CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A 34-year-old man from Charles City was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for his role in manufacturing pipe bombs and distributing methamphetamine in 2020. Thomas Jay Downer admitted to distributing more than 5 grams of pure methamphetamine and selling five pipe bombs. The pipe bombs were made of plastic plumbing pipe and included BBs and nails as shrapnel.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A Des Moines man faces dozens of charges after admitting to secretly recording his ex-wife inside her home for more than a year. Mathew Greiner used his child’s keys to gain access to the victim’s home and hid cameras behind the air vents in her bedroom and bathroom. The child discovered the explicit images on Greiner’s phone.

CEDAR RAPIDS (IRN) – Former Vice President Mike Pence is hosting a rally ‘for parental rights’ next week in Cedar Rapids. The rally is to protest the Linn-Mar School Districts’ policy that allows students to request a gender support plan. It lets students transition socially and without the permission of their parents. Pence’s group “Advancing America’s Freedom, says they filed a lawsuit against the school district to overturn the policy. Pence is considering a run for president in 2024.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Zoom meetings at the Iowa statehouse meetings could be coming to an end. It’s something lawmakers are considering after an incident during a senate sub-committee meeting Thursday where someone joined the Zoom call while displaying a swastika.