(A Radio Iowa report) – Health experts predict the upcoming flu season may be severe, both in Iowa and across the region. Joel Waddell, a pediatric infectious diseases doctor at Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines, says everyone six months or older who is able to, should get a flu shot. “Every year we have children, and there are adults every year who have never had a severe flu infection in the past who end up in the hospital,” Waddell says. “We have quite a number of deaths every year, unfortunately, from influenza.”

State data shows just 36-percent of Iowans were vaccinated against the flu last season and Waddell notes, every year, otherwise healthy people are hit hard by the illness. “Young children especially who have no underlying problems, no previous medical history, can be hospitalized,” he says, “and even have passed away from the flu.”

Waddell says now is the ideal time to get vaccinated, as he says it’s best to get it no earlier than September but no later than October.

(Janesville, Iowa) – (UPDATE 9:06-a.m., 9/3) – A motorcycle accident in northern Iowa’s Bremer County has claimed the life of a man from Mitchell County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 44-year-old Robert E. Detmering, III, of Osage, was riding a 2008 Harley Davidson southbound on Highway 218 at around 4:45-p.m., when the cycle went out of control and entered the median before it struck a Jeep traveling on the inside northbound lane of the highway. The Detmering died at the scene.

The Patrol said the Jeep sustained minimal damage in the collision that occurred near Janesville.

OTTUMWA, Iowa – Sheriff’s officialS in southeast Iowa say an inmate at the Wapello County Jail fell through the ceiling of a jail cell while attempting to escape. According to the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office, 21-year-old Morgan Ann Marie West was originally arrested August 12th for violating probation on a forgery charge and failing to appear in court on a theft charge.

Morgan West

DES MOINES, Iowa – Three of the leaders of a nationwide bank fraud and money laundering conspiracy were sentenced to a combined 421 months in federal prison.

According to public court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, Thaddeus Jerome Lee, Latroy L. Currie, and Johnnie Lee Thomas, were the founders and leaders of bank fraud and money-laundering conspiracies that operated from California to Connecticut, and numerous states in between, including Iowa. Over the course of approximately two and a half years, they attempted to deposit at least $15 million in stolen checks at various financial institutions throughout the country. They successfully obtained at least $2.9 million in fraudulent proceeds.

Lee and Thomas lived in Arizona, and Currie lived in Indiana. They recruited dozens of individuals to commit acts of bank fraud and money laundering as part of the scheme. They obtained tens of millions of dollars’ worth of stolen checks; created many fake business entities to facilitate the fraud and laundering; and supervised many co-conspirators who went into banks and credit unions in several states, opened fraudulent checking accounts, and deposited the stolen checks. Lee, Thomas, and Currie laundered the proceeds of the stolen checks by withdrawing the funds from the fraudulently obtained accounts and sharing the proceeds with their co-conspirators. Lee was sentenced to 151 months’ imprisonment, Currie to 135 months’ imprisonment, and Thomas to 135 months’ imprisonment. After completing their terms of imprisonment, all three will be required to serve terms of supervised release—Lee and Currie will serve five-year terms, and Thomas will serve a three-year term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Eleven more co-conspirators have been sentenced on similar charges for their roles in the conspiracy. Tiarra Lenae Jones, was sentenced to a 96 month prison term, followed by a five-year term of supervised release; Stephen Rashad Haley, was sentenced to a 384 month prison term, followed by a five-year term of supervised release; Lovely Hall was sentenced to a 60 month prison term, followed by a three-year term of supervised release; Kila Wright was sentenced to a 54 month prison term, followed by a three-year term of supervised release; Kira Ashleigh Johnson, was sentenced to a 42 month prison term, followed by a three-year term of supervised release; John Ivory Winston, Jr. was sentenced to a 30 month prison term, followed by a three-year term of supervised release; Reanna R. Haymon was sentenced to a 12 months-and-one-day prison term, followed by a three-year term of supervised release; Shapara Monee Hunter, was sentenced to a 8 month prison term, followed by a two-year term of supervised release; Mario Ricardo Smith was sentenced to a 6 month prison term, followed by a three-year term of supervised release; Jazlinn Tapp, was sentenced to a 4 month prison term, followed by a three-year term of supervised release; and Somore Renee Hill, was sentenced to a 12 months-and-one-day prison term, followed by a three-year term of supervised release. Four more co-conspirators, Malik K. Marshal, Toni Lynette Renfroe, Carnell A. Thomas, Jr., and Erin R. Smith, are awaiting sentencing.

