(A report by the IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – Landowners opposed to a carbon sequestration project in Iowa have asked a state court to reconsider its decision to pause a lawsuit over the permit for the pipeline until state officials rule on a filed amendment.  Landowners argue the Polk County District Court’s decision to send the permit back to Iowa Utilities Commission “relied heavily” on the existence of a South Dakota law prohibiting the use of eminent domain for carbon sequestration pipelines.

Landowners, counties and the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter filed a suit in 2024 against the Iowa Utilities Commission decision to grant a permit to Summit Carbon Solutions for the first phase of its proposed carbon sequestration pipeline. The permit stated the Iowa-based company could not begin construction on the pipeline to connect to biorefineries and transport carbon dioxide to underground storage in North Dakota, until it had secured permits from the Dakotas.

In the spring of 2025, however, South Dakota enacted a law that prohibited the use of eminent domain for carbon sequestration pipelines. Eminent domain is used to force unwilling landowners to allow the use of their property for projects considered in the public interest, at a price set by a county commission. South Dakota’s law meant Summit would have to obtain 100% of necessary land easements through voluntary contracts.

Pictured, Iowans opposed to carbon dioxide pipelines hand out buttons that read “No CO2 pipelines” at the Iowa State Capitol March 18, 2025. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Summit filed for an amendment to its permit in September with the IUC to replace the Dakotas-specific language and instead require that the company receive permits for adequate sequestration and storage sites, not in a specific location. The company then requested the court pause proceedings on the case against the permit until the IUC ruled on the proposed amendments. After oral arguments on the request in October, the Iowa District Court for Polk County remanded the permit to the IUC and paused judicial proceedings until the commission decided on the proposed amendments.

The changes in South Dakota, which occurred after the IUC issued the initial permit, were influential to the court’s decision. Polk County District Court Judge Scott Beattie referred to the law as the “S.D. CO2 Pipeline Ban” in the decision and said it “render the IUC’s Final Order void” and would require Summit to find a route outside of South Dakota to get to its planned underground storage site in North Dakota.

Landowners requesting the reconsideration of the case said the South Dakota law is “not a ban” on carbon dioxide pipelines in the state and that the law should not be a “relevant or material factor” in the case as Summit could still pass through South Dakota under the law. The motion from landowners argues that because Summit has not stated that it no longer plans to route the pipeline through South Dakota, the remand to the IUC gives the company a “second bite at the apple” and a “business flexibility” which leaves affected landowners “in the lurch.”

Representation for Summit argued before the court that it made “little sense” to proceed with the case if the permit were to be amended at the IUC level. Judge Beattie also noted that staying the case until the IUC decided on the permit amendment would also prevent the case from potentially being litigated a second time. Beattie wrote in the decision that “adjudicating the merits of a permit that is actively being amended serves no useful purpose.”

Summit Carbon Solutions did not respond to a request for comment. The landowners, represented by an attorney, asked the court to reverse its finding that the South Dakota law renders the IUC order void and to reverse its remand to instead set a briefing schedule for the appeal.

If the court does not reverse its decision, the motion asks the court to “specifically identify” and direct the IUC to “rescind route approval and eminent domain approval for all portions of the Iowa route from the South Dakota border back to the nearest connecting Iowa ethanol plant” in order to avoid “pipelines to nowhere.”

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – A Des Moines woman is facing charges after police say she used a child to steal nearly $30,000 in clothes. 18-year-old Ja’nariona Temple is accused of leading a group of thieves to Jordan Creek Town Center, where they conducted large-scale “grab and go” thefts, according to court documents.

Temple would then allegedly sell the stolen items. Police allege the group stole $28,706 worth of clothes during nine different occasions between March 23 and July 20.

Ja’nariona Temple (Dallas County, IA Jail booking photo

Court documents also say Temple used a minor as a diversion during the crime. Temple is charged with first-degree theft, using a juvenile to commit an indictable offense, and ongoing criminal conduct.

