(Radio Iowa) – A writer of historical fiction from the West Coast will make several appearances in Iowa this week to launch her latest novel, which takes place in eastern Iowa more than a century ago. Rachel Fordham, who lives in Washington state, has set many or her books in Iowa. “Beyond Ivy Walls” follows a young woman in 1903 who lives in the town of Monticello and works in a feather duster plant, which Fordham says was a real factory at that time. She says extensive research is key. “I started reading the old newspapers in hopes of finding more about the factory, and while doing that, I read about miracle cures, you know, there’s an advertisement for all kinds of home remedies,” Fordham says. “So that played into the story, as well as roller skating and other things that were relevant to that time period.”

Helpful folks at the Monticello library were able to connect Fordham with a descendant of the factory’s owners, and others, who knew a wealth of information about the town’s history. While she’s only been in the state once before, Fordham says she adores Iowa as the setting for her work. “My first novel featured the orphan trains, and so I picked a state that was a popular destination for the orphan trains to end in, and kind of fell in love with Iowa,” Fordham says. “I liked the idea of being able to have them be standalone novels, but still have little nods to each other in them, and so I wrote several books in Iowa for that reason.”

Rachel Fordham

Historical fiction isn’t just about the past, Fordham says, but there are many tie-ins with modern day, which is part of why she says the genre continues to be popular. “Obviously, people kind of love jumping back in time and getting to experience what it might have been like for their ancestors and people who came before them,” Fordham says. “As far as our feelings and our emotions and things like that, those are really universal, so being able to feel this like connection, this story may have taken place in the past, but I see myself in it, I think keeps drawing people back again and again.”

Fordham says she did not meet with her publishers or publicist to determine where to launch the book in order to boost sales, calling this week’s trip to Iowa a “heart project.” “I really loved my research experience with these people. I loved setting my book in Monticello. I want to go there. That’s where I want the book launch to take place. I want to meet these people. I want to walk on these streets,” Fordham says. “It will be rewarding for me, and it will be a fun experience for the people who have this unique and special connection to the book.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Schools across Iowa are adjusting attendance policies to comply with a new state law. Senate File 2435 defines “chronic absenteeism” as when a student is absent for 10% of the school year. The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education is set to discuss and act on the district’s policy, Wednesday evening.

Director of Student Services for Cedar Rapids Community School District, Chris Gibson told KCRG-TV, that they have been working diligently to try to understand the law, their policies and procedures that would bring them into compliance with the law.

When a student misses eight days of school, their family will receive a letter letting them know their child is chronically absent. If a student misses 12 days, they will be required to have an engagement meeting between the school, the student, and the parent. A student reaches truancy after 15 days of being absent. If that happens, another meeting will be held with the county attorney present.

Multiple schools said they have had a problem with absences. The Vinton-Shellsburg School District plans to help parents keep track of their child’s absences.

You can read a summary of the school attendance law here.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch)  – A northwest Iowa man is suing two Cherokee County deputies, alleging they mistakenly entered and searched his home while attempting to search a neighbor’s house. The lawsuit, initially filed in state court before being transferred to federal court, seeks unspecified damages from deputies Jason Galeano and Isaiah Isaacs for trespassing, assault and conducting a warrantless search. The county itself is not named as a defendant in the case, although the deputies are being sued for acting in their official capacity as county law enforcement officers.

Dustin Konrady, a resident of Cherokee, alleges that on the evening of Dec. 18, 2023, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a man named Terrance Bute who alleged that a man named Michael Lewis had held a gun to his head and hit him with the weapon. City and county police responded to the call. According to the lawsuit, officers’ body-camera video at the scene shows Galeano asking other officers, “Which is the house?” in reference to the house where the alleged assault took place. An officer can allegedly be heard responding that Lewis’ address was 514 N. 5^th St., which was a few houses away from where the officers were standing.

The lawsuit alleges that Bute showed signs of intoxication and that he told officers Lewis had guns in the bedroom of his house. When Galeano asked Bute, “Which house is it?” Bute allegedly provided a confusing and vague answer referencing a long driveway with a sport utility vehicle. At one point, according to the lawsuit, Lewis left his residence to speak to police and was then handcuffed and led away from the scene by police who allegedly failed to confirm his address. Believing the house at 510 N. 5^th St., was Lewis’ residence, Isaacs and Galeano searched the porch, found a key to the door, and entered the home, according to the lawsuit.  The deputies searched the home’s kitchen and basement, then conversed in the living room while covering their body cameras and microphones for several seconds, the lawsuit alleges.

A still photo from a body-camera video shot during a search of a home by Cherokee County deputies in December 2023. (Main image courtesy of U.S. District Court; sheriff’s insignia courtesy of Cherokee County)

They then entered the bedroom, according to the lawsuit, waking Konrady and his dogs. Galeano asked whether they were in the Lewis house and Konrady responded that Lewis lived next door, according to the lawsuit. The officers allegedly apologized and left, then went next door at which point Galeano can be heard on the video telling Isaacs, “This is more like it.” The lawsuit alleges the deputies then searched Lewis’ home despite the lack of a warrant.

