(Red Oak, Iowa) – Red Oak Police, Monday evening, arrested a man for Interference with Official Acts. Authorities report 49-year-old Michael Lee LaFollette, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 1600 block of E. Summit Street at around 5:45-p.m. In addition to the Interference charge, LaFollette was cited for Trespassing. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI] — It’s been almost three weeks since Iowa’s new “Hands-Free” driving law went into effect. The Iowa Department of Transportation says more than 1,400 warnings have been handed out across the state. Violators will continue to get a warning until Jan. 1, 2026, then there will be fines.

To help follow the rules, the Iowa DOT suggests utilizing Bluetooth or an AUX cable to pair your phone to your car. You can also turn on the “Drive Focus” mode on your device. Just go to your phone’s settings and select either “focus” or “modes and routines,” depending on if you use an iPhone or Android. Then select the “driving” tab.

(Wapello County, Iowa) – A woman was injured Monday afternoon when the car she was in was struck by a train east of Willard, in Wapello County. The Iowa State Patrol reports 57-year-old Juan Torres Juarez, of Hope Mills, North Carolina, was traveling south on 215th Avenue in a 2004 Buick Park Avenue, when he failed to yield to a train passing through the intersection, south of Highway 34.

The train struck the car as the vehicle entered the railroad crossing. The collision occurred at around 4:40-p.m.

Juarez and a rear-seat passenger in the car were not injured. A front seat passenger, 57-year-old Maria Laura Juarez, of Hope Mills (NC), was injured in the crash and transported by Life Flight helicopter to the University of Iowa Hospital.

The Wapello County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest U-S-D-A report rates 86 percent of Iowa’s corn crop in good or excellent condition. The analysis covers the past week — through Saturday — and it found 80 percent of soybeans are in good or excellent condition. July has been wetter than normal and 72 percent of topsoil and subsoil moisture readings are considered adequate. Twenty-one percent of Iowa topsoil has surplus moisture according to the report.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says field crops have benefited from this month’s wet conditions and somewhat milder temperatures, but farmers are now worrying about the heat dome building over the state. Heat waves during this stage of corn kernel and soybean pod development can lead to yield losses.

Iowa farmers have harvested about 35 percent of the oats that were planted this year. Pasture conditions are rated by the U-S-D-A as 79 percent good to excellent and hay conditions are even higher — 86 percent in the good to excellent range.

(Radio Iowa) – A man from a small northern Iowa town has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison on a drug-related charge. Forty-two-year-old Jeremy Nedved of Crystal Lake — a convicted sex offender — has admitted that between February and September of last year he bought meth on the internet and had it sent to his post office box. In May of last year, a Hancock County deputy sheriff stopped a person driving away from Nedved’s home with over three grams of meth in the vehicle — and that person told authorities they’d been buying meth from Nedved for the past few months.

Investigators determined Nedved was using what’s called “The Onion Router” to surf the web anonymously and buy the drugs, but authorities found out he was having the drugs mailed to his post office box. Nedved was arrested last September after he picked up half a pound of meth at the Crystal Lake Post Office.

A Fort Dodge man accused of being a drug dealer has been sentenced to over 15 years in federal prison. Prosecutors say 41-year-old Chad Brown has an extensive criminal history, including a 2016 felony conviction in Oregon for dealing meth. In the spring of 2024, authorities found 74 grams of meth and two loaded handguns in his Fort Dodge residence. Brown admitted in his plea agreement that he and others had distributed several pounds of meth in early 2024.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – July 21, 2025 – If you drive on the Iowa 175 bridge over Interstate 29 west of Onawa you need to be aware of an upcoming closure that may affect your trip, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Sioux City construction office.

Beginning on Thursday, July 24, weather permitting, crews will be closing the Iowa 175 bridge so emergency repairs can be made because of multiple hits to the structure; there have been three hits since April 2025.  The anticipated end date for the work is August 5, 2025.

When the Iowa 175 bridge is closed you will follow a marked detour route (see map) as follows:

• Eastbound Iowa 175: At Exit 112 (Onawa/Iowa 175), head south on I-29 towards Council Bluffs to Exit 105 (Blencoe/Monona County Road E-60) where you will head east on Monona County Road E-60 to the northbound I-29 ramp, and then head northbound on I-29 back to Exit 112.
• Westbound Iowa 175: At Exit 112 (Onawa/Iowa 175), head north on I-29 towards Sioux City to Exit 120 (Whiting/Monona County Road E-24) where you will head west on Monona County Road E-24 to the southbound I-29 exit, and then head south on I-29 back to Exit 112.

Additionally, the following should be noted:

• The work may include lane closures on I-29, depending on the work.
• Once the bridge repairs are completed, the lane closure that has been in place on the bridge will no longer be in place.

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

(The Iowa Capital Dispatch produced this report) – Federal officials are moving to deport a central Iowa couple who is suing the government over a five-year delay in processing their naturalization application.

The stated rationale for the attempted removal of Justin and Victoria Kokeh from the United States is that the couple lied in 2013 when they claimed to have no children. According to court filings in the case, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security took no action in the matter until recently, after the Kokehs sued Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to force a decision in their naturalization case.

