(Radio Iowa) – Five of the six states that border Iowa have a significantly higher minimum wage and Democrats in the Iowa House say Iowa’s minimum wage should be raised to 15-dollars an hour. That would equal the minimum wage rates in Nebraska and Missouri. House Democrats are also calling for a five-year freeze on electric and natural gas rates for Iowa homes and for more state help for first-time home buyers.

Representative Dan Gosa, a Democrat from Davenport, is a member of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and president of the Quad City Federation of Labor. “Our plan is built on a simple belief: if you work hard in Iowa, you should be able to afford a good life,” Gosa said. House Democrats are also proposing that Iowa become the 14th state to require that private sector employers offer paid family leave.

Representative Larry McBurney, a Democrat from Urbandale, notes Governor Reynolds approved four weeks of paid parental leave for state employees.  “Now it’s time to go a step further and ensure that every Iowan has the opportunity to take time from work and spend time building their family,” McBurney said.

Republicans occupy 67 of the 100 seats in the Iowa House and are unlikely to advance any of these ideas

CORALVILLE, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports a man serving a sentence for crimes out of Pottawattamie County has died. 81-year-old Robert Kenneth Hammond was pronounced dead at 9:25 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026 in a hospice room of the Iowa Medical and Classification Center.

Hammond’s sentence began on April 16, 1963.

(Radio Iowa) – The Linn County Board of Supervisors has given the go-ahead for NextEra Energy to restart the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant by rezoning nearly 400 acres in Palo for nuclear power production and storage. Board chair Kirsten Running-Marquardt says the rezoning gives Linn County residents a seat at the table

“This has been a lot of work for many people here at the county for Duane Arnold, for different communities, Palo included. I think this is a good reflection of us working as a good partner and a good community member moving forward,” she says. Running-Marquardt says there are still state and federal approvals needed.

“Linn County does not have the authority to make the final approval or disapproval, nor do we have authority over nuclear waste. But through this rezoning, this gives Linn County residents a seat at the table,” she says. NextEra has agreed to supply Google with a majority of the power generated by the plant if it reopens.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the final say on the plant. NextEra hopes to have it open by late 2028. The board approved an agreement last week requiring NextEra to pay the county for costs related to hosting the nuclear plant. The first payment will be for one-point-nine million dollars with a five percent increase each year the plant operates.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa governors deliver the annual “Condition of the State” address on the first Tuesday after the Iowa General Assembly convenes on the second Monday of January. The next governor of Iowa will — as is tradition — be sworn into office on the first Friday during the legislature’s first week.

For example, in January of 1999, Governor Terry Branstad delivered his final “Condition of the State” address on a Tuesday and Tom Vilsack took the oath of office and became Iowa’s governor the following Friday.

The explanation for this is the speech is considered to be a report on the condition of the state, which means it’s a review of the previous year. However, it has also given past governors and the current governor a chance to reveal their forward-looking priorities for the legislature.

Iowa governors have the authority to deliver a “budget address” in late January around the deadline for presenting a budget to the legislature, but Branstad abandoned that practice in the late 1980s and it has not been revived. Branstad, Vilsack, Culver and Reynolds have all presented their proposed budgets to legislators at the same time as their “Condition of the State” message.

(Radio Iowa) – A small town in Mills County has a new mayor, and she’s now one of the youngest mayors in the country. Twenty-year-old Eva Fipps was elected mayor of Henderson by a 30-to-19 vote over Scott Schondelmeyer in November. Fipps graduated from Treynor High School in 2024 and was dual enrolled at Iowa Western Community College. She also attended Iowa Girls State and served as a page in the Iowa Legislature. Fipps explains why she decided to run for mayor.

“Every morning I’d go for runs or walks with my dogs,” said Fipps, “and I would stop in at City Hall to see our city clerk, Candace (Knop), and we’d get to chatting. We’ve done this for years, probably since around COVID time, and she recommended that I run for mayor. I never actually thought about because of how young I was, but she said I could. I said, ‘Why not?’ Even if I lost, I’d still be learning something.”

Fipps is part of the youth movement in Mills County government, which includes 19-year-old Mills County Supervisor Jack Sayers and 21-year-old Joseph Jaworkski, recently elected mayor of Silver City. Fipps says there’s a learning curve involved with becoming mayor of a small town and she’s taking a class on open meetings next week.

