(IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – The Iowa Supreme Court says Iowans who are given court-appointed attorneys should not have to pay legal fees if the criminal charges against them are dismissed.

Friday’s ruling by the court stems from a case involving Ronald Pagliai, who was facing criminal charges related to allegations of shoplifting when he requested and was granted a court-appointed attorney. Two of the charges were later dropped after Pagliai agreed to plead guilty in two separate cases. He later argued that he shouldn’t have to reimburse the state of the cost of his defense in the cases that were dropped by prosecutors.

As part of Pagliai’s plea deal, the state had agreed to dismiss the two charges with the understanding that Pagliai would pay the costs in the dismissed cases, which included $329.85 to reimburse the state’s indigent defense fund, plus $160 in filing fees. Pagliai then challenged the district court’s authority to assess costs against a defendant for charges the court had agreed to dismiss.

In its ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court found that the district court had no statutory authority to dispose of the cases by ordering Pagliai to pay defense costs in dismissed cases. It then remanded the matter to district court, giving the state two options as to how the case can proceed: The state can vacate only the order assessing fees and costs to Pagliai, or it can vacate the entire plea bargain, the resulting convictions, the sentences, and the order for payment.

The justices noted that if the state opts to reinstate the charges that had been dismissed as part of a previously agreed-to plea deal, if can then file “any additional charges supported by the available evidence.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa was among the public-interest groups that filed an amicus brief in the case, arguing that defendants shouldn’t foot the bill for legal fees when the state agrees to dismiss charges.

Alex Kornya, director of litigation for the Legal Aid Justice Center and cooperating attorney for the ACLU of Iowa in the case, said that while the court’s decision provides relief for Iowans moving forward, it also creates a dilemma for Iowans who may open themselves to additional charges by challenging the validity of their own court-ordered payments.

“That basic problem is that thousands of Iowans already, collectively, owe millions of dollars in cases, even though they were convicted of no crime,” he said. “It could present a difficult choice regarding the risk of the prosecution being able to refile charges. Realistically, that may prevent many people who have had debt assessed in the past from being able to take advantage of the court’s decision today.”

(Iowa DNR News) – The final deer seasons are the two January antlerless deer only seasons – the Population Management January Antlerless Season and the Excess Tag January Antlerless Season. Both seasons run from Jan. 11-25, but there are differences between the two.

The Population Management January Antlerless Season is available only in Allamakee, Appanoose, Decatur, Lucas, Monroe, Wayne and Winneshiek counties if there are more than 100 antlerless tags available in that county on Dec. 22. Since all seven counties met that requirement, all seven will be open. Hunters participating in the population management January antlerless season may use bows, muzzleloaders, handguns, shotguns, crossbows, or rifles .223 caliber and larger, as a method of take.

The Excess Tag January Antlerless-deer-only season will be available in all counties with unsold county antlerless tags at midnight on January 11.

Currently, counties with unsold antlerless tags include Adair, Allamakee, Appanoose, Clarke, Clayton, Dallas, Davis, Decatur, Fayette, Guthrie, Jefferson, Lee, Lucas, Madison, Monroe, Taylor, Union, Van Buren, Wapello, Warren, Wayne, and Winneshiek.

County specific license quota information is available in real time online and can be found here: (select 5 – Resident Antlerless Deer By County) https://gooutdoorsiowa.com/RealTimeQuotas.aspx?_gl=1*t0k6x8*_gcl_au*ODkwNTQ1MjUxLjE3MzQzNzEzMjA.

Licenses will be available beginning January 11 until quotas are filled. The season is open through January 25, 2026. Due to the compressed timeline, these licenses will not be available online. Only antlerless deer may be taken during the Excess Tag January Antlerless-only season. Hunters participating in the excess tag January antlerless season may only use rifles from .223 caliber to .500 caliber as a method of take.

Hunters are reminded that their 2025 licenses expire on January 10. Hunters will need a valid 2026 license and habitat fee to hunt beginning January 11.

If a county meets the qualifying criteria for a January Antlerless-only season, then Landowner / Tenant (LOT) tags will also be available for registered landowners / tenants for use on qualifying property within those counties. When / if the county antlerless quota runs out in any of these counties, LOT January tags will still remain available. LOT January Season tags will be available for purchase only from vendors in open January Season counties.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is asking lawmakers to make it easier for his office to dissolve the registration of fraudulent businesses. Every business that’s incorporated in Iowa must file paperwork with the secretary of state’s office. Pate says some fraudulent companies register using a legitimate street address — and the person who lives at that address winds up being harassed by creditors and others looking for the dishonest business owner.

