(Atlantic, Iowa) – Just after 6-a.m. today (Friday), Atlantic Fire was dispatched to the Walnut Hill Terrace Apartments at 1304 E. 10th Street, for a report of smoke in the 2nd floor and hallway. Upon further investigation, it was discovered an oven had been left on in an apartment. The was no fire. All other responding personnel were told to disregard responding to the scene. No injuries were reported.

(Radio Iowa) – New information has been released surrounding the events that led to the murder of an Estherville man before his body was found along an Emmet County road on Saturday morning.

A criminal complaint says 20-year-old David McDowell was reportedly lured to an apartment last Friday by 19-year-old Connor Uhde and 18-year-old CeJay Van Der Wilt before he was shot to death early the next morning along a roadway about five miles outside of Estherville. His body was discovered several hours later by a passing motorist.

Connor Uhde, CeJay Van Der Wilt. (KICD photo.)

Uhde and Van Der Wilt were both arrested and charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday after simultaneous search warrants were executed at their homes in Estherville and Rockwell City. No motive behind the killing has been released. Both suspects remain in custody without bond and are due back in court late next week.

(Radio Iowa) – Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at a rally on the State Fairgrounds in Des Moines Saturday night, his first appearance in the state since leaving office in January. Eric Branstad worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2020 Iowa campaigns and he’s a senior advisor to Trump’s political action committee. “The crowd sizes in Alabama here recently and Georgia, there’s not a place that will fit us besides right here, outside,” he says. On Thursday afternoon, the stage was being set up where the Midway operates during the Iowa State Fair.

Branstad says “jumbo trons” will be in place — so the crowd can watch the Iowa-Penn State football game. Trump will not speak until the game is over. At his September 25th rally on the Georgia National Fairgrounds, Trump criticized Georgia’s Republican governor for the certification of Joe Biden’s win in Georgia nearly a year ago. Trump carried Iowa by eight points in 2020 and most of Iowa’s top Republicans have been invited to speak at the Des Moines rally. That includes Iowa’s Republican governor, Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley and two Republican congresswomen from Iowa — all of whom are seeking reelection.

“What we’re focused right now is making sure we win congress in 2022 and making sure that we win up and down the ballot next year,” Branstad says. Trump has made it clear he may run for president again in 2024. A recent Des Moines Register Iowa Poll found 53 percent of Iowans have a favorable view of Trump, which is higher than it was during his presidency. “I’ve seen this from my very first rally that I was staff at in 2016, the movement has only gotten bigger,” Branstad says. Trump also appears to be the most popular Republican in Iowa, with 91 percent of Republicans surveyed for the Iowa Poll saying they have a favorable view of the former president.

Iowa Democratic Party chairman Ross Wilburn says that’s worrisome. Iowa Republicans have tied themselves to a man who attacked the very foundation of our democracy throughout his time in office,” Wilburn says. Wilburn says Trump has shown a complete disregard for the rule of law as he continues to protest the 2020 election outcome. “He’s toxic for our democracy and it’s been well established that he did nothing to stop his supporters from violently attacking our Capitol,” Wilburn says, “even while his own vice president was inside.”

Wilburn made his comments during the Iowa Democratic Party’s weekly online news conference.

(Radio Iowa) – The non-profit an Iowa legislator co-founded to mentor Generation Z conservatives who’re entering politics is now one of Snapchat’s partners in a push to encourage young people to consider running for local office.  “You could potentially be the next governor of your state, right? Or the next congressman in the next five, to 10 to 15 years, but it starts here at the local and state level.” That’s State Representative Joe Mitchell of Mount Pleasant. His Run GenZ group had 200 contacts in the past 10 months, but that jumped to 15-hundred in the first 24 hours after Snapchat’s launch.

“Just encouraging people if they’re frustrated with what’s happening in their school board or if they’re frustrated with what’s happening in their state legislature, it’s time to stop complaining, right? It’s time to start running,” Mitchell says. Mitchell was 20 years old when he first ran for and won a seat in the Iowa House in 2018. “What I realized was my age actually a lot of time helped me when I talked to people at the doors,” Mitchell says, “…but the other thing was, too, I had the time and the energy to be able to go out there and knock on a bunch of doors.”

Mitchell, who’s now in his second term in the Iowa House, launched Run GenZ last year. It offers advice and support to people from his generation who are thinking about running for state and local office. “There’s not a ton of people on either side of the aisle really, but specifically conservatives in the local and state offices that are proportionally representing our generation,” Mitchell says, “or just people under 40.”

Four other Republicans in their 20s are co-founders of Run Gen Z. Two are women serving in Florida’s legislature. One is a New Hampshire lawmaker who Mitchell says is one of only four openly gay Republicans in elected office in the U.S. and one is a black man who won a seat in West Virginia’s legislature at the age of 18.  “People of color and women and peole that are gay and straight, whatever else,” Mitchell says. Mitchell says having a diverse group is important because it fits the ethos of young Americans who were born around the turn of the century.

In addition to Mitchell’s group supporting conservative candidates, Snapchat has partnered with nine other organizations across the political spectrum to encourage young adults to run for office. For example, one is called Emerge America and its candidate recruitment is focused on Democratic women. According to SnapChat, 90 percent of Americans between the ages of 13 and 24 use the social media platform. Those express an interest in running for political office through a new tool within the app are matched up and referred to the outside groups for advice.

Former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who was elected to the Iowa House at the age of 25, is on the national advisory board for Run GenZ. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Colorado Governor Bill Owens, former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are on the board, too.