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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Story from the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Ads from the American Postal Workers Union will be playing on Iowa stations beginning this week warning about a federal proposal to privatize the U.S. Postal Service, the union announced Monday. The Iowa television advertisements are part of a national campaign by the APWU that calls on supporters to rally Congress against President Donald Trump’s potential plans to privatize the public mail service. While USPS does receive some funding from Congress, it does not directly receive taxpayer money, and largely relies on revenues from stamps and other services. However, the postal service is facing financial difficulties — the USPS reported a $9.5 billion net loss in fiscal year 2024, which leaders said largely went to unfunded retiree pension liabilities and non-cash workers’ compensation adjustments.
President Trump brought up privatization or making other changes to the USPS during his first term as president, and the Washington Post reported he introduced the idea again following the 2024 general election. In February, Trump confirmed that his administration was considering having the U.S. Department of Commerce take control of the independent postal service. The former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy had agreed to work with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency service in March on specific areas where the USPS could find cost savings, shortly before he resigned. The new Postmaster General David Steiner took the position Thursday.
(Iowa Capital Dispatch photo)
Steiner, a former board member of FedEx, told USPS employees in a video Thursday that despite “rumors” to the contrary, “I do not believe that the Postal Service should be privatized, or that it should become an appropriated part of the federal government. “I believe in the current structure of the Postal Service as a self-financing, independent entity of the executive branch,” Steiner said. But concerns about the future of the U.S. Postal Service remain. In the advertisement from the American Postal Workers Union, the group highlights a document sent by Wells Fargo to investors about a path to privatization, which include notes that the costs of key parcel products would rise, and local post offices could be sold off for profit.
The document also notes that while private mail services like FedEx and UPS could benefit from the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service, this shift could cause problems in some American communities that rely on USPS for election ballots, taxes and medicine. The USPS also has a “Universal Service Obligation” policy commitment, requiring it to deliver mail to all addresses in the country, including in rural and remote areas, with “affordable and uniform pricing” — an obligation private services are not required to meet.
APWU President Mark Dimondstein said in a statement the ad aims to highlight how the move to privatize the USPS could raise costs and hurt small communities. “Wall Street stands to make huge profits if all or parts of the USPS are sold off, but those who live on Main Street would have less service and higher costs,” he said. Dimondstein added, “Those who live in rural areas would be especially hard hit. It also would be devastating to many small businesses, the trillion-dollar e-commerce industry and threaten the ability to vote by mail.”
The advertisements will also be run on broadcasts and social media in Alaska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, as well as on the national CNN, MSNBC and FOX channels. The ad calls for viewers to contact their members of Congress to share their concerns about the possibility of USPS privatization. Dimonstein said, “The people need to understand what’s at stake and send the message; “The U.S. Mail is not for sale.’”
(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters say Iowa is in for a string of hot, humid and MUGGY days. National Weather Service meteorologist Alexis Jimenez says most of the state will be cooking this afternoon, tomorrow, and likely daily into the weekend. “We’ll see highs probably in the low 90s,” Jimenez says, “but the bigger story will be how hot it will feel because of that humidity.” The combined heat and humidity creates a heat index, what some call a misery index, and it’s expected to feel like it’s at least 105 degrees in many Iowa communities during the afternoons, and in some places, it’ll feel like it’s even hotter.
“Portions of southeast Iowa especially will not only be hot during the day, but even overnight their lows probably won’t get much lower than 75 degrees,” Jimenez says, “so even at night, there won’t be a ton of relief.”
Today’s (Tuesday’s) leg of the statewide bicycle ride RAGBRAI is the longest of the week-long adventure, at nearly 74 miles from Estherville to Forest City. State softball and baseball tournaments are also underway.
(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:
Additionally, the following should be noted:
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.
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