(Creston, IA) – Firefighters with the Creston Fire Department responded a little after 6:20-p.m., Monday, to a structure fire in Union County. The blaze occurred in the 1000 block of 242nd Street in Kent, Iowa. Officials say when the incident commander arrived on the scene, the building was fully engulfed in flames. With the residents accounted for, firefighters initiated a defensive attack to protect the surrounding properties.

Photo credit: Chuck Spindler (Creston Fire Dept. via Facebook)

Additional personnel arrived on the scene, along with mutual aid from the Lenox Iowa Fire Department. Once the fire was under control with the remaining burning debris confined in the basement walls, the Creston Fire Department returned to their quarters just before 8-p.m.

Thanks also to Greater Regional Health‘s Medic 1, the Union County Sheriff’s Office, and Alliant Energy for their support at the scene. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. 

(Red Oak, IA) – And, at around 7:40-p.m., Monday, crews with the Red Oak, Elliott and Stanton Fire Departments responded to a possible field fire at 148th/J Ave (near Stennett). The caller reported there were structures nearby. Upon arrival, fire crews located multiple piles of burnt ash, with fire extension to surrounding vegetation.

Red Oak FD photo via Facebook

(Radio Iowa) – President Donald Trump returns to Iowa today (Tuesday) in what is described as a shift to focus on the 40 weeks until November’s General Election. The White House chief of staff has said Trump’s speech in the Des Moines suburb of Clive will mark the first of weekly campaign-related travel for the president.

Today Trump will be in one of the most competitive congressional districts in the country, Iowa’s third district, where Republican Congressman Zach Nunn is seeking a third term. Nunn is likely to face Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott. She defeated the Iowa Senate’s Republican president in 2022 and has won two more races for a seat in the state senate. There will be two major statewide races, too, since Governor Kim Reynolds and Senator Joni Ernst are not seeking reelection.

1968 was the last time Iowa saw open races for governor and U.S. Senate in the same ballot. Trump’s Iowa visit also comes after what appears to be a shift in immigration enforcement in Minnesota following last weekend’s shooting of a U.S. citizen and resident of Minneapolis. Trump has asked Border Czar Tom Homan to oversee the Minnesota operation and Trump talked with Minnesota’s governor by phone Monday. Both men have described the conversation as productive.

(Radio Iowa) – State Senator Catelin Drey of Sioux City says she’s been diagnosed with stage one uterine cancer and will undergo surgery today (Tuesday). Drey was elected to the Iowa Senate last year in a special election held to fill the vacancy created when Senator Rocky De Witt died of pancreatic cancer.”The irony of being elected because my predecessor passed away from this horrible disease is not lost on me,” Drey said “Ignoring the environment that Senator De Witt and I shared is a disservice to our constituents. Silence is what perpetuates bad systems.”

Drey announced her diagnosis on the Senate floor yesterday (Monday). “I have insurance. I don’t have to worry about how to pay my bills. I have people who can drive me, provide child care and fill the gaps while I recover. Many Iowans do not have that full stack of support which is why I refuse to be quiet about this,” Drey said. “We live in Iowa, unfortunately the cancer capital of the country, and yet we continue to tolerate policies that make early detection harder, treatment more expensive, and recovery more precarious.”

Drey says initial tests have indicated the cancer has not spread, but after her hysterectomy, her doctors will determine if she needs additional surgery and if chemotherapy or radiation is necessary. “This diagnosis did not come out of nowhere for me,” Drey said. “Given my family history and the environment in which I live it felt less like a remote possibility and more like a foregone conclusion.” Sioux City recently received over half a million dollars from 3M and DuPont to address drinking water contamination.

“I am not interested in pretending this is just a private medical matter. It is a public policy failure playing out in my body,” Drey said. “I am going to be transparent, not because I owe anyone my vulnerability, but because sunlight is a tool, and I intend to use every tool available to me.”

The latest report indicates Iowa has the second-highest cancer rate in the country and is one of only two states where the cancer rate is rising. The Iowa Cancer Registry will provide updated information in a few weeks.

(Red Oak, IA) – Police in Red Oak, Monday night, arrested a woman on an Assault charge. Authorities say 18-year-old Ashlynn Marie Reafleng, of Red Oak, was taken into custody just before 7-p.m.,  in the 200 block of S. 8th Street. Reafleng was charged with Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense, and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where she was being held without bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Former Democratic Iowa Houseleader Jennifer Konfrst has ended her campaign for Iowa’s third congressional district seat. Konfrst has endorsed fellow Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott’s bid to face off against Republican Congressman Zach Nunn in this year’s General Election.

In northeast Iowa, Republican Shannon Lundren of Peosta has announced she’ll seek reelection to the Iowa House rather than run for Iowa’s second congressional district seat in the U-S House of Representatives.

And Democrat Taylor Wettach, a Muscatine attorney, has announced he’ll run for State Auditor. Wettach had been running for congress in the district currently represented by Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

Two other Democrats are running in the first district.

(Glenwood, IA) – The Glenwood Police Department reports two separate arrests occurred Friday, Jan. 23rd:

• 41-year-old Jacob Nickolas Davidson, of Mapleton, was arrested in Glenwood for Driving Under Suspension (Bond $300).
• 48-year-old Corey Lee Manley, of Pacific Junction, was arrested in Glenwood for OWI/1st offense (Bond $1,000).