The Kokehs, who have lived in Altoona and Des Moines in recent years, sued Noem and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials in February. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, alleges the couple, originally from Liberia, has waited five years for CIS to process their N-400 applications for naturalization. They allege CIS’ Des Moines field office typically takes eight months to process such applications, but that they’ve waited five years, leading to “irreparable harm.”

Although the couple filed their lawsuit in February 2025, and amended it in May 2025, the federal government did not file a response in the case until last week when lawyers for Homeland Security informed the court that because the agency had recently “instituted removal proceedings” against the couple, their application could not be processed and the court lacked jurisdiction in the matter.

According to filings by lawyers for DHS, the removal proceedings are “based on allegations that (the Kokehs) engaged in fraud in connection with the procurement of a visa to come to the United States in 2013.” In an affidavit filed with the court, CIS Immigration Services Officer Jonathan Lochman of the Des Moines field office stated that in December 2013, the Kokehs were interviewed in Liberia as part of the process of entering the United States. He stated that in April 2014, the Kokehs entered the U.S. on a “diversity visa” and, that same day, their status was adjusted to “conditional, lawful permanent residents.”

In January 2020, the Kokehs initiated the naturalization process by filing applications with CIS, after which CIS interviewed the two, Lochman told the court. At some point, the government now alleges, CIS concluded the Kokehs had lied in their December 2023 interviews when they claimed to have no children. CIS never acted on that information, or ruled on the naturalization application, according to the government’s court filings.

In February 2025, however, the Kokehs sued CIS, seeking a court order to compel the agency’s staff to “perform their duties” as required by law. Five weeks later, in early April, CIS initiated removal proceedings against the couple. Based on those proceedings, Homeland Security and CIS then filed papers seeking dismissal of the Kokehs’ lawsuit, arguing that with removal proceedings pending, the agency cannot process the couple’s naturalization application and that the court lacks jurisdiction in the matter.

The Kokehs’ attorney, who declined to comment on the matter Monday, has yet to file a response to the motion for dismissal. CIS officials did not respond to a request for comment on their handling of the case.

(Radio Iowa) – The most recent accounting shows total state tax collections dropped 7.1% in the past 12 months.

According to the Legislative Services Agency’s Monthly Revenue Memo, much of that $629 million drop is due to a 77.8% decline in a “pass through entity” tax paid by the owners of Partnerships, S Corporations and Limited Liability Companies. In 2023, Iowa lawmakers created a new, refundable tax credit for the owners of these types of businesses. The tax break was retroactive to January 1st of 2022.

The state’s two main sources of tax revenue are sales taxes and the income taxes individuals and couples pay. Those payments increased, slightly, over the past 12 months. “Individual income tax increased 1% and sales and use tax increased 1.5% for the period,” LSA fiscal analyst Eric Richardson said, “while corporate income tax decreased 5.7%.”

This was the third consecutive fiscal year that state tax revenue dropped, a move Republican lawmakers say is expected due to tax cuts they’ve approved. A final report on tax collections for the state fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025, will be completed in mid-September. “As occurs every year, some tax payments for the month of June and earlier are not due until July or later and the fiscal year accounting books stay open to record the transactions for the correct fiscal year,” Richardson said, adding there may also be Iowa tax refunds issued in the next two months that should be subtracted from total state revenue for the previous fiscal year.

In March, the State Revenue Estimating Conference predicted total state revenue would fall 6.1% during state Fiscal Year 2025 due to state tax cuts approved in the past few years. Current accounting shows the drop was 7.1%.

(Radio Iowa) – The three-day Hinterland festival is the first weekend in August in St. Charles, and there’s a whole string of big name concerts during the upcoming Iowa State Fair, and Iowans are being warned about phony tickets for those and other events. Lisa Schiller, at the Better Business Bureau, says one scam that might surprise Iowans is how crooks are selling tickets to entirely made-up concerts.

“Search online for the festival’s name,” Schiller says. “Ensure that the name advertised matches the website. Scammers often like to use names that sound similar to those of real festivals.” This goes double if someone’s trying to sell tickets for your favorite artist in concert. She says criminals are able to target big fans with fake tickets using information gathered from social media.

Everybody loves a deal, but Schiller says a really good deal might be a red flag. “There is no way a festival can offer tickets at extremely low prices without losing money,” she says, “so if the prices are much lower than elsewhere, it’s likely a scam.”

Schiller says it’s important to research an online purchase before clicking “PAY.” Check the artist’s schedule and see if they really are playing at the event, and check reputable online sources to see if an event is actually taking place.

(Radio Iowa) – A Le Mars woman has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the death of her two-year-old son last year.

Twenty-seven-year-old Sexlyn Tataichy accepted a plea agreement this morning in Plymouth County District Court requiring her to plead guilty to one of three counts of child endangerment resulting in death. The other two counts, second-degree murder and child endangerment-multiple acts, were dismissed.

Tataichy does not speak, read or understand English. She was provided with an interpreter this morning, who was online from Hawaii. Tataichy will serve her sentence starting immediately at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Polk County.

The two-year-old boy died in April of last year. Taitichy told police she would punish her son by punching him, whipping him with cords, squeezing his neck, and slapping him. An autopsy found that in addition to the external wounds on the day of his death, the boy had been recovering from previous internal injuries.