(Radio Iowa) – A national chicken franchise is coming to the Iowa State University Student Union in Ames. I-S-U’s vice president Sean Reeder presented a proposal for a lease with Chick-fil-A to the Board of Regents.”They would occupy just over two-thousand square feet in the food court area that’s adjacent to our bookstore and the Soultz Family Visitor Center,” Reeder says. He says the chicken chain space was formerly occupied by the Memorial Union Market and Cafe. “This is particularly attractive for our students. In polling by the dining and the Memorial Union staff, students frequently ask for more national brands within our product offerings,” he says. Chick-fil-A is immensely popular with our student population as well as faculty and staff.”

Reeder says the Memorial Union isn’t the only place you could get a hot chicken sandwich under the lease. )”We would also be giving Chick-fil-A the rights to operate portable, temporary kiosks intermittently at different times of the year across campus,” he says. The lease would be for ten years with a mutually agreed upon five-year renewal for a total of 15 years. The I-S-U would receive rent in the form of commission on net sales, starting at four percent in years one through five and escalating to ten percent in years six through ten. Reeder was asked if that would be an increase in what the Memorial Union has made from what had been in the space. “We expect it to not only be greater for the store specifically, but Chick-fil-A also nationally is known for increasing general foot traffic to your student unions,” he says.

Reeder’s presentation came to the Facilities Committee, which approved the lease Wednesday.

(Radio Iowa) – University of Iowa Provost Kevin Kregel says his office will recommend closing seven programs at the Board of Regents next meeting in April. The programs include undergraduate majors in African American Studies and Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies, and a master’s in African American World Studies. Kregel says his office reviewed enrollment data for programs in a workforce alignment report ordered by the Board of Regents. “As we’ve gone through this process, we’ve made sure we’re looking strategically at how we are going about this, looking at the resources that are being utilized, where the workforce realignment efforts are going to be falling, and how we are going to align with student interests,” he says.

Kregel says enrollment was not the only factor considered. “For example: licensure and accreditation requirements for these programs, the program’s role in specific areas of study that are important, available faculty resources, and then recency of the program in terms of its establishment,” Kregel says. Kregel says the university also plans to close the Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies and African American Studies programs entirely at the end of the academic year. Kregel told the Regents Wednesday that there will still be courses and minors offered in some of the programs where there is strong student interest. Several University of Iowa alumni say they feel “profound alarm” about the university ending majors in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies as well as African American Studies. In a letter, they accuse the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the university president, Iowa’s governor and the Board of Regents of attacking intellectual and professional freedom.

Alum Cristina Ortiz helped write the letter. “A really important component of the major is, in part, just knowing that you’re not alone,” Ortiz says, “that you are part of this, not just intellectual community, but actual, real people in the community who are approaching things in the same way that you are and asking the same kinds of questions that you are.” Many alumni say closing the programs would undermine the tradition of public universities offering classes in a wide range of disciplines. Ortiz says the Regents should not eliminate the programs, especially Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies or GWSS. “How do you explain and put vocabulary to the power dynamics going on with the Epstein files, if you don’t have a theoretical grounding in GWSS,” Ortiz says. “It’s just not possible. It’s so essential to understanding our world, our life right now.”

The letter comes after a statement from the university saying it’s conducting a review of over a dozen undergraduate majors with low enrollment. Twenty-three U-I students have declared a major in GWSS. Of the other majors being reviewed, African American Studies has 11 students, and Science Studies has nine students.

(Red Oak, IA) – A traffic stop in Montgomery County early this (Thursday) morning, resulted in an arrest. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a vehicle driven by 34-year-old Aaron Gar Nelson, of Red Oak, was pulled-over at around 1:25-a.m. in the 2400 block of J Avenue. Upon further investigation, Nelson was arrested for Driving While Suspended. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on bond amounting to $491.25.

JOHNSTON, Iowa (KCCI) – A Guthrie County woman is facing several charges after 34 cats suffering from severe health conditions were rescued from a home in Johnston. 35-year-old Claire Faalk was charged with four counts of animal neglect causing serious injury or death and two counts of animal neglect causing injury.

On December 17, 2025, police responded to an animal welfare check at a home on Hyperion Point Drive in Johnston and rescued 34 cats from the residence. The cats were found suffering from severe ear mites, fleas, dental disease, and upper respiratory infections, according to officials.

Working with Polk County Animal Control, the Animal Rescue League of Iowa removed the cats and transported them to its facility for treatment. Faalk was taken to Polk County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has passed an election bill that will no longer give someone registering to vote on Election Day the option of having a friend, neighbor or relative sign a document to confirm the prospective voter is who they say they are. Representative Adam Zabner, a Democrat from Iowa City, says during the 2024 election, 37 Johnson County residents used this option in order to register and vote on Election Day.

“Most of those Iowans were older Iowans, elderly folks who had lost their driver’s license or their ability to drive and didn’t have the proper ID and it was family members and caretakers who were attesting for them,” Zabner said. And he says no longer allowing this option will make is harder for some Iowans to vote. Representative Austin Harris, a Republican from Moulton, says West Virginia is the only other state that allows someone to attest to a potential voter’s identity.

“If someone doesn’t bring an acceptable ID to the polling location on Election Day, they can still vote by provision ballot and then have that cured afterwards. We still allow for that,” Harris said. “In fact, that’s what happens most of the time when people don’t have their I.D.” Someone who casts a provisional ballot on Election Day has to go to their county auditor’s office within a few days with a valid I-D and proof of their address or the ballot will not be counted.

