(Radio Iowa) – Attorney General Brenna Bird says Iowa is part of a multi-state settlement with the home improvement chain Menards. A statement from the Attorney General says the settlement resolves 2020 claims the company incorrectly marketed its 11 percent rebate program.

Menards has agreed to clearly communicate the rebate limitations, and to let customers have one year from the purchase of an item to apply for the rebate. Menards has also agreed to update their online rebate tracker information within 48 hours of the application and include updates on how returns will impact a rebate. Iowa is receiving nearly 447-thousand dollars from the settlement.

Attorney’s General from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, and South Dakota also joined in the settlement.

(Radio Iowa) – President Trump, Governor Reynolds and five members of Iowa’s congressional delegation were part of a silent, somber tribute today (Thursday) to the two Iowa National Guard sergeants who were killed last Saturday in Syria.

Twenty-nine-year-old Nate Howard of Marshalltown, 25-year-old Edgar Torres-Tovar of Des Moines and a civilian interpreter from Michigan were killed by an ISIS gunman who tried to ambush a meeting of U-S and Syrian forces. Their caskets were draped in American flags and carried off a plane to a vehicle on the tarmac at Dover Air Force base, then transferred to the Air Force mortuary where they will be prepared for their final resting place.

The Iowa National Guard says throughout their journey home, Howard and Torres-Tovar are being escorted by fellow Iowa National Guard soldiers.

Governor Reynolds, U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst and U.S. Representatives Ashley Hinson, Zach Nunn and Randy Feenstra joined a line of military officials and President Trump who saluted as the caskets were carried off the plane. Ernst and Nunn are both former members of the Iowa National Guard.

(Radio Iowa) – A county courthouse in the northwest corner of Iowa was vandalized overnight. Lyon County officials say someone broke into the courthouse in Rock Rapids last night or early this morning and caused significant damage. Officials found broken glass and things written on the walls.

State troopers have joined the Lyon County Sheriff’s office to investigate. Officials say the courthouse will be closed to the public for the rest of the week to preserve the integrity of the crime scene and allow time for cleaning.

According to the Iowa Judicial Branch website, the courthouse in Rock Rapids was built in 1916 at a cost of nearly 110-thousand dollars. The outer walls are made of limestone lined with brick. Italian marble floors lead to the rotunda inside.

(Creston, IA) – Sheriff’s officials in Union County say a woman driving an SUV lost control of her vehicle while attempting to negotiate an ice- and snow-covered curve in the road, causing the vehicle to enter a ditch and strike a tree. The accident happened as 39-year-old Melissa Cruz, of Creston, was traveling east on 160th Street, at around 1:10-p.m., Wednesday (today).

Authorities say Cruz’ 2019 Jeep Wrangler sustained an estimated $10,000 damage. No citations were issued.

(Atlantic, IA) – The driver of a semi tractor-trailer died in a crash this (Wednesday) morning on Interstate 80, in Cass County. The Iowa State Patrol says the semi, driven by 69-year-old Robert M. Johnson, Jr., of Crescent, was traveling westbound on I-80 at around 5:25-a.m., when for reasons unknown, the vehicle entered the north ditch and struck a tree.

The Patrol says Johnson was ejected from the cab of the truck and died at the scene. The accident happened about a mile east of the Olive Street exit (620th St.) to Atlantic (mile marker 58).

(Radio Iowa) – The Powerball jackpot is now estimated at more than one BILLION dollars for tonight’s drawing. Iowa Lottery C-E-O Matt Strawn says they always remind everyone that buying more tickets doesn’t increase your odds of winning. “It just takes one two-dollar ticket to win a jackpot prize, a life-changing prize of this amount,” he says. The jackpot ins at one-point-two-five BILLION dollars for the drawing at 9:59 tonight. Strawn talked about the issue during Tuesday’s Lottery Commission meeting and says the big numbers draw in people who don’t normally play.

He says the message is the same regardless of the size of the jackpot. “Play responsibly, even in these billion-dollar jackpot announcements,” her says.

Whoever wins the jackpot has the option of taking a one-time payment of 572 million dollars. The drawing is at 9:59 p-m Iowa time and you must buy a ticket in Iowa by 8:59 p-m.

(Red Oak, IA) – Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report a man from Pottawattamie County was arrested today (Wednesday) on a felony charge of Burglary in the 3rd Degree. Authorities say 41-year-old Matthew Lawrence Magers, of Council Bluffs, was found to be unlawfully inside one of the work vehicles owned by ESB Construction, at 2154 Hickory Avenue, in Red Oak. The business owner confronted Magers and contacted law enforcement.

