CRESTON, Iowa — According to a report from KCCI-TV, a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Creston Community School District from moving forward with plans to fire a teacher for her comments regarding the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Last month, Melisa Crook, a high school English teacher from Creston, was informed that she was facing termination for a social-media comment regarding Kirk.

Crook then sued the district in federal court, citing a series of pro-Republican posts by Superintendent Deron Stender and school board president Don Gee, and alleging that her First Amendment rights were being violated. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger recently granted Crook’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction blocking the district’s plans to terminate her. The judge also deferred Crook’s request for a preliminary injunction until after a court hearing that’s currently planned for Oct. 31, 2025.

The order prevents the district’s school board from conducting Crook’s employment hearing, scheduled for Oct. 21, 2025, and from “taking any other adverse employment actions” against Crook based on her Facebook comments. In her ruling, Ebinger found that Crook “is likely to succeed in showing Stender took adverse action against her in response to exercise of her First Amendment rights” and that she is “likely to succeed on the merits of her First Amendment claim as to Stender.”

Ebinger added that she concluded “Crook spoke as a citizen on a matter of public concern when posting her Facebook comment.” As part of her ruling, Ebinger observed that Crook had “responded to and discussed the murder of a public figure, Charlie Kirk, and her (subsequent) longer post clarified her intent” in posting the original comment. “Crook posted her Facebook comments on her personal time, at home, from her personal Facebook account,” Ebinger stated in her ruling. “She did not purport to speak as an employee of the Creston Community School District.

The school district had argued that a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction would defeat its decision to discharge an employee and improperly extend “the employment of a potentially incompetent employee.” Ebinger rejected that argument, stating that “the court finds the enforcement of First Amendment rights outweighs any potential employment harm to defendants. Further, the public has a compelling interest in protection of First Amendment and other constitutional rights.”

As part of her ruling, the judge denied Crook’s request to be removed from administrative leave.

DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI-TV] — Des Moines Public School leaders voted to approve Associate Superintendent Matt Smith’s contract as the district’s interim superintendent.

Under the new contract, Smith will serve in the new role through June 30, 2027. He took over the role on September 26.The annual salary written into the contract is $286,716 for the first year, which is a more than $25,000 increase from his current salary.

The new contract is the same salary former Superintendent Ian Roberts was earning. After the first year, the board will determine raises based on Smith’s performance.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Robert Lundin, the chief academic officer for Des Moines Public Schools, has been placed on administrative leave, according to district officials. KCCI reports Lundin was placed on leave on Oct. 6.

No details have been provided regarding the reasons behind this decision, with a spokesperson for the district describing it as a personnel matter.

(Radio Iowa) – Brad Sherman, a Republican candidate for governor, says reducing property taxes is a priority, but he suggests taking a sledgehammer to the system and completely eliminating property taxes isn’t doable. “I would love to see no property tax,” Sherman said. “It’d be great, but I don’t know that there’s a way to fund our essential services, you know, if we were to cut out all property taxes. How do you do that?”

Sherman says he can think of only two ways to pay for police, fire and other essential services if the property tax is eliminated — either raise the state sales tax or use state income tax revenue. “And we’ve been cutting income tax, so that’s probably something we shouldn’t look at right now,” Sherman said, “but a sales tax, to replace a property tax elimination, it would be a big sales tax and then it would have to be collected by the state.”

Sherman says that’s because not all areas of the state have enough retail establishments that would collect the sales taxes needed to fund local services. “Some counties have a lot of retail, other counties don’t have hardly any retail, so one county would go broke (and) the other would have a…boom and so you would have to collect that centrally by the state and then it would have to be doled out in many ways and that would be a big problem,” Sherman said. “And centralized government always scares me, you know, I believe in decentralized government.”

GOP gubernatorial candidate Brad Sherman on the “Iowa Press” set at Iowa PBS on Oct. 17, 2025. (Iowa PBS photo)

Sherman proposes reducing property taxes for people who’ve lived in Iowa for at least a decade and own their own home. “When you hit 60 or 65 for seniors, that then their primary residence could be tax free. A very small sales tax could cover that, but even that in itself might end up paying for itself because people would stay in Iowa then instead of actually moving to another state when they retire because now they have a home,” Sherman said. “Plus it would protect seniors on low income from losing their homes.”

Sherman made his comments during a recent appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S. Sherman is a pastor from Williamsburg who served one term in the Iowa House. He launched his campaign for governor in February — before fellow Republican Kim Reynolds announced she would not seek reelection.

(Sidney, Iowa) – A Fremont County man was injured during a collision early this (Tuesday) morning near the Sidney Junior-Senior High School.

The Iowa State Patrol says a 2007  Chevy truck driven by 18-year-old Mavryc Morgan, of Sidney, crossed the center line of the road at 2700 Knox Road in Sidney a little after 8-a.m. The truck struck a 2003 GMC Yukon driven by 51-year-old Sergio Contreras, of Sidney.

