Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton says there will be “plenty of time” to discuss Donald Trump’s criticism of his past transgressions if the billionaire businessman becomes the Republican nominee. Clinton is making his first trip solo trip to Iowa to campaign for his wife Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. Asked by a reporter about Trump’s recent comments about him, the former president said that he doesn’t want to do anything now except help his wife’s campaign.

GOLDFIELD, Iowa (AP) — Texas Senator Ted Cruz says the arrests of two men suspected of being terrorists calls for a retroactive review of all refugees who have come to the United States from what he calls “high-risk countries.” The Republican presidential candidate reacted Thursday to the arrest in Texas of a man from Iraq accused of providing support to extremists and a man in California accused of traveling to Syria to fight, then lying to investigators.

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — Texas Senator Ted Cruz says fellow Senator John McCain is calling for an exploration of his right to run for president because he backs Marco Rubio for president. McCain said Wednesday that questions about Cruz’s eligibility, because he was born in Canada, should be explored. Cruz’s Republican rival Donald Trump has been raising the issue this week.

BOSTON (AP) — Boston College has hired Massachusetts native Jim Reid as defensive coordinator. Reid spent the last three years coaching linebackers at Iowa.

The leaders of Iowa’s two major political parties have unveiled some of the details of the new “app” for reporting results of the February 1st Iowa Caucuses. Iowa G-O-P chair Jeff Kaufmann calls it a “new technological era” for the party-run precinct caucuses. “That’s one of the reasons why we’re approaching this with a lot of enthusiasm and, quite frankly, a little bit of nervousness,” Kaufmann said. But Kaufmann says having the app developed by Microsoft has calmed most of those nerves. The company donated the programming time for the new app.

“It’s been interesting, educational and enjoyable — all at the same time,” Freck said, “and we’re looking forward to a great Caucus night on February 1st.” That’s Stan Freck. He’s Microsoft’s senior director of campaign technology. Someone at each precinct will be designated as the person who may use a smart phone to tabulate and report their precinct’s results on Caucus night. Iowa Democratic Party chair Andy McGuire says while the “app” isn’t available to the public yet, precinct leaders are getting a tutorial.

“Our Caucus team has held many regional training’s all across the state so far,” she says, “and will continue to hold training’s this month.” Cross-checks have been built into the system and it will be up to party leaders to trigger the “app” so the results will be available to the public. If the results as as “razor thin” as they were in the 2012 Iowa Republican Party Caucuses, the Iowa G-O-P’s chairman says they’ll wait as long as it takes to make sure the results are accurate.

As you may recall, Mitt Romney was declared the winner on January 3, 2012, but two weeks later after a canvas of the paperwork submitted by most of the G-O-P precincts, Rick Santorum was declared the victor.

(Radio Iowa)

Yesterday (Thursday) was Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul’s 53rd birthday and he spent it with his wife — campaigning in Iowa. During a stop in Sioux City, Paul denounced President Obama’s executive orders on guns. “I think what the president has done is unconstitutional because the constitution’s very clear that laws can only be created or passed by congress,” Paul says. “…We should do everything we can to stop this, not only because I think gun control doesn’t fix the problem — criminals tend not to pay too much attention to gun control — but because it endangers the balance of powers.”

Paul, who is a U.S. Senator from Kentucky, spoke to about 90 people in Sioux City’s Public Library and focused much of the discussion on foreign policy. Paul suggested the only way to pressure North Korea to stop its nuclear program is with “international pressure,” especially from North Korea’s neighbors. “I think North Korea is one of the few nuclear powers that has some instability, that’s putting it lightly, in their leadership,” Paul said. And Paul blamed both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton for failing to grasp the gravity of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

“When Bill Clinton was president he actually gave them $4 billion in foreign aide, hoping he would buy their discontinuing developing nuclear weapons and they took the $4 billion, pocketed it and laughed in our face,” Paul said. Paul also blasted former President Clinton for considering a trip to North Korea to give a paid speech while his wife was secretary of state. Paul spoke to about 70 people in Carroll yesterday, too, and he warned there will be economic consequences for the country if some of his rivals get their way on military spending.

“Every other Republican — Marco Rubio, Cruz, the works — they want to increase military spending by trillions of dollars. I’m the only one who says we can’t do that and be a strong nation, because you’ll go into bankruptcy,” Paul said. “On the Democratic side, they want to spend trillions of dollars, but for something else.”
The number one threat to the country is the federal government’s red ink, according to Paul, and he says the next president faces a bleak financial situation if the debt continues to grow.

“We will get weaker and weaker if we spend ourselves into a debtor’s prison,” Paul said. Last night (Thursday) Paul was in Boone to highlight his concerns about the government’s “eminent domain” power to seize private property for public projects. Some landowners in the Boone area are fighting a pipeline project. The pipeline would carry crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois.

(Radio Iowa)

A Red Oak woman was arrested this (Thursday) morning on an assault charge. Red Oak Police say 18-year old Alyssa May Wilkins was arrested for Simple Assault, at around 9:30-a.m.  She was taken into custody at a residence in the 2000 block of N. 8th Street and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where she was being held on $300 bond.

