafficked deadly drugs into our country for years and President Trump took decisive action to hold him accountable.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican leaders in the Iowa House may pursue a plan to have community colleges grant four-year degrees — but House Speaker Pat Grassley says it would have to be focused on helping residents in higher education deserts access a four-year degree program — in targeted subjects. “I don’t think we want to just turn them over to four-year degrees for every single thing,” Grassley says. “If there’s some really valid, justifiable degrees that maybe it makes sense, I think that would be where the conversation should start.”

House Majority Leader Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, says serving prospective students in parts of the state will be a likely focus. “Think of southeast Iowa, think of southwest Iowa,” Kaufmann said, “and there’s a real desire for something closer.” Kaufmann says some community colleges in eastern Iowa — like Kirkwood in Cedar Rapids — are next door to major four-year universities.

“I think that the bill that we put out will provide flexibility for customization within each individual community college,” Kaufmann said. The Community Colleges of Iowa released an analysis in October suggesting the 15 area community colleges would need 20 million dollars over the next five years to hire faculty, prepare facilities and design courses for four-degrees. Republican Representative Taylor Collins, chairman of the House Higher Education Committee, asked for the report.

“Where I’m sitting at today in Mediapolis, we’re over an hour away from another institution that grants four-year degrees, so this is really about unleashing opportunities for rural students who want to take the next step in their education,” Collins said,” and we also know it’s already being done.” Community colleges in 24 other states offer four-year degrees, mostly in high demand areas like nursing, business and education. “Really fields that we need more trained professionals,” Collins said, “particularly in those rural parts of the state.”

In 1989, West Virginia became the first state to have its community colleges offer four-year degrees. Missouri is the only neighboring state where some community colleges are offering four-year degrees. The governor of Illinois has proposed allowing some community colleges in his state to offering four-year degrees.

(Creston, IA) – A distracted driver lost control of their car Saturday afternoon in Union County, resulting in a rollover accident. The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports the 16-year-old female from Creston was traveling north on the High and Dry Road at around 12:47-p.m., Saturday, when she received a message on the center console screen in the 2015 Ford Taurus she was driving.

When the teen went to clear the message, the car entered the gravel portion of the shoulder. When the driver attempted to get the vehicle back onto the road she over-corrected, causing the car to cross the center line, into the opposite lane. The car went into the west side ditch and rolled over, causing a sheriff’s estimated $15,000 (Severe) damage to the vehicle.

Both the driver’s and passenger side curtain airbags deployed, and the windshield was pushed-in, according to the report. The teen denied any injuries when she was checked by medics. No citations were issued.

(Red Oak, IA) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man early this (Sunday) morning, on an OWI charge. Authorities say 29-year-old Dakota James LeRoy Petty, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 2:15-a.m. in the 200 block of E. Oak Street, in Red Oak, for OWI/1st offense (A Serious Misdemeanor). Petty was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Atlantic, IA) – The Atlantic City Council’s first meeting under the leadership of newly elected and sworn-in Mayor Rob Clausen, will take place beginning at 5:30-p.m. on Wednesday, January 7th. The meeting, as always, is in the City Council’s Chambers inside of the Atlantic City Hall. It will be viewable in-person or through the City’s website (https://cityofatlantic.com/government/meeting-live-stream/)

The following is the tentative Agenda for the meeting:

1. Roll Call.
2. Approve Agenda.
3. Pledge of Allegiance.
4. Adopt Consent Agenda Items.
a. Minutes of December 17, 2025, City Council Meeting.
b. Bills: $230,343.81.
5. Public Forum & Requested Hearings.
6. Presentation by Rod Deter on the Atlantic Cemetery.
7. Order to Appoint Roger Poulsen to the Planning & Zoning Commission.
8. Order to Approve First Whitney Bank & Trust as the City’s Official Bank for the City
Checking Account for 2026.
9. Order to Approve the Atlantic News Telegraph as the City’s Official Newspaper for
Legal Publications in 2026.
10. Order to Approve Pay Application #5 for $94,872.79 to TK Concrete for the West 22 nd
Street Improvement Project.
11. Resolution #01-26 “Authorizing Certain Parameters for the Acceptance and Approval
of a Bond Purchase Agreement.”
12. Administrator’s Report.
a. Governor’s State of the State Speech. – Tuesday, January 13, 2026. A.M.
b. Budget Workshop – Wednesday, January 14, 2026
13. Mayor’s Report.
14. City Council Reports.
15. Adjournment.

