DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Senator Joni Ernst says she turned down Donald Trump’s request to run as his vice president in 2016 because of family concerns. Cityview, a Des Moines alternative newspaper, reports the information was revealed after Ernst and her former husband, Gail Ernst, settled their previously contentious divorce. She says it was a sacrifice she made for her husband, who wasn’t fond of her political career. The Des Moines Register reports court documents show that years before her divorce, Ernst was assaulted by her husband after she confronted him about his alleged affair with their daughter’s babysitter.

STORM LAKE, IA (IRN) – A man and child died after the vehicle they were in broke through lake ice in northwest Iowa. KCCI-TV reports first responders were sent to Storm Lake a little before 6 p.m. Sunday after receiving a report about the vehicle. The emergency workers went onto the ice, found the man and three small children and took them to shore. The man and one of the children were pronounced dead later at a hospital.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – California Senator Kamala Harris will be in Iowa in one week, following her announcement Monday that she is running for president in what is already a crowded Democratic field. Harris will take part in a town hall event with CNN at Drake University in Des Moines on Monday. That will make Harris the eighth Democrat to schedule an Iowa stop in January.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A proposal at the Iowa statehouse would bar schools from scheduling extra-curricular activities and classes on the night of the presidential caucuses in an effort to boost turnout. Sen. Robb Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, said he introduced the bill to encourage participation in the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest in Iowa.

CEDAR FALLS, IA (IRN) – As the partial government shutdown approaches one month in length, UNI is giving federal workers a break. KWWL-TV reports any federal government employee can get two free tickets to the Panther athletics event of their choice, through the end of January.