Other elements of the House bill clarify when there may be recounts in school bonding elections and it puts county auditors in charge of handling the nominating petitions that qualify candidates for city and school board elections. Last year, city clerks and school board secretaries failed to file that paperwork on time and three dozen candidates did not get their names printed on ballots.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has passed bills to strengthen immigration and citizenship checks for voting, for getting an Iowa driver’s license and for working in Iowa schools or in the public sector. Bills that passed unanimously would require all Iowa schools and the state licensing board for educators to verify school staff are legally authorized to work in the U.S. — and the same clearance would be required for all newly-hired employees in state and local governments as well as for anyone who applies for a professional license issued by the state.

A bill that passed the senate with wide bipartisan support would have the Iowa D-O-T check federal databases to verify someone’s a citizen or legal resident before issuing a driver’s license. Senator Tim Kraayenbrink, a Republican from Fort Dodge, says there’s an appeal process if a license application is denied after that screening, but he expects few appeals.

“The United States Customs and Immigration Service, they rank the SAVE program as 99.16% accurate,” Kraayenbrink said. Another piece of legislation that cleared the Senate Tuesday, calls on Iowa’s secretary of state to verify registered voters in Iowa are U-S citizens. Republican Senator Ken Rozenboom of Pella says the secretary of state determined 277 non-citizens were registered to vote in the 2024 General Election.

“35 of those non-citizens successfully voted in the 2024 election and five non-citizens who attempted to vote were unsuccessful,” Rozenboom said, “so that’s, I guess, to illustrate the need for continually cleaning up our voter registration lists.” Thirteen Democrats in the Iowa Senate voted against this bill. Senator Cindy Winckler of Davenport says the federal government’s SAVE database is flawed and can give incorrect information about a person’s citizenship status.

“We want eligible individuals to vote,” Winckler said, “but we do not want to misclassify or disenfranchise an individual and keep them from voting.” The Senate has unanimously passed another bill that would require passage of an English proficiency test before someone could get a commercial driver’s license in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Democrats in the Iowa House are accusing House Republicans of engaging in political theater by assigning blame to the court system and to State Auditor Rob Sand — a Democrat — for the mis-allocation of about 25-million dollars in court fines and fees. Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports.

Computer software misdirected court fines and fees that should have gone to crime victims, county sheriffs’ departments and other agencies. House Republicans issued a report on Tuesday, blasting the court system for concealing the problem for three years and criticizing Sand for failing to fully investigate after his office was notified of the problem. House Democrats say Republicans on the House Government Oversight Committee are assigning blame to political opponents — Sand is running for governor — and they say House Republicans are failing to do a comprehensive, non-partisan investigation focused on solving a major problem in state government.

House Republicans on the Oversight Committee yesterday (Tuesday) called for a private company to take over distribution of court fines and fees And they suggested a private auditing firm should review how all the fines and fees paid to Iowa courts since the middle of 2020 were handled.

UPDATED 2/26/26:

CLARINDA, IOWA, February 25, 2026: The Page County Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday, that 36-year-old Nicholas Ivan Maher was found guilty, contrary to his plea, of one count of Domestic Abuse Assault by Strangulation, an aggravated misdemeanor, in Page County District Court after a two-day jury trial that began on February 24, 2026. The jury returned its verdict after 3 hours of deliberation.

Maher is currently free on bond pending sentencing, which is scheduled to take place on April 17, 2026. Maher faces a sentence that could include up to two years of incarceration and a $8,540.00 fine.

This case was investigated by the Shenandoah Police Department and prosecuted by the Page County Attorney’s Office.

Nicholas Ivan Maher

(Creston, IA) – The Creston Police Department reports a Polk County man was arrested Tuesday following an undercover online operation targeting individuals attempting to exploit minors. Creston Police Chief Cameron Hale says during the investigation, an officer posed as a 14-year-old female while communicating through an online platform. The suspect – 44-year-old Ryan Anderson, of Des Moines – and the undercover officer later transitioned communication to a texting platform. During the conversation, the undercover officer clearly stated she was 14 years old. Despite knowing the stated age, Anderson allegedly continued communication of a sexual nature, sent obscene material, and made arrangements to meet the purported minor for sexual purposes. He then drove to a predetermined meeting location, where he was taken into custody without incident.

Ryan Anderson was arrested and charged with:

• Enticing a Minor Under 16 for Sexual Purposes
• Grooming
• Dissemination and Exhibition of Obscene Material to a Minor

He was transported to the Union County Jail, where bond was set at $11,000 cash or surety. Anderson has since posted bond and was released, pending further court proceedings. The Creston Police Department says they remain “Committed to protecting children and proactively investigating crimes involving the exploitation of minors.”

A reminder: “All subjects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House Ethics Committee has unanimously dismissed a complaint against two state representatives who are also state troopers. Cameron Stotz of Waukee filed the complaint, alleging it was a conflict of interest for the lawmakers to vote for a bill that would set the pay grades for troopers and other employees in the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Republican Representative Bill Gustoff of Des Moines is chairman of the Ethics Committee. “It would lead to no teachers could vote on education funding bills in this chamber,” Gustoff said, “and we think that’s absurd.” Gustoff says
unless a bill applies specifically to a job or a legislator’s specific investment, House rules allow members to vote on issues that may affect their employment.

Gustoff says he wishes the committee could fine Stotz for making a frivolous complaint. “I looked at it, dug into it and the legislature and its Ethics Committees don’t exist to pursue personal vendettas,” Gustoff said. “That’s kind of what looks like what happened here. Somebody got a tiket and wasn’t happy about it.” Republican Representative Joshua Meggers — one of the troopers named in the complaint — ticketed Stotz for speeding two summers ago. Meggers says Stotz has been trying to get him into trouble since then and has gone so far as to erroneously accuse him of driving his patrol vehicle back and forth to the Capitol during session — and getting a mileage reimbursement for that travel.

The other trooper named in the dismissed complaint was Republican Representative Zach Dieken of Granville.