(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Democrats and Republicans will be holding Caucuses on Monday night, starting at 7 p.m. The meetings allow local candidates to meet with the party’s local voters and elect the precinct residents who’ll attend each party’s county conventions. Party platform ideas are also discussed. These mid-term Iowa Caucuses don’t get as much attention as the Caucuses that have kicked off presidential campaigns in the past. Iowa Republicans appear positioned to start the 2028 presidential election with the Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses. Iowa Democrats were kicked out of the lead-off spot in 2024 — and have applied to national party leaders to regain an early voting contest in the next presidential election.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart says no other state has the infrastructure and the history of giving long-shot candidates like Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama a chance. “In our application we highlight the unique flexibility of our party-run Caucus process and like we have in past cycles we commit to exploring ways to grow participation and access,” Hart said. “I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: All options are on the table for Iowa Democrats in 2028.”

Hart says the national party must reconnect with rural voters and Iowa is the place where that can start. “If the Democratic Party wants to start winning big, sustainable majorities again, our candidates need to show that they can compete in states like Iowa,” Hart said.

A group of Democratic National Committee members are scheduled to meet this Saturday, January 31st to begin considering which cluster of states should be selected to hold the first voting events of the 2028 presidential campaign.

(Radio Iowa) – With the tax filing season now underway, a University of Iowa accounting professor suggests America adopt what’s being done in many European countries, where the government prepares your taxes for you — for free. Professor Ryan Wilson says our current electronic filing process is automated, so it wouldn’t be a great stretch for the I-R-S to go the next step and prepare our taxes, too. “The government already has most information that they need to pre-populate tax returns for most citizens,” Wilson says. “If individuals had more complex investments, they could always opt out of the pre-populated return and do their own taxes, but I think for the majority of Americans, it would just reduce anxiety, save a lot of time, and save a lot of money.”

Wilson says a program called ReadyReturn is already being used in nations including the U-K, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain, where the government prepares its citizens’ taxes. He says the program is simple and it’s successful. “They send you a completed return and if you’re in agreement with the return, then you can sign it and send it back,” Wilson says. “It’s different in each country, but there’s always a mechanism to challenge or try to correct something that you don’t agree with, but if you’re in agreement with what’s reported, in some countries, you can even just text back. You get a text from the government and if you text back ‘YES,’ then you’re done.”

Many Americans have a healthy skepticism of the federal government, but Wilson thinks people would come around to loving the concept of having the taxing task of tax preparation handled by Uncle Sam, especially if it’s free. “Oh, yeah, I do, I really do,” Wilson says. “I think that as long as you had the option to opt out, and that was perfectly legal, and you had a clear mechanism for challenging anything, I think people would look back in 10 years and wonder what in the world we’re doing, spending half of an afternoon or a whole day trying to trying to file your own return.”

There’s a large segment of the population that will question everything that comes from Washington D-C, and while those people may never trust the I-R-S to do their taxes for them, Wilson believes this is a winning idea. “You’d be able to verify all the information, since you have your own W-2s, you have all your tax documents from your employer, 10-99s and so on, so you should be able to cross-check what is on the pre-filed return,” Wilson says, “but yeah, I understand there could be some skepticism, I suppose.”

The deadline to file our federal tax returns is April 15th, while state taxes are due April 30th.

MURRAY, Iowa — A southern Iowa man has entered a written plea of not guilty, in connection with a deadly horse-drawn buggy crash that occurred Nov. 12, 2025, in Clarke County. 41-year-old Jacob Wright, of Grand River, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, failure to render aid, and leaving the scene of an accident. His trial is set for March 30^th.

The crash happened in a rural road near Murray. Officials say Wright’s vehicle struck the buggy from behind, causing the death of 16-year-old Elmer Borntrager, of Murray.

Police said Wright was driving on a suspended license when the accident happened. Wright was being held in jail on a $20,000 cash-only bond

ONAWA, Iowa  – A stand-off Thursday afternoon in Monona County eventually ended peacefully, with one person taken into custody. The incident took place at the Onawa grain elevator, where an unidentified man climbed an external ladder before blocking the ladder so no one could follow him. The standoff began at about 2:30pm.

Law enforcement officials tried for more than two-hours to communicate with the man through the use of a drone, but for most of that time, according to the Monona County Sheriff’s Office, the man gave only “nonverbal responses.” He climbed back down the ladder a little more than two-hours later, and was quickly taken into custody.