“It will really help me understand my role and how to properly do it,” she says. “I also have been in communication with a lot of different people, from other mayors to other city clerks, our board members. It’s a lot of communication and a lot of learning, and I’m trying every step of the way to get as much of the information in as I can.” As mayor, Fipps hopes to spark more community involvement and more activities.

“We’re working on a couple of different events that we’re going to be doing come this summer,” said Fipps. “I would love to see more than just townspeople in Henderson. I would love to see those who used to live in Henderson, those who live around us, come together to build up the community — not just Henderson, but in Mills County in general.”

Fipps also hopes to fill some of the community’s empty store fronts, and renovate the city’s playground. She was sworn into office December 29th.

(Red Oak, IA) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man on a Montgomery County warrant for Parole Violation, this (Wednesday) morning. 47-year-old Ronnie Eugene Reynolds, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 9:20-a.m. in the 1700 block of 206th Street.

Reynolds was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

Atlantic, IA — Cass Health will host its next Mammos & Mocktails event on Thursday, January 29, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Cass Health. Participants will receive a private mammogram appointment along with complimentary snacks, a seasonal mocktail, chair massages, and a welcoming, social atmosphere.

Appointments are required, and space is limited. Women can schedule through MyChart or by calling the Cass Health Radiology Department at 712-243-7450.

Cass Health recommends that women begin annual breast cancer screenings at age 40. Women are also encouraged to discuss their personal and family health history with their primary care provider, as some individuals may need to begin screenings earlier or receive additional or more frequent testing based on their risk factors.

In addition, women ages 21 to 64 may be eligible for free cancer screenings, including PAP tests, HPV tests, mammograms, and more. For more information or to enroll in these services, contact Cass County Public Health at 712-243-7551.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen says there’s an urgent need to raise the pay for Iowa judges. Christensen is asking legislators to approve a four-point-three percent increase in judges’ pay, alongside a plan to reduce the number of magistrates who work part-time in courtrooms around the state.  “The way we pay magistrates and distribute their work doesn’t make sense and, more importantly, it’s not fair,” Christensen said. “All magistrates are paid exactly the same, even though there is a huge disparity in workload.” State law currently requires a magistrate in each county — and a total of 206 statewide — to handle things like preliminary hearings, issuing warrants and simple misdemeanor cases.

“We have perhaps 60 more magistrates than the work requires. This is not sustainable,” Christensen said. “…As stewards of taxpayer dollars, we have a responsibility to make choices to serve all Iowans.” Magistrates get a salary and benefit package of about 65-thousand dollars a year to spend roughly 13 hours a week on judicial duties, but Christensen says some magistrates in low-crime areas are working a couple of hours a week. This is the second year Christensen has used the annual “Condition of the Judiciary” ask legislators to approve significant changes in the magistrate system.  “Over the past year I spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to lead an institution like ours,” Christensen said. “What I learned is this: doing what is right for the long term is rarely easy.”

Christensen says her plan to consolidate and restructure the magistrate system would save the state at least two-and-a-half MILLION dollars a year. She also told lawmakers the pay for district court judges is nearing a point where no attorneys will apply.  “This is not tomorrow’s problem. It is today is reality. District 8A which is in the southeast corner of the state had an opening for a district court judge this past April. District 8A and its contiguous counties are home to about 540,000 people and of those about 940 are licensed lawyers,” Christensen said. “Want to guess how many applied for that job? Two.” And Christensen says one judge who recently resigned is now earning a higher salary — as a county attorney. “Can we even hang on to the judges we have? When we experienced judges leave the bench for other public sector jobs that pay better, we no longer have a recruitment problem,” Christensen said. “We have a retention problem.”

Governor Reynolds appointed Christensen to the Iowa Supreme Court in 2018. In February of 2020, the justices chose Christensen to be chief justice.

DAVENPORT, Iowa – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports a Mexican citizen was sentenced today (January 14, 2026), to six months in federal prison for illegally returning to the United States after being deported.

According to public court documents, Alan Hernandez Lagunas, 42, had previously been deported from the United States three times. On February 21, 2025, law enforcement encountered Hernandez Lagunas in Columbus Junction, Iowa when he was arrested for and later convicted of operating while intoxicated and interference with official acts. Hernandez Lagunas rear-ended a semi-tractor, exhibited signs of intoxication, and resisted arrest. Hernandez Lagunas had been convicted in Iowa of operating a vehicle while intoxicated in 2010 and 2012.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Hernandez Lagunas will be required to serve a three-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney David C. Waterman of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations.