(Radio Iowa) – This is Giving Tuesday, a vital day for Iowa non-profits to pull in much-needed donations before the end of the year, and it’s also an ideal time for Iowans to max out their charitable contributions for the 2025 tax year. Donna Dostal is president and C-E-O of SHARE Iowa and the Community Foundation for Western Iowa, which serves a host of non-profits in nine western Iowa counties. Dostal says she’s confident this will be a good day for giving — and receiving.

“I am absolutely an optimist and so I think people understand that times are tough, times are very difficult for the nonprofits that are doing the work,” Dostal says. “Every day, our lives are touched by nonprofits. So when we think of things from a place of abundance rather than scarcity, it’s very important to realize that even the smallest gift can make an impact.” There is legitimate concern about online giving, as mirror websites that look nearly identical to the real thing can dupe well-meaning donors.

“ShareIowa.org is the best place that you can go. It’s very safe, very secure. Everything is monitored by the Community Foundation and by the SHARE platform,” Dostal says, “and all of the nonprofits that are registered on SHARE Iowa are legitimate, 501-C3 organizations that we have vetted.” There are 17 nationally-accredited community foundations in Iowa. Find the one nearest to you by visiting Iowa Council of Foundations-dot-org. Dostal says it’s easy to find a charity that’s worth your support.

“You can search for organizations that touch your heart and do the things that you really want to see happen in your community. You can also search geographically and look at nonprofits that are doing work in Page County or Fremont County or Mills County,” Dostal says. “The money goes directly to them. It doesn’t come through us at the Community Foundation. Gifts go directly to the non-profits that you’re supporting.” The SHARE Iowa portal generated more than one-and-a-half million dollars for western Iowa non-profits on Giving Tuesday of 2024, and Dostal remains hopeful that mark can be beaten today.

(Atlantic, IA) – Atlantic’s annual Lighted Parade, presented by NISHNANET, will fill the City’s downtown area with holiday cheer this Saturday, December 6th, starting at 6-p.m. Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kelsey Beschorner says “The Lighted Parade has really become a hallmark of the holiday season in Atlantic. Every year we’re amazed by the imagination and effort that go into the displays. It’s a joyful way for families to kick off December together.”

Due to the growing crowd size in recent years, the Chamber is implementing a no-throw policy again this year. No items, including candy, may be thrown or handed out by floats or walking participants at any point along the parade route or sidewalks. This change helps ensure the safety of the large number of spectators lining Chestnut Street. Beschorner said “Our priority is making sure everyone can enjoy the parade safely. With the growing number of spectators, this adjustment helps keep the streets clear and ensures the event runs smoothly. We’re thrilled to see the parade continue to grow, and this step helps us maintain a safe, festive environment for everyone.”

Each float will feature a holiday theme, lighting, and music. Awards will be given for Best Overall, Best Holiday Spirit, and the Twinkle Twinkle Award, sponsored by NISHNANET. Fireworks will launch the evening’s Christmas magic over the Rock Island Depot beginning at 6 PM. The Lighted Parade & Fireworks are sponsored by NISHNANET, A.M. Cohron & Son, McDermott Roofing, and Rush, CPA & Associates. Before the parade, families are invited to join Santa and the Pancake Man at the Nishna Valley Family YMCA beginning at 9 AM for Pancakes with Santa and other fun activities. Santa will be in his Cabin in City Park from 3 PM to 5:30 PM, where free carriage rides will also be available. Pancakes with Santa is sponsored by Akin Building Center–Atlantic, Smith Land Service, Atlantic Dental Center, Sonntag Development, and Nishna Valley Dental.

Those wishing to participate in the Lighted Parade can find a registration form at www.atlanticiowa.com. Line-up begins at 5 PM at 6th & Walnut Street, with judging at 5:30 PM. Registration is encouraged but not required.Capture the Christmas magic using #MyAtlanticIA and share your photos on the Atlantic Area Chamber’s Facebook or Instagram pages. Contact the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce with any questions at chamber@atlanticiowa.com or 712-243-3017. Christmas in Atlantic is presented by Gregg Young of Atlantic.

Pick up a Christmas brochure from area retail businesses, ‘like’ the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce on Facebook, or follow on Instagram (@AtlanticIowaFan) to stay up to date on Christmas in Atlantic. A full schedule of activities and a printable brochure can be found at www.atlanticiowa.com.

(An IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH report) – Four Republican states have agreed to help the Trump administration gain access to state driver’s license data through a nationwide law enforcement computer network as part of the administration’s hunt for alleged non-citizen voters. The Trump administration said as recently as October that federal officials wanted to obtain driver’s license records through the network. The commitment from officials in Florida, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio comes as part of a settlement agreement filed on Friday in a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit was originally brought by the states last year alleging the Biden administration wasn’t doing enough to help states verify voter eligibility. The settlement, between the states and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, requires the federal department to continue its development of a powerful citizenship verification program known as SAVE. Earlier this year, federal officials repurposed SAVE into a program capable of scanning millions of state voter records for instances of non-citizen registered voters.

In return, the states have agreed to support Homeland Security’s efforts to access the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, an obscure computer network that typically allows law enforcement agencies to search driver’s license records across state lines. Nlets — as the system is known — lets police officers easily look up the driving records of out-of-state motorists. The Trump administration and some Republican election officials have promoted the changes to SAVE as a useful tool to identify potential noncitizen voters, and Indiana had already agreed to provide voter records. Critics, including some Democrats, say the Trump administration is building a massive database of U.S. residents that President Donald Trump or a future president could use for spying or targeting political enemies.

Stateline reported last week, before the settlement agreement was filed in court, that Homeland Security publicly confirmed it wants to connect Nlets to SAVE. A notice published Oct. 31 in the Federal Register said driver’s licenses are the most widely used form of identification, and that by working with states and national agencies, including Nlets, “SAVE will use driver’s license and state identification card numbers to check and confirm identity information.” A federal official also previously told a virtual meeting of state election officials in May that Homeland Security was seeking “to avoid having to connect to 50 state databases” and wanted a “simpler solution,” such as Nlets, according to government records published by the transparency group American Oversight. The new settlement lays out the timeline for how the Trump administration could acquire the four states’ records.

Within 90 days of the execution of the agreement, the four states may provide Homeland Security with 1,000 randomly selected driver’s license records from their state for verification as part of a quality improvement process for SAVE. The agreement could pave the way for Republican officials in other states to provide access to license data. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, said in a statement to Stateline that the settlement agreement provides another layer of election integrity and protection as officials seek to ensure only eligible voters are registered. He didn’t directly address questions about Nlets access.

Two weeks before the Nov. 5, 2024, election, Pate issued guidance to Iowa county auditors to challenge the ballots of 2,176 registered voters who were identified by the secretary of state’s office as potential non-citizens. In March, Pate said his office gained access to the SAVE database and found 277 of those people were confirmed to not have U.S. citizenship — just under 12% of the individuals identified as potential non-citizens.

(Creston, IA) – Police in Creston arrested a man Monday on an outstanding warrant for Eluding. Authorities report 45-year-old Johnnie Todd Lovell, of Creston, was arrested in the 400 block of N. Walnut Street. He was transported to the Union County Jail, posted a $1,000 cash or surety bond, and was released.

(Red Oak, IA) – The Red Oak Police Department reports a man from Nebraska was arrested early this (Tuesday) morning (Dec. 2nd, 2025), on felony and other charges. Authorities say Red Oak Police officers conducted an investigation into a man who claimed to be 20-years-old, and was staying with a minor child. The man gave police a fake name, but officers were able to determine his identity as 22-year-old Jauson Ray Schriner, of Adams, NE.  Schriner is on the State of Nebraska’s Sex Offender Registry.

Jauson Ray Schriner (Nebraska Sex Offender Registry photo)

He was wanted on a warrant out of Nebraska for Probation Violation, where he was previously arrested and convicted for posing as a teenager online, in order to have sex with a 13-year-old. Schriner was arrested in Red Oak, on a Class-D Felony charge of Grooming, a Simple Misdemeanor charge of Providing False ID to law enforcement, and an Aggravated Misdemeanor charge of Sex Offender Registry Violation/1st offense. He was also arrested for being a Fugitive from Justice.

Additional charges are pending. Red Oak Police extend thanks to the Lincoln and Beatrice, NE, Police Departments for their help in the investigation. Red Oak Police are also reminded the public about the dangers that social media can pose.

(Radio Iowa) – Communities across Iowa are decking out their town squares for the year-end holidays with a host of colorful parades, winter festivals, and nighttime tree-lighting ceremonies. Later this week, Pella will host its Kerstmarkt, the town’s Dutch Christmas Market. Pella merchant Alie Muller-Heit says the downtown will be filled with an array of local artisans and specialty vendors. “And then we also have our Tour of Homes, which we have been doing in Pella for over 60 years. The whole weekend is enchanting,” Muller-Heit says. “It’s Thursday, Friday, Saturday, this weekend and with the Tour of Homes, you get an opportunity to see four different houses that are all done up for Christmas.”

Visitors will be able to sample authentic Dutch food along the Molengracht, an area inspired by outdoor markets in the Netherlands. “We have carriage rides downtown and just this last week we had what we call our Tour of Stores, and it’s when we turn on Christmas for the season,” Muller-Heit says, “with the kids singing Christmas carols and Santa comes and lights up our big tree that’s on our Tulip Tour and it’s huge. It’s a favorite for all the kids in Pella.” Muller-Heit owns Thistles Flower Market, which has been in downtown Pella more than 40 years, offering flowers as well as home decor and locally-made candles. Within the shop, she’s recently opened Garden Square Chocolatier, with a focus on selections from a dozen gourmet truffles, four each in floral, traditional and seasonal flavors, all crafted in-house.

