Iowa Radio News

DES MOINES – A former Des Moines City Council member has been nominated to the Iowa Board of Regents. The Des Moines Register reports Christine Hensley will begin serving in the role, subject to Iowa Senate confirmation. She is the longest serving member of the Des Moines City Council, serving 24 years in the role. GUTHRIE CENTER – A federal lawsuit has been filed claiming that several Guthrie County officials coordinated to attack a candidate for sheriff. WHO-13 reports Guthrie County Deputy Matt Harmann is the Republican candidate in the race and he’s accusing current Sheriff Marty Arganbright, Chief Deputy Jeremy Bennett, and County Attorney Dana Minteer in spreading negative information about him. He claims the three exchanged emails about Harmann’s candidacy and worked to investigate his work as a deputy. The suit also claims the current sheriff released confidential information about Harmann. The three county officials have not responded to comment. NORTH LIBERTY – One woman faces charges after an accusation she threatened a school administrator in North Liberty. KCRG-TV reports 41-year-old Melody Peer is charged with first degree harassment for an incident police say occurred on September 13th. She allegedly escalated with a principal after confronting staff about an issue her daughter and another student were having. The school then went into safety protocols, worried she’d return and attempt to harm the administrator.

IOWA – A poll that highlighted tightening public opinion about politics in the state shows a growing number of Iowans disapproving of Governor Kim Reynolds. The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll shows Governor Kim Reynolds underwater in terms of a approval, with 45% of Iowans supporting her efforts and 50% against, the highest in her seven years on Capitol Hill. Reynolds was approved by 59% of Iowans in February. This comes immediately after the Iowa Supreme Court allowed an abortion ban signed by Reynolds to go into effect and proposals that stripped funding from Area Education Agencies this past session. Auditor Rob Sand stands at 53% approval and Attorney General Brenna Bird — a possible candidate for governor if Reynolds choses not to run, is at 39%. JASPER COUNTY – Two people died in a head-on collision in western Jasper County late Monday night. The Iowa State Patrol reports a Hyundai Elantra driven by 21-year-old Blonca Saint-Louis of Des Moines was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of Highway 330 near Baxter. It collided with a Infiniti G37 operated by Mackenzie Guilliams of Clinton head-on. Both drivers died on impact. IOWA – Gov. Kim Reynolds has returned from her 10-day trade mission to India. Over the course of the trip, Reynolds met with U.S. Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti, Indian Minister for Food Processing Chirag Paswan, Indian Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal, and Indian Secretary of Agriculture Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi to discuss future partnerships with Iowa’s agriculture and food processing industries. She also met with Indian Minister of Women and Child Development Annpurna Devi.

FARNHAMVILLE – One man is in custody after police found a missing juvenile dead in Farnhamville. The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office reports a teenager was reported missing on Sunday, and after they responded to the area, placed one person in custody. Police found the body of the juvenile early Monday morning. WHO-13 reports a Gowrie man has been arrested in connection to the death. Twenty-one year old Nathaniel Bevers-McGivney is charged with abuse of a corpse. Police say they found him with the victim’s possessions and covered in blood. Additional charges are expected. IOWA – Details continue to be released from a poll that has been predictive of recent elections in Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports that 52% of Iowans prefer Republicans in congress to 44% for Democrats. This is larger than the margin of lead for former President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris of four points from the same poll conducted September 8th through the 11th, before the ABC debate between the two. Democrats have a three-point lead in Iowa District 1, between Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks and former State Representative Christina Bohannan, which has been rated as among the most competitive in the nation by several national polling experts. MITCHELLVILLE – A world record belongs to a Saylorville man. WHO-13 reports John Loghry is in possession of the fastest motorized wheelbarrow, which is now a Guinness World Record. Loghry had to work not only on the machine, but for approval from the organization. John worked with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to find a place to safely test the speed, which included a rural road near Mitchellville.

IOWA – In the first statewide poll conducted by the Des Moines Register following Iowa’s abortion ban going into place, a growing number of Iowans disagree with the move by the Iowa Legislature and signed by Governor Kim Reynolds. The Iowa Poll shows up to 64% of Iowans now think that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, up three percent from the survey conducted last year. That includes 70% of independent voters. A total of 59% of Iowans disapprove of the specific six-week ban passed in a special session last year and allowed by the Iowa Supreme Court this past summer. IOWA – It was a deadly weekend on Iowa’s roadways, as the Iowa State Patrol reported four people died in three crashes on Saturday and other crashes were reported on Sunday. Collisions occurred in Jones, Cedar, and Humboldt counties to begin the weekend, while KCCI-TV reports three others died in a Polk County crash on Sunday, with another individual killed in Muscatine County as well. As of Friday, 230 people had been killed while driving in Iowa in 2024 — the lowest at this point in a year since 2020.

IOWA – For the first time in several months, drought has returned to the state of Iowa. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor Report shows the entire state is at least abnormally dry, with moderate drought conditions returning in far southwest and northeast Iowa. Short-term relief is on the way after strong thunderstorms brought rain to many communities Thursday; widespread rain showers are in the forecast through Monday morning, with the heaviest rainfall falling along and south of Highway 30, according to the National Weather Service. WAPELLO COUNTY – Two people died in a crash in Wapello County on Friday. The Iowa State Patrol reports a motorcycle operated by 35-year-old Dustin West of Hedrick and a pickup driven by 75-year-old Billy Skinner of Ottumwa collided on a rural road. Both died from their injuries. COUNCIL BLUFFS – A Shenandoah man was sentenced Friday to seven years in federal prison for receipt of child pornography. According to public court documents, Evaristo Hernandez Flores Carnes, 34, uploaded images and videos containing child sex abuse material to a social media application. Law enforcement executed search warrant at Carnes’s residence and seized a cell phone that was later found to contain images and videos. After completing his term of imprisonment, Carnes will be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. MITCHELL COUNTY – A Georgia man was killed in a crash involving two semis in Mitchell County early Friday morning. The Iowa State Patrol reports 60-year-old Eric Mitchell was in a Mack semi driven by Senika Range of McDonough, Georgia, who failed to yield the right of way at a stop sign to a Peterbilt truck operated by Christo Van Der Linde of Stacyville. Range and Van Der Linde were injured, but Mitchell, an Atlanta resident, was killed. Police say he was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision and was ejected.