(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen says there’s an urgent need to raise the pay for Iowa judges. Christensen is asking legislators to approve a four-point-three percent increase in judges’ pay, alongside a plan to reduce the number of magistrates who work part-time in courtrooms around the state.  “The way we pay magistrates and distribute their work doesn’t make sense and, more importantly, it’s not fair,” Christensen said. “All magistrates are paid exactly the same, even though there is a huge disparity in workload.” State law currently requires a magistrate in each county — and a total of 206 statewide — to handle things like preliminary hearings, issuing warrants and simple misdemeanor cases.

“We have perhaps 60 more magistrates than the work requires. This is not sustainable,” Christensen said. “…As stewards of taxpayer dollars, we have a responsibility to make choices to serve all Iowans.” Magistrates get a salary and benefit package of about 65-thousand dollars a year to spend roughly 13 hours a week on judicial duties, but Christensen says some magistrates in low-crime areas are working a couple of hours a week. This is the second year Christensen has used the annual “Condition of the Judiciary” ask legislators to approve significant changes in the magistrate system.  “Over the past year I spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to lead an institution like ours,” Christensen said. “What I learned is this: doing what is right for the long term is rarely easy.”

Christensen says her plan to consolidate and restructure the magistrate system would save the state at least two-and-a-half MILLION dollars a year. She also told lawmakers the pay for district court judges is nearing a point where no attorneys will apply.  “This is not tomorrow’s problem. It is today is reality. District 8A which is in the southeast corner of the state had an opening for a district court judge this past April. District 8A and its contiguous counties are home to about 540,000 people and of those about 940 are licensed lawyers,” Christensen said. “Want to guess how many applied for that job? Two.” And Christensen says one judge who recently resigned is now earning a higher salary — as a county attorney. “Can we even hang on to the judges we have? When we experienced judges leave the bench for other public sector jobs that pay better, we no longer have a recruitment problem,” Christensen said. “We have a retention problem.”

Governor Reynolds appointed Christensen to the Iowa Supreme Court in 2018. In February of 2020, the justices chose Christensen to be chief justice.

DAVENPORT, Iowa – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports a Mexican citizen was sentenced today (January 14, 2026), to six months in federal prison for illegally returning to the United States after being deported.

According to public court documents, Alan Hernandez Lagunas, 42, had previously been deported from the United States three times. On February 21, 2025, law enforcement encountered Hernandez Lagunas in Columbus Junction, Iowa when he was arrested for and later convicted of operating while intoxicated and interference with official acts. Hernandez Lagunas rear-ended a semi-tractor, exhibited signs of intoxication, and resisted arrest. Hernandez Lagunas had been convicted in Iowa of operating a vehicle while intoxicated in 2010 and 2012.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Hernandez Lagunas will be required to serve a three-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney David C. Waterman of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations.

(Radio Iowa) – A federal appeals court heard arguments Tuesday in two cases concerning the legality of an Iowa law that bans books with sexual content in school libraries. The law also restricts lessons relating to gender identity and sexual orientation. Federal rulings previously blocked the enforcement of most of the law, which passed in 2023. Thomas Story, a lawyer for the A-C-L-U of Iowa, told reporters after the hearing that the law is too vague.

Story says, “They failed to give teachers and students any clear rules and because they unconstitutionally infringe upon LGBTQ students’ rights to express themselves and to join together in GSAs.” G-S-As are school clubs that support L-G-B-T-Q students. An appeals court ruling could take months. “I can tell you that we will never stop fighting for the rights of Iowa students and for the rights of Iowa teachers,” Story says, “and for the rights of everybody to be subject to laws that have clear standards and not be subject to the arbitrary decision-making of elected officials.”

A lawyer for the state says prior court rulings support the law, and parents have a right to know what their children are doing in school.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that would ban the use of eminent domain for pipelines carrying carbon dioxide has cleared an Iowa House subcommittee. The bill is similar to a South Dakoka law and would not allow Summit Carbon Solutions to use the government’s eminent domain authority to seize land along the pipeline route. Kathy Carter owns land in Floyd County along the proposed pipeline route and doesn’t want it on her property. “I have had this black cloud hanging over my head for five years,” Carter said. “I’m tired of it.” Mike Henning owns Greene County farmland along the Raccoon River. “It’s important that those of us that don’t want to have a pipeline on our property have the opportunity to say, ‘No,'” Henning said.

The Iowa Corn Growers Association is on the record opposing the bill and says by capturing carbon from Iowa ethanol plants, that ethanol can be sold in markets that require zero-carbon fuels. Brittany Lumley, a lobbyist for Summit, says the carbon the company captures from Iowa ethanol plants can also be used to recover underground oil. “There are hundreds of billions of dollars of oil in Wyoming and trillions in North Dakota that will never be recovered without our carbon product,” Lumley said. “Truly this pipeline will eventually become an integral part of this nation’s security strategy, giving more access to oil which is essential for everybody’s everyday lives.” Jake Ketzner, a lobbyist for Summit, says the bill would kill the company’s project.