Deputies arrived on the scene and arrested Magers without incident. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on full bond associated with the Class-D felony charge.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa lawmaker who made history by returning to the baseball diamond is retiring from the game. State Representative J.D Scholten of Sioux City was an emergency call up by the Sioux City Explorers of the American Association on July 6th of 2024, and made his first start in 17 years with less than three hours notice. He won that game and then pitched again last season. “It’s one of those things where I would love to try to play one more year, but I think that will always be the case,” Scholten says, “and I just think it was the last two years have just been so special and I can’t thank the Explorers enough and I can’t thank the fans and just Sioux City enough for everything. It’s been pretty special for me.”

Scholten was 44 and went on to tie for the number of wins on the team with a 6-2 record in 11 starts. Each win added to his own record for oldest person in league history to earn a win and he drew large crowds to both home and away games when he was on the mound. “I just got caught up in emotions every time I was just at awe at how much the crowd got behind me and everything, and it was just really, really special. I mean, a place where I grew up, the stadium that I played in high school and college and previously with the X’s,” he says. Scholten went 1-1 in four starts this year after returning to the team when the Iowa Legislature adjourned for the year. His last win came late in the season at Winnipeg.

“When I got to start up there, a lot of the position players were like, hey, we got you. They put up some runs and when that’s the case, I just go up there and just throw strikes and allow them to get themselves out,” he says. “I don’t have the most overpowering stuff. I don’t have the best stuff, but I am as big as competitor as there is in the league and so just grinding it out and doing the best I can and accept the outcome and going seven and three, the last two years is pretty special.” Scholten is a Democrat and is preparing to return to Des Moines for the Legislative session in January.

“I loved having Sioux City across my chest on our uniforms with the Explorers, and I love being able to represent Sioux City down at the Capitol. It’s it’s something pretty special to be able to do both and have be have been able to do both the past couple of years. It’s going to be an interesting session is too with the governor being a lame duck not running for reelection. It’s going to change the dynamic of the legislature a little bit and we’ll see what happens,” Scholten says.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York requested a game worn jersey from Scholten as the oldest person in league history to win and the only elected official to play professional baseball while serving. Scholten hand delivered the jersey. He pitched for the Explorers in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007 before returning in 2024. He ends with a career pitching record of 19-11.

(Radio Iowa) – Many Christmas tree farms in Iowa are seeing a drop in sales this year, largely due to repeated weekend snowstorms and bitter cold temperatures. Their prime season typically lasts just two-to-three weeks in late November and early December, with most of the sales happening the weekend after Thanksgiving. Brian Moulds manages Wapsie Pines Christmas Tree Farm in Bremer County. “It’s almost sad,” Moulds says, “because you do all this work for a whole year, and it’s almost all done in less than two weeks.” Moulds says sales were higher than normal on Black Friday but they’ve mostly been below average since then. He estimates the farm’s gross sales are roughly 10 percent less this year compared to last year.

Joe Heintz, manager of Strautman Tree Farm in Story County, says most of their revenue is generated by customers who drive through their farm, choose a tree, and cut it down to take home. “So it was a unique season,” Heintz says, as ten inches of snow forced them to close their fields the weekend after Thanksgiving. “And those are our some of our busiest days of our season,” he says. “So, tree sales numbers this year were obviously down compared to previous years.”

Still, Heintz says tree farmers plan six to seven years ahead, so harvesting fewer trees this year helps bump up their supply for future seasons.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra says if he’s elected governor, he’ll pursue changes in special taxing districts designed to spur development. Iowa cities and counties create these “tax increment financing” districts and property taxes for the targeted business or industry are frozen at the pre-development level. The property taxes collected based on the improvements at the site go into a fund used to pay off city or county bonds for things like roads and sewers installed to attract the development. “There’s constructive ways to use it,” Feenstra said, “and there’s also a lot of abuses.” Feenstra says some local officials have chosen to make the districts permanent.

“What you’re going is usurping money, taking money away from your school districts, from your county and your city when you put things in a Tax Increment Financing area,” Feenstra says. “And there’s a way to do this and yet allow allow some TIF to grow because we need that economic growth lever in some of these communities.” Feenstra says tax increment financing districts are useful and sometimes critical in rural areas of the state trying to attract commercial development. “I was a city administrator for eight years in Hull. It’s a small town,” Feenstra said. “I understand small business. I understand how property taxes work.”

Tax increment financing was enacted in Iowa in 1969 to help cities develop blighted, rundown neighborhoods. It was expanded to all 99 counties in 1985. City and county officials say the districts are a valuable way to finance the infrastructure needed to attract new businesses. Critics cite abuses, like Altoona’s decision to create a tax increment financing district for a Bass Pro Shop superstore or districts that finance road improvements around wind farms.