(Glenwood, IA) – Police in Glenwood report a man was arrested Thursday morning on an assault charge. Officials say 47-year-old Joshua Robert Saunders, of Glenwood, was arrested at around 12:45-a.m. in Glenwood, for Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd offense. His bond was set at $2,000.

(Radio Iowa) – Officials say there’s a serious risk of fast-spreading wildfires again today (Friday) as much of Iowa will see unseasonably high temperatures and gusty winds amidst very dry vegetation. Red Flag Warnings are posted for some two dozen counties, including five counties in northwest Iowa, across much of the southern two tiers of counties, and into eastern Iowa. Meteorologist Jim Lee, at the National Weather Service, says an abrupt temperature shift is coming.

“We’ve got temperatures in the 60s in parts of western and southern Iowa, maybe even pushing 70 near the Missouri border,” Lee says, “but then one day later, on Saturday morning, we’re looking for snow across far northern and northeastern Iowa, so rapid changes on the way.” A Winter Weather Advisory is being posted for several northeastern Iowa counties, while Lee says the possibilities of snow will shift to the south for the latter half of the weekend. “We do have some snow chances on Sunday, yes, but it looks like most of that will be more across about the southern half of Iowa,” Lee says. “Up in northern Iowa, very little to no snow on Sunday, but down in southern Iowa, near the Missouri border, some places could get some light accumulations.”

The long-range forecast shows temperatures warming into the 40s and 50s next week for much of the state.

(Radio Iowa) – House Speaker Pat Grassley says House Republicans are wrestling with the governor’s proposal to raise the state tax on tobacco products and start assessing a 15 percent sales tax on vaping products. He suggests it doesn’t fit with their recent moves to cut state income taxes. “Obviously we’ve continued to reduce taxes on Iowans — looking a 3.8% flat (income) tax, eliminating it on retirees,” Grassley says. Reynolds told reporters yesterday (Thursday) that she’s not a governor who raises taxes, but supports raising taxes on products that have been linked to lung cancer aligns with the Make America Healthy Again or MAHA agenda.

House Republicans have already taken the step of removing the tax increase from the governor’s MAHA bill. “Whether it pops up again, I can’t say,” Grassley said, “but our first action was not to include it in the bill that it was proposed in, so right now I think that’s kind of the holding pattern we’re in at this point.” Before the 2026 legislative session started, Senate Majority Leader Mike Klimesh — a former smoker — said vaping productts deliver nicotine just like cigarettes and he’d have a conversation with his fellow Republicans in the senate about taxing vapes.

The governor’s broader proposal which would tax vapes AND raise tobacco taxes failed in a senate committee last week. A state report indicates the cigarette smoking rate among Iowa adults has dropped to five-point-six percent, but the use of e-cigarettes continues to rise and 23-and-a-half percent of 18 and 24 year olds vape regularly.

(Creston, IA) – Police in Creston say a man from Polk County was arrested Thursday night at the Creston/Union County Law Enforcement Center. 34-year-old James Edward Jonsson, of Des Moines, was arrested at around 10:20-p.m., on a charge of Failure to Appear. Jonsson was being held in the Union County Jail on a $2,000 cash-only bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Fourth District Congressman Randy Feenstra says there will be a vote to end the E-P-A smog rule that keeps E-15 gasoline from being sold nationwide in the summer. The U-S House deadline for the bill passed Wednesday, and Feenstra says there were reasons the vote didn’t happen. “We had a couple discussions with the speaker. We have to understand, so there was a February 25th date. We had a snowstorm that hit D-C on Monday, and then we had the State of Union on Tuesday, and we’re done on Wednesday,” he says. Feenstra says the missed deadline doesn’t kill the issue.

“This is going to pass. It’s just a matter of if it’s this coming week, and we’re just making sure that when we take this vote, all right, whether it be this week or next week or this coming week, is that it gets passed, and then it moves on to the Senate,” Feenstra says. “I mean, we’ve been at this for ten some years now, and we’ve got to finally get it passed. It’s energy independence, it’s domestic energy. And, you know, it helps our commodity prices.” Feenstra leads the House Rural Domestic Energy Council and has been negotiating with lawmakers who represent states with oil refineries in trying to find a compromise on E-15.

