(Red Oak, Iowa) – A Red Oak man arrested this (Thursday) morning on a Pottawattamie County warrant. According to Red Oak Police, 39-year-old Aaron Lucas Allen, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 6-a.m. at the intersection of 3rd & Valley Streets, on an active Pottawattamie County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault – Injury or Mental Illness – 1st offense (A Serious Misdemeanor). Allen was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail, pending extradition to Pott. County.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Officials with the Glenwood Police Department report the arrest today (Thursday), of 20-year-old Evan Johnson, from Glenwood. Johnson was arrested for criminal mischief 4th offense and assault while displaying a dangerous weapon He posted a $3,000 bond, and was released.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa lawmakers advanced three bills this week that aim to raise the state’s number of medical providers. One of the bills would give priority for medical residency slots to Iowa residents, or to those who went to college or med school in state. Representative Tom Jeneary, a Republican from LeMars, says he supports prioritizing Iowa connections, but he also wants to make sure residency slots go to the best qualified candidates.

Jeneary says, “I also think that it would be a mistake to pass somebody that’s really, really good just because they are non-native.” The other bills would allow physician assistants from other states to practice in Iowa through a licensure compact, and to study transitioning certain medical school programs from four years to three.

Representative Austin Baeth, a Democrat from Des Moines, says he supports the study, but thinks it will be challenging for schools like Des Moines University. Baeth says, “Because most of these medical schools that do have these three-year pathways have their own residency program and already have those medical students pre-admitted into their residency.”

Governor Kim Reynolds has made increasing the number of providers in the state one of her legislative priorities this session.

(Radio Iowa) – State wildlife officials are asking Iowans not to skip over the Fish and Wildlife Fund this tax season, what’s popularly known as the Chickadee Check-off. Stephanie Shepherd, a state wildlife diversity biologist, says contributions on your state tax form go to the Iowa DNR to help conserve non-game species across the state. “It’s how the DNR is able to have staff dedicated to working on songbirds, raptors, frogs and toads, turtles, bumble bees, butterflies,” Shepherd says, “and so we work on all of those things on a statewide basis.”

Along with habitat restorations, the fund helps DNR staff train volunteers to monitor wildlife populations in the state. For example, volunteers recorded nearly 1,200 bumble bees representing ten species during last year’s inaugural Iowa Bumble Bee Atlas. “Our program works on all the wildlife you can’t hunt, fish and trap out there,” Shepherd says, “so, that’s thousands of species.”

American Tree Sparrow (Photo by Karl Schilling of Des Moines)

Avian ecologist Anna Buckardt Thomas is tracking the migration patterns of the wood thrush, a forest songbird that’s population has declined 50-percent since the 1960s. “They have this really beautiful flute-like sound,” she says. “If you’ve ever heard one, it just stops you in your tracks.”

Iowa taxpayers contributed around $134,000 to the Chickadee Check-off last tax season. It’s roughly half of what Iowans contributed in 1982 when the state legislature created the fund.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has granted a state license for a casino in Cedar Rapids. The vote was four-to-one. “Obviously a cataclysmic day for Cedar Rapids and Linn County,” Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell told reporters minutes after the commission’s decision. There will be a groundbreaking tomorrow for the Cedar Crossing project. “We’ll be moving dirt tomorrow, wasting no time in getting this up and running,” O’Donnell said. “Linn County, Cedar Rapids deserves this. It’s only taken us 12 years to get here.”

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has twice before voted down casino license applications from Cedar Rapids and just last week the Iowa House overwhelmingly voted in favor of a moratorium on new casinos, but the bill was tabled in the senate yesterday. “To say that this was a long shot was an understatement,” O’Donnell said. “I have said from the very beginning this was ‘David versus Goliath’ and by god, the story ended the same way. Let’s hear it for David today.”

During today’s commission meeting at the Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino in Altoona, Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission chairman Daryl Olsen of Audubon said Cedar Crossing is far different from the two previous casino projects the commission rejected in 2014 and 2017. “If this was just another gaming facility, I’d be voting no, but this provides so much more. It provides amenities, restaurants, a 1500 person venue for entertainment, arts and culture center, a STEM lab,” Olsen said. “It is so much more. It’s unique and it provides so much more than gaming and that’s so important to me.”

Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell spoke with reporters following conclusion of Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission meeting on Feb. 6, 2025. (RI photo)

Amy Burkhart, another “yes” votes on the commission, cited studies indicating the state would collect about $10 million more in gambling taxes once the Cedar Rapids casino opens — but gambling tax revenue will decline without it. “Looking at the state of Iowa, and I won’t requote the numbers, but all I see is net gain,” she said. “I see net gain as far as tax revenues for our state.”

Burkhart, who is from Burlington, said she was contacted by a number of people in southeast Iowa who shared their thoughts about a Cedar Rapids casino that would compete with the ones already operating in her area. “This commission is not laid out in way in which people are appointed to represent a specific geographical area,” Burkhart said. “I really do have to, for my personal integrity, look at that I am an Iowan today and not representing a particular area.”

Gaming commission member Julie Andres of Okoboji acknowledged the decision would be unpopular with existing casinos, but she voted to grant the license. “I don’t think a project that is desired by a local communities, gives that community an opportunity to thrive and develop, meets and even exceeds our standards for quality of design and amenities and then provides a unique and differentiated product in that market and provides a net gain of revenues to our state should be denied,” Andreas said.

Commissioner Mark Campbell of Otho said he concluded the market can support a new casino in Cedar Rapids. “A question that has surfaced from several individuals is whether this decision would open ‘Pandora’s Box’ for gaming in Iowa. I want to assured everyone that I do not believe this to be the case,” Campbell said. “As a commission, we have worked diligently to evaluate this application and will continue approach all future applications with the same level of thoroughness ad care.”

Alan Ostergren of Altoona was the only commission member who voted no. Ostergren said by his own calculation, the studies found the increase in state gambling taxes would be 12-hundredths of a percent. “I personally would come on not disrupting our existing operators to that extent based on that negligible increase in revenue to the state as a whole from this,” Ostergren said.

An attorney for the Riverside casino indicated a lawsuit will be filed today challenging the commission’s decision. The legal argument? The Linn County gambling referendum approved in 2021 was worded incorrectly and the casino application should not have been considered.

(Radio Iowa) – The downtown districts of two Iowa cities are in the process of being nominated to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Iowa Economic Development Authority spokesperson Kannan Kappleman says Earlham is one of the cities. “The Madison County historic preservation commission completed a survey in 2024 and determined that the area retain its historic and contextual significance,” Kappleman says. She says preliminary work has also been done for Mount Pleasant. “They too, completed a survey in 2024 and determined that their area also retains its historic significance in context and integrity,” she says. The I-E-D-A has awarded federal dollars in the form of grants to the two cities to work on the nominations for the historic designation. Kappleman says it’s important to recognize these areas.

“It not only impacts tourism, but it’s also about community revitalization. There are aspects of sustainability as well utilizing structures to the fullest possible,” Kappleman says. The I-E-D-A also awarded grants to help with other historical surveys.”There are gems across the state, from the aspect of exactly what these structures housed in in previous years, there’s great value with these with preserving structures for economic development purposes,” she says.

Grants will fund a citywide historic survey in Des Moines and a survey of Red Oak’s historic East Hill district. Another grant will help fund the a historical/architectural survey for the North Calhoun Street potential Residential Historic District in West Liberty. And, Louisa County’s Historic Preservation Commission will hire a consultant to complete intensive historical/architectural surveys of buildings in the commercial downtown districts of Columbus Junction and Wapello.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is supporting the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act to protect Iowans’ access to news by requiring automakers to maintain AM radio in their vehicles. This legislation also protects consumers from a separate or additional charge for this technology.  “Iowans rely on our AM radio stations to receive updates on weather, business, government, and commodity prices, which is why it is so important that we continue this important avenue of communication,” said Ernst. “I’m working to ensure folks across our state can stay in the loop through this resource that delivers timely information.”

During national emergencies, such as the 2020 derecho that devastated large portions of Iowa, AM radio remains a key communication service to relay life-saving information and updates.

Read the bill text here.