Contreras – who was not wearing a seat belt -was flown by air ambulance to the UNMC in Omaha. Morgan was uninjured in the crash. An investigation into the accident remains ongoing.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – A collision last week between two SUV’s in Guthrie County resulted in possible/unknown injuries to both drivers. According to the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, a 2020 Lexus RX 350 SUV and a 2012 Nissan Murano SUV were both traveling north on Highway 4 at around 3:30-p.m. on Oct. 13th.

As 68-year-old Margaret Marble, of Panora began slowing down for a vehicle turning east into a driveway, her 2020 Lexus RX 350 SUV was struck from behind by the Nissan, which was driven by a 15-year-old female from Yale. The Sheriff’s report said the teen was distracted, and her foot got caught between the brake and the gas pedal, and as a result was unable to maintain control before her vehicle struck the Lexus.

Damage from the collision amounted to a law enforcement-estimated $8,000 altogether. Deputies cited the teen for Failure to Maintain Control.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Officials with the Red Oak Fire Department report a little before 1-p.m., today (Tuesday), the Montgomery County 911 center was notified by Pottawattamie County 911, about a combine fire in the area of 490th x Pioneer Trail in rural southeast Pott County, within the Elliott Fire District.

Red Oak FD and Elliott FD were paged and while enroute, Griswold Fire & Rescue was requested for mutual aid due to smoke being visible from Red Oak of the fire. Additional support was requested from area farmers with tractors and discs due to high winds and an apparent ongoing fast-moving fire. (Red Oak FD Facebook photos)

Fire crews arrived on scene and found approximately 4-5 acres on fire, spreading moderately to the east with the wind into a waterway containing two large brush piles that were now on fire. Additional mutual aid was requested from Macedonia Volunteer Fire Department and Carson Fire and Rescue for water tankers due to the size of brush piles actively on fire. The field fire was quickly contained with on scene units as well as the use of tractors and discs who helped contain the fire as well as contain spot fires that flared up due to the wind. Stanton Fire and Rescue Department was requested for tanker support but cancelled as additional units arrived on scene.

The landowner was working with a contractor to bury and place soil on top of the brush piles and will continue to monitor the area until complete. No injuries reported. It is believed that a hot ember or spark ignited dry vegetation while the combine was in operation. Crews were on scene for roughly 2 hours.

MCEMA Drone Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kTe2kzOBc&feature=youtu.be

Assisting agencies:

Montgomery County 911
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office – Red Oak, Iowa
Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency
Elliott Volunteer Fire Department
Griswold Fire & Rescue
Macedonia Volunteer Fire Department
Carson Fire and Rescue
Stanton Fire and Rescue Department

• Tuesday, October 28, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. – Montgomery County Courthouse, 105 E. Coolbaugh Street, Red Oak, Iowa
• Friday, November 7, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. – Shelby County Courthouse, 612 Court Street, Harlan, Iowa

• Avoid family conflicts by ensuring plans are clearly documented.
• Secure free, legally recognized guidance from qualified attorneys.

(Radio Iowa) – The salaries for several hundred people who work in state government are partly or entirely paid with federal funds. Governor Kim Reynolds says about 700 civilian employees of the Iowa National Guard and about 700 other workers throughout the executive branch of state government are not being paid due to the federal government shutdown. Reynolds says Democrats in the Senate need to end their blockade and approve a temporary plan to keep the government open through November 21st.

“Then they could sit down at the table and they could start to work on the different appropriations and get the government funded,” Reynolds said. Reynolds says about 67 employees in Iowa Workforce Development have been affected by the federal government shutdown.

“They typically deal with the Unemployment Insurance Labor Market Division,” she says. “Most, some have been completely been furloughed, so they’re not working, but some are working two days a week.” Those Iowa-based employees primarily collect data that’s used by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics to estimate job gains and losses. Reynolds says those furloughs won’t impact processing unemployment claims or issuing unemployment checks to Iowans. According to Iowa’s congressional delegation, there are about 18-thousand federal employees in Iowa who are affected by the shutdown.

(Radio Iowa) – Halloween is ten days away and Iowans young and old are preparing their costumes for trick-or-treating and for parties. Juanita Cameron, a spokesperson for the Theatrical Shop in West Des Moines, says this year’s hot items come from a Netflix movie that came out this summer. “The number-one thing that the kids are looking for is KPop Demon Hunters,” Cameron says, laughing. “I didn’t know what a KPop was until Halloween, but they’re looking for the costumes, they’re looking for the wigs and they’re looking for all the makeup that goes with it.”

As for adults, Cameron says they’re selling fewer full costumes and more accessories so people can create a unique appearance for fright night. “I don’t know what it is but they’re doing a lot of DIYs,” Cameron says. “Some are making up their own scary or fun looks. We have a lot of wigs, a lot of mustaches, a lot of makeup that we’re selling.”

Cameron says she’s also chatted with some customers who are buying costumes for Halloween-themed weddings that are being planned for the weekend of October 31st.