(Radio Iowa) – Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego says his three-day visit to Iowa is to help reinvigorate Democrats here and reshape his party’s message. “The problems that Democrats had can’t really be laid at one person,” Gallego said. “It was something I think that’s happened over the decades where we moved away from being known, respected and trusted as taking care of working class people and became this, like, nebulous idea that nobody understands who we are.” Gallego says that must change as soon as possible. Gallego talked to workers at the J-B-S meatpacking plant in Marshalltown early this (Friday) morning and he’s spending much of the rest of the day at the Iowa State Fair.

Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego )(on right) with Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart and former chair Ross Wilburn at the 2025 Iowa State Fair. (RI photo)

As Gallego was speaking with reporters, protesters carrying posters featuring Gallego’s criticism of the Iowa Democratic Party’s 2020 Caucuses arrived. “I’m a mature adult now and what I said then was dumb of me,” Gallego said. “…In 2020, a lot of us were very frustrated with the results and whatever happens in the future, it’s going to be left up to the DNC, but the Democrats do need to compete in rural America and, you know, Iowa needs to be part of that key no matter what.”

Pete Buttigieg won the 2020 Caucuses, but results were delayed for days due to a glitchy smart phone app. Gallego, who is 48, says he’s not in Iowa to lay the groundwork for a campaign of his own. “I will definitely be back to help any Democrat in 2026 and 2028 because Iowa should be in play,” Gallego said.

Gallego is a retired Marine who served in combat in Iraq. He was elected to the U-S House in 2014 and won a seat in the U-S Senate last November.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Attorney General has cleared officers who shot and killed a man during a July traffic stop in Dubuque County. Officers from the Dubuque Drug Task Force and other area agencies stopped a truck driven by James Young Sherrill as part of an investigation. Officers say Sherrill initially shut the truck off, but started it again and struggled with Dubuque County Deputy Adam Williams as Williams tried to get him out of the truck.

Williams tazed Sherrill, but he continued to resist and officers say he raised a handgun and Sergeant Williams and Dubuque Officer Chad Leitzen fired at him. Leitzen, and Monticello Police Officer Cole Millard fired at Sherrill as he continued to resist. Sherrill died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

A search of Sherrill’s truck revealed more than five pounds of methamphetamine and substances that appeared to be heroin, cocaine, and marijuana.

(Radio Iowa) – An elementary school in Spencer that was significantly damaged by flooding in June of 2024 is reopening for classes this fall. Fourth grade teacher Jan Mummert says after spending all of the previous school year in temporary quarters, it was a big moment to walk into the building.  “Even though we were devastated with the flood last year, to come back in and see everything refreshed, you know, it’s a wonderful homecoming,” Mummert says.

Kaetlyn Minkle is another returning 4th grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary in Spencer and she’s thrilled with her classroom. “It’s pretty much a whole new room. I’m really excited about it. It’s very modern,” Minkle says. “I mean I loved it before, too, but I really like the new colors, the new cabinets we got. It’s just brighter (with the) big new windows.”

The building’s structure was not damaged, but anything that was exposed to flood water or absorbed the water had to be removed. The wooden gymnasium floor in the school and nearly 150 doors are among the things that had to be replaced. The initial cost estimate for the project was over five MILLION dollars.

(Radio Iowa) – Several dozen classic cars and trucks are parked along the Iowa State Fair’s Grand Concourse today (Friday). Organizer Tom Kline says it’s the 40th year for the one day show during the Fair. He enjoys reminiscing with the crowd about the cars. “People like to come and show their cars off,” Kline says. “We like to drive them. You’ve got nice Fords here, Chevys, Plymouths, an original Packard down there.” Most owners were polishing their vehicles before the fair gates opened — some even polished the motors. Howard Cruchelow of Altoona wasn’t shining up his vehicle, though — and he may have the most unique entry.

“It’s a ’49 Dodge panel van,” he says. “We found it in the woods. It was buried. It took a Bobcat and about 15-20 trees to cut it down.” One of the trees was growing inside the vehicle. Last fall, Cruchelow entered it in a competition in Illinois called a Rat Rod Build Off. He and the pal who pieced the truck back together could only spend three-thousand dollars on the project and while it does have a new engine, the original paint is still on the vehicle and wooden ladders are mounted on top. They won third place in that competition — and Cruchelow has been driving the vehicle around the Des Moines metro a couple of times a week. “It’s unique. Nobody has one like it,”Cruchelow says. “It’s fun to drive. You get a lot of looks at it. It’s a good time.”

