(Red Oak, IA) – A traffic stop at around 12:08-a.m. today (Wednesday) in Montgomery County, resulted in the arrest of a man from Adams County. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the Montgomery County K9 Unit conducted the traffic stop at Highway 34 and 200th Street. During an investigation, the K9 “Riddick” was deployed, and as a result, the driver of the vehicle, Andrew Travis Gaunt, of Nodaway, was arrested for Possession of Methamphetamine/1st offense – a serious misdemeanor, and Driving While Barred – an aggravated misdemeanor.

Gaunt was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has approved a bill to ban the sale of kratom, a plant-based product that’s being sold in some Iowa gas stations and vape shops. The leaves from kratom trees, which are native to southeast Asia, are eaten or crushed and being used in teas or sold as a powder or pill. A synthetic version of kratom has recently been developed. Republican Representative Mike Vondran of Davenport says it’s time to classify kratom as an illegal drug.

“There’s a growing public safety crisis with the abuse of kratom, increasing reports of emergency room visits and fatalities related to kratom are on the rise,” Vondran said, “up 120% year over year in Iowa.” The bill passed the House on a 69 to 26 vote and an identical bill is eligible for debate in the Iowa Senate.

Representative Ray Sorenson, a Republican from Greenfield, says kratom has been used for centuries by millions of people and, rather than banning it, he says kratom should be regulated and only those 21 and older should be able to buy it. “Government should be careful about policing adult choices,” Sorenson said. “I believe the government has a role in protecting public safety, especially when it comes to minors, but when it comes to adults making decisions about legal products, we should be cautious about expanding criminal prohibitions.”

Representative Cindy Golding, a Republican from Cedar Rapids, says banning kratom won’t keep people from using it. “My grandmother was a nurse during the Prohibition,”There were deaths because alcohol was tainted with wood alcohol, with methanol and people died. It was not regulated, it was underground, but it didn’t stopit.”

Vondran says county attorneys and three prominent Iowa medical groups are urging legislators to classify kratom as an illegal drug in hopes of curbing its use. “Kratom poses significant dangers including addition and potentially fatal overdose,” Vondram said. “Users frequently suffer from serious side effects like respiratory depression and liver damage.”

The State Medical Examiner has identified 92 cases in which the primary compound in kratom was the contributing factor in an overdose death.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has passed a package of immigration related proposals for state government, private businesses and criminal defendants who are in the county illegally. It also calls for an oath of citizenship to be included on voter registration forms. Representative Brooke Boden, a Republican from Indianola, says the bill establishes clear, consistent standards.

“When Iowa government grants a job, a license or legal privilege we should verify eligibility under the law,” Boden said. “That’s responsible government.” The bill adopts the governor’s executive order as law, so all state agencies must verify employees and anyone granted a state license is eligible for work in the United States. All three state universities and all public and private K-through-12 schools would be required to do the same check.

The bill creates new penalties for businesses that knowingly hire people who’ve provided a fake Social Security number that doesn’t belong to them. The bill also would deny bail to anyone arrested for a serious crime in Iowa who cannot prove they are a citizen or legal U.S. resident.

Representative Angel Ramirez, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says the federal system used to check immigration status is error prone and the no-bail part of the bill violates the constitution’s due process guarantees.”I understand that this body wants to pass comprehensive and good policy on immigration reform,” Ramirez said. “This bill is not it.”

The legislation, which is now a collection of several bills, passed the House on a 78 to 16 vote and returns to the Senate for review.

(Radio Iowa) – Former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad is endorsing Congressman Randy Feenstra in his race against four other Republicans in the June Primary for Governor. Branstad says he’s confident Feenstra will deliver conservative results for Iowa and leave the state better than he found it.

Branstad served four terms as governor in the 1980s and ’90s and was re-elected governor in 2010 and 2014. He became the nation’s longest serving governor in the midst of that sixth term and resigned in mid-2017 after President Trump appointed him U.S. Ambassador to China.

Branstad says both he and Feenstra have worked with President Trump to make Iowa and America strong and Branstad says Feenstra will fully implement an America First agenda in Iowa.

Feenstra says Branstad laid the foundation for the conservative movement in Iowa and he looks forward to building on those successes.

(Lyon County, IA) – One person is dead after the pickup truck they were driving was struck by a train in northwest Iowa, Tuesday afternoon. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2026 Ford F-350 pickup was traveling west on 110th Street north of Lester, at around 12:33-p.m., when the driver failed to yield to a Burlington-Northern-Sante Fe (BNSF) train that was southbound. The crash happened just west of Dogwood Avenue.

Following the collision, the pickup truck rolled and caught fire. The driver – whose name was being withheld, pending notification of family – died at the scene. The crash remains under investigation.

