(Radio Iowa) – An 18-month-old died after being found unresponsive in a vehicle in West Des Moines earlier this month, marking the eighth such hot car child death in the state since 1998. Laura Dunn, a safety specialist with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, says a child’s body temperature rises up to five times faster than an adult’s and can quickly reach dangerous levels in a car, even if it’s parked in the shade or the windows are open a crack.

“Parents may think that their children will never be a victim of a hot car, or that they could never forget their child, but it happens, unfortunately, to dozens of families every year,” Dunn says. “We lose on average 37 children each year to hot car deaths. We want to show parents and caregivers how this can happen and how they can also prevent it.” Studies find pediatric heatstroke can happen at temperatures as low as 60 degrees, and a child will die much more quickly if temperatures are in the 80s or 90s.

“About 52% of these cases are when children are forgotten in a hot car, and many times we found that the biggest risk factor for parents is a change in routine,” Dunn says, “so a different parent is dropping that child off for the day, maybe there was a doctor’s appointment, there’s something different happening that day.” Dunn suggests parents make an arrangement with their childcare provider that might help prevent a tragedy. “Have that childcare provider give you a call if your child doesn’t arrive within 10 or 15 minutes of when they’re supposed to be there,” Dunn says. “Just kind of check in and say, ‘Hi, is your child supposed to be there today?’ and then have both parents check with each other and make sure they know exactly where their child is.”

Placing a child’s toy in the front seat with the driver may help to trigger their memory, or better yet, Dunn suggests putting an item you’ll need to have at work in the -back- seat with the child. “Your work bag, your purse, your phone, your badge that you need for work, anything that you need for the day,” Dunn says. “Put it in the back seat, so when you get to where you’re going, you park, you get out, you have to physically open that back door and look in your back seat and retrieve those things that you need for the day. It’s just that extra check that your child is not in the car.”

A national ad campaign aims to reinforce the message: “Stop. Look. Lock.” About a quarter of these hot car deaths are cases where the child gets inside the car themselves and can’t get out. To prevent that situation, Dunn suggests always keeping your vehicle’s doors locked and keep the keys or fob up and out of a child’s reach.

NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (KETV, Omaha)  – A man from southwest Iowa will be sentenced in September, after being found guilty Tuesday  of hitting and killing a child in Nebraska City on July 17th. The Nebraska City Police Department said 59-year-old Vernon Christiansen, of Percival, was driving through an alley at around 5-p.m. on July 17th when his vehicle struck a 6-year-old. Court documents says the child died at the scene. The incident happened during the town’s farmers market.

Officers said they found an open alcohol container in Christiansen’s truck during a search of the vehicle, but Otoe County, Nebraska, Attorney Jennifer Panko-Rahe, said they did not find evidence to charge him with DUI. On Monday, Christiansen pleaded no contest to several charges, including motor vehicle homicide and possess/consume open alcohol container.

A judge set bond at $50,000. Christiansen is scheduled to be sentenced on the charges on Sept. 8. He faces up to a year in jail and/or up to a $1,300 fine.

(Radio Iowa) – Senator Chuck Grassley says the F-B-I cut corners in its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information when she was Secretary of State. The Trump Administration recently fulfilled Grassley’s long-standing request and declassified more documents related to the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server.

“You could say after 10 years, ‘What’s the use?'” Grassley said. “The use is to let people know what the government has done through political weaponization of various branches of government, in this case DOJ and FBI, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Grassley says the newly-released material shows the F-B-I under James Comey’s leadership failed to fully and completely investigate the Clinton matter.

Two weeks ago, Fox News Digital reported Comey is under F-B-I investigation for allegedly mishandling claims of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Grassley says these newly-released documents about the 2016 investigation of Clinton’s emails may lead to an expansion of the F-B-I’s probe. “If there’s going to be prosecution, that’s going to be up to the executive branch,” Grassley said. “All I can do is make the information public and, by inference, expect them to do something about it and if inference isn’t enough, I’ll make it very clear to them.”