“A combined total of 421 months in prison for the leaders of this check fraud scheme should send a message about the seriousness of the crime,” said Special Agent in Charge William Steenson of IRS Criminal Investigation’s St. Louis Field Office. “Stealing checks, money laundering, and bank fraud…these are not victimless crimes. The sentences imposed are the result of IRS-CI’s commitment to identifying and investigating check fraud and working with other federal agencies to ensure the guilty are held accountable.”

The FBI stated “These defendants orchestrated a sophisticated illegal scheme to defraud businesses and our banking systems. This kind of criminal activity erodes public trust and undermines our nation’s economic security. The FBI will continue to work with our partners to aggressively investigate and hold accountable criminals who use deception and dishonesty to steal money from innocent victims and businesses. Financial fraud is not a victimless crime.”

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case with assistance from the Postal Inspection Service; Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; Homeland Security Investigations; and Secret Service, as well as with assistance from numerous state and local agencies.

Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph Lubben, Kristin Herrera, and Kyle Essley (former) prosecuted the case.

(Radio Iowa) –  Hinson posted her announcement on social media, about four hours after Republican Senator Joni Ernst released a video message saying she would not seek reelection. Hinson, a Republican from Marion, said on her campaign’s X account: “I’m all in…As Iowa’s next senator, I will stop at nothing to Make America Great.”

Hinson was first elected to the U.S. House in 2020 and won re-election to a third term last year with over 57% of the vote. Hinson held a campaign fundraiser 10 days ago and told the crowd Republicans in congress are “just getting started” on implementing the president’s agenda.

Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (R-Marion) held a campaign fundraiser in Cedar Rapids on Aug. 23, 2025. (RI file photo)

“The America First movement is no longer a rallying cry. It is a governing agenda and boy have we been busy these last eight months since President Trump came into office. I have been so proud to fight alongside the president,” Hinson said. “…President Trump has restored the American Dream for all of us and I look forward to what we can do going forward.”

Three Democrats had previously announced they’re running in the second congressional district, which Hinson currently represents. State Representative Lindsay James of Dubuque is a Presbyterian pastor. Kathy Dolter, a retired Army nurse, was dean of the Kirkwood Community College nursing program. Clint Twedt-Ball is a pastor who recently stepped down from the Cedar Rapids-based “Matthew 25” non-profit he co-founded.

Shortly after Hinson announced she was running for the U.S. Senate, State Representative Shannon Lundgren, a Republican from Peosta, announced she is seriously considering running for congress.

(Radio Iowa) – With Republicans Kim Reynolds and Joni Ernst deciding not to run for reelection, Iowa will have open races for governor and the U.S. senate for the first time since 1968. Iowa State University political science professor Karen Kedrowski said it’s rare in Iowa because governors here have no term limits and Tom Harkin served in the U.S. Senate for 30 years, while Chuck Grassley has been a U.S. senator since 1981. “Having both a senate race and a gubernatorial race open on the ballot is much more common in other states and it certainly does help drive up voter turnout,” Kedrowski said.

Incumbents typically have a huge advantage in elections. In 2024, 94% of incumbents won, but Kedrowski said it’s likely Ernst saw that in 2026 she would face serious headwinds in a bid to win a third term. University of Northern Iowa political science professor Donna Hoffman said “in this day and age, sheer exhaustion” may prompt some incumbents to retire from public life. “People who are in public service are getting lots more death threats, doing town halls with unruly constituents,” Hoffman said, “and so I think when you have somebody who appears to be holding back maybe a little bit you always question why that is and what the true nature of these jobs right now because they are I think really, really difficult.”

And Hoffman noted Ernst had faced fierce criticism from Trump supporters for failing to immediately support Pete Hegseth, although Ernst did vote to confirm him as U.S. defense secretary. Ernst broke the so-called glass ceiling in Iowa politics in 2014 as the first woman elected to federal office. Iowans have elected four other women in congress since then — and Iowa’s governor and lieutenant governor are women. “Iowa was one of only two states that had never elected a woman to the U.S. congress — either the House or the Senate, so once she got elected it really changed the nature and tenor of politics in Iowa,” said Kedrowski, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at I.S.U.

