From the Associated Press:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Republican representative says she is running for state auditor, accusing the Democratic incumbent of conducting “political witch hunts” that don’t help taxpayers. Mary Ann Hanusa, who represented Council Bluffs from 2011 to 2021, says she would seek the GOP nomination to run against Democrat Rob Sand. Hanusa, who has been endorsed by Gov. Kim Reynolds and other top Republicans, accuses Sand of using the office to launch baseless investigations based on partisan politics. Sand has conducted audits that criticized Reynolds for misusing federal funds over the past two years. He announced plans to run for a second term in December. Sand defeated incumbent Republican auditor, Mary Mosiman, in his first run for statewide office in 2018.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man has pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally selling more than 300,000 of doses of steroids and other drugs via the internet over about a three-year period. Federal prosecutors based in Cedar Rapids said in a news release that 57-year-old Jon Stidham, of McClelland, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to illegally deliver, distribute or dispense methyltestosterone — a synthetic male hormone testosterone — via an online animal pharmacy called Kennel Supply. Stidham also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to introduce misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with intent to defraud or mislead and to commit mail fraud.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Conditions remain dry throughout the Missouri River basin, so officials are predicting that the amount of water flowing down the river this year will be below average again. The dry forecast reduces the chance of widespread flooding along the river this spring although some local flooding is still possible if chunks of ice block the flow of water or if heavy rains fall on an area. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday that last year was the tenth driest year on record in the Missouri River basin. This year, runoff is expected to increase somewhat but it is expected to be only 84% of of the long-term average.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man and his Minnesota son have pleaded guilty to a charge of civil disorder related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, admitting that they entered the building through a broken window and pushed through a police line once inside. Both 51-year-old Daryl Johnson, of St. Ansgar, Iowa, and 29-year-old Daniel Johnson, of Austin, Minnesota, made social media posts noting their participation in the insurrection. They admitted guilt in a video hearing Tuesday. They’re likely to get up to six months in prison at their April 12 sentencing. They agreed to pay restitution of $2,000 each to help defray the $1.5 million in damage to the Capitol.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa has surpassed 8,000 deaths from COVID-19 as virus infections increased and significantly more children were hospitalized with the virus. The Iowa Department of Public Health on Wednesday posted 19,049 confirmed positive cases in the past week, and the state’s seven-day moving average of positive cases stood at 2,416 per day, the highest level since November 2020. Total deaths in Iowa rose to 8,019, including 161 additional deaths that date back as far as Oct. 13. Dr. Dan Diekema, an infectious disease specialist at University of Iowa Health Care, says the omicron variant is now Iowa’s dominant strain, comprising up to 90% of cases.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A national Muslim civil rights group is calling for state and federal hate crime investigations into the vandalism of a northeastern Iowa mosque captured on the building’s security cameras. The video shows what appears to be a middle-aged woman vandalizing the Al-Noor Islamic Community Center in Waterloo on the evening of Dec. 28. The Courier reports that the woman first used snow to draw crosses — a widely recognized Christian symbol — on the mosque’s windows before graduating to scrawling profanities aimed at Islam and Muslims on the mosque’s walls using some type of oil-based substance. On Wednesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement calling for local, state and federal authorities to launch their own hate crime investigations into the vandalism.