Democrats like Senator Cory Booker say Republicans had dozens of congressional hearings about Clinton’s emails years ago, while Republicans haven’t held any public hearings about the country’s top defense official using a group chat with other Trump officials to talk about military strikes in Yemen while a journalist was accidentally included in the text chain.

(Radio Iowa) – An eastern Iowa pastor has launched a campaign for Iowa’s Second Congressional District seat, currently held by Republican Ashley Hinson. Clint Twedt-Ball lives in Cedar Rapids, where he co-founded the housing and food service nonprofit “Matthew 25” nearly two decades ago. He says that experience has given him a firsthand understanding of the affordability issues northeastern Iowans face and the tools needed to solve them.

“I built housing, I understand housing, and I know what it takes to make it more affordable,” he says. “And then, I’ve also run a nonprofit grocery store, right? So I understand how grocery prices can get out of control.” Twedt-Ball says he started considering a run for Congress early this year — around the time President Donald Trump returned to office.

“We have a president that has done this tariff chaos and done other things that have driven prices for housing up, and so we need to pull on those levers,” Twedt-Ball says, “reduce tariffs, make exemptions for wood and steel, so that we can make housing as affordable as possible.” Twedt-Ball, who was born in Harlan and is the son of a pastor, is 54. If elected, Twedt-Ball says he’d work to preserve Medicaid and Social Security and find ways to spur economic development in small towns.

He’s the second Democrat to announce this month they’re running in the second congressional district. Sixty-seven-year-old Kathy Dolter, a retired Army nurse and the former dean of nursing at Kirkwood Community College, changed her voter registration from no-party to Democrat earlier this year and filed the paperwork to start raising money for a campaign.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Auditor’s Office reports there will officially be a race to fill a vacant seat around the table on the Lewis City Council. Today (Tuesday) the Auditor’s Office announced David J. Raymond, a Republican from Lewis, will face-off against fellow Republican Russell Miller, from Lewis. The Special Election takes place August 19th at the Lewis Community Center.

The Council seat in Lewis became vacant when Councilman Chris Jahnke assumed the role of Mayor on April 29th. The winner of the Special Election will serve through the end of 2025. The seat comes up again in the regular election on November 4th. Whomever is elected will begin their full-term in 2026.

Meanwhile, there’s still time for candidates to file their completed nomination papers with the Cass County Auditor’s Office. The deadline is 5-p.m. Friday, July 25th. For more information, contact the Auditor’s Office at 712-243-4570 or visit their website.

(Des Moines) – The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has confirmed a case of measles in an adult resident of Western Iowa and is notifying the public of potential exposure locations.  The individual is fully vaccinated and has no known link to the previous measles cases in Iowa, nor any recent travel outside the state. Iowa has a total of eight confirmed measles cases in 2025. As of July 15, 2025, a total of 1,309 confirmed measles cases have been reported in the United States. Of these, 1,204 (92%) were unvaccinated, and 105 (8%) had received at least one dose of MMR vaccine. Breakthrough cases typically experience milder illness and are less likely to spread the virus to others.

Iowa HHS and local health officials have identified locations visited by the individual while contagious, where the public might have been exposed to measles. Anyone present at the following locations during the listed date and time should monitor for symptoms of measles. Symptoms of measles include fever, cough, red/watery eyes, runny nose, and a rash. If you think you have been exposed to a measles case and have symptoms, call your medical provider or nearest emergency room ahead of time and tell them that you have been exposed to measles and have symptoms before arriving.

Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself, your family, and your community. Measles is a highly contagious viral illness that is spread through the air when an infectious person coughs, sneezes, or breathes.

Due to a locally-acquired case of measles not linked to other known cases, an accelerated MMR vaccination schedule should be considered. While the routine MMR schedule is one dose at 12–15 months and a second dose at 4–6 years, Iowans should consider:

• An early extra dose of MMR between 6 and 11 months of age (“dose 0”); this dose does not count toward the routine series
• The first routine dose (dose 1) can be given after 12 months of age, at least 28 days after dose 0
• The second routine dose (dose 2) can be given at least 28 days after dose 1, instead of waiting until age 4–6 years

For the latest information on measles in Iowa, visit the Iowa HHS Center for Acute Disease Epidemiology disease information page. This page is updated weekly, on Thursdays, with current case counts and public health guidance.  Iowa HHS will issue a press release when there is a confirmed public exposure that may pose a risk to others. When possible, individuals identified as close contacts will also be notified directly by public health officials.

