(Griswold, IA; Updated 2:04-p.m., 2/24/26) – Sheriff’s officials in Cass County (IA) have confirmed one person died during a residential structure fire early this (Tuesday) morning, at 68444 560th Street, east of Griswold.

In a statement, authorities say firefighters from Griswold, Lewis, and Cumberland responded to the at approximately 6:07 a.m. on February 24. Upon arrival, the home was fully engulfed and starting to collapse. After the fire was extinguished, responders located a deceased individual inside.

Photo submitted to KJAN News

The Iowa State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire. The victim’s name is being withheld pending an autopsy and notification of next of kin.

Other agencies assisting at the scene included Cass EMS, and the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans on the Iowa House Government Oversight Committee have issued a report blasting the court system for concealing its misdirection of 25 million dollars’ worth of court fees and fines. It also criticizes State Auditor Rob Sand for failing to investigate the problem. Representative Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City who wrote the report, says court officials failed to fix a computer glitch that distributed the money incorrectly.

“When the judicial branch discovered a massive problem with public funds, they made a choice,” Thomson said. “They chose silence over transparency. They chose consultants who couldn’t audit over auditors who could. They chose three years of quiet fumbling over one honest phone call to this legislature.” The report recommends hiring a private firm to take over distributing court debt to more than a dozen entities — including cities, sheriffs’ departments and victim service organizations. Thomson says the court system has proven it cannot handle the job.

“The judicial branch holds Iowa attorneys to exacting standards, which they should. Handle client money wrong, you lose you license…Make excuses about how complicated it is, the courts don’t really want to hear,” Thomson said. “But when it’s their money, their systems, their mistake suddenly the rules are too complicated…Suddenly it’s somebody else’s fault. That’s not accountability. That’s arrogance.” Thomson says the State Auditor’s Office was notified about the court system errors in the fall of 2022 and failed to take action.

“They deferred to the judicial branch to fix its own mess,” Thomson said. “…When we asked Auditor Sand about this he told us it was ‘fundamentally not an audit issue.’ $25 million send to the wrong accounts and the state auditor says it’s not an audit issue. If it’s not an audit issue, I don’t know what is.” The report recommends hiring a private auditing firm to trace every dollar of court fees and fines over the three year period to identity when the errors started and when they were fixed. Thomson — who is chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee — says he’s not sure the problem has been completely solved.

“I have no reason to think that there’s a particular malicious person who stole the money, but until we have traceability on the funds, I’m concerned about it,” Thomson said. “We’re going to keep chasing it.”

The six Republicans on the House Oversight Committee approved Thomson’s report. The four Democrats on the panel voted against it, citing a concern about hiring a private company to start handling court fees and fines. Neither the court system nor Sand’s office have responded to Radio Iowa’s request for comment on the report.

(Radio Iowa) – More than 20-thousand-500 F-F-A members in Iowa are marking the accomplishments of ag education as part of National F-F-A Week. Webster City High School student Megan Van Deer says she loves working with animals. “I want to go to school for veterinary,” Van Deer says, “and so just being part of the FFA program kind of helped me get more interested and stay along with it.”

Bridge Berninghaus joined the same Webster City F-F-A chapter for a host of reasons. “I think it’s a great program to get involved in,” Berninghaus says. “You get to meet new people, help others in the community, build more leadership, and have a great time.” Alyson McCarty is a vocational agriculture instructor at Webster City High School. In her native Connecticut, the F-F-A program varies from the one in Iowa, with much less emphasis on corn, soybeans, hogs and cattle.

“We have kids that are growing fish in their high school classrooms or looking at forestry, pine trees, cut flowers in greenhouses,” McCarty says. “It looks a little bit different, but they’re still learning the same: leadership, communication, all those skills.”

There are over one-million F-F-A members nationwide. The organization was started in 1928 to introduce youth to agriculture in the classroom. Members, in their blue jackets, are involved from grapefruit sales during the holidays, participating at county fairs, and driving tractors and farm machinery from their farm homes to their classrooms.

(Cass County, IA) – Griswold Fire & Rescue responded to a residential structure fire early this (Tuesday) morning east of Griswold. The blaze was reported by a person driving in the area at around 6:08-a.m. When firefighters arrived, the home near 560th & Tucson Road was fully engulfed in flames. Mutual aid was requested and received from the Lewis & Cumberland Fire Departments. Cass EMS and Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies were also on the scene. 

Griswold Fire Chief J.C. Wyman said he didn’t know early this morning if anyone was inside the home. No firefighters were injured. The cause of the blaze remained under investigation. Additional information remained unavailable at mid-day today (Tuesday).

Photo submitted to KJAN News

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled in an eastern Iowa case involving alcohol sales to minors. Two minors were able to buy alcohol at Beecher Liquor in Dubuque during a police compliance check in 2022. The owner of Beecher Liquor agreed to the 500 dollar fine for the first violation, but appealed the 15-hundred dollar fine and 30 day license suspension for the second violation. He says the law requires the increased penalty if a second violation happens within two years of the first, and since the two violations occurred on the same day five minutes apart they should be considered one.

The Supreme Court denied the appeal, ruling there is no minimum time passage requirement in the code between violations. Justice Dana Oxley wrote a dissenting opinion. She says the code is not meant to punish the number of alcohol sales involved in a particular violation. It is meant to punish persistent conduct more severely only after a licensee has previously been convicted or found in violation and the second enhanced penalty should be dismissed.