The Monona County Sheriff couldn’t say whether the man was considered to be a suspect in three recent arson investigations, including Wednesday’s incident which destroyed the more than 100-year-old grandstand on the Monona County Fairgrounds.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says she is open to everything when it comes to settling on a proposal to set new limits on property tax growth. The governor and Republican leaders in the House and Senate have all announced their own property tax proposals this month. “Nobody should be drawing lines in the sand right now,” Reynolds said. “Everybody should be looking for common areas that we have — have that be the foundation to start from. You know, there are some similarities in all three bills. Find out what those are, and then let’s talk and figure out what makes sense.”

Property tax proposals backed by House Republicans were the subject of public hearings yesterday (Thursday). The plan would set a yearly two percent limit on local revenue growth for cities and counties and create a new 25-thousand dollar exemption for every residential property. Local government officials raised concerns about the one-size-fits-all approach.

Chelsea Hoye is a lobbyist for the Iowa League of Cities. “Laying a 2% cap on top of a broad new residential exemption creates a real risk that cities will be forced to reduce services, defer maintenance or delay critical investments their communities,” she said, “ultimately increasing costs and impacting quality of life.”

The president for Iowans for Tax Relief says the plans prioritize the needs of taxpayers. Some business groups warn the new 25-thousand dollar exemption for residential property may shift the tax burden on agricultural and business property owners.

(Red Oak, IA)- A traffic stop at around 5:20-p.m. Thursday in Montgomery County, resulted in the arrest of a woman from Red Oak. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 38-year-old Jennifer Holz was taken into custody for Driving While License Suspended, after her vehicle was pulled-over north of Stanton, at Highway 34 and Nature Avenue, in Montgomery County.

Holz was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on slightly more than $491 bond.

(Atlantic, IA) – One person was injured Thursday night in Atlantic, when a car struck a moped. The accident happened at around 10:22-p.m. on Highway 71, just south of E. 14th Street, on Atlantic’s southeast side. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2023 moped operated by 26-year-old Blaine Morse, of Atlantic, was southbound on Highway 71 near the 58.5 mile marker, when his moped was struck by a 2018 Chevy Malibu driven by 26-year-old Deitrich Engstrand, of Clarinda, as the car was also traveling southbound on the highway.

Morse was transported by Cass EMS to Cass Health in Atlantic. A report on his condition was not released. The accident  which resulted in the highway being closed in both directions for about two-hours –  remains under investigation.

The Patrol was assisted at at the scene by Atlantic Police and Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies.

(Radio Iowa) – Action this week in the legislature has advanced a plan that would give carbon pipeline companies more flexibility to find a route around landowners who won’t voluntarily agree to let the pipeline on their property. Senate Republican Leader Mike Klimesh says his proposal is an extension of conversations in the capitol over the last four years. “It provides us a solution and a path forward,” Klimesh said.

Carbon pipeline opponents say it does not protect all landowners because if Summit Carbon can’t find alternative properties, it could still use eminent domain to seize land along the current route. Cynthia Hansen’s family farm is in Shelby County. “This bill opens up a larger pool of landowners for the companies to choose from,” she said, “but it does nothing to protect unwilling landowners from the threat of or the use of eminent domain.”

Jake Ketzner, a lobbyist for Summit Carbon, says the company has requested a clean corridor expansion bill. “While the bill does expand the corridor, we oppose the parts that create new processes because this will raise costs and extend timelines,” Ketzner said. The bill would require Summit to show state regulators it tried everything possible to find alternatives before the company could use eminent domain to seize property along the proposed pipeline’s path.

Ketzner says the company currently has signed contracts that give Summit voluntary access to 74 percent of the land along phase one of the project. In late 2023, Summit submitted an application to the Iowa Utilities Commission for phase two of its project, to expand the pipeline to POET and Valero ethanol plants.

The Weston–Underwood segment of the Great American Rail Trail took a significant step forward this month when the Iowa Transportation Commission approved the application to the Statewide Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside Program (TAP).

The approval, issued at the Commission’s January 13, 2026 meeting, includes $1,920,435 in funding through the Transportation Alternatives Program. These federal transportation funds are anticipated to be available beginning October 1, 2026, which marks the start of Federal Fiscal Year 2027.

This milestone advances planning efforts for the Weston–Underwood trail segment. Before eligible reimbursable project expenses may occur, the project must receive authorization from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and be included in the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency’s (MAPA) FFY 2027 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) as well as the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

Photos courtesy of Pottawattamie County Trails Association and Western Iowa Development Association. (Via Pottcounty-ia.gov)

In addition to the TAP award, the Weston–Underwood segment has also received $500,000 through the State Recreational Trails Program, approved by the Iowa Transportation Commission in November 2025. This funding is part of a broader, multi-source approach to advancing the project.

These awards do not fully fund the Weston–Underwood segment. Pottawattamie County is awaiting decisions on two additional grant applications, expected in the coming months, that could help close the remaining funding gap.

Additional updates will be shared as the project continues through required planning and authorization steps.