(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports the arrest on Monday (May 5) of 70-year-old Cecil Armstrong. The Glenwood man was arrested for  violation of no contact order. His bond was set at $300.

(Radio Iowa) – Another group of military veterans from across northern Iowa will fly to Washington D-C to see the various war memorials this week. The Brushy Creek Chapter of Honor Flights’ latest charter jet will depart from the Fort Dodge Regional Airport tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

Organizer Ron Newsum says they will have about 130 veterans on the flight, many of whom served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. This is the only Honor Flight planned to fly out of Fort Dodge this year.

Newsome says one of the highlights of the trip will be a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, where they’ll present a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

DALLAS COUNTY, Iowa [WHO-TV] — An investigation is underway after a small airplane crashed in Dallas County over the weekend.

The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office says the accident at Husband Field near Dallas Center was reported at around 7:15-p.m., Sunday. Authorities say a small Ultralight airplane was attempting to land when it crashed. The pilot of the plane was not injured.

The sheriff’s office said the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the incident.

MADISON COUNTY, Iowa [WHO-TV]  — The Madison County Auditor has abandoned an effort to challenge a Board of Supervisors’ decision that prevented her former campaign manager from being hired. WHO-TV reports An attorney for Teri Kaczinski filed a motion to dismiss the claims she had made in a petition just hours before a Trial Scheduling Conference was expected to be held Monday morning. The petition for a writ of certiorari, filed on April 3, had formally requested the Iowa Supreme Court to review a March 26 decision by the BOS.

The issue surrounded a resolution to hire Leslie Beck as a part-time Second Deputy within the Auditor’s office for $27 an hour. This was a move that came after multiple efforts by Kaczinski to employ Beck using county funds. Those efforts included twice as an employee of the Auditor’s office and a third time as an employee of a third-party consulting agency that was hired by Auditor Kaczinski in late January for $250 an hour.

Beck was Kaczinski’s campaign manager during her run for the Auditor’s office, and also organized a monetary fundraiser for Supervisor Chair Heather Stancil. Stancil abstained from the vote. Supervisor Jessica Hobbs voted in favor of it, and Supervisor Diane Fitch voted against it, stating she was worried about transparency and the process by which Beck’s hiring had been previously handled. The vote created tension during a public BOS meeting, with Kaczinski calling in on a public line and mentioning a potential lawsuit.

Kaczinski’s court filing stated Fitch’s vote against the approval of the resolution was on “frivolous, trivial, minimal, arbitrary or capricious grounds.” The board denied the claims of wrongdoing in its court filing in response.

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Kan. [KCCI] — The Kansas Highway Patrol has identified the eight people killed in a head-on crash on U.S. Highway 169 in Franklin County, Kansas, southeast of Topeka. One of the victims was from Ames (Iowa).  According to the patrol’s report, the deadly crash happened just before 5:45 p.m. Sunday near Virginia Road, when a southbound GMC Yukon attempted to pass a slower vehicle and collided head-on with a northbound Subaru Legacy.

Both vehicles were engulfed in flames when first responders arrived. The northbound vehicle, a 2016 Subaru Legacy, was occupied by four people who all died in the crash. They were identified as 37-year-old Alexander Ernst of Ames, Iowa; and 76-year-old John Elliott, 69-year-old Norleen Elliott, and 33-year-old Madalyn Elliott, all of Chesterfield, Missouri.

Ernst was the driver of the Legacy. Investigators say the Yukon was carrying members of a youth basketball team and their family members returning to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The driver of the Yukon, 33-year-old Jaimon Gilstrap of Tulsa, died along with three of his passengers: 14-year-old Kyron Gilstrap, 14-year-old Donald Laster, and 41-year-old Wayne Walls, all of Tulsa.

A fifth occupant, a 15-year-old from Talala, Oklahoma, was transported to a hospital with injuries.

Wet conditions kept some farmers out of the fields last week, while others were able to get plenty of planting done. Radio Iowa’s Dar Danielson reports.

Ten percent of the corn has already emerged, and five percent of the soybeans have emerged.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s O-K with a one-year delay in her proposed state grant program for state-funded preschools and licensed child care centers that partner to provide all-day care for four-year-olds. Reynolds first discussed the plan in January, with a July 1st start date.

Another one of the governor’s policy bills that’s stalled in the legislature addresses energy policy. It would give the state’s major utilities, like MidAmerican and Alliant, the first chance to decide whether to build new energy projects before other companies could compete for the work. The Trump Administration has called the policy anti-competitive. Reynolds says requiring competitive bidding means a year or more delay before projects could start.

