Officials with the National Weather Service say extremely cold temperatures and wind chills are forecast by Tuesday and look to last through the end of next week. Highs by Wednesday are likely to remain below zero for much of the state and wind chill values look to plummet to 25 to 45 below zero Tuesday night and Wednesday night. This long duration temperatures and wind chills will be some of the coldest readings in recent years.

Click on the graphic to enlarge

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — An autopsy has been ordered on the body of a woman found inside a fire-damaged hotel room in Sioux City. Police say officers found 40-year-old Elizabeth Bockholt in the Wingate Hotel room Thursday night, and medics were unable to resuscitate her. She was pronounced at the scene. She lived in Hinton. Police and fire officials are investigating.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — The extra-cold weather brought out extra volunteers at an eastern Iowa shelter for homeless men. Gwen Kirchhof is executive director of Almost Home in downtown Dubuque, and she had not yet made it from her rural home to the shelter Friday morning, saying “the wind has blown my road closed with snow.” She says the extra volunteers were a blessing because the shelter’s dozen beds were full overnight and the men needed what she called “compassionate care” for their well-being: nutrition, health, clothing, shelter, employment. Kirchhof says the shelter can hand out free bus passes, “but it’s too cold to stand out waiting for a bus.” The temperature outside hovered around minus 11, with a wind child of minus 19.

(Radio Iowa) — The parents of a missing Marshalltown teen held a news conference at the city library to ask for help in finding their son. Thirteen-year-old Corey Brown left his home late Tuesday night, apparently after a discussion with his parents, who took away his cellphone as punishment. His dad Craig Brown spoke directly to his son. “Corey, if you are out there bud, you are not in trouble. Just come home,” Brown said. “And if anybody has any information, you are not going to get into trouble either. Just please call the Marshalltown Police Department. We love you bud.”

Corey Brown

Corey’s mom Michelle was emotional as she made a plea to her son. “You know how much I love you and I am not going to stop until we find you. If you are out there, please come home. We love you more than you will ever now,” his mom said. She also appealed to anyone who may know where Corey is. “And parents — if this was your child you would want them home too — so please do the right thing and call the police department. Get Corey home to us. Please,” Brown said. “I love you Corey. Come home.”

Anyone with information is encouraged to call Marshalltown Police Department at 641-754-5725 or Crime Stoppers at 641-753-1234. Information can also be sent by texting the word “marshall” with any information to 274637 or online at www.marshallcountycs.com.

(Radio Iowa) — A key member of the Iowa House says there’s a “very good shot” sports betting will be legalized in Iowa this year – and he predicts the law will let gamblers use their smart phones to place wagers on sporting events. Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, is chairman of the House committee that will first consider a bill on sports betting. “I think the gambling is already going on across the state of Iowa. I think this will pull people out of the shadows and legitimize things,” he says, “as well they’ll be paying a tax.”

Wes Ehrecke, president and C-E-O of the Iowa Gaming Association, represents the 19 state-licensed casinos. The casinos are lobbying not only to set up a “sports book” area within their facilities, but they want a “mobile” aspect as well. “So if you’re age 21 and over, you’d come into the casino, prove you’re 21, establish an account through a password-protected, secure portal of the casino then to be able to place bets on a smart phone or a laptop anywhere within the state,” Ehrecke says. “Intrastate only.”

That means wagers could be placed by people who are in a stadium or an arena watching an Iowa college game, as it appears the bill to be considered would legalize wagering on “all” professional AND college sports. Last May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled congress cannot prevent states from legalizing sports betting. Kaufmann says that created momentum for the bill.  “I think the consensus has been building for years,” Kaufmann says, “and I think one of the things that was preventing a bill from becoming law in year’s past was the fact that we knew that this Supreme Court ruling was coming down and we didn’t want to preempt them and do something that would then be nullified by a potential ruling.”

Kaufmann and Ehrecke made their comments during taping of the “Iowa Press” program that airs tonight (Friday) on Iowa Public Television.

Officials in Adair County report Blake Anderson of Fontanelle was re-elected as president of “Ag 4 All” during the group’s first annual meeting. Last year, a group of agricultural groups that had been working together as a collaborative took action to form the non-profit 501(c)3 with the sole purpose of reaching people of all ages with the stories of Iowa agriculture. Other officers elected for the 2019 year are vice-president, Cory Kirkpatrick of Stuart; secretary, Erika Lundy of Adair; and treasurer, Brian Rohrig of Orient. Additional board members include Judy Wedemeyer of Casey and Grace Evans of Bridgewater.