Justices Susan Christensen, Mathew McDermott joined the dissent to make it a 4-3 ruling.

(Creston, IA) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says crews have been removing trees on the east side of the 12 Mile Lake Wildlife Area (east of Creston), in order to restore high quality, grassland habitat improving water quality for the lake and benefiting grassland wildlife. Josh Rusk with the Iowa DNR, says “The grassland has been threatened by invasive bush honeysuckle, autumn olive and eastern red cedar, which outcompetes the grassland, creating nothing but bare ground underneath, resulting in increased runoff to the lake.”

The most recent clearing is visible from the boat ramp. The DNR plans to follow up with a prescribed burn this spring. “It’s been a gradual, multi-year project that has a way to go,” he said. “We plan to burn the tree piles, restack, and burn again. Once we get the tree and brush skeletons cleaned up we will convert cool season grasses to native grasses and wildflowers.” A similar restoration effort is also happening on the west side of the lake. “In most, but not all cases, we are not cutting bur oaks and black oaks. The larger tracts of oak hickory woodland will continue to be managed as woodland,” Rusk said.

“We are already seeing an increasing number grassland wildlife, and the bird hunters have responded with the growing pheasant and quail numbers. The area will still support deer populations as they will use the high-quality grasslands and brushy ditches,” he said. Once completed, the restoration will benefit many grasslands and shrubland obligate birds, such as Henslow’s sparrow, bobolink, eastern meadowlark, field sparrow, loggerhead shrike, and indigo bunting. These birds are part of the fastest declining groups of species in North America.

“The restored grassland will lead to better water quality which also means better drinking water and better fishing in the lake,” he said. “It’s a win for everyone.”

(Radio Iowa) – A 16-year-old Creston High School student is at the Iowa Capitol today (Tuesday), lobbying for a bill that would require every Iowa school to have Cardiac Emergency Response Plan. Last April Nate Bentley collapsed when his heart stopped during track meet in Glenwood. “I was running in the sprint medley relays and after I got done running, I suddenly collapsed on the track,” Bentley says. Naomi Sharp, the Creston volleyball coach, was watching the race, jumped over a fence to get to Bentley and found he did not have a pulse. She started C-P-R.

“I’d been trained, but I’d never given it before. Somebody was like, ‘What made you do it?'” Sharp said. “I don’t know. Somebody needed help and I just ran and did it, but thank goodness I was in the right place at the right time and thank goodness they had an A.E.D. and they got there very quickly.” It was the defibrillator that restarted Bentley’s heart. Bentley’s mom, Erin Wallace, says the track meet had been rescheduled and the timing conflicted with her work schedule. She’s eternally thankful for Sharp’s quick action, a nurse at the scene and the person who knew where the A-E-D was in the school.

“Because he’s still here, God’s got a big purpose for him and he’s got to share his story to save others,” Wallace says. Wallace says her son’s school district has purchased nearly two dozen defibrillators and placed them in every vehicle the Creston district owns. Bentley’s doctors have determined he has a rare genetic condition that caused his heart to stop and he now takes medication daily.

The bill Bentley’s lobbying for is eligible for debate in the Iowa Senate.

(Radio Iowa) – The families of the two Iowa National Guard soldiers who were killed in Syria in December will be in the U.S. House tonight (Tuesday) for President Trump’s State of the Union address. The wife of Staff Sergeant Nate Howard of Marshalltown will be Senator Joni Ernst’s guest. Howard’s mother and step father will be in the gallery, too, as guests of Congresswoman Ashley Hinson. Hinson says these Iowans got the call that no one wants to receive.

“Military families carry a heavy load that many Americans never see,” Hinson said. Hinson says having Howard’s mother Misty Bunn and his stepfather Jeff Bunn in tonight’s (Tuesday’s) audience is a reminder to the nation that freedom is never free. Hinson was among the Iowa officials who were present at the Delaware Air Force Base when the remains of both Iowa soldiers were returned to American soil. “At the dignified transfer at Dover I told the moms of the fallen that we should never have to outlive our children,” Hinson said. “No words can fully capture the weight of that moment and I’m grateful for this chance to honor this family.”

The parents of Staff Sergeant Edgar Torres-Tovar of Des Moines will be seated in the House gallery as the guests of Congressman Zach Nunn. Torres-Tovar and Howard were killed in an ambush in Syria on December 13th.

(Greenfield, IA) – Adair County Deputy Auditor of Elections Nathan Reed, today (Tuesday), said the next scheduled election for which candidates can file is the June 2, 2026, Primary Election. State and County Democratic and Republican candidates must run in the June 2nd Primary, with the winners moving on to the General Election ballot.

County offices in Adair County appearing on the June 2, 2026, Primary Election Ballot are as follows: District 2NE Supervisor, District 4SE Supervisor, County Treasurer, County Recorder, and County Attorney.

The filing period for these offices is March 2 – March 20, 2026 by 5:00 p.m. The first date to submit a request for a mailed absentee ballot is March 24, 2026 and the last day to request a mailed absentee ballot is May 18, 2026 by 5 p.m.

Information for candidates is available at the County Auditor’s Office and website https://www.adaircounty.iowa.gov/auditor/elections_and_voting/ and the Iowa Secretary of State’s website: https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/candidates/index.html