“The bill we’re proposing is a starting point that would give us the authority and the ability to expedite dissolving that company…so those poor homeowners aren’t getting besieged with these kind of creditor calls and things like that,” Pate says. Pate says the process his office has to use in these situations is too cumbersome and takes way too long.

“If we know that they’re not real and they’re using a bogus address, we should just be able to dissolve them,” Pate says. Pate’s office also oversees elections. Pate says he’s pleased with recently adopted changes in the election recount process and enhanced checks of voter eligibility and will not seeking major election law changes this year.

(Radio Iowa) – A report by Common Sense Institute Iowa finds Iowa has one of the most affordable housing markets in the country. Institute spokesman Ben Murrey says the state ranks eighth in the country when factoring in property taxes, and 11th for affordability relative to what its residents earn.

“There are states that are very affordable in absolute terms, but wages are very low, and affordability doesn’t help them as much, whereas in Iowa, we have pretty good earnings relative to what housing costs here in Iowa,” he says. The report also found through September, the average Iowan needs to work 38 hours a week to be able to afford a mortgage payment for a single family home. That’s 14 hours a week less than the national average.

Murrey says the report also found Iowa is on track to eliminate its housing shortage by the end of 2028. “Price is a function of supply and demand. So in order to keep affordability up, we want to see a healthy growth in housing supply, and a lot of what’s driven housing prices so much higher around the country is just demand outpacing supply,” Murrey says.

The report estimates Iowa will have a deficit of nearly 16-thousand homes by the end of this year.

DES MOINES — Officials with the Iowa Democratic Party have announced the locations of the 2026 in-person precinct caucuses. The in-person caucuses will take place on February 2, 2026 at 7 p.m.

The current list of caucus locations is available at https://iowademocrats.org/caucus-locations/. The list will continue to be updated between now and February 2 as the 99 county party organizations complete their preparations. In a news release, Iowa Democratic Part Chair Rita Hart said “In 2025, Iowans showed they are ready for change with Democratic candidates overperforming by an average of 22 points in six special elections. In 2026, the Caucuses are the first opportunity to get involved in our campaign for change. If you think Iowa is going in the wrong direction and are ready for new leadership, join your local Democratic Party and get involved the evening of February 2.”

Along with planning for organizing in 2026, the Iowa Democratic Party will conduct traditional party business at the in-person precinct caucuses including electing delegates and alternate delegates to county conventions, electing county central committee members and submitting platform resolutions for county conventions.

(Radio Iowa) – State Treasurer Roby Smith is recommending that the legislature update Iowa tax law to match recent federal changes for the so-called five-29 (529) accounts — accounts created to save and pay for college costs as well as expenses for private K-through-12 schooling. “We have a good amount of people that are saving from obviously from birth or just a year or two old, so they can choose to use it when they want,” Smith says. “They can use it for K-12 expenses…curriculum materials, books, those types of things or they can leave it in there all the way for college if they’d like.”

The One Big Beautiful Bill President Trump signed in July doubled the amount people can withdraw annually for a student enrolled at a private or religious K-12 school. It had been 10-thousand dollars a year — but it’s 20-thousand per student, starting this year. The money may also be spent on different things, including tutoring and fees for tests like the A-C-T. “So we just want to codify that in code to make sure it’s clear that Iowans can use their 529 money for those expenses and not have to pay any additional taxes on them,” Smith says.

There’s no federal limit on how much a person can save in a five-29 account, but each state sets limits on the amount that’s tax deductible. In 2024, the Iowa legislature raised that amount to 55-hundred dollars a year that can be deposited tax-free into a five-29 account.

(Radio Iowa) – The 2026 Iowa legislative session starts Monday — and one of the top Republicans in the Iowa House is predicting there will be pressure to wrap things up as quickly as possible. Representative John Wills of Spirit Lake is Speaker Pro Tem, the third ranking Republican in the Iowa House. “We’ve got a lot of legislators who are running for higher officer…for congress and for governor,” Wills said. “…I think there’s going to be some desire to get out of Des Moines this year — and that’s good thing.”