Lottery fever is expected to hit a lot more people in Iowa and nationwide after the 524 million dollar jackpot in the Powerball drawing went unclaimed last night. Iowa Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer. “Nobody won the jackpot nationwide in lst night’s Powerball drawing, so we are now into historic territory,” she says. Neubauer says the next jackpot will surpass the Powerball record jackpot of 590-point-five million dollars won by a Florida woman on May 18, 2013.

The latest figures from the Lottery show Saturday’s jackpot at $700-million. That tops the largest lottery jackpot in the world, which was a 656 million dollar Mega Millions prize won on March 30, 2012. It was split by three tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. If you choose the lump sum payout instead of the annuity, that would give you $428.4-million dollars.

Iowa Lottery players bought more than four million in Powerball tickets for Wednesday’s drawing, including more than two-point-seven million dollars in tickets on Wednesday alone. The Powerball tickets were selling at a rate of more than 68-hundred dollars each minute in Iowa during the busiest stretch from five to six p-m.

“Something that we are already seeing here in Iowa is that retailers are running out of paper for our terminals. We did our best to provide extra ticket stock in advance. We are doing our best to get out to those terminals that have run out of paper already,” according to Neubauer. The excitement of the big jackpot has added another set of ticket buyers to the regular mix.

“Not only are regular Powerball players playing — but first-time players are jumping in — which is great, but then we’re trying to explain an entire game to someone who has never played before,” Neubauer says. “We are just answering lots and lots of questions about Powerball. It’s very fun, but it’s very hectic at the same time.” There are 292 million different combinations of numbers you can select when you buy a ticket. Neubauer says more people buying tickets could mean more of the combinations are chosen and there could be a winner. But, that is not a certainty.

“We knew heading into last night’s jackpot drawing that the coverage was relatively low — it was only about 40 percent. I’ve seen coverage much higher than that,” Neubauer says. “I would anticipate that the coverage — meaning how many of all of those possible combinations of those numbers have been purchased — would be much higher on Saturday night, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” The numbers drawn Wednesday’s drawing were: 2-11-47-62-63 and the Powerball was 17. While the jackpot went unclaimed, Iowa Lottery players won nearly 74-thousand lower tier prizes.

(Radio Iowa)

In the past week, three more skimming devices were found on gas pumps in Omaha-Council Bluffs, gadgets identity thieves use to gather data from credit cards customers swipe at the pump. Back in October, skimmers were found on pumps in Davenport and Omaha. Ron Murtaugh, police chief in the Omaha suburb of Ralston, says these devices are more sophisticated, utilizing advanced technology to steal data. “Now, they’re Bluetooth-enabled,” Chief Murtaugh says. “Somebody can pull up within relatively close proximity and download it into either a cell phone or similar device.”

The chief recommends gas station owners everywhere have their equipment checked regularly as these crooks are wily, sometime installing redundant skimmers. “One of the business owners was proactive and contacted their maintenance folks who came out and located an additional skimming device in one of their pumps,” he says. The experts say it’s impossible for consumers to know if a skimming device is on the pump or even -inside- the pump. You may not know your card has been compromised until strange charges start to appear on your bill.

“The skimming device captures the information as it gets transmitted to inside the building to their credit card processing,” Murtaugh says. “They then take that data and generate new credit cards off the data that’s captured or they’ll take that data and purchase things online where you don’t have to have a physical card.” If you use a credit card, authorities recommend you closely review every line of your bill every month.

(Radio Iowa)

Atlantic Public Library Director Natalie Struecker updated the City Council Wednesday night on activities at the library over the next couple of months. Many of the activities, she said focus on things for kids to do. Including special program from Iowa Public Television [IPTV] at 2:15-p.m., on Jan. 20th.

Struecker says they’ll also be celebrating “Winnie the Pooh Day” for Pre-K through 3rd graders on Jan. 25th, at 3:30-p.m., and making Valentines Feb. 9th at 3:30-p.m. for grades K-through 3. Later on in February (the 22nd, at 3:30-p.m.), the Atlantic Public Library will host “Fairytale Day.” There are activities designed for those in their “Tween” years, as well, including Harry Potter Trivia and Coding.

Adults have no shortage of activities at the library. Struecker says a new group “Coloring and Conversation” has formed. They meet the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month, from 9:30-until 11-a.m, on the 1st Thursday, and from 5:30-until 7:30-p.m. on the third Thursday. Supplies will be provided. There are also Technology classes, including one for those who want to learn about their Iphone and Ipad. Those sessions are set for today (Thursday, 1/7), at 2-p.m., and Monday, Feb. 15th, at 6-p.m.

Android Smartphone and Tablet users can learn more about those devices 2-p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14th and on Monday, Feb. 29th, at 6-p.m. Adults can also learn how to download books. The next session is Feb. 18th at 4-p.m. Representatives with the Alzheimer’s Association will be at the Atlantic Public Library Jan. 12th, beginning at 2-p.m. to talk about the 10 warning signs of memory loss.

Struecker also spoke about their online tutoring service called “HelpNow.” She said students grade K-through those in their second year of college can connect with a live tutor from 2-pm until 11-pm every day of the week. All you need to use the service is your library card number.

For more information on programs and activities at the Atlantic Public Library, go to www.atlantic.lib.ia.us , or call 243-5466.