(Atlantic, IA) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors will hold Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Departmental Budget Work Sessions beginning Tuesday, January 6th. Additional sessions will be held on:  January 7th; 13th; and 14th. Each session begins at 9-a.m. in the Supervisor’s Board Room, inside the Cass County Courthouse in Atlantic.

The Work Session Schedule is as follows (The order of agenda items may change based on when personnel are available and when time allows:

Tuesday January 6, 2026
9:00 Call to Order, Roll Call, Approve Agenda
9:00 Veteran Affairs
10:00 General Relief
11:00 Recorder
12:00 Break
1:30 Sheriff
2:30 Jail
3:30 Adjournment

Wednesday January 7, 2026
9:00 Call to Order, Roll Call, Approve Agenda
9:00 Attorney
10:00 IT
11:00 Treasurer
12:00 Adjournment

Tuesday January 13, 2026
9:00 Call to Order, Roll Call, Approve Agenda
9:00 Engineer – Sec Road
10:00 Conservation
11:00 Auditor
12:00 Break
1:30 Board of Supervisors
3:30 Board of Supervisors
4:30 Adjournment

Wednesday January 14, 2026
9:00 Call to Order, Roll Call, Approve Agenda
9:00 Zoning
10:00 Any other budget business or follow up
12:00 Adjournment

(Radio Iowa) – Garner mayor Tim Schmidt says a preliminary review of the way they handled a sudden influx of stranded motorists during last weekend’s blizzard shows several positives. Schmidt says they got a call on the 28th that the hotel in Garner had quickly filled up and more people need a place to shelter.

He says they decided to take people to the Veterans Memorial Recreation Center and ended up with 24 people there. Schmidt says local businesses brought in warm food for the stranded travelers.

Schmidt says local law officers did a good job of making sure everyone was safe.

Schmidt says they are working with the Hancock County Emergency Management team to study how everything was handled so they can learn if there are things that can done better the next time there is this type of emergency.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa families who put up a live Christmas tree in their houses back on Thanksgiving weekend are likely ready for it to come down now, and instead of hauling it to the curb to go into a landfill, they might consider ways to repurpose it. Chip Murrow, an urban forestry program specialist with the Iowa D-N-R, says folks with acreages might be able to “tree-cycle” that evergreen back into the great outdoors, somewhere on their own property.

Smaller songbirds will like having a place to get out of the wind and to seek refuge from predators. Murrow says you can also decorate the tree outside.

An old Christmas tree that’s sunk in a farm pond could become an excellent fish habitat, but he cautions, it has to be under certain conditions.

For best results, he suggests sinking it with a cement block secured to the trunk, so it sits upright at the bottom of the pond. For Iowans who are crafty, you could trim the branches to make a fragrant sachet, wreath, or garland to enjoy in the weeks ahead.

Another option would be to find a local Boy Scout troop that could use the tree for outdoor firewood, though with the creosote, it should -not- be burned indoors in a fireplace. A final option, use the needles as an effective mulch on perennial plants, in your garden, and to keep weeds in check next spring.

(Radio Iowa) – Some farmers in Dickinson County who were enrolled in one of the U-S-D-A’s largest commodity support programs for the 2024 crop year believe they were significantly underpaid. Scott Titterington, who farms near Milford, says they’re holding a meeting next week in Spirit Lake.

The Agricultural Risk Coverage program provides payments when a farmer’s revenue for a specific crop falls below the historical average. Titterington says it appears A-R-C payments to farmers in neighboring Emmet and Kossuth Counties were around 90 dollars an acre.

Titterington says they’ve learned just over 98-thousand acres of Dickinson County farmland was enrolled in the ARC program in 2024. Based on the estimates for Emmet and Kossuth Counties — the U-S-D-A would have paid all the Dickinson County farmers who got A-R-C payments MILLIONS more.

The meeting to plot strategy will be held Tuesday, January 6th at 10 am in the Dickinson County Expo Building in Spirit Lake. If the weather doesn’t cooperate on Tuesday, Titterington says they’ll meet Wednesday at the same time and in the same place in Spirit Lake.