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) – Avian flu has been confirmed in several wild bird flocks in central Iowa, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. KCCI reports that Maffitt Reservoir near Des Moines is closed while workers dispose of dozens of dead birds found there. Officials say there is no public health risk and drinking water is safe.

Central Iowa Water Works has confirmed that drinking water is safe because the treatment process eliminates viruses and bacteria.

DAVENPORT, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrections, Monday, said a man convicted of in the Robbery 2nd Degree in Jefferson County, failed to report back to the Davenport Work Release/OWI Center as required on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025.

Darrian Lee Nicholson (IA-DOC photo)

27-year-old Darrian Lee Nicholson was admitted to the work release facility on Aug. 18, 2025. Nicholson is a  5’3″, 157-pound White male.  Persons with information on Nicholson’s whereabouts should contact local police.

For more information on the state’s work release program, please see Iowa Code 904.901-904.910.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa City Police Department has put out a warrant for a Nebraska man they believe planned and carried out an ATM burglary. Police say Darnell Gordon, 43, from Omaha, worked with several people to break into an Urban Fuel in Iowa City around 3:15 a.m. on August 3rd. After the break-in, police say they used a rented U-Haul to steal an ATM containing $4,000.

Investigators say Gordon’s cell phone records, including Google searches and his communications with others, place him at the scene at the time the crime happened and show his plans to carry out the crime.

He is wanted on charges of second-degree theft and third-degree burglary.

(Radio Iowa) – Starting this Thursday — January 1st — Iowans caught handling a smart phone while driving a vehicle could get a 170 dollar ticket, including the fine, court fees and other charges. The law took effect July 1st, but officers have been issuing warnings rather than citations. By the end of November, Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Alex Dinkla says state troopers had issued about 10-thousand warnings.

“Then also giving little educational pamphlets out to help educate the do’s, the don’t s and just trying to make people aware of the new law,” Dinkla says. Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau Chief Brett Tjepkes says they learned from other states with so-called “hands free” laws that a warning period or soft roll out was important, so his agency printed 60-thousand cards to educate motorists.

“And so law enforcement are handing them out. They’re in every rest area. They’re in every drivers license station in the state of Iowa,” Tjepkes said. “We don’t want to have to come to the citation. We want to educate people and make them aware as much as possible.” Tjepkes says you don’t have to have a new vehicle with hands-free technology to comply with the new law.

“Almost every phone that’s out there will make a hands free call. You can ask Siri or ask Alexa or even just one touch that the law allows for,” Tjepkes said, “but you can’t have the phone in your hand.” That one touch is for answering a call with a tap on the screen. Law enforcement agencies say it was hard to enforce Iowa’s previous law, which banned texting while driving. Sergeant Dinkla says beyond sending a text, there was some confusion about what drivers were allowed to do with a cell phone while driving.

“This new law, it stripped all that gray out, so it’s pretty cut and dried right now,” Dinkla said. “You cannot have that cell phone in your hand, period.” Dinkla has issued warnings to drivers over the past few months who told him they had no idea they could not hold their phone while driving. Dinkla says some drivers can’t resist the temptation of responding to the chime from the phone, indicating they’ve gotten a new text.

“Have that willpower not to answer the phone or answer that message and that’s our hope, is that people one day will get there,” Dinkla said. “We used to be there at one point, where we didn’t have that temptation.” In 2011, about a third of all Americans owned a cell phone. Now, 98 percent have one.

Dinkla and Tjepkes made their comments during a recent appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S.

(Radio Iowa) – The annual “University of Okoboji Winter Games” in northwest Iowa begin in less than four weeks — and there’s chili on the schedule. The chili cook-off will be held in the Dickinson County Expo Building in Spirit Lake on Friday, January 23rd. Iowa Great Lakes Chamber of Commerce director Blain Andera says due to space limitations, the first 27 teams that enter online can participate. “There’s no registration fee of any sort,” he says. “They just have to provide a lot of chili.” At least 20 gallons of chili.