(Atlantic, IA)  – The Atlantic Senior Alumni Scholarship Foundation (SASF) recently held its annual meeting and welcomed new members, Denise Speer and Wendy Richter, for five year terms. According to spokesperson Mark McNees, the board also held elections and C.J. Heithoff was re-elected as President. J.C. Van Ginkle was elected Vice-President along with Deb Schuler as Secretary, and Mark Smith as Treasurer. The board also thanked Cathy Hansen for more than 15 years of service and Ted Robinson for 5 years.

McNees said rhe SASF will again this year award a total of five – $2,500 scholarships for qualifying Atlantic Class of 2026 Seniors. SASF was created by Atlantic alumni to provide need-based scholarships to seniors who have a GPA of 2.5 or higher. The first scholarship of $500 was awarded in 2003. Through the generosity of individuals and alumni of AHS, the foundation has continued to grow and expand the total amount of scholarships along with increasing the dollar amount of each.

Individuals or alumni interested in donating to the 501c3 can find more information from the website https://atlanticsasf.org or the Facebook page under Atlantic High School Senior Alumni Scholarship Foundation.

L to R. Jackie Sampson, Becky Stahr, C.J.Heithoff-Pres, Mark McNees, Wendy Richter.
Back Row L to R. Billie Hoover, Steve Wallingford, Cathy Baragary Exec Dir, Tammy Wickman, Deb Schuler, Ann Johnk, and Linda Robinson Exec Dir.
Not present- J.C. Van Ginkle, Mark Smith, Brad Pellett, and Denise Speer.

(Glenwood, IA) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests took place over the past week:

Sunday night (1/25), 18-year-old Rhylee Jo Klein, of Omaha, was arrested in Pacific Junction, for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. Klein was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail, pending a court appearance.

Early Saturday morning (1/24), Mills County Deputies arrested 22-year-old Dylan Patrick Shanahan, of Elkhorn, NE, for OWI/1st offense. He was arrested in Glenwood, with bond set at $1,000.

Early Friday morning, 33-year-old Nile Johnathan Packett, of Pacific Junction, was arrested for Assault on a Law Officers/others-without injury, and Interference with Official Acts. Bond was set at $2,300.

And on Jan. 19th, Mills County Deputies arrested 32-year-old Alyssa Marie Edfors, of Clinton, IA, for Failure to Appear. Her bond was set at $2,000.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill to ban smoking at Iowa casinos has failed to clear a subcommittee in the Iowa Senate. State licensed casinos objected, arguing they’d lose customers. Tony Phillips is a lobbyist for Penn Gaming, which operates the Ameristar Casino in Council Bluffs.

“Just a blocks away from our facility in Council Bluffs the Ponca Tribe in Nebraska has a casino in Iowa, in Carter Lake called the Prairie Flower and just the last year they expanded from a little boutique 10,000 square foot casino to a 70,000 square foot casino with 600 slot machines, sports book — the whole gamut to compete with us,” Phillips said. “They’re right there. They’re out neighbors and this bill would put us in direct competitive disadvantage with this casino.”

Jake Highfill, another lobbyist for Penn Gaming, says the Ameristar Casino in Council Bluffs also has stiff competition from smoke-free casinos across the river in Nebraska. “Nobody’s making you go to the casino,” Highfill said. “It is 100% adults. Nobody’s dragging kids across the floor. Let adults making adult decisions.”

Senator Dennis Guth of Klemme was the bill’s sponsor. “I am grieved that government has really not played its proper role today,” Guth said. “The role of government is to protect its citizens.” The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services backed the bill and a number of speakers urged senators to adopt it.

Therese Harms represents Clean Air for Everyone Iowa, a coalition of groups that support a ban on smoking in the state-licensed casinos.  “All of the states surrounding us with the exception of Missouri have smoke-free gaming,” Harms said, “and so we are an outlier here.”

Joseph Hafley worked for seven years at a Kansas casino and has founded a group called CEASE — Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects. “As of 2025, 20 states plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands require all commercial casinos to be 100% smoke-free indoors. Those casinos are still operating, still profitable and still employing workers,” Hafley says. “What changed is that workers stopped being harmed just for showing up to work.”

One of the lawmakers who voted against the bill said he gambles at Prairie Meadows and serves on its board of directors, but Senator Tony Bisignano told casino lobbyists at the hearing that Iowa-based casinos need to prepare to go smoke-free soon.

(Radio Iowa) – A dozen Democrats who serve in the Iowa House and Senate have formed a Black and Brown Caucus. Representative Ruth Ann Gaines of Des Moines was one of the four black lawmakers who formed the Iowa Legislative Black Caucus in 2015. “Our vision has expanded and we want to specifically embrace brown Iowans,” Gaines said. “They have the experience of being seriously discriminated against and they are the largest minority in the state.”

Representative Angel Rameriz, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids who’s the first Latina to serve in the legislature, says the group’s co-sponsoring a bill that would make it illegal for ICE agents to hide their identity in Iowa. “Local law enforcement doesn’t hide from their community. ICE shouldn’t either,” she said. “ICE is a paramilitary organization operating with impunity, not accountable law enforcement.”

The bill would also ban ICE from arresting suspected illegal immigrants in Iowa courthouses, schools and churches. “Iowans across every political party, every faith, every corner of our state are watching ICE operations in Minnesota with deep concern and heartbreak.” The proposal is unlikely to be considered in the legislature.

Republicans hold 100 of the 150 seats in the Iowa House and Senate and G-O-P leaders decide which bills come up for a vote.