Reynolds says natural gas supplies are limited in north central and southwest Iowa as well and her bill will ensure energy projects of all kinds get off the ground as quickly as possible.

The governor’s second try at cutting the business tax used to pay unemployment benefits is also pending in the legislature. House Speaker Pat Grassley doesn’t rule out action on the governor’s unresolved policy priorities, but Grassley says finding common ground among Republicans on state spending is the focus right now.

Members of the Iowa legislature are just “on call” for votes if Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and G-O-P legislative leaders strike deals on budget bills. Another complication is that a dozen Senate Republicans have launched a budget boycott, refusing to support spending bills until the senate votes on restrictions for the proposed carbon pipeline route through Iowa.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A federal judge has extended a temporary restraining order barring the Department of Homeland Security from deporting four international students at the University of Iowa while she considers whether to convert that order into a preliminary injunction. The students are suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for revoking their status as students.

While the students have been pursuing their case under a series of “John Doe” pseudonyms, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger ruled Monday (today) that the students will have to publicly identify themselves or drop out of the case within the next 24 hours. The students’ identities have already been revealed to Homeland Security, but lawyers for the four had argued their clients shouldn’t be forced to publicly reveal their identities in order to pursue their lawsuit against the government.

Judge Ebinger found the students’ generalized fear of harassment didn’t meet “the very high standard” for granting them anonymity, citing past court rulings that say court proceedings “are only truly public when the public knows the identities of the litigants.” Also on Monday, Ebinger agreed to extend, for 14 days, her temporary restraining order protecting the four international students from being detained or deported by ICE or Homeland Security. She said she plans to rule on whether to grant a preliminary injunction to that effect before the restraining order expires.

According to the lawsuit, each of the plaintiffs was admitted to the United States on an F-1 student visa. The students claim the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has violated their due process rights by terminating their student status without legal justification or explanation. Named as defendants in the case are Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, of which Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is a part. Also named as a defendant is Acting Director of ICE Todd Lyons.

In granting the students’ initial request for a temporary restraining order, Ebinger concluded the students had “demonstrated a likelihood of success” as to their legal claims and had also shown they could otherwise be subjected to irreparable harm. The judge noted there had been no suggestion that any of the recognized, lawful reasons for terminating the plaintiffs’ status as students — such as providing false information to the government, engaging in unauthorized employment, or failing to engage in an approved course of study — appeared to exist or were even argued by Homeland Security as a justification for its actions.

Since beginning their studies, the lawsuit claims, the plaintiffs have maintained their status as students, are in good academic standing and have not committed any serious criminal offenses. Three of the four are studying chemical engineering, economics or exercise science, while the fourth is working for the State of Iowa as an epidemiologist.

(Radio Iowa) – One month after the Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs on imports to the U-S, the pork and soybean industries are closely watching how countries respond. Weekly export sales for U-S pork recently hit a marketing year low, in part because China cancelled a contract for 12-thousand metric tons. Iowa State Extension economist Chad Hart says agricultural export sales fluctuate, but aggregate data over the last four months shows countries are buying less U-S pork.

Hart says the majority of soybean export sales have already been made and delivered for the current marketing year, which ends in August. He says the U-S/China trade war could have a much greater impact on the soybean industry if retaliatory tariffs are still in place this fall.

Hart says corn exports have been up despite the tariff chatter, but countries have pulled back purchases of U-S pork since January. He says the 10 percent baseline tariffs on almost all imports into the U-S could make it harder to find new trading partners for farm products.

(Radio Iowa) –  [In an update to our weekend post] – Governor Kim Reynolds has signed legislation to launch a “Purple Star Initiative” in Iowa schools. Representative Ryan Weldon of Ankeny says the program strengthens the connections between military families and the schools their children attend.

Senator Kerry Gruenhagen of Walcott, says 43 other states have similar laws.

The bill got unanimous support in the Iowa House and Senate. Representative Elinor Levin of Iowa City says lawmakers had great conversations with Iowa Department of Education officials, who will oversee the program.

Governor Kim Reynolds signed three military-related bills into law on May 2, 2025. (Iowa National Guard photo)

According to the Military Child Education Coalition, the families of service members on active duty, in the National Guard or the Reserves move every two to three years. Purple Star Initiatives seek to address the stress of these frequent moves by doing things like streamlining enrollment transitions and ensuring staff are notified when a student’s parent is deployed. Reynolds signed the bill creating a Purple Star Initiative in Iowa schools — along with a bill to expand the Iowa National Guard’s college scholarship program to include technical training that leads to certification of a skill, like welding.