Iowa State University political science professor Dave Peterson’s research focuses on elections and voting behavior and he’s not that surprised by Ernst’s decision to retire from the Senate after 12 years. “She did originally promise to serve two terms,” Peterson said. “Even though she’s in the majority and is in a position of relative influence in the senate, she hasn’t seemed to have quite the same enjoyment of the job.” Hoffman, who’s been a professor at the University of Northern Iowa for over 24 years, has co-authored books and articles about Iowa being a so-called “swing” state where candidates from both parties have succeeded. After the Iowa Republican Party’s sweep at the congressional and statehouse level in 2024, Hoffman said that makes Iowa’s 2026 election a fascinating election cycle for political scientists. “It’s not just two open seats for the governor and for the senate, but also we have competitive congressional races in three of the four (districts) it’s looking like as well,” Hoffman said.

Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, was first elected in 2014, after Democrat Tom Harkin announced he would not seek reelection. She announced yesterday in a recorded video message that she would not run in 2026.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors have issued a notice with regard to the intent to amend Ordinance Number 7 entitle “Veterans Emergency Assistance Program.”

In summary, the Ordinance: Will explain definitions, eligibility, application requirements, forms of assistance, level of benefits (including indigent burial policies), the application process for assistance, initial determination, how to appeal and an appeal hearing.

A public hearing on the intent to establish the ordinance will be held in the Supervisor’s Board Room in the Cass County Courthouse in Atlantic, on Sept. 16, 2025, beginning at 9:05-a.m.

In accordance with the Code of Iowa, the proposed ordinance will be available for inspection at the County Auditor’s Office, and the requirement for a second vote may be suspended by a majority vote of the supervisors. If the second vote is suspended, a second public hearing will be held on Oct. 7, 2025, beginning at 9:05-a.m.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Auditor’s Office reports two candidates for City Offices in Cumberland and Lewis filed their nomination papers today (Tuesday).

• Dori A. Borras, of Cumberland, filed papers to run for the Cumberland City Council – To Fill Vacancy, and,
• Jim Triller, of Lewis, filed to run for a seat on the Lewis City Council.

As we previously mentioned:

• Russell Miller filed papers to run for the other City Council seat in Lewis.
• Matthew Dolch filed to run for one of the three other seats on the Cumberland City Council.
• Rob Clausen is running for Mayor in the City of Atlantic.
• Jeremy Butler is running for an At-Large seat on the Atlantic City Council. And,
• Dana Halder is running for re-election to his 5th Ward seat on the Atlantic City Council.

The last day to file is Thursday, September 18, 2025, at 5:00 PM. City candidates shall file nomination papers with the county auditor. School board candidates shall file nomination papers with the respective school board secretary.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – The Page County Sheriff’s Office says seven people were arrested on separate charges between August 24th and Sept. 2nd.

• 32-year-old Samuel Robert Good, of Cedar Rapids, was arrested Tuesday (9/2) for Possession of Marijuana. He was released with a citation.
• On August 31st, 41-year-old Joshua Daniel McVenn, of Clarinda, was arrested for Driving While Barred, and, 21-year-old Aydien Kale Price, of Carson, was booked-into the Page County Jail to serve time.
• On August 26th, Page County Deputies arrested 33-year-old Jessie Marie Patterson, of College Springs, for Driving While Barred, and OWI/1st offense.
• Three arrests occurred August 24th in Page County: 26-year-old Seth Robert Lawrence Johnson, of Shenandoah, was booked into the Page County Jail for Public Intoxication; 21-year-old Aydien Kale Price, of Carson, was booked into the Page County Jail to serve time; and, 28-year-old Dylan Seth Harris, of Glenwood, was arrested on a Burglary charge.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – A woman from Sac County was cited following a rollover accident last week, in Guthrie County. Authorities say 20-year-old Summer Archer, of Auburn, was driving a 2004 Chevy Suburban eastbound on 110th Street at around 3:50-p.m. on August 27th. As the vehicle crested a hill just west of Chestnut Road, Archer was not aware there was a stop sign ahead.

She tried to stop, but lost control of the vehicle, which spun around and faced west as it entered the ditch and overturned nearly twice before coming to rest on its top in the south ditch. During the accident, the vehicle knocked-over the posted stop sign.

Archer was cited for failure to provide proof of insurance. Damage from the collision, including the Guthrie County Secondary Roads sign, amounted to an estimated $5,200. The Suburban was a total loss.