Photo by Garden Square Chocolatier

“We’re really proud of the chocolate that we’re creating,” Muller-Heit says. “We’re working with French chocolate and we temper it. We heat it up so that it gets melted, and then we cool it on down and heat it just to the right temperature so it becomes a tempered chocolate. That gives it that shine and that strength to have different fillings on the inside of the truffles.” The store-within-a-store is also selling a line of five artisan candy bars, including one in coordination with an East Coast company that makes stroopwafels, a thin, two-layer cookie of sweet baked dough held together by syrup filling.

“We wanted to do something that had stroopwafels in it,” she says. “It’s one of my favorite Dutch specialties, and so they actually send us their Stroopwafle Crumble, the ones that didn’t turn out to full stroopwafles that they could sell, and we’re putting that in a dark chocolate candy bar with our homemade caramel in it as well. It’s called our Dutch Bar.” There’s also a bar called Iowa’s Gold, containing white chocolate, brown butter ganache, corn and soybeans. The store is housed in the same historic 1897 red-brick building which Muller-Heit says once sparked her childhood love of chocolate milk shakes and soda shop memories with her grandmother.

OMAHA, Neb. —The man accused of hitting and killing an Iowa woman in 2016 Omaha crash has changed his plea in the case. KETV in Omaha reports Eswin Mejia has entered a plea of guilty to a charge of Failure to Appear, and No Contest to a charge of Motor Vehicle Homicide, in connection with the death of 21-year-old Sarah Root, who was a recent college graduate studying forensics.

Prosecutors said Mejia caused the crash that killed the young woman in January, 2026 near 33rd and L streets in 2016.  Authorities said Mejia was driving drunk and street racing when he rear-ended Root’s car at a stoplight. Mejia, who was in the country illegally, was not put on an immigration hold. He posted $5,000 of his bond and vanished.

Prosecutors said his blood alcohol level was 0.179%, and at the time of impact, he was driving 71 mph while Root was traveling at 3 mph. She was coming to a stop near 33rd and L streets.

Mejia is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 12. He faces up to 20 years in prison for motor vehicle homicide and two years in prison for flight to avoid arrest.

(Atlantic, IA) – Firefighters in Atlantic were dispatched to a car fire in a parking lot at 1300 E. 19th Street, early this (Tuesday) morning. The blaze was reported at around 1:45-a.m. Crews were on the scene just minutes later, but by the time they arrived, the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames. The blaze was extinguished just after 2-a.m. Firefighters remained on scene for a short while, handling clean-up operations.

A cause of the fire was not immediately known. No injuries were reported.

(Radio Iowa) – Communities in northwest Iowa are waiting for FEMA to approve buyouts for properties that were damaged by flooding in the summer of 2024. Tom Van Maanen — the city administrator in Rock Valley — says his community is asking for federal funding to help buy and demolish just over 12 dozen homes. “For the homeowners, this has been a very long and painful process ’cause they’re paying mortgages in homes they don’t live in,” Van Maanen says.

Under FEMA’s buyout program for homes in flood zones, 75 percent of the funding comes from the federal government, the state provides 10 percent and 15 percent comes from the local community. Rock Valley is seeking 40 MILION dollars from FEMA to support buying 145 homes, but FEMA asked for more information about a few of the properties.

This home in Rock Valley was destroyed by flooding in the early morning hours of June 22, 2024. (2024 file photo by Iowa Public Radio’s Sheila Brummer)

“It’s been quite a journey for a small-town local government having to go through the gauntlet that is FEMA funding. It has been a challenge, but we’ve worked with some very good people along the way and we’ve made a lot of progress,” Van Maanen said. “…We’re really looking forward to being able to contact the homeowners and say: ‘Hey, our project has been approved. We’re going to move forward.’ And we’ll be working on a timeline that’s up to us so we can help them.”

State officials say Sioux County as well as the cities of Spencer, Rock Rapids, Hawarden, Correctionville and Sioux Rapids have submitted buyout requests to FEMA. Estherville and Cherokee are still finalizing their applications and have until the end of the year to submit the paperwork to FEMA. Once a property is purchased under this program, the parcel becomes public land and made into a park or water retention area.

(Radio Iowa) – An investigation by the state auditor’s office has found a state contractor that provides outpatient mental health and addiction treatment services in southern Iowa misused tens of thousands of dollars in federal grant money.

Crossroads Behavioral Health Services has offices in Creston and Osceola. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services asked the state auditor’s office to review the non-profit after learning it had failed to pay a subcontractor based in Atlantic nearly 200-thousand dollars.

The investigation found Crossroads deposited federal grants, opioid settlement funds and other payments into a single bank account and didn’t separate payments based on which program the money was supposed to support. Auditors reviewed two years’ worth of records and found 11 checks written on the Crossroads account bounced and 77 checks generated more than five-thousand dollars in overdraft charges.

The report recommends that the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services increase financial oversight of the agencies it designates as regional providers of mental health and addiction services to Iowans.