(Radio Iowa) – The estimated Mega Millions jackpot for tonight’s (Tuesday) drawing is one-point-one BILLION dollars — making it the fifth largest U-S jackpot. Iowa Lottery spokesperson, Mary Neubauer, says the jackpot has been growing since October 14th. “That’s the thing about a game like Powerball or Mega Millions you just never know when the next big one is going to hit,” she says. “So when it hits, everybody starts talking about it, it becomes that thing that everybody’s getting in on — and then we’ll wait to see what the next one brings.”

Neubauer says people like to pool their money for big jackpots and it is important to be sure everyone involved knows what is happening. “Keep really close track of who puts money into the pool and how much — so that there’s never a question later about who was in and who was out,” Neubauer says. “It’s something fun at the time and we just don’t want it to turn into a complication later.”

Blank forms for the Mega Millions lottery (File photo)

She says you also need to remember the cutoff time for buying a Mega Millions ticket in Iowa is 8:59 p-m. Any ticket purchase after that time is for the next drawing. You can opt to take the cash payout if you win the jackpot and bring home nearly 569 million dollars.

(Shenandoah, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 8:45-p.m. Monday in Shenandoah, resulted in an arrest. According to the Shenandoah Police Department, 39-year-old David Anthony Chambers, of Shenandoah, was taken into custody for Driving While Barred, and OWI/3rd or subsequent offense. Chambers was also cited for Open Container. He was being held in the Page County Jail on bond amounting to $7,000.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report a man from Union County was arrested late Monday night, in Red Oak. Mathew Garcia was taken into custody in the 100 block of W. Coolbaugh Street at around 11-p.m.  He was arrested on an active Montgomery County warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Driving while license denied or revoked. Garcia was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley was at the Iowa Capitol Monday for the opening day of the state legislature, so he could administer the oath of office to his grandson, who is House Speaker.

Chuck Grassley served 16 years in the IOWA House before his election to congress. State Representative Pat Grassley is entering his 17th year in the Iowa legislature. “I will guarantee you I will still not being doing this, though, as long as he has, either way,” Pat Grassley said, to laughter. The 89-year-old Grassley is entering his 43rd year in the U.S. Senate and has the most seniority of any current senator. Grassley says when he left the Iowa House in 1974, he wasn’t sure his campaign for a seat in the U.S. House would be successful, as he faced four other candidates in a G-O-P Primary.

U.S. Senator Grassley swears in his grandson Pat as Speaker of the Iowa House. (Photo from Pat Grassley’s Twitter feed.)

“I was in the hospital, don’t forget, for 10 or 15 days before that primary and so my wife went out and campaigned for me and a lot of other people did and I won the primary with 42% of the vote,” Grassley says. “But at that point, when you’re laying in a hospital bed, you wonder what’s going to happen to you. In fact, I had to wait two days to decide whether they were going to amputate my leg or take care of it another way.” Grassley had a non-malignant tumor on his left leg.

Doctors at the University of Iowa used what was a new procedure at the time to transplant bone chips from Grassley’s hip into the area where bone had been removed from his lower leg. “Now, if you saw it on X-rays, you’d just see a little mark around where they grafted it in,” Grassley said. “But they took more than two thirds of the bone below the knee.” Grassley was on crutches then, for the rest of the 1974 campaign. Grassley then served six years in the U.S. House before his election to the United States Senate in 1980.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds will deliver the annual “Condition of the State” address the legislature this (Tuesday) evening. During remarks at a G-O-P fundraiser, Reynolds told Republican lawmakers she’ll outline “big ideas” tonight.  “We ran as unapologetic conservatives,” Reynolds said, “and not only did Iowans approve of the job that we’re doing, they gave us a mandate to continue to be bold and to continue to be decisive.”

Lawmakers expect Reynolds to unveil a new, more expansive plan to give parents state money to cover private school expenses. Reynolds is featured touting “school choice” in a new T-V ad financed by a conservative political action committee. Senate G-O-P Leader Jack Whitver has made clear Republicans in the Senate will back a “school choice” plan in 2023.

“If it’s good to have a choice in preschools and community colleges and in apprenticeships and four-year colleges and universities, then Iowa K-12 parents and students should have the choice to choose the school that’s best for their family,” Whitver said. Democrats have opposed the governor’s private school plans in each of the past two years and Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls says they will again in 2023.

“It will magnify inequality and it will hit rural communities the hardest,” Wahls says, “forcing more school consolidation and driving more families away from our small towns.” House Speaker Pat Grassley says he’s optimistic House Republicans will approve an education reform package that includes state funds for parents who enroll their kids in a private school.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Department reports the arrest on Friday (January 6th, 2023), of Meghan Paulsen. The 42-year old Atlantic woman was arrested on warrants for Child Endangerment.  Paulsen turned herself in to the Cass County Jail where she was booked and held pending her later release on bond.

On December 31st, 2022 Deputies in Cass County arrested 52-year-old Craig Griffin, of Wiota, on a warrant for Violation of Probation.  Griffin was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release on his own recognizance. That same day, 43-year-old Joshua Mullen, of Corning, was arrested in Cass County on the charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance 3rd or Subsequent Offense.  Mullen was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release on bond.

On December 30th, 51-year-old Joel Lary, of Massena, was arrested on the charges of OWI 2nd Offense, Driving While Revoked, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Harassment 3rd Degree.  Lary was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release on his own recognizance.