Ag 4 All Board

The group’s current initiatives include: Who’s Your Iowa Farmer? Facebook page, school programs for PK, K, 2nd, and 3rd graders in Adair County, and Ag Adventure at community celebrations. Funding to operationalize the programs comes from partner organizations, program sponsors, grants, and individual contributions. Current partners include: Adair County Cattlemen, Adair County and Iowa Corn Growers, Adair County Extension and Outreach, Adair County Farm Bureau, and Adair County Pork Producers.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — The deep freeze has prompted several eastern Iowa schools to cancel classes or start the school day late. The Davenport district and nearby Bettendorf and Muscatine schools canceled classes Friday. Davenport’s air temperature earlier this morning was minus 12, with a wind chill of minus 29. Wind at the time was reported at 8 mph. Late starts were scheduled for the Decorah, Louisa-Muscatine, Wapello and other districts, including many in southwest Iowa.

Alliant Energy says its crews are working on restoring power to more than 900 customers in frigid Clayton County who have been without power since about 5:15 a.m. The utility says it expects to have the electricity back on by 10 a.m. It’s unclear whether the cold caused the outage, however. Forecasters say the numbing cold is expected to linger into next week.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday in the Department of Human Services appeal of a district court ruling that said the state Medicaid program has to pay for sex-change surgery for two transgender individuals. The lower court ruling says the state violated the Iowa Civil Rights Act and the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution by refusing payment, but lawyer Matthew Gillespie argued that is not the case. “This case is not about whether transgender Iowans have suffered and continue to suffer from pernicious discrimination. This case is not about whether transgender Iowans have legitimate medical needs related to gender dysphoria,” Gillespie says. ” In fact, this case is not about transgender Iowans at all.”

He says the case centers on the rules followed by the state. “This case is about whether Iowa Medicaid appropriately denied coverage for surgeries performed primarily for psychological. For the reasons outlined in our brief, and I will discuss here today, the answer should be ‘yes’,” according to Gillespie. He says the rules were not specifically written to discriminate against transgender Iowans. “The petitioners have argued that transgender Iowans seeking coverage for procedures to treat gender dysphoria are similarly situated to non-transgender Iowans seeking treatment for the same procedures to address non-physiological conditions,” according to Gillespie. “And in doing so, it reveals the true nature of the crux of the issue is not gender identity — but is instead focused on psychological versus non-psychological health.” Gillespie also disputes the idea that the issue violates the Iowa Civil Rights Act. “Had the Iowa Civil Rights Act been intended to apply in circumstances such as this, there would have been a more clear indication that it was meant to. Again, the application of that act to policy decisions of the executive is a massive expansion unprecedented in the state and contrary to both federal and other state law,” Gillespie argued.

The attorney for the other side, John Knight, says the state has tried to move the target. “The state in challenging the district court’s ruling has in a sense taken on the role of medical expert. And they’ve proposed a different set of facts with respect to the regulation,” Knight says. He says the state is wrong about the need for the surgery. “In a sense they have recharacterized the nature of this surgery here as cosmetic by their use of the language psychological services. The record evidence however shows that this surgery is medically necessary, and that it is really life-saving treatment for a number of individuals — including my clients,” Knight says. He says the state also has it wrong when it comes to the denial of payment violating the Iowa Civil Rights Act. “Section B of the public accommodations definition talks about units of government and it talks about services provided by a unit of government. There’s nothing that limits those services to on-site services. So I think you’d have to be basically writing an exception in that isn’t there,” according to Knight.

Knight was asked about how big an impact this would have. “Everyone with gender dysphoria does not need surgery. My clients do, and so there would certainly be medical people involved — both a surgeon and a mental health professional, at least one and sometimes two who are assessing the necessity of the coverage,” according to Knight. “And the reality is, this is a very small population, so we are not talking about a about significant number of people.”

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

The National Weather Service says yet another winter storm is forecast Sunday night into Monday across much of Iowa. The greatest potential for moderate to heavy snow is located over north-central to northeast Iowa, while further southwest a wintry mix is anticipated. There remains some uncertainty in the snow amounts along the southwest edge of the snow band due to the wintry mix possibility Sunday night.

Click on the map to enlarge

Strong northwest winds develop Monday morning and will likely cause blowing and drifting snow throughout the day and even into Monday night. Then, bitter cold temperatures and wind chills are anticipated throughout the work week next week.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director, Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS