DANBURY – An Iowa farmer who defrauded federal taxpayers out of more than $1.7 million in agricultural subsidies, stole multiple identities, and stalked a witness, was sentenced last week to 13 years in federal prison. Tanner James Seuntjens from Danbury received the prison term after pleading guilty on September 19, 2025, to one count of theft of government funds, one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of crop insurance fraud, and one count of stalking. Evidence in Seuntjens’ cases established that, between June 2020 and June 2021, he defrauded the United States Department of Agriculture out of more than $1.5 million in Coronavirus Food Assistance Program grants.

IOWA – An active weather month is set to continue this week across the state of Iowa. According to the National Weather Service, a slight risk of severe weather returns to northern Iowa tonight and southern and eastern Iowa on Tuesday. High temperatures will jump into the mid-80s during the two-day stretch. This comes after multiple rounds of at-times heavy rain impacted Iowans over the past week.

DES MIONES – Iowa’s unemployment rate remained steady in January, according to the most recent update from Iowa Workforce Development. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, which had been revised downward to 3.4 percent for December, held steady at that level in January. The U.S. unemployment rate decreased to 4.3 percent in January.