DAVENPORT, Iowa – An Iowa City man was sentenced March 17, 2026, to 110 months in federal prison for receiving child pornography. The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that, according to public court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTip that accounts, later determined to be associated with Nong Chatchanok Press, 23, received and uploaded files containing child sexual abuse material. In December 2023, law enforcement seized electronic devices during a search of Press’s Iowa City residence. Law enforcement also seized a phone from Press when he was arrested in February 2025. A forensic examination of the seized electronic devices showed that Press used the devices to receive, view, and possess more than 117,000 images and 300 videos containing child sexual abuse material.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Press will be required to serve a 15-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Press was also ordered to pay $123,000 in restitution.

United States Attorney David C. Waterman of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The University of Iowa Police Department investigated the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

DAVENPORT, Iowa – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa, today (March 17th) reported that a Bettendorf man was sentenced on March 17, 2026, to 200 months in federal prison for receipt of child pornography and 24 months in federal prison for revocation of his supervised release.

According to public court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, Jacob Lawson Bertrand, 35, was on federal supervised release for a 2016 conviction for possession of child pornography. In October 2024, Bertrand was found to have an unauthorized cell phone while residing at a Davenport residential reentry center. A forensic examination of Bertrand’s phone showed that he used the device to receive, view, and possess more than 3000 images and 600 videos containing child sexual abuse material. Bertrand also had social media accounts which he used to talk to minors and had not reported to the Iowa Sex Offender Registry as required.

At sentencing, the Court also found Bertrand violated the terms of his federal supervised release. In 2016, Bertrand was sentenced to a 78-month term of imprisonment for possession of child pornography in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. He was released from prison in April 2021. In April 2022 and January 2024, Bertrand’s supervised release was revoked. Bertrand’s most recent term of supervised release began in June 2024.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Bertrand will be required to serve a ten-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Bertrand was also ordered to pay $72,000 in restitution.

United States Attorney David C. Waterman of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Scott County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

(Radio Iowa) – Gasoline prices in Iowa have surged 88-cents a gallon in the past month, and backers of biofuels say the blend with 15-percent ethanol helps consumers save money. Nick Bowdish, president and C-E-O of Siouxland Ethanol, says E-15 is a solution for higher pump prices.

“We’re American-made and all of our plants are actually sitting on fuel supplies that could be doing more work in serving the consumer,” Bowdish says, “but there’s an archaic fuel regulation that still to this day limits ethanol and gasoline at 10% for all motor vehicles.” Federal rules restrict E-15 sales from June through mid-September because of air-quality concerns, and Congress has failed to pass legislation approving its year-round use.

The U-S Senate Agriculture Committee heard testimony last week on ways to boost demand for farm products, and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley called for the approval of year-round E-15. Craig Brodersen says all the corn he raises on his farm in western Iowa gets sold to a local ethanol plant. “The E-15 helps the consumer. It really does,” Brodersen says. “You’re not buying it from a foreigner. You’re buying it from us.”

Geoff Cooper, president and C-E-O of the national Renewable Fuels Association, says oil companies successfully lobbied lawmakers to block year-round E-15, though a Congressional task force is still trying to work something out. Cooper says, “It would make a bad situation worse if Congress and the administration don’t get something done very quickly on E-15.”

Cooper says President Trump could issue emergency waivers allowing existing retailers to continue selling E-15 in the summer, a move he says could save drivers up to 50 cents a gallon. Triple-A says the statewide average price for gas is $3.33 a gallon, compared to $2.45 a month ago.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa lawmakers are considering a bill that would let Iowa’s top elected officials keep their names confidential on public websites that show the properties they own. Senator Mike Bousselot, of Ankeny, says after the murder of a top Minnesota legislator and her husband in their home, this is common sense.

“Threats of violence to political officials and members of the judiciary have continued to abound,” Bousselot said. Under current law, law enforcement officers as well as judges and prosecutors in state and federal courts are able to get their names redacted from county websites that can be searched to discover their home addresses. The bill would extend that policy to Iowa’s U.S. Senators, U.S. House members, statewide elected officials like the governor and members of the Iowa legislature.

The bill is ready for debate in a Senate committee. It has already won House approval. Representative Aime Wichtendahl of Hiawatha says providing privacy to Iowa’s public officials is important. “Sadly threats of political violence are experienced by members of both political parties at all levels: federal, state and local,” Wichtendahl said, “and that violence is a threat to the very principles of self-government.”

Representative Dan Gosa of Davenport voted for the bill, but he says it should be expanded to cover county supervisors, city council members and school board members.  “During my time on the school board I received numerous death threats. My wife was followed picking our kids up from school,” Gosa said. “…I feel very strongly about this, that we need to protect local elected officials not just ourselves.”