DAVENPORT, Iowa – Two Keokuk men were sentenced to federal prison for Conspiracy to Distribute 50 Grams or More of Methamphetamine.

According to public court documents and evidence presented at trial, between at least April and July 2024, Ronald Dickey Mason, 75, and Ronald Kieth Mason, 43, father and son, conspired to sell large amounts of methamphetamine in Keokuk, Burlington, Riverside, Des Moines, and Cedar Rapids. In July 2024, law enforcement located 28 pounds of methamphetamine in the trunk and a pistol in the center console of Ronald Dickey Mason’s car.

In February of 2025 Ronald Kieth Mason plead guilty as charged and Ronald Dickey Mason plead guilty to conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. In March 2025, a jury convicted Ronald Dickey Mason of carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. On July 22, 2025, the Court sentenced him to 22 years in federal prison, followed by a five-year term of supervised release.

Ronald Keith Mason was sentenced on June 25, 2025, to 20 years in federal prison, followed by a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by Lee County Narcotics Task Force, the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Lee County Sheriff’s Office, and the Keokuk Police Department.

(Radio Iowa) – Ozzy Osbourne, the heavy metal musician who died today at the age of 76, has had two prominent connections to Des Moines.

Earlier this month, Osbourne’s 40-year-old daughter Kelly got engaged to Des Moines native Sid Wilson of Slipknot, the heavy metal band that formed in Des Moines in 1995. Wilson popped the question July 5, while the family was backstage at Ozzy Osbourne’s final concert with Black Sabbath. The couple has been dating since January of 2022 and their son will turn three late this year.

Back in 1982, Osborne was performing in Des Moines when a fan thew what Osborne thought was a fake rubber bat on stage. Osbourne bit the bat’s head off, immediately realized something was very wrong and he had to get rabies shots afterwards.

Osbourne spent a decade as the front man for Black Sabbath, then launched a solo career in 1979 after being fired from the band. The Osbourne family were featured in a reality TV series in the early 2000s. In 2020, Osborne announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s and he quit touring in 2023.

Osbourne’s family has released the following statement today: “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”

(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Regents is postponing its vote on a policy to ban Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I from requiring students take courses with content related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion or Critical Race Theory.

The board was scheduled to discuss the policy at its meeting next week, but Board of Regents president Sherry Bates says after hearing concerns from students, faculty and others, the board will continue to review the feedback before deciding when to reconsider the policy.

The proposed policy was written to take effect next June and is similar to language in a bill that failed to pass the Iowa legislature.

(Radio Iowa) – A federal judge in New York is scheduled to hear more arguments Wednesday in the Trump administration’s effort to close all 120 Job Corps centers nationwide, including those in Denison and Ottumwa. There are 240 young people at the Ottumwa center, while the Denison center serves 450 youth each year. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, says he doesn’t want to see the centers shuttered, but also understands the motives behind the cost saving move to shut them down.

“The program going away is not right, but I do think that looking at the cost of educating these kids for the job world is turning out on a per student cost very, very high,” Grassley says, “and I think that needs to be monitored and some reforms brought to the program.” A report from the U.S. Department of Labor concluded the centers cost too much to operate and have a national graduation rate of 38-percent. Backers in Iowa have said that’s not the case in Denison, for example, where the graduation rate is over 94-percent. Grassley says the programs have a long history of providing a valuable service.

“I’ve happened to have visited both Iowa Job Corps centers,” he says. “I visited Denison many, many times because you know, it’s been around since probably Day One of the Job Corps Center. Then, too, I have visited the Ottumwa one at least once.” The judge in the case issued an injunction in late June to block the federal government’s order to close all centers nationwide. Job Corps has offered free education, vocational training and housing to young adults since 1964.