Lewis was never charged with any crimes in connection with the incident. The deputies knew their warrantless search of the two houses was unlawful as evidenced by their efforts to cover their body cameras and microphones while inside each of the two houses, the lawsuit claims. The county has yet to file a response to the lawsuit on behalf of the deputies. Cherokee County Sheriff Derek Scott declined to comment on the case, noting that the litigation is still pending.

(Radio Iowa) – A Powerball ticket with a six-figure prize will soon become a worthless piece of paper. Iowa Lottery Spokesperson Mary Neubauer says the ticket worth 500-thousand dollars was purchased March 16th at a Kwik Star in Mason City. “You have 180 days, or almost six months in Iowa to claim prizes in Powerball. So that ticket will expire at the close of business on September 12th of this year, if it’s not claimed by the deadline,” she says. Neubauer and others from the Iowa Lottery staff went to the store Monday to raise awareness of the unclaimed prize. “Lots of people were, you know, kind of sharing their theories. Certainly, one of the theories was that it was a truck driver who was just passing through and maybe never check the ticket,” Neubauer says. “Others wonder if somebody just set it aside and maybe it’s still, you know, tucked in somebody’s sun visor or sitting on their dresser at home. Others wonder if maybe they just checked to see if they won the jackpot and didn’t check any further.”

The prize is large enough that the winning ticket has to be redeemed at Lottery Headquarters in Clive. “If the prize expires without being claimed, the money goes back into the Iowa Lottery prize pools for future games and promotion. So it will go to pay prizes, just not the particular prize that expired,” she says. “With this being such a major amount we’ve talked about, you know, maybe doing something special with this money to hold, to hold a special promotion, to give it away.” A two million dollar Mega Millions ticket expired in 2023 with being claimed. Neubauer says anything could happen in the final month and they hope everyone checks their tickets. “There have been times when somebody did come forward, like within the last month that a prize was eligible. So you never know. I mean, we will never say, Never, until that expiration date hits,” Neubauer says.

Neubauer says the store where the ticket was sold will keep a sign up letting people know until the ticket expires.  “The clock is really ticking down on this prize. We are down to exactly one month before this $500,000 prize that was won in the power of Powerball game will expire.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Schools across Iowa are adjusting attendance policies to comply with a new state law. Senate File 2435 defines “chronic absenteeism” as when a student is absent for 10% of the school year. The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education is set to discuss and act on the district’s policy, Wednesday evening.

KCRG-TV reports the Director of Student Services for Cedar Rapids Community School District, Chris Gibson said “We have just been working diligently to try to understand the law, and try to think about our policies and procedures that would align with that law,”

When a student misses eight days of school, their family will receive a letter letting them know their child is chronically absent. If a student misses 12 days, they will be required to have an engagement meeting between the school, the student, and the parent. A student reaches truancy after 15 days of being absent. If that happens, another meeting will be held with the county attorney present.

Multiple schools said they have had a problem with absences. The Vinton-Shellsburg School District plans to help parents keep track of their child’s absences.

You can read a summary of the school attendance law here.

(Updated) – RADIO IOWA – The hospital in Greenfield is now offering some of its services as it continues to rebuild following severe damaged from the E-F-4 tornado went through the town on May 21st. The tornado didn’t hit the Adair County Memorial Hospital directly, but high winds and flying debris caused enough damage that it closed and relocated many services to the Nodaway Valley Elementary School. Hospital C-E-O, Catherine Hillestad says outpatient and specialty clinics reopened Monday.

Hillestad says the hospital is still working towards reopening the emergency room and resuming inpatient services.

Work continues on rebuilding the E-M-S garage and they hope to have it rebuild by the summer of fall of 2025.

(By Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Lanon Baccam, the Democrat challenging Republican Congressman Zach Nunn’s bid for a second term, says securing the southern border is critically important and a bipartisan plan developed this spring would have taken important steps in that direction. “Yet for purely political purposes, reasons it was killed,” Baccam says. “…Every time there’s a chance to actually do something and get something done, politics gets in the way. Iowans are tired of it. They want to see their representatives actually get something done in congress…When I get up there, I will do everything I can to make sure we can pass something.”

Baccam says the bill that stalled would have assigned more agents to the border and deployed technology to identify drugs being smuggled into the country. “Those are things that actually could have made a difference,” Baccam said. Baccam spoke late Monday afternoon at The Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Baccam’s Republican opponent, Congressman Nunn, told a crowd at the Fair on Friday there is no greater threat to the U-S than the situation at the southern border. Baccam says the number one issue he hears about from voters is about keeping their public schools.

“Iowans know that these systems have worked in the past, they want to continue to see these services delivered and so they’re worried about what’s going to happen to their communities,” Baccam said.

Baccam, a native of Mount Pleasant, now lives in Des Moines. He answered reporters’ questions after his speech, then chatted with voters at the Iowa Democratic Party’s booth at the State Fair before flipping chops at the Iowa Pork Producers grill on the fairgrounds.