“It’s a civil war within the oil refineries right now on E-15. The large refineries, small refineries, one of them refineries are sort of struggling. It’s not a win for everybody. We’re trying to get everybody to the table and say, hey, let’s get to neutral,” Feenstra says. The need for a new bill came after House G-O-P leaders removed a mandate for year-round E-15 sales from a budget bill that passed in January. The president of the Renewable Fuels Association says he is not terribly optimistic that we’re going to see the E-15 legislation passed before summer.

(IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – Lawsuits claiming that greenhouse gas emissions from an agricultural operation impacted the climate would be prohibited under a bill passed Thursday by the Iowa House.  Supporters of the bill, which passed with a vote of 66-24, said the bill protects against “frivolous” climate lawsuits, while opponents of the bill worried the language was too broad and would limit Iowans’ abilities to seek damages.  House File 2527 would limit farmers’ and ranchers’ liability in cases alleging an “actual or potential” effect on the climate caused “wholly or partly” by greenhouse gas emissions.

Rep. Derek Wulf, R-Hudson, introduced the bill and said on the floor that the “ag friendly bill” allows farmers to “continue to do what they do best, and that’s farm and ranch.” Rep. J.D. Scholten, D-Sioux City, introduced an amendment to the bill to exempt lawsuits related to nuisances or weather-related damages that could be tied to climate change. Scholten said the amendment clarified some of the “broad language” of the bill. He argued that without the amendment, a neighbor “suffering real tangible harm” like a farmer with damaged drainage, decreased property value or a polluted well, could be unable to seek damages in an Iowa court.

Scholten also took issue with the section of the bill that protects from lawsuits that are “wholly or partly” attributed to greenhouse gas emissions. This language, he argued, could be applied more broadly and allow a defendant to “escape liability entirely” for something like a “straightforward” weather damage claim, especially, as he argued it’s not uncommon for severe weather events to be partly attributed to climate change. Wulf said the bill’s intent was not to affect nuisance claims, nor to protect bad actors.

The House voted in favor of the bill and also adopted an amendment from Wulf that added “petroleum source” to the list of greenhouse gas emissions described in the bill. The House also passed, unanimously, House File 2596 to update language for Iowa’s grain indemnity program, which was revamped in 2025, and helps farmers get paid for sold grain when their buyers go bankrupt. The inclusion of credit-sale contracts – when a seller has sold and delivered the grain but will receive payment at a later date – was a source of conflict among lawmakers as they updated the grain indemnity program. Credit-sale contracts were included in the final version of the bill signed by the governor.

Both bills were sent to the Senate.

(IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) –  Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law Thursday the bill establishing a 2% State Supplemental Aid rate, providing per-pupil funding for Iowa’s K-12 schools in the upcoming school year. Republican lawmakers said Senate File 2201 results in roughly a $160 increase from the previous fiscal year in state spending per student, up to a total cost of $8,148 per pupil.

Reynolds said in a statement the 2% SSA measure results in “more than $4 billion for Iowa’s public schools” from state funds, and that when considering state, local, and federal funding streams, Iowa schools are estimated to receive more than $9.1 billion in total education funding during the 2026-2027 school year. Reynolds also pointed to other education measures she signed into law in recent years, such as increasing minimum salaries for teachers, making changes to improve Iowa’s reading and literacy education and expanding STEM and work-based learning options in K-12 schools.

But in a news conference Thursday, House Minority Leader Brian Meyer said Democrats opposed the school funding package because the approved SSA rate does not allow schools to “even keep up with inflation.”

The Iowa Senate sent the measure to the governor’s desk Monday in a 27-20 vote. The measure was a compromise reached between Senate and House Republicans, as well as the governor’s office. Senate Republicans initially proposed a 1.75% SSA rate while the House called for a 2.25% rate. Republicans’ initial proposals — as well as the compromise reached — fall far below the 5% minimum SSA rate called for by public education organizers like the Iowa State Education Association, the rate which was introduced but failed as an amendment from House Democrats.

