(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak (this) Saturday morning, arrested a man for Interference with Official Acts. Authorities say 39-year-old Delton Paul Lyden (No address given) was arrested at around 2-a.m. in the 1800 block of N. 4th Street in Red Oak. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, Friday night, arrested a man for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia – a Simple Misdemeanor. Authorities say 32-year-old James Allen Lilly, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 7:45-p.m. in the 200 block of W. Oak Street. Lilly was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 bond.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – A bill in the statehouse would make putting someone else’s personal information online an aggravated misdemeanor.

It’s commonly known as “doxxing”– posting personal details about another person, like their phone number or address, with the intent to threaten or intimidate them. Senate File 35, introduced by Sen. Charlie McClintock, would include doxxing into Iowa’s definition of harassment, making it easier to prosecute. Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks helped write the legislation. He says doxxing makes a real impact on its victims.

The bill made its way out of a senate subcommittee this week. Next, it will face debate in front of the full senate.

BOONE, Iowa — A 37-year-old former firefighter from Boone has entered a guilty plea in a sexual exploitation case. KCCi reports Joshua Long pled guilty to multiple counts of sexual exploitation involving a minor. Court records indicate he possessed explicit screenshots depicting the abuse of a young girl under 12.

Despite potential for a long prison sentence, this month a judge granted Long five years of probation instead, stirring controversy and criticism, particularly from Boone County Attorney Matthew Speers.

Speers strongly objected, arguing that the explicitness of images warranted a more severe punishment. He believed Long should have faced a lengthy prison sentence due to the severity of the conduct depicted in the images.

Bedford, Iowa — U.S. Representative Zach Nunn (IA-03) today (Friday) presented Edward Johnson, an Army veteran from Bedford, with medals earned for honorable service during World War II.

“Edward Johnson is part of the Greatest Generation – a generation of patriotic Americans who put service above self every day. Mr. Johnson deserves recognition for his service to not only our country but our world. I’m honored to present his long-awaited award to him today,” said Rep. Nunn. “As a veteran of the Air Force and current member of the Air Force Reserve, I am committed to supporting current servicemembers and providing resources to veterans who have served our country.” (Photos courtesy Rep. Zach Nunn’s office)

Edward Johnson entered active service in the U.S. Army in November 1944 at the age of eighteen. After training, he spent one year, three months, and sixteen days in the European Theatre of Operations. His service during this period earned him the World War II Victory Medal, the Army Occupation Medal and Germany Clasp, the Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and the Battle Participation Star for the Campaign “Germany.”

Unfortunately, Edward never received the Battle Participation Star, also known as the Bronze Battle Star, despite it being awarded on May 11, 1945. After nearly eighty years, Rep. Nunn presented the medal to Edward, along with a flag that was flown over the U.S. Capitol.

Any veteran in the Iowa Third Congressional District in need of assistance navigating the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or other federal agency should contact Rep. Nunn’s district office at (515) 400-8180 or by visiting nunn.house.gov/veterans.

(Radio Iowa) – A member of the Iowa House who has represented a district in the southeast corner of the state for the past four years has died. Seventy-two-year-old Martin Graber of Fort Madison was first elected to the Iowa House in 2020. He served 32 years in the Iowa National Guard, rising to the rank of brigadier general by the time of his retirement. He won reelection to the House in 2024 with over 67 percent of the vote.

House Speaker Pat Grassley says Graber’s legacy will be one of kindness, hard work, and service. Governor Reynolds says she’s heartbroken at the loss. Graber is survived by his wife Coni, who he married 49 years ago, his daughters and his grandchildren. Graber was a southeast Iowa native who graduated from Central Lee High School. Graber earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa in 1976, a masters from St. Ambrose in 1987 and another masters from the U-S Army War College in 2002.

(R) Rep. Martin Graber (Official photo)

House Speaker Pat Grassley recently appointed Graber to lead a new House committee, to take a deeper look at state accounts set aside for specific purposes as well as the block grants the federal government sends the State of Iowa.

Graber had recently served on the Republican Party of Iowa’s State Central Committee and had been chairman of Lee County Republicans.

(Radio Iowa) – A five-year moratorium on new state-licensed casinos easily passed the Iowa House yesterday, but Iowa Senate President Amy Sinclair suggests its chances in the Senate are far different. “Honestly, I’d say the prospect of a moratorium is basically a jump ball in the senate,” she said. “…I don’t know. I’ve tried to do a soft vote count. I can’t honestly tell you where the senate will land.”