“We don’t want to run out of chili at six o’clock when it goes until seven, so we certainly want to have enough for everybody to sample every type of chili,” Andera said. “The vendors don’t want to run out either because if they run out, then people won’t be able to vote for them.” Teams are not only competing for the “Best Overall Chili” award, but to win “Best Non-Profit” and “Best Booth” in the contest. “Lights, Camera, Action” is this year’s theme for the booth decorating.

(Image courtesy of University of Okoboji Winter Games)

The news release for the event encourages the chili-makers to key in on “Chili Wonka and the Flavor Factory” and showcase their favorite movie. Organizers expect up to two-thousand people to sample the chilis and cast their votes. All sort of other events — indoors and out — are scheduled for the University of Okoboji games, including a cribbage tournament and a 5-K fun run through the Arnolds Park Amusement Park.

The fictional University of Okoboji, home of the Fighting Phantoms, was founded in the 1970s by three brothers — who printed t-shirts with a University of Okoboji crest.

• Hometown Connections: Builds partnerships to expand health care options in rural areas.
• Combat Cancer: A statewide effort to improve cancer prevention, treatment, and outcomes.
• Communities of Care: Supports projects that bring different types of providers together under one roof.
• Health Information Exchange: Makes health records accessible across Iowa so patients can get care wherever they are.
• Community Care Mobile: Invests in telehealth and mobile health care programs, including high-risk maternal transport.

(Radio Iowa) – The price of Iowa farmland has only dropped once in the last seven years and that’s likely because the ownership profile hasn’t changed much. Rabail Chandio oversees the annual I-S-U extension farmland price survey. “Iowa is primarily a market for farmland that is held up by farmers, existing, relocating. Even investors here comprised mostly of farmers, out-of-state farmers who are interested in farmland in Iowa,” Chandio says. She says farmers are in for the long haul.

“Farmland continues to be a very stable, very consistently growing asset, which is why the demand from farmers, the demand from investors, has remained as a top supporting factor for farmland over the last few years,” she says. Chandio says investing in farmland isn’t playing the stock market. “There is very low risk for returns that are pretty much expected, pretty much guaranteed. The returns are low, but they are safe,” she says. Chandio says figures from another survey on farmland ownership show 84 percent of Iowa farmland is owned debt free.

“What we also see in that in that survey is that 66 percent of Iowa farmland is owned by experienced farmers, by late stage farmers, farmers were aged 65 and above,” Chandio says. “So the combination of debt -free ownership and experience is what really helps build up the cash reserves. What really helps keep the strong demand for farmland in the farm sector, even when it’s a loss share even when we are struggling when it comes to income.”

Chandio says the ownership hold on farmland is usually only broken when farmers decides to pass it on to family, or they die. “Overall, retried farmers and estate sales continued to make of the largest categories of sales in Iowa farmland markets. This has been true for quite a long time,” she says. Chandio says she doesn’t see that sales trends changing anytime soon.

(Atlantic, IA) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports five arrests took place between Dec. 11th and the 29th.

On Dec. 27th, deputies in Cass County arrested 40-year-old Shawna Kay Bolton, of Glenwood, for Possession of Controlled Substance. Bolton was transported to the Cass County Jail where she was booked and later released on her own recognizance.

On the 21st: 51-year-old Brian Lee Carlson, of Elk Horn, was arrested for OWI-1st Offense, and person Ineligible to Carry a Weapon. Carlson was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and later released on bond; And, 30-year-old Matthew Allen Strong, of Exira, turned himself in on an active warrant for Violation of Probation. Strong was booked into the Cass County Jail and held.

On December 18th, 31-year-old John Mark Topham,  of Griswold, turned himself in on a Cass County Sheriff’s Office warrant for Theft 3rd Degree, and two counts of Nuisance – Obstructing Land Passage. Topham was booked into the Cass County Jail where he was later released on bond.

And, on December 16th, Cass County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 27-year-old William Cody Shepard, of Urbandale, on a Cass County Sheriff’s Office warrant for Theft 4th Degree. Shepard was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and later released on bond.
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All criminal charges are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in the court of law.