The law also includes provisions to put an estimated $42.2 million state funding for schools on the budget guarantee, and extends property tax relief payments by a year. Additionally, it provides an additional $7 million for para-educator and support personnel pay — half of the $14 million called for by House Republicans. House Speaker Pat Grassley said the House GOP will pursue the additional $7 million in funding during later budget discussions.

(Radio  Iowa) – Iowa driver’s license exams will only be given in English if a bill that’s cleared the Iowa House becomes law. Representative Josh Meggers, a Republican from Grundy Center, says the bill is about consistency and clarity. “Under existing law, English is the official language of the State of Iowa. Our statute already requires that official documents, proceedings and actions conducted on behalf of the state be in English,” Meggers said. “However, driver’s license examinations have been carved out as an exemption.”

People can currently take the test for an Iowa driver’s license in 20 languages in addition to English. The bill passed on a 58 to 30 vote. Democrats like Representative Angel Ramirez of Cedar Rapids say the English-only policy would lead to citizens and legal residents who aren’t fluent in English driving without a license and without insurance.  “It is already illegal for undocumented individuals to obtain a driver’s license in Iowa,” Ramirez said. “The people this bill most impacts are legal residents and citizens — our neighbors — many of whom are Spanish speakers, working hard to build a life here.”

Representative Adam Zabner, a Democrat from Iowa City, says the bill will have a chilling effect on Iowans who should be able to take the test in their birth language. “Iowa is a rural state. In most of Iowa it is almost impossible to work if you cannot drive,” Zabner said. “This bill would make the daily life of citizens (and) of Iowans with legal status impossible.” Meggers, who is a state trooper, says the policy will make Iowa roads safer.

“The purpose of a driver’s license exam is to ensure competency and understanding of traffic laws,” Meggers said. “Public safety improves as drivers clearly understand the rules of the road as written and posted.” South Dakota and five other states currently have English-only rules for driver’s license tests.

Other state’s policies (for comparison): Nebraska exams offered in English and Spanish; Missouri exams offered in English and 11 other languages; Illinois in English and four other languages; Wisconsin in English and seven other languages; Minnesota in English and five other languages.

The Iowa D-O-T offers driver’s license study materials and exams in the following 21 languages: Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hmong, Italian, Korean, Laotian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says using Iowa State Patrol airplanes on official travel helps her get more done, more quickly. “I travel the state extensively and I have a family and we work weekends, “Reynolds said. “…We try to get out and attend as many things as we can.” Earlier this week the Des Moines Register reported Reynolds has been using a state-owned plane purchased in late 2024 with federal COVID-19 relief funds.

Yesterday (Thursday), Reynolds told statehouse reporters while she has flown in that plane and others in the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s fleet and it’s the agency that decides which one is available and who’ll fly it. “It allows me to actually get out and reach constituents quicker, so it’s the right thing to do. I don’t ever use it for personal use. It’s always for official use,” Reynolds said. “Several governors have their own plane. We don’t.”

In the 1980s Governor Terry Branstad sold three state-owned airplanes as a budget-cutting move. Democrats say it is outrageous that Reynolds has used a state-owned plane for political purposes. The Register reported Reynolds flew to Sioux City January 29th to visit with students and staff at two local schools, then she endorsed Congresswoman Ashley Hinson’s U-S Senate bid during an event in Sioux City that evening.

Representative Adam Zabner, a Democrat from Iowa City, says it was wrong to use over four-and-a-half MILLION dollars in pandemic relief money on a plane. “At a time when Iowans are struggling to make ends meet…the governor used money intended to help everyday Iowans to purchase this plane,” Zabner said.

Reynolds says the plane purchased with pandemic funds is primarily being used for law enforcement purposes and her flights accounted for fewer than three percent of the hours state-owned planes were flown last year.