“Summit Carbon is focused on signing voluntary easement agreements and moving off landowners who do not want us,” Ketzner says. “We support widening the corridor to allow for route adjustments to make this possible and significantly reduce any need for eminent domain.” That’s a description of the bill Senate Republican Leader Mike Klimesh says would be a way to end the years’ long debate over the pipeline. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, says that Senate bill will not protect all landowners. “Because under their proposal eminent domain can still be used for the CO2 pipeline project,” Holt said. Holt says that’s why a complete ban on the use of eminent domain for carbon pipeline is advancing in the House.

(Glenwood, IA) – Sheriff’s officials in Mills County, Tuesday (Jan. 13th) along with Glenwood Police, executed a search warrant at 911 N. Walnut St. in Glenwood, with regard to an investigation concerning forced entry into a 911 emergency communications tower. Authorities identified the alleged offender as 18-year-old Cameron Germar, of Glenwood. The Sheriff’s Office says from the ongoing investigation it was discovered that Germar had cut the security fence and gained access to the tower which controls paging for Fire and Emergency Medical Service response.

Germar was arrested and charged with Violating Iowa Codes:

716.8 (6) Trespass – Public Utility Property – D Felony
716.4 (1)(A) Criminal Mischief 2nd Degree – D Felony
713.6B(1) Attempted Burglary 2nd Degree – Aggravated Misdemeanor
713.7 Possession of burglar tools – Aggravated Misdemeanor

(Photo of Cameron Germar courtesy of the Mills County Sheriff’s Office)

Germar also was charged with violating the following Iowa Codes from an unrelated Glenwood Police case.

713.6 Burglary 3rd Degree – D Felony
713.7 Possession of burglary tools – Aggravated Misdemeanor

Germer’s cash-only bond on the latter 3rd Degree Burglary and Possession of Burglary Tools, was set at $7,000. He remains in the Mills County Jail.

Disclaimer: A criminal charge/citation is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

(Pocahontas, IA) –  A woman who formerly worked for a business in the northwest Iowa community of Pocahontas was arrested this week multiple felony charges Monday, in Tennessee. The Pocahontas County Sheriff’s Office says a local business reported on Dec. 24th, 2025, that one of their employees had allegedly been fraudulently stealing money from them through a payroll account. The employer told authorities the actions of 35-year-old Cassandra Weaver, of Cleveland, TN, may have been occurring for more than a year before being discovered.

An investigation resulted in Weaver being charged with:

• Ongoing Criminal Conduct – a Class B Felony
• 1st Degree Fraudulent Practices, and Theft in the 1st Degree – Both are Class-C Felonies, and
• 2nd Degree Theft – A Class-D Felony.

The Pocahontas County Sheriff’s Office worked with authorities in Tennessee to coordinate Weaver’s arrest. She was taken into custody January 12th in Tennessee and is awaiting extradition back to Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – While 2025 wasn’t an especially terrible year for natural disasters in Iowa, a new report finds it was one of the most expensive years nationwide, with 23 major weather-related incidents that cost more than a billion dollars each. University of Iowa finance professor Martin Grace, an expert on risk management, says new home construction has to meet the latest codes, but Iowans living in older homes may find themselves facing expensive upgrades in the years to come. “Most homeowners who have older houses are going to have to make their houses resilient,” Grace says, “and you don’t remodel your house every seven years, or you don’t remodel your house maybe once in your in your lifetime of owning a house.”

In 2024, northwest Iowa saw historic flooding, while the entire state was raked by a record 125 tornadoes. The multi-state derecho wind storm in 2020 destroyed some seven-million Iowa trees and overall cost more than 11-billion dollars, the bulk of it in Iowa to houses, businesses and crops. Grace, a past president of the American Risk & Insurance Association, says climate change predictions call for these severe weather events to worsen and become more frequent. Iowa homeowners, he says, will have to act to make their homes more durable. “I think over time, what’s going to happen is that we’re going to remodel houses to have more resilient roofs,” Grace says. “We’re going to have property that is going to be a little bit more flood tolerant. We’re going to do other things that the homeowner is going to have to essentially manage to reduce the risk.”

While Iowa is in middle of what’s considered the nation’s tornado alley, other states face significant threats from both tornadoes and hurricanes, like Alabama. “With the industry’s help, they have formed a program that helps people make their homes more resilient,” Grace says. “I think this is the next transition for homes and buildings around the country, especially in wind and cyclonic areas where we have tornadoes and hail. This is going to be a more important thing in the future, but it doesn’t happen overnight.”

