ROCKWELL CITY – A state representative is accepting a role in the Trump Administration. KCCI-TV reports State Representative Mike Sexton of Rockwell City submitted his resignation on Friday. A special election will be announced at a later date. Sexton did not immediately disclose which role he’s been selected for by the Trump administration. TAMA – A Tama County woman received a life sentence for a first degree murder conviction. KCRG-TV reports Karina Cooper was found guilty in July for the murder of her husband Ryan. He was found dead in his home in Traer in 2021. Cooper was arrested in 2024. Karina received an automatic life sentence once she was convicted for first degree murder, which was made official on Friday. ANKENY – A former Ankeny Christian Academy teacher has been arrested for sexual contact with a child. WHO-13 reports 50-year-old Michael Scott Burrows was arrested by the Ankeny Police Department this week. Burrows faces several counts of lascivious acts with a child for alleged inappropriate touching of a child between August 2021 and May 2022.

COUNCIL BLUFFS – Four Georgia men were sentenced for their role in a nationwide fraud conspiracy that impacted Iowa residents. According to public court documents, between March 2022 and April 2024, Russell Tafron Weatherspoon, Karl Andre Dieudonne, Demonte Tequis Brazil, and Gregory Lamar Scorza ran a multi-state fraud scam. The scammers led victims in Iowa to believe that an arrest warrant had been issued for them for failing to appear in court, using names of local law enforcement officers and spoofed phone numbers. United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement, and several Iowa-based police departments assisted in the investigation. OSKALOOSA – The Oskaloosa School Board moved to terminate the contract of an art teacher accused of celebrating the assassination of Conservative Influencer Charlie Kirk. The board voted Wednesday to fire Matthew Kargol for a social media post that said “one Nazi down.” WHO-13 reports it took place after a closed session during a special meeting. DES MOINES – Iowa added 1,900 people to the labor force in August, led primarily by adults ages 20 to 24, increasing the state’s labor force participation rate to 67.5 percent. At the same time, Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.8 percent, and the U.S. unemployment rate increased to 4.3 percent. The total number of unemployed Iowans increased to 65,800 in August from 64,900 in July.

DES MOINES – Governor Kim Reynolds has returned from an eight-day trade and investment mission to India, the second in the course of a year. She was joined by a 20-person Iowa delegation including Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, and Iowa Economic Development Authority and Iowa Finance Authority Director Debi Durham, and groups representing Iowa’s agriculture, education, and business sectors. DAVENPORT – An Iowa City man and former City employee was sentenced this week to 168 months in federal prison for Receipt of Child Pornography. According to public court documents, during a 2023 investigation, an account, later determined to be associated with 57-year-old Jeffrey Alan Guentert, downloaded files containing child sexual abuse material. Law enforcement seized 87 electronic devices during a search of Guentert’s Iowa City residence and place of employment, which included more than 5000 images and 1500 videos between 2019 and 2023.WATERLOO – John Deere has announced 141 employees will be let go in October. KCRG-TV reports just over 100 workers in Waterloo have been notified that they will be terminated on October 17th, with 40 layoffs scheduled in Des Moines on Halloween. Leadership with John Deere indicated demand and sales are down. Those let go will receive unemployment compensation. Another 71 workers in Waterloo are about to lose their tenure with the company on September 22nd.

DES MOINES – Iowa’s Senate Majority Leader is serving his last term in office. Jack Whitver announced on Thursday is will not run for re-election and is stepping down from his role leading Senate Republicans. Whitver assumed the leadership duty in 2018, according to a statement issued by Governor Kim Reynolds. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year.DAVENPORT– A Davenport man was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison for possessing child pornography. According to public court documents, 44-year-old David Anthony Tumea resided at a residential reentry center as a term of his federal supervised release resulting from a 2014 conviction for possessing an unregistered firearm and possessing ammunition as a felon. Residential Reentry Center staff located four flash drives inside Tumea’s hat when he entered the facility, which led to searches of his vehicle and room, where additional storage devices and a cell phone located. A total of 27 devices were seized from Tumea and multiple were found to contain child sexual abuse material.MARSHALLTOWN – Another series of cases linked to an outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease in Marshall County was reported on Monday. WHO-13 reports health officials have still not found the source of the illness typically spread by inhaling contaminated water droplets in the air. The family of 82-year-old Bernard Charles Grady identified him as a fatal case of the illness following his death in late August.

DES MOINES – Iowa’s newest state senator was sworn into office on Monday. The Des Moines Register reports Catelin Drey has now officially broken a Republican Supermajority in the Iowa Senate. Drey won a special election in August to represent Iowa Senate District 1 in Sioux City following the death of Senator Rocky De Witt. DES MOINES – The Iowa DOGE Task Force created by Governor Kim Reynolds worked to clarify key recommendations that caused an uproar among the state’s public employees and education workforce. Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the group of business leaders assembled to reflect the federal group with the same name had their final meeting Monday. In their prior gathering, a preliminary recommendation called for reduction of IPERs benefits and for an incentive-based pay structure for teachers. Leaders on the task force clarified the moves weren’t meant to completely eliminate the popular retirement program. None of the recommendations are law, but Governor Reynolds announced in a statement Monday they will shape her budget and legislative agenda in the 2026 session — her final before retiring. AMES – Employees at the state’s Regent universities have drawn the ire of the state’s conservative leadership for posts made about the assassination death of online influencer Charlie Kirk. WHO-13 reports the Iowa Board of Regents will review multiple confidential matters at their meeting Wednesday, most of which appear to deal with employee records and competency evaluations.