Iowa’s senior senator will play a major role in the selection of a new U.S. Supreme Court Justice and two Iowans are on the list of potential picks for the court that the White House released last year.  Iowa Supreme Court Justice Edward Mansfield and Iowa City native Steven Colloton, who’s a federal judge, are on list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees for Trump’s second choice for the Supreme court. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley chairs the Senate committee that conducts hearings on the president’s judicial nominees. Grassley says he expects Trump to act “soon” and a hearing will be held “in the weeks ahead.”

Grassley was involved in denying a senate hearing to President Obama’s third nominee to the court, back in 2016 after a Supreme Court justice died. The Republican leader in the U.S. Senate says there will be a vote “this fall” on Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee. The Senate’s Democratic leader says voters should have a say and the decision should be delayed until after the November election.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Mason City caretaker is accused of sexually assaulting two of his clients. Cerro Gordo County Court records say 19-year-old Wasfie Alshara is charged with two felony counts of sexual abuse. He remained in jail Thursday morning. The records say Alshara raped one of his clients on Nov. 21 and sexually assaulted the other in a group home on June 8.

The records also say Alshara worked for an unidentified company that provides caretaking services.

COUNCIL BLUFFS – The rising Missouri River is anticipated to crest near 29.2-feet’ by 1:00 p.m. today (Thursday), prompting local officials to implement preparedness actions. Since Monday, officials with the City of Council Bluffs and Pottawattamie County have implemented actions to monitor, assess, and respond to any conditions or emergencies prompted by any flooding along the Missouri River. The National Weather Service has placed the county under a flood warning along the Missouri River. Minor flooding is anticipated with the forecast crest creeping just above flood stage.

Doug Reed, Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Director, said Wednesday “The latest trends have shown a decrease in the expected crest and we’re hopeful that trend will continue, but we are prepared if things should change.” Several agencies from the City of Council Bluffs and Pottawattamie County are actively engaged and coordinating preparedness efforts as we monitor the event, said Reed. Gifford Road and the Tom Hanafan River’s Edge Park are closed in the city with the Narrows River Park closed and Goosehaven Loop in rural Pottawattamie County covered in water after surveys were conducted early Wednesday.

City and County crews are continually surveying areas along the river, preparing for additional road closures should they become necessary, and are prepared to take emergency actions should conditions worsen. There has been a significant amount of time dedicated to flood and levee emergency planning and exercising since the 2011 flood event.  Residents should monitor conditions and prepare now should a change in the forecast occur. If you live on or near the river, especially in areas not protected by the federal levee system, remain vigilant and be prepared to evacuate if necessary. If you know your property or access to your property will be impacted, emergency management would always encourage you to error on the side of caution and stay with friends or family for a day or two until the river levels begin to drop.

All residents should sign up for emergency alerts from Pottawattamie Alert, part of the Alert Iowa Network. This will be the primary means of distributing emergency evacuation orders, critical public information, and other important messaged before, during, and after an emergency or disaster. To register and to stay up to date with flooding information, visit the county website at www.pottcounty-ia.gov.

Congressman Steve King was among those urging his Republican colleagues to vote against a bill in the U.S. House that King says is “instant amnesty” for more than five million people living in the country illegally. The bill failed to clear the Republican-led House early Wednesday afternoon. “Since Ronald Reagan signed the amnesty act in 1986…it set up the sign again that said: ‘If you can get enough people into America that have broken our immigration laws, sooner or later there’ll be another amnesty,’ there have been six other lesser amnesties since 1986, but this one would be the biggest one in the United States of America.”

King discussed the bill during a recent appearance on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal. “We’ve got to secure the border,” King said.”We’ve got to restore the respect for the rule of law or we’ll never be a sovereign nation again and we’ve gone through a lot of damage.” King says President Trump’s recent executive order stopping the separation of children from parents who crossed the border illegally was “the best temporary solution” given the public reaction, but King says a permanent fix is needed. “This doesn’t turn down the magnet for people to come to America,” King says. “We’ve got to shut that magnet off.”

King also has addressed questions about his re-tweet of a Nazi sympathizer’s views on immigration issues. King says he retweeted a Breitbart headline without researching the article’s author because the headline indicates Europe is waking up to the danger of unlimited immigration.  “If we destroy the nation-state with globalism, then you merge all these cultures and we’re back to being scrambled again,” King says. “And I think we’ve got to respect all people in the world, but let’s respect ourselves enough to know that we’ve built something in America that has never been matched in the history of the world. Let’s not destroy it over some myopic idea that all cultures are equal. They’re not.”

During his appearance on C-SPAN, King said people who’ve criticized him for his tweet either “don’t understand the English language” or are “willfully” trying to mislead the public.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Council Bluffs called to check out a disturbance near the 1400 block of Avenue A, Wednesday afternoon, found a 26-year old man with a serious injury to his right hand, along with minor injuries to his shoulder and head. An investigation determined the man was inside a car that fled from the scene as officers arrived, with smoke emitting from inside the vehicle.

As he was inside the vehicle, an unknown type of firework/explosive went off in his hand. The suspect vehicle, a red Pontiac Grand Am, had not been located as of the last report.

The injured male — whose name was not released — was transported to Nebraska Medicine by Council Bluffs Fire and Rescue personnel. With regard to the original disturbance call, authorities say a 21 year old male and 3 juvenile males were all cited for disorderly conduct and issued Ban notices from the skate park.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CDT

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man who received child pornography has pleaded guilty to the charge in federal court in Sioux City. Federal prosecutors say 27-year-old Joe Elliott Sinnott, of Milford, was convicted Tuesday of one count of receiving child pornography. In a plea agreement, Sinnott admitted that from January through April, he knowingly used a messenger app to receive child pornography.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 23-year-old Des Moines man has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for stealing two dozen guns from Iowa gun dealers and selling one of them. Federal prosecutors say David Marken Aikoriegie was sentenced Wednesday in Des Moines’ federal courthouse for three counts of stealing a firearm from a federal firearm licensee and unlawful sale of a stolen firearm. Investigators say Aikoriegie stole the guns in late 2017 from gun shops in Urbandale and Clive.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa politicians are scrambling to comply with a new and unusual state law that bans them from using taxpayer dollars if there’s a whiff of self-promotion. The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board plans to release at least one advisory opinion next month on the law, which goes into effect Sunday. The provision prohibits statewide officials and lawmakers from tapping taxpayer dollars to promote their written name, likeness or voice through various platforms like television and radio.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds has issued a disaster proclamation for three counties in the northwest quarter of Iowa in response to flooding and severe weather that began in mid-June. The proclamation allows state resources to be used in Buena Vista, Cherokee and Webster counties and activates the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant and the Disaster Case Management programs.