DES MOINES— Governor Reynolds and Iowa Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the state will participate in the federal SUN Bucks program beginning in 2026 after being notified Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had approved the state’s waiver. Iowa is one of a few states to request permission from the USDA to align allowable SUN Bucks purchases with the state’s new Healthy SNAP guidelines, which go into effect January 1st. SNAP and SUN Bucks participants will be able to use the benefits to purchase healthy foods like grains, fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy to supplement families’ nutritional needs. Iowa’s guidelines will exclude the purchase of taxable foods such as candy, soda and some store prepared foods. BONDURANT – A Bondurant woman has been arrested in relation to the death of a toddler over the summer. WHO-13 reports 41-year-old Tiffani R. Huff Holmes has been charged with child endangerment resulting in death. The investigation started in June, when medics were called to a Bondurant home for an unresponsive three-year-old child. DES MOINES – Des Moines water works employees have found an invasive species known for clogging water systems. KCCI-TV reports zebra mussels have been found in the river close to Birdland Marina. According to the Iowa DNR, the mussels can harm other local species and lay up to one-million eggs per year. The were first found in the Great Lakes and then Mississippi River in the 1990s.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced a counter-strike operation in Syria following the death of three Americans in the country. Two of those were Iowa National Guard Soldiers, according to WHO-13, including 25-year-old Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres and 29-year-old Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard. White House officials are calling the moves direct retaliation for the alleged attack by a member of ISIS. EARLHAM – An infant from Earlham was injured in a crash in DeSoto on Saturday night. The Iowa State Patrol reports a Chevy Suburban attempted to pass another in a no passing zone on Highway 169 over a hill, hitting a Chevy Silverado head-on. An eight-month old was injured in the collision and taken to a nearby hospital with injuries. VINTON – An Iowa lottery ticket hit a large jackpot as the Powerball continues to grow. KCCI-TV reports a ticket purchased in Vinton matched five white balls in the most recent drawing. Seven other tickets across the country did the same. The Powerball has climbed to $1.6 billion. A ticket purchased in Norwalk in a November Mega Millions drawing remains unclaimed, and is valued at $3 million.

IOWA – Students at schools in northwest Iowa were held late due to disruptions to travel from blizzard-like conditions on Thursday. KCCI-TV reports the Pocahontas Area Community School District alerted parents it would keep buses shut down until conditions improved as several highways in the state were officially closed due to whiteout conditions caused by quick bursts of snow and 50+ mile per hour winds. Much warmer conditions are coming, with some in the state potentially seeing 60 degrees by Christmas Day, according to the National Weather Service. DES MOINES – A West Des Moines man was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for exploiting numerous minors on social media and possessing child pornography. According to public court records, 28-year-old Nicklas Ray Stanley exploited multiple minors on Snapchat and Instagram over several years. Stanley falsely told the minors that he was a similar age to them and requested and received sexually explicit images or videos. Stanley’s conduct included threatening to disseminate the minors’ imagery if they did not continue to send images to him. POWESHIEK COUNTY – The Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office announced that a standoff with an alleged suspect came to an end on Thursday when the individual was found dead in an attic. WHO-13 reports members of the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement attempted a search warrant in Brooklyn, when a standoff followed. Police say that 34-year-old Skoky Gene Strohm was found dead after four hours from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

DELAWARE – The bodies of two Iowa National Guard Soldiers killed in Syria arrived in the United States on Wednesday. KCCI-TV reports a dignified transfer was held at Dover Air Base in Delaware. President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, and Governor Kim Reynolds were all in attendance. Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard were both members of the 1st Squadron, 113th Calvary Regiment with the Iowa National Guard. CASS COUNTY – A truck driver was ejected from his semi on Interstate 80 in Cass County and died from his injuries. The Iowa State Patrol reports a large truck operated by 69-year-old Robert Johnson, Jr., left the interstate for an unknown reason on Wednesday morning. The vehicle entered a ditch on the north side of the highway, striking a tree line. IOWA – Strong winds will arrive today as a cold front moves across the state. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph are likely. The strongest winds will be over western and northwestern Iowa, but it will be windy throughout the state. Strong crosswinds on roadways, as well as some scattered snow showers in the afternoon, could make travel hazardous.

WASHINGTON D.C. – A dignified transfer of the bodies of the two Iowa National Guard soldiers killed in an apparent terrorist attack will take place today. The Des Moines Register reports President Donald Trump will participate in the ceremony at Dover Air Base in Delaware. Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard of Marshalltown and Sgt. Edgar Torres-Tovar were killed on Saturday in an attack carried out by an ISIS gunman during a meeting between U.S. and Syrian security officials. DES MOINES – A public records request shows that small discrepancies in documents may have been noticed before the hiring of now former Superintendent Ian Roberts in Des Moines. WHO-13 reports than 260 pages of documents showed dozens of emails exchanged between Roberts and district administrators during the onboarding process in 2023, as well as the cover letter and resume submitted as part of the hiring process. The records back up previous concerns made after Roberts was arrested by federal immigration agents this past fall. DES MOINES – The Iowa Attorney General’s Office is suing a popular video game. KCCI-TV reports Brenna Bird is accusing Roblox of using the platform of misleading parents and failing to protect children from sexual exploitation. Her office says Roblox claims to have higher safety standards than currently in place. The attorney general is seeking a $40,000 civil penalty per violation and asking a judge to enforce stronger protections.