Sinclair indicates a provision tucked in the bill that makes the moratorium retroactive to January 1st of this year means there’s no rush to approve the bill before February 6. That’s when the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission is scheduled to decide whether to grant a state license for a casino in Cedar Rapids.

Sinclair said the bill that passed the House on a 68-31 vote yesterday will be sent to the Senate State Government Committee next week for review. “I don’t believe there is any fast tracking that we can do,” Sinclair said, “that we would do.”

Senate President Amy Sinclair (R-Allerton) on the “Iowa Press’ set on Jan. 30, 2025. (Iowa PBS photo)

The Senate Local Government Committee passed its own version of a casino moratorium yesterday, but Sinclair said that bill also will be referred to the State Government Committee. The pace will allow for an important “philosophical conversation,” Sinclair said.

“This isn’t a Republican versus Democrat issue. This is an Iowa issue and the question is: Are there enough casinos in the state or are there not?,” Sinclair said. “The quetion is: Should we allow those established boards and commissions to do the job they were appointed to do or do we not?”

Sinclair made her comments this afternoon during taping of the “Iowa Press” program that airs tonight on Iowa PBS at 7:30.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says President Trump is scrutinizing federal spending with his recent actions which at least temporarily suspended funding for government programs and agencies. Ernst says she wants to reassure Iowans who are concerned about things like their SNAP and Medicare benefits.

“(Trump) is protecting funds that serve Americans,” Ernst says, “and examining how to save taxpayer dollars over programs that don’t work. The Office of Management and Budget has said — just so everyone understands — that things like SNAP, Medicare and any direct benefits to individuals will not be affected.”

The OMB this week rescinded the Trump Administration’s pause on federal grants and loans after a federal judge temporarily blocked the president’s aid freeze. However, White House officials claim the executive order on funding reviews remains intact. Those orders included funding associated with immigration, energy, and DEI or diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Sen. Ernst (File photo)

Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, says Trump wants to eliminate funding that benefits programs and initiatives in foreign countries.

“We’re not talking about the programs that benefit our citizens in small town Iowa,” she says. “There’s a lot of other programs where we’re basically just funneling dollars to corporations that don’t ever benefit Americans. So, I do think he’s doing the right thing.”

Ernst, who chairs the U.S. Senate’s DOGE Committee, cited money spent on humanitarian aid for Ukraine, which is at war with Russia.

“When we are directing dollars, say, to humanitarian efforts that are going to Ukraine,” Ernst says, “what we have found out — especially through the work that I have done in scrutinizing USAID — is that the billions of dollars that are going to these types of activities where it’s humanitarian aid, the USAID was not able to actually push those out intro contracts to benefit the Ukrainian people.”

Ernst talked with KMA on Wednesday, shortly before the federal funding freeze was rescinded. Iowa Democrats blasted Trump’s funding freeze.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said veterans, farmers, children, and senior citizens could all lose vital services due to what she called, “incompetence in Washington.” Hart added, “Widespread confusion is only making a bad situation worse.”

(Radio Iowa)- – A bill moving through the state legislature would provide some budget stability to public school districts in areas hit by last year’s devastating tornadoes and historic flooding. General state spending is distributed on a per pupil basis. If the bill becomes law, a district with declining enrollment before a disaster and even more student exits afterwards would get the same level of per pupil funding for the next academic year. Margaret Buckton, a lobbyist for Rural School Advocates of Iowa, says the proposal makes good sense. “One of the reasons why this is important is when you have a natural disaster you can have a temporary decline in enrollment that comes back once housing is restored and jobs open back up again,” Buckton says, “so this would allow that budget guarantee of the higher amount to continue to the next year and hopefully those families come back.”

Michelle Johnson is a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of School Boards. “We think it’s pretty simple,” she says, “and it’s good for districts that have experienced a natural disaster.” Senator Lynn Evans, a retired superintendent from Aurelia, says Iowa law allows school districts in these kind of predicaments to petition the School Budget Review Committee, but the bill clarifies the process.  “Moving forward, knowing that Iowa’s had tornadoes and flooding for as long as we’ve been around, that’s not going to change,” Evans says, “we can make the process a little easier.”

Evans is chairman of the Senate Education Committee. The proposal cleared a House subcommittee this week.