(Radio Iowa) – Figures out today (Thursday) show two of the three state universities saw enrollment increases for the fall semester. The University of Iowa saw enrollment increase by 784 student to 31-thousand-563, as the school says it had its second largest incoming class ever. Iowa State University saw it’s third straight increase in overall fall enrollment, up by 673 students to 31-thousand-105.

I-S-U says it retained a school record 89 percent of first-year students. The University of Northern Iowa saw overall enrollment drop by 79 students to nine-thousand-204. The drop comes after two straight years of increases.

The U-I took over the top spot for largest enrollment among the three state schools from I-S-U last year, and maintained that spot with this year’s number.

DES MOINES, Iowa – An Oskaloosa man was sentenced on September 10, 2025, to 18 years in federal prison for the sexual exploitation of a child. The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa says, according to public court documents, 42-year-old Matthew Scott Beal produced child pornography of a minor child. Beal also used the internet to distribute four videos of child pornography to an undercover law enforcement account operated by the Homeland Security’s Newark Child Exploitation Task Force. Later, law enforcement seized Beal’s phone during a search of his home in Oskaloosa. Beal’s phone contained over 100 images and videos of child pornography, including prepubescent children engaged in sex acts with adults.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Beal will be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Beal was also ordered to pay $15,938.50 in restitution to multiple victims.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations Newark Child Exploitation Group, the Oskaloosa Police Department, and the Iowa Department of Public Safety Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

(Radio Iowa) – Charlie Kirk, the prominent conservative activist who was shot to death yesterday (Wednesday), helped an Iowa politician launch a national group called Run Gen Z. Joe Mitchell had just been sworn into office as a state legislator when he met Kirk at an event in Des Moines. “He asked me to stay after the event to chat with him and we sat down for over two hours and talked about how do we get more conservatives to run for local and state office,” Mitchell says. Kirk’s group “Turning Point U-S-A” gave Mitchell the seed money to pay staff and start Run Gen Z in 2020. Mitchell was in a group chat with Kirk this past Sunday — the day before Mitchell announced he was running for congress in Iowa’s second congressional district. On Tuesday, Michell was making plans to have Kirk come to Iowa to campaign with him.

“And then this happened,” Mitchell said. “…It was an incredibly emotional day yesterday.” Mitchell adds that Kirk was killed on the sixth anniversary of the day he first met Kirk — September 10th, 2019 — and Kirk’s death adds more urgency to his campaign. “We’re not going to be intimidated and we’re not going to back down and we’re not going to mumble our voices,” Mitchell said. “We’re going to speak louder and stronger and we’re going to stand up for the truth.”

Governor Kim Reynolds has ordered flags at all public facilities in Iowa to be lowered to half staff until sunset on Sunday in Charlie Kirk’s honor. Flag lowering had already been scheduled for today (Thursday) to mark the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports a Pottawattamie County man was arrested late last week on a drug charge. 54-year-old Kevin Shawn Frieze, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Sept. 5th, on a Possession of Controlled Substance charge. Frieze was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked-in, and later released on his own recognizance.

(Radio Iowa) – State health officials believe a cooling tower may be the cause of the recent outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease in Marshalltown, though the investigation is still underway. There are 34 confirmed cases and one death. Dr. Jeff VanGundy, at the Marshall County Public Health Department, is urging people to get checked immediately if they’re showing symptoms of the disease.  “You might experience fever, chills, fatigue, muscle aches, eventually a cough that is typically dry and when if the illness advances, you could get short of breath,” VanGundy says. “Some people also have diarrhea and that’s madding, because then it acts more like a GI illness.” Matters are being complicated by recent cases of COVID as well as a summer virus, all which have similar symptoms, but VanGundy says if you think you might be sick, get tested right away.

“Fortunately, testing for Legionella is super easy. It’s just a urine test. You don’t have to even have your blood drawn, and that comes back in six to 24 hours,” VanGundy says. “The provider that you see might very well want to also check you for COVID or some of these other illnesses depending on the presentation of your symptoms. But just know that you don’t have to come to the ER. You can see an urgent care. You can see your family provider.” Unlike with COVID or a virus, VanGundy says Legionnaire’s disease isn’t highly contagious.  “The only way you can really get this is by inhaling contaminated aerosolized water droplets,” he says. “So please don’t change your social behaviors. Go out to restaurants, go see your friends.”

VanGundy says treatment of Legionnaire’s disease involves taking a course antibiotics like a Z-pack, which are widely available, inexpensive and are typically well tolerated.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A powerpole and lines owned by MidAmerican Energy sustained a company-estimated $30-to 40-thousand dollars damage, Wednesday, in Red Oak, when the pole was hit by a tractor that was pulling a 123-foot long auger. Red Oak Police say the accident happened at around 11-a.m., in the 200 block of W. Oak Street. Authorities report a 1982 John  Deere 4640 tractor hauling an AGI auger, and driven by 38-year-old Thomas Michael Ryan, of Northboro, was pulling out of the New Cooperative south lot and attempting to turn west onto 200th Street.

Ryan failed to notice the auger would not make the turn. The result was the implement struck the power pole, which was snapped in-two. That caused the power lines to fall across the ground. The tractor continued west on 200th Street. Information was obtained by New Cooperative employees that both the tractor and auger are owned by the company. Thomas Ryan works for the Co-Op out of their Essex location.

There was no damage to the tractor or auger, and no injuries were reported. No citations were issued. Red Oak Police provided traffic control while Red Oak MidAmerican Energy crews replaced the pole and power lines.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report a woman was arrested Wednesday afternoon on an assault charge. 35-year-old Lindsey Kylin Bricquel Hardin, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 1-p.m. at a fast food restaurant in Red Oak. She was charged with Simple Assault. Hardin was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court will decide if two families can sue the Superintendent of the Southeast Polk school district who they claim didn’t do enough when their children were harassed and threatened. School District attorney Samuel McMichael told the justices during oral arguments that administrators can’t be sued because public employees have qualified immunity under Iowa code.

“Plaintiffs have brought in the superintendent, really, simply based on his position within the school district, and not based on his involvement and underlying action. So I think qualified immunity here is important to protect those type of instances,” he says. The parents’ attorney, Marrissa Pasker, says civil rights lawsuits are meant to prevent discrimination from happening. “It would be illogical to think that the legislature intended educational institutions to be liable, but not the individual actors who were carrying out the discrimination,” Pasker said.

The Iowa Supreme Court will issue a ruling on the case at a later date.

(Radio Iowa) – A police standoff in the north-central Iowa town of Eagle Grove ended peacefully last (Wednesday) night. The Eagle Grove Police, Wright County Sheriff’s Office and Iowa State Patrol responded in which an alleged gunman surrounded street near Ag Processing,Incorporated near the business district. Reportedly, the subject was harassing another person and was armed with a handgun. A law enforcement negotiator was summoned to end the situation.

The subject was then pinned down, with his vehicle surrounded by law enforcement and armored vehicles. One of the businesses near the scene was closed to allow its employees and shoppers to flee the scene. The situation came to an end after the subject surrendered to law enforcement and placed in custody.

There were no injuries. The name of the individual was not released.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Officers with the Red Oak Police Department arrested a man late Wednesday night on an OWI charge. Authorities say 50-year-old Thaddaeus J. Zehr was arrested at around 11-p.m. at the intersection of Highway 34 and G Avenue, in Red Oak. Zehr was charged with OWI/1st offense. He was also taken into custody on two counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance. Zehr was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.