Even though no hurricanes made landfall in the U-S last year, for the first time in a decade, the study from Climate Central found weather-related disasters in 2025 nationwide cost more than 115-billion dollars, led by the Los Angeles wildfires.

https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/2025-in-review

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Transportation Commission has approved funding for roadways improvements to help businesses in Waterloo, Sioux Center and Huxley. The D-O-T’s Deb Arp says Waterloo is getting more money for roadway improvements in its South Business Park. “An 80-thousand square foot Edge Data Center is planning to locate on 12 acres later this year at the far south end near an existing MidAmerican substation,” she says. “The data center is anticipated to employ 80 to 20 professionals.” Arp says the city requested more funding from what is know as a RISE grant for the Iowa Economic Development Authority certified site.

“Based on the potential capital investment and future job creation, staff recommends the Commission approve the modifications of the previously awarded Rise grant to commit additional rise funds of 697-thousand-508 dollars for the additional roadway improvements for a new total award of four-million-495-thousand-306 dollars,” she says. That would be up to 60 percent of the total eligible project costs. Sioux Center was also awarded RISE funds for roadway improvements to 12 acres on the northwest side of town. “The proposed rise improvements will provide access to the proposed relocation and expansion of Malinga Inc, a manufacturer of customized bulk feed, transportation and pneumatic conveying equipment,” Arp says.

The Transportation Commission approved a RISE (Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy) Grant for half of the cost of the nearly 553-thousand dollar road project. “The initial development is anticipated to include construction of a 30-thousand square foot facility and include nearly seven million dollars in capital investment and the creation of 12 full time jobs,” she says. The third and largest award is going to the central Iowa town of Huxley for a roadway and intersection improvements at Iowa Highway 210 and 160th Avenue on the southeast side of town. “The proposed rise improvements will provide access to the proposed site of Project Lion.

The development is anticipated to include construction of a 300-thousand square foot cold storage and warehouse facility committed to a single firm in the food production industry. The project is anticipated to result in over 100 million dollars in capital investment and the creation of 129 full time jobs,” Arp says. The road project in Huxley is estimated to cost nearly four-point-two million dollars and the RISE Grant is for approximately half of that cost.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – A Nebraska man described as an “unruly passenger” was sentenced Tuesday after causing an emergency landing on a flight diverted to Cedar Rapids. KCRG reports 23-year-old Mario Nikprelaj was sentenced to more than a year in prison and a two-year supervised release after causing an emergency landing at the Eastern Iowa Airport on a SkyWest flight from Omaha to Detroit on July 17, 2025.

In October 2025, Nikprelaj pleaded guilty in federal court to interference with flight crew members and attendants. According to a federal complaint, the captain was told about Nikprelaj and flight attendants described him as an “unruly passenger” before take off. Flight attendants told the captain that Nikprelaj was leaving his seat against orders. He flipped off the flight attendants and returned to his seat. He was sat in the plane’s exit row.

According to a criminal complaint, he later tried to open an emergency exit door and fought with other passengers. At one point, he threatened to kill a flight attendant. The flight attendant told him to remain in his seat and he grabbed her arm. The captain called the Eastern Iowa Airport and said he needed to make an emergency landing. The call took place about fifteen miles from the airport. Passengers helped subdue Nikprelaj until the plane landed at the Eastern Iowa Airport, where he was detained.

After landing, officers conducted a search and found a prescription bottle containing 41 suspected Xanax pills that was not issued in his name. In 2020, when Nikprelaj was 18 years old, he was charged after hitting his girlfriend before stealing a snow plow from a business near Detroit, Michigan. Video shows him climbing inside the plow shirtless before realizing the keys are in the ignition. He got about eight miles before he was pulled over and arrested.

(Jackson County, IA) – A single vehicle accident Tuesday afternoon near Nashville, in eastern Iowa, claimed one life and resulted in injuries to two others. According to the Iowa State Patrol, an eastbound pickup truck driven by 20-year-old Kaleb D. Carder, of Clinton, was traveling on a 33rd Street (a gravel road), just west of the junction with 84th Avenue at around 2:10-p.m., when it came upon a non-contact Jackson County Secondary Roads vehicle, that was mowing the ditch.

When Carder tried to slow down as he approached the mower, he lost control of the pickup, causing it to rollover over. A passenger in the vehicle, 24-year-old Alexus Woodford, also of Clinton, was injured in the crash. Authorities say Woodford was not wearing a seat belt.  A third, unidentified person died. Their name was being withheld by the Patrol, pending notification of family.

Carder – who was wearing his seat belt – was transported by helicopter to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinic. Woodford was transported to the Jackson Regional Hospital. The Patrol was assisted at the accident scene by Anamosa Fire and Ambulance, Aircare, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Medical Examiner, and Iowa DNR.