U.S. Senate candidate Rob Hogg will highlight jobs and the economy on his visits to Onawa and Harlan today (Saturday). According to the Daily NonPareil, the Democratic candidate will meet with the public in Onawa at the public library, 707 Iowa Ave. from 10 to 11 a.m., followed by a similar function at the American Legion Post in Harlan, 702 Chatburn Ave., from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

The 49-year old Hogg is serving his third term in the Iowa Senate after two terms in the Iowa House. He announced his candidacy to unseat Charles Grassley last September in Callender, where his grandmother was born in 1902.

An Iowa State University climatologist says the current El Nino weather pattern is generally providing Iowa with milder temperatures this winter. Elywnn Taylor says it’s also bringing abundant moisture which is causing sub-soil tiles to run at full capacity to drain the state’s farm fields. Taylor says there’s a big drawback for farmers from El Nino.

“It doesn’t take very much rain in April and early May to make things awfully wet for when they’re planting crops,” Taylor says, “and that can be a real disadvantage.” Taylor says a strong El Nino weather pattern, like we have now, is often historically replaced by the opposite La Nina pattern, which brings drought conditions during the summer and fall.

Taylor says first indications of that won’t be apparent until late March when the sun moves into spring position over the Midwest.

(Radio Iowa)

The “Sportsman’s Caucus” in the Iowa legislature is hosting a field trip to an indoor shooting range Monday. Representative Scott Ourth, a Democrat from Ackworth, says the exercise is for legislators — not the public — and lawmakers will be able to use a device that’s actually illegal to own in Iowa. “The purpose of this thing is since we, you know, encounter legislation and have debates regarding these devices and all that, we decided to put this on so that you can actually go and fire a firearm with suppressors,” Ourth says.

Under current Iowa law, suppressors or “silencers” as they’re sometimes called, are illegal to buy. In 2014 and again in 2015 legislators debated making the devices legal. The shooting range legislators will visit Monday does not SELL suppressors, but it has a FEDERAL license that allows the use of suppressors within one of its 17 shooting lanes. The facility, located in the Des Moines suburb of Johnston, was visited by a number of Republican presidential candidates who stopped by to do some target shooting over the past several months.

On Monday, there will be a seminar on suppressors for state legislators. “A classroom type, learning thing where they show how they’re built and what they look like and you can handle one and then you can see how they work,” Ourth says. “…I think it will probably help dispel some myths about the things.” During a 2014 debate in the Iowa House about legalizing suppressors, critics said muffling the sound of a gun shot would give “a new degree of intimacy for mass shootings.”

Supporters of the move say the “silencers” help preserve the hearing of gun owners who regularly take target practice. It IS legal to sell or own a suppressor in 40 other states.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former Iowa Governor Chet Culver has scheduled town meetings next week to talk to Iowans affected by the state’s plan to hire three private companies to run the Medicaid program. The public meetings will highlight the impact of the proposal on Iowa’s 560,000 people who rely on Medicaid.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says an Emmetsburg man who pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for sex, but later had the conviction overturned, can sue his defense attorneys for legal malpractice. In the ruling Friday, the court for the first time in Iowa declined to adopt proof of actual innocence as a prerequisite to sue one’s criminal defense attorney.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a high school teacher was arrested and charged with public exposure after an incident at a West Des Moines mall. West Des Moines police say 60-year-old Michael Madson exposed himself Saturday afternoon to an employee at Valley West Mall. Madson didn’t immediately return a call Friday from The Associated Press.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Dubuque officials have asked for increased funding to bring a dog to sniff out bedbugs at a public library. The Telegraph Herald reports that a specially trained Labrador named Cooper has been sniffing the library monthly since bedbugs were discovered in the folds of a couch at Carnegie-Stout Public Library in October. Library officials have requested $5,400 in the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st.

Officials with the Iowa DNR said Friday, test results from two sets of water samples taken in Elliott show the water is safe to drink. The city has lifted the bottled water advisory issued Tuesday after an electrical failure in the Montgomery County town drained the water tower.

During the advisory, the city furnished bottled water to residents and advised them to drink only bottled water because pressure losses can allow bacteria to enter the water supply pipes.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors has unanimously supported a proposed monument honoring those who serve in public safety. The Daily Nonpareil reports that the site would take a small portion of county land in Council Bluffs.

Supervisor Justin Schultz says the board’s vote stipulates that it will work with Council Bluffs officials when necessary, such as transferring the deed of the impacted land and adjusting lot lines if requested. Council Bluffs resident Lloyd Marsh’s idea for the project drew financial support from two other local residents, Ron and Suzanne Mahoney.

The plaza would include four life-sized bronze sculptures of a firefighter, highway patrolman, police officer and a female deputy sheriff. Mayor Matt Walsh said he hopes the project will be completed by the end of the year.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says an Emmetsburg man who pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for sex but later had the conviction overturned can sue his defense attorneys for legal malpractice without being required to prove his innocence. In the ruling Friday the court for the first time in Iowa declined to adopt proof of actual innocence as a prerequisite to sue one’s criminal defense attorney.

The case involves Robert Barker who was convicted in 2006 after entering a plea agreement. His conviction was later overturned when a judge found Barker’s actions didn’t correspond to the charge for which he was convicted. Barker sued his attorneys for advising him to plead guilty.

The court’s ruling says Iowa won’t require defendants to prove innocence before suing defense attorneys in such cases.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A bill that sought to punish Stanford University for its band’s Rose Bowl halftime show mocking Iowa has been all but buried in the Iowa Senate. Majority Leader Michael Gronstal told reporters Thursday that he wouldn’t schedule the measure for floor debate.

Stanford’s band is known for irreverent shows. It poked fun at Iowa in Pasadena on New Year’s Day, employing among other things a dancing cow and a frowning farmer formation. The Cardinal beat the Hawkeyes 45-16 in the game.

The bill by Ottumwa Sen. Mark Chelgren would ban collaboration between Iowa’s state universities and Stanford until Stanford officials apologize for the band’s behavior. The Des Moines Register reports that Gronstal told reporters “it would probably be good if senators from southern Iowa had a sense of humor.”

Criminal charges were filed Thursday, and a warrant served today (Friday), against a Shelby County man involved in a pursuit and crash last Saturday night. Online court records show 18-year old Justin Andrew Dickinson, of Harlan, was charged with: Eluding resulting in injury by OWI, drugs or participating in a felony; Carrying weapons; Keeping a vehicle or premises for controlled substance, violation; Unlawful Possession of a Prescription Drug, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He’s currently being held in the Shelby County Jail on $10,300 bond.

Dickinson was injured in the crash and transported by ambulance to Myrtue Memorial Hospital and later flown to the Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha. A passenger in the pickup, 17-year old Nicholas Haner, of Council Bluffs, was transported to Myrtue Hospital and held for observation before being released. Haner was not charged.

Dickinson was arrested upon his release from the hospital.

Police in Atlantic report two, recent arrests. On Thursday, 36-year old William Kleckner, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI. And, on Wednesday, 44-year old Heidi Powell, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Failure to Appear in court on Theft charges. Powell and Kleckner were booked into the Cass County Jail.