Three state senators and five representatives are running for federal office, plus another member of the Iowa House is running for governor. Wills expects bills to emerge on the use of eminent domain for the carbon pipeline and to limit property tax increases, but beyond that, Wills says legislators will deal with a bunch of smaller issues. “I don’t think it’s going to be that robust of a session,” Wills said. “There’s just not a lot of appetite for a lot of discussion, any talk about big ticket items.” Wills has served in the Iowa House since 2015 and is seeking re-election in November.

Here are legislators who are running for higher office, seeking to represent, or are from, western/southwest Iowa:

• State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott of West Des Moines is running in the Democratic Primary in Iowa’s third congressional district
• State Representative Josh Turek of Council Bluffs is running in the Democratic Primary for the U.S. Senate.
• State Representative Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley is running in the Republican Primary in Iowa’s fourth congressional district
• State Representative Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights is running in the Democratic Primary in Iowa’s third congressional district.

(Radio Iowa) – Inmates at the state prison in Newton began building homes in 2019 –and the program has reached a major milestone. The 150th modular home built on a 100-acre site inside the prison complex was delivered to Mason City this week. Melissa Schoneberg is executive director of Habitat for Humanity of North Central Iowa, the organization that received the nearly move-in-ready house. “All we have left to do now is to hook it up with the water and sewer and things like that, electrical, and then get the flooring and appliances in, a few touch-ups. It did go across the state, so there’s a few things they come and fix a little drywall, but it’s in awesome shape. A little dirty from the road, you know,” she said, laughing, “but other than that it’s going to be ready as soon as the homeowner gets her hours done, the sweat equity hours that they are required to do, and then we can get her in there.”

Iowa’s Department of Corrections and Prison Industries works with Habitat for Humanity programs throughout the state on the “Homes for Iowa” program. Schoenberg says it’s the first time one of the houses has been provided to her organization — which serves Cerro Gordo, Franklin, Hancock, Winnebago, and Wright Counties. “It’s wonderful because we typically do one to three houses a year, and right now we have 11 house projects going at the same time,” she says, “so this helps to fill the gap of one house for us to get done.” Schoneberg says there is a housing crisis in Iowa and this program is not only addressing it, but giving inmates at the Newton prison work skills they can use when they’re paroled.

“The cost of construction is so high now…It’s hard to find subcontractors that have time,” Schoneberg said. “With the Homes for Iowa program, they train people that are incarcerated job skills, so that they can become contractors and subcontractors when they get out of prison…and it also helps those prisoners to learn skills so they don’t go back into the system.”

So far, over 160 of the inmates who’ve gone through the program have become certified in one of the construction trades, like carpentry or welding. Each house built in the “Homes for Iowa” program has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The program has placed homes in more than 50 counties in the past five years.

(Creston, IA) – Two men from Creston were arrested on separate Harassment charges, Thursday. According to the Creston Police Department, 45-year-old Timothy Allen Giggar was arrested at around 5:12-p.m. at his home. Giggar was charged with Harassment in the 3rd Degree. He was taken to Union County Jail and held without bond until making his initial court appearance.

And, a little after 9-p.m., Thursday, Police in Creston arrested 31-year-old Austin Allan Jones at his residence. Jones was charged with Stalking, and Harassment in the1st Degree. He was taken to Union County Jail and also held without bond until making an initial court appearance.

(Radio Iowa) – One of the four Republicans who represent Iowa in the U-S House broke with their party and joined Democrats to pass a bill that would revive the Obamacare subsidies that expired December 31st.
Third District Congressman Zach Nunn of Ankeny was one of 17 House Republicans to support a three-year extension of the health insurance subsidies. Nunn says his number one priority is to bring down health care costs for all Iowans and congress shouldn’t leave 100-thousand Iowans who’d use those subsidies behind because of prior policies that were bad.

First District Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa says the Obamacare subsidies go directly to insurance companies and don’t lower healthcare costs for all Americans. Second District Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion says it’s time for a real bipartisan solution and she’s encouraged senators are talking about an extension that would be linked with new income limits. Fourth District Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull has not issued a statement on his vote.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart says with their no votes, Feenstra, Hinson and Miller-Meeks have shown they’re more concerned about providing billionaires with tax breaks than they are about addressing Iowans’ skyrocketing health care costs.