The vehicle sits just three inches off the ground. It also has the word Pest-X painted on the side, which Cruchelow says is probably the name of the business that abandoned the vehicle in the woods.

Johnston, IA – The Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, in partnership with the Iowa National Guard, has announced the Veterans Parade at the Iowa State Fair will be held on Monday, August 11, at 11:00 AM, along East Grand Avenue in front of the Administration Building.

This year’s parade holds special significance as the Department and Guard commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Commemoration, honoring Iowa’s Vietnam War Veterans as Grand Marshals. The recognition serves as a meaningful tribute to the courage, sacrifice, and enduring camaraderie of these Veterans who served during one of our nation’s most turbulent eras.

Major General Stephen Osborn, Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard, says “We are proud to honor our Vietnam Veterans with the recognition they so greatly deserve. Their service and resilience helped shape the future of our military, our state, and our nation.”

Distinguished guests expected to attend the ceremony and parade include:
• Governor Kim Reynolds
• Lieutenant Governor Chris Cournoyer
• Major General Stephen Osborn, Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard
• Major General Edward J. Chrystal, Director, The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration
• Commander Greg Coy, Commanding Officer of the USS IOWA (SSN 797)
• Todd Jacobus, Commandant, Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs

Todd Jacobus, Commandant of the Iowa Dept. of Veterans Affair, says “We’re grateful to the Iowa State Fair Board for providing a platform to celebrate Iowa Veterans from every corner of our great state. This parade is more than a moment of recognition—it’s a salute to the generations of service members who have defended our freedoms.”

Veterans from all branches and eras will be represented in the parade, and members of the public are encouraged to line the route in appreciation of their service.

(Creston, Iowa) – A distracted driver lost control of her vehicle Thursday afternoon in Union County, causing a property damage accident. According to the Union County Sheriff’s Office, 30-year-old Rochelle J. Means, of Afton, was driving a 2023 Chevy pickup southbound on 190th Street at around 12:50-p.m.  She negotiated the first part of an S curve in the road, but when she reached into the back seat to do something for her kids, her pickup went off of the road to the right and into a ditch, where it struck an Alliant Energy utility pole.

The pole snapped-off above the pickup truck and landed on the roof of the vehicle and truck bed. The occupants of the vehicle remained inside until First Responders arrived and advised them it was safe to exit the pickup truck.

Sheriff’s Deputies estimated the vehicle sustained an estimated at $10,000 damage. Damage to the power pole was estimated at $2,500. No citations were issued.

DES MOINES, Iowa (By Clark Kaufmann, IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – After being accused in a lawsuit of wrongful death and cited for violations that led to two residents having their legs amputated, a West Des Moines nursing home has been added to the federal list of the worst care facilities in the nation. Pine Acres Rehabilitation and Care Center is one of the two Iowa nursing homes that are now considered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to be Special-Focus Facilities that are experiencing a serious recurrence of major regulatory violations related to quality of care. Late last year, state inspectors cited Pine Acres for failing to ensure a male resident of the home received special shoes for diabetic patients, as ordered by a physician, and then failed to treat the resident’s worsening foot ulcers.

In October 2024, the man was seen at a hospital and diagnosed with an inflammation of the bone and pseudomonas, a bacterial infection. Days later, the resident’s left leg was amputated between the ankle and the knee. Six weeks later, inspectors spoke to the man, who, according to the inspectors’ written report, “stated he had to have his leg amputated and he was upset about it. He stated he did not know how this happened.” The federal government subsequently fined Pine Acres $177,240. That was in addition to a federal fine of $71,169 that was imposed eight weeks earlier for other quality-of-care violations. In late 2023, Pine Acres was cited for 62 violations, one of which was tied to a resident who contracted gangrene in the home and had to have a leg amputated.

After two residents had their legs amputated due to quality-of-care issues, an Iowa nursing home (Pine Acres) has been added to a federal watch list. (Photo courtesy Polk County Assessor’s Office)

The home’s most recent inspection was in June 2025, when state inspectors cited the home for 10 additional regulatory violations related to patient assessments, accident hazards, the competency of the nursing staff, and infection controls. No fines were imposed as a result of those violations. The Iowa Capital Dispatch was unable to reach Pine Acres’ administrator, Michael Ewalt, for comment.

