(Radio Iowa) – Republican state lawmakers retained control of the House and Senate after a successful election and are keeping the same leadership for the next session. Representative Pat Grassley of New Hartford was re-elected Speaker of the House Tuesday, and Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley remains House Majority Leader.

Both first gained those positions in 2019. Republicans re-elected Jack Whitver as Senate majority leader, a position he has held since 2018. Whitver has been undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.

But information released from the Senate says recent scans have shown that the tumor is shrinking and many of his symptoms have improved. Senate Republicans also reelected Amy Sinclair as Senate President.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Dallas County was arrested last week on sexual offense charges. Authorities say on November 5^th, 2024, Cass County Sheriff’s deputies made contact with a female truck driver who was reporting to have been victim of a sex offense while traveling on Interstate 80.

The woman told Deputies that she was traveling East on I-80 near mile-marker 57 (The Olive Street Exit), when a man driving a black Ford F-150 pickup pulled alongside her, matched the speed of the woman’s vehicle, and began exposing himself and his genitalia to her while traveling.  His alleged activities took place off and on for approximately 30 to 40 minutes.

Shawn Assman

Once the man realized that the reporting party was contacting the police, he sped off.  The male subject, later identified as 38-year-old Shawn Assman, of Waukee, was arrested for continuing his alleged activities into Dallas County.  During the investigation, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office worked with the DeSoto Police Department to find that Assman had admitted to masturbating twice before his arrest.

With the victim’s statements along with corroborating evidence from DeSoto Police Department, Assman was charged with Indecent Exposure and a warrant was signed for his arrest.

Assman turned himself-in on the warrant November 7th. He was released after posting bond.

(Radio Iowa) – A central Iowa man is the first ever in the state to win the highest level of the multi-state “Lucky for Life” lottery game. Sixty-four-year-old Shelby Willis of Des Moines won the one-thousand dollar a day for life top prize. Willis says the clerk was surprised when he went to the Quick Trip Saturday where he bought the ticket as he says her jaw dropped, and then she got a big smile on her face.

Shelby Willis (IA Lottery photo)

Willis is an Air Force veteran, so he wasn’t upset about having to wait until today (Tuesday) to cash in the ticket as the Lottery Headquarters was closed Monday for Veterans Day.

Willis is taking a lump sum payout five-point-75 million dollars.

(Radio Iowa) – Medical researchers at the University of Iowa report promising progress in fighting one of the worst cancer killers. The phase-two clinical trial found that adding high-dose, intravenous vitamin C to chemotherapy doubles the overall survival rate of patients with late-stage pancreatic cancer from eight months to 16. The study’s lead author says the results were so strong in showing the therapy’s benefits for survival that they stopped the trial early.

The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is only 13-percent. Some 64,000 people will be diagnosed with it nationwide this year, and more than 50,000 will die from it. UI researchers say the use of vitamin C in an IV also shows a significant boost in survival rates for patients with glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer. It’s also being tested at the UI in lung cancer treatment. The researchers say vitamin C is very inexpensive to use in an IV — and it’s very well tolerated by patients.

All three clinical trials were funded by the National Cancer Institute.

(Radio Iowa) – University of Iowa researchers have landed a $10-million federal grant to develop a new treatment for ovarian cancer. Jill Kolesar, dean of the U-I College of Pharmacy, is working on a drug that will make ovarian tumors more sensitive to immunotherapy by helping the immune system recognize cells around them. Kolesar says this could bring ovarian cancer treatment into the 21st century.

“Treatment paradigm for ovarian cancer has not changed in the last 30, 40 years,” Kolesar says. “We still use a doublet of chemotherapy, which has a lot of adverse effects and is not all that effective. Most people with ovarian cancer still die of their cancers.”

It’s estimated more than 12,000 women nationwide will die from ovarian cancer this year, according to federal data. Kolesar says ovarian cancer is often diagnosed in the late stages. “It kind of grows in your abdomen where there’s plenty of space and before it starts causing symptoms, it’s usually pretty big,” she says, “and the bigger cancers are, the later stage they are, the harder they are to treat.” She says the cancer is also often made of cells that hide from the immune system, making it hard to target and nearly always fatal.

The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.