Earlier this year, CMS gave Pine Acres one-star ratings for quality measures and inspection results on the government’s five-star quality scale. The ratings for Pine Acres are currently suspended due to what CMS calls “serious quality issues” at the home. Pine Acres is being sued by the family of the late Richard M. Cox, which alleges that on Oct. 21, 2024, Cox was able to exit the Pine Acres building unattended and without detection. He then sustained severe injuries in a fall about two blocks from Pine Acres and he died on Nov. 4, 2024, allegedly as a result of those injuries. Pine Acres has denied any wrongdoing, and a trial is scheduled for May 17, 2027. According to federal records, Pine Acres is owned and managed by a New York-based group of investors that includes Akiko Ike, who has a 60% ownership stake in the facility. Other investors include Yisroel Kaplan, who has operational control of Pine Acres and a stake in another Iowa care facility, the Prestige Care Center in Fairfield.

One of Kaplan’s partners is Ephram Lahasky, who is the husband of Ike, Pine Acres’ primary owner. In Vermont last year, regulators raised concerns about who was behind the proposed purchase of care facilities in that state — Lahasky or his wife. Ike was the officially designated buyer, but it was Lahasky’s name that appeared on the loan documents. Lahasky has been sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has accused Lahasky  and others of defrauding the government of more than $18 million while understaffing and neglecting residents at The Villages, a 120-bed facility in northwestern New York.

At any given time, no more than two nursing homes per state appear on the list of federally designated Special-Focus Facilities, although the list also includes hundreds of other nursing homes — typically, 10 per state — where ongoing quality-of-care violations have made them eligible for that status. Once a home is designated a Special-Focus Facility, it receives additional oversight and assistance from the government that’s intended to improve resident care. The other homes that are merely deemed eligible do not receive that assistance. They appear on the list, some for as long as 10 years, and then drop off without ever receiving the federal help.

(Creston, Iowa) – Creston Police, late Thursday morning, arrested a man wanted on two Union County warrants. 39-year-old James Alan Davis, of Creston, was also arrested at the Creston Police Department, on a charge of Harassment in the 1st Degree. The warrants charge Davis with: six-counts of Stalking; five-counts of Harassment in the 1st Degree; three-counts of Harassment by Communication, and one-count of Extortion. James Davis was being held in the Union County Jail without bond,

(Radio Iowa) – An inclusive playground that any child can use was unveiled as the Iowa State Fair opened Thursday. State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation executive director Jim Cownie says they worked with Variety the Children’s Charity of Iowa to build it. “We have a wonderful partnership with variety of Iowa. We raised the money together to create this new playground on these historic fairgrounds. We spent over 700-thousand dollars to bring this new playground to you today,” he says. Cownie says eight-year-old Kinsey Hagerman is the reason for the playground, after she called them out.

“They wrote us an e-mail last year of how our playground was not accessible to all. We want everything to be accessible to all here at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, and we would not be here today, we would not have this wonderful project were it not for you Kinsey,” Cownie says.

Variety the Children’s Charity inclusive playground at the 2025 Iowa State Fair

Cownie says it is an agriculture-themed playground that celebrates Iowa’s farming heritage. “It was a labor of love for the Iowa State Fair, the Blue Ribbon Foundation, our fair board. We are honored to be able to do it, and it was so much fun to be able to put this together, to watch it come together and to see kids being able to play on it in the last week or so since it’s been finished have been absolutely fabulous,” Cownie says.

The playground is located near the Fun Forest east of the Agriculture building, and will be open year-round.

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – Officers at the Sioux City Police Department said goodbye to one of their dedicated co-workers this past week. Retired Sioux City K-9 officer Cash passed away on Monday, Aug. 4. Officers say he was born in Slovakia in 2013, and the department welcomed him into the family in Spring 2015.

Cash began his training with the department as a law enforcement dog. He was certified as a dual-purpose dog and immediately went to work for Sioux City’s K-9 Unit with his handler, Officer Paul Yaneff. They were both assigned to Uniform Patrol Watch II and SWAT. Cash was certified annually for narcotics detection, article and building searches, tracking and apprehension.

City of Sioux City Police Department Facebook page photo

During his time on the police force, Cash was responsible for dozens of criminal apprehensions and narcotics arrests. He performed K-9 demonstrations at community events and for students at many Sioux City schools. The department says Cash had an exceptional career as a K-9 officer, but he had to retire early in 2020 due to a rare spine disease and arthritis in his hind legs.

After leaving the department, Cash continued to live with Officer Yaneff, enjoying his retirement life, which was filled with eating, swimming, and being loved by everyone until he passed away, according to the Sioux City Police.

The department released a video as a tribute to Cash on social media.