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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge sentenced an Arizona woman on Thursday to six years in prison for using a cutting torch to damage the Dakota Access pipeline in Iowa and setting fire to pipeline equipment in three counties in 2016 and 2017. The judge also ordered Ruby Katherine Montoya, 32, to pay nearly $3.2 million in restitution together with Jessica Reznicek, a woman who helped her. Montoya pleaded guilty to conspiracy to damage an energy facility. She admitted to helping Reznicek and others damage the pipeline in several locations in Iowa. “The sentence imposed today demonstrates that...

He has a new, carefully groomed beard. He bantered with bros for hours on an irreverent comedy podcast. And on Tuesday, he criticized the Trump administration through an appeal to patriotism in a state early on the presidential nominating calendar. Pete Buttigieg is inching back into the Democrats’ spotlight this spring with a series of appearances that have prompted speculation about how one of the party’s most evidently ambitious politicians might spend the lead-up to 2028. With Democrats still searching for a direction and a standard-bearer after November’s loss to President Trump, supporters of Mr. Buttigieg, a smooth-talking former mayor...

Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) filed paperwork Monday to run for Iowa governor in 2026, as multiple Republicans continue to weigh the opportunity to replace Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) when her term ends. The Hill’s attempts to reach Feenstra and his campaign team were unsuccessful. Feenstra, who was first elected to the House in 2020, has been openly mulling a gubernatorial bid since Reynolds announced on social media last month that she won’t seek a third full term. “I’ll tell you right now, I’m focused on fulfilling and making sure that we get Trump’s agenda completed,” Feenstra told reporters after an...

The Iowa House passed legislation Monday to legalize the use of psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in “magic mushrooms,” for psychiatric treatment through a state program. House File 978, passed 84-6, would establish a Psilocybin Production Establishment Licensing Board within the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, operating in a similar fashion to the existing Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board that oversees Iowa’s medical cannabis program. The board would grant licenses for the production and administration of products with psilocybin to people with certain mental health needs in the state. The bill also sets new requirements for who can access...

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) announced on Friday morning that she will not seek reelection in 2026. In a video posted on social media, Gov. Reynolds told voters, “Serving as your governor has been the greatest honor of my life — an opportunity that, not so long ago, I never could have imagined.” The politician expressed gratitude for the trust fellow Iowans placed in her before saying that she wanted to share a “personal decision” with her constituents.

OMAHA, Neb. — Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced "justice will finally be served for Sarah Root." Rubio said on Friday that the Trump administration announced the extradition of Root's alleged killer from Honduras to the U.S. On Jan. 31, 2016, Root was killed in a crash near 33rd and L streets. Police believe Eswin Mejia was driving drunk and street racing when he hit Sarah's car at a stoplight. Mejia, who was in the country illegally, was not put on an immigration hold. He posted $5,000 of his bond and vanished.

The Iowa Legislature has advanced House Study Bill 262 out of committee by a vote of 17-4. The bill repeals legislative bans on the possession, acquisition, or carrying of handguns or handgun ammunition by adults aged 18-20. Several appellate court decisions have made clear young adults, 18-20 years old, are members of the people who have a right to keep and bear arms protected by the Second Amendment. Iowa falls under the jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. On July 16, 2024, a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit unanimously confirmed the rights protected...

Iowa is set to become the first state to roll back previously passed civil rights protections based on “gender identity.” On Thursday, the legislators at the Iowa state House passed a bill along party lines that would remove gender identity from the list of those specifically protected against “discrimination” in the state’s civil rights act. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has signaled that she will sign the bill into law. The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Representative Steven C. Holt, maintained that including transgenderism in the civil rights act was illegitimate because transgenderism is based on “feelings” not on “immutable truth,” and...

Tegucigalpa - The National Police of Honduras reported that it captured Eswin Mejía, also known as Edwin G. Mejía, Eswin Gabriel Mejía and Gabriel Eswin Mejía, who was wanted by the authorities of the United States of America for extradition purposes. Mejía is the alleged perpetrator of the death of American citizen Sarah Root in 2016 and has remained a fugitive from justice since then. The arrest took place on February 27, 2025 in the village of Río Frío, municipality of San Nicolás, department of Santa Bárbara. The operation was carried out by various special search and capture units of...

Transgender activists stormed the Iowa Capitol on Thursday as lawmakers consider a bill that would eliminate “gender identity” as a protected class from state civil rights law. “Hundreds of Iowans again packed the Iowa Capitol rotunda to protest the bill, waving pride flags, holding signs and chanting ‘no hate in our state’ and ‘you represent us.’ A line of protesters led out the building’s door as more people waited to be let inside,” the Des Moines Register reported.

The story of a 1996 altercation in the parking lot of a Council Bluffs casino has seen new light after anonymous tips were made to news outlets in Seattle. Bruce Harrell, who was elected as the mayor of Seattle in 2021, allegedly confronted a person with a weapon and resisted arrest nearly three decades ago while outside the Ameristar Casino in Council Bluffs. The now-mayor said the incident was an example of racial profiling, and it inspired his position on police accountability. Harrell moved from Seattle to Omaha in the mid-1990s with his wife Joanne, who had accepted a job...

The top executives of a company accused of abandoning junked wind-turbine blades across Iowa say they shouldn’t be held liable for their companies’ actions. Last fall, the State of Iowa sued a Washington-state company and its executives for allegedly dumping tons of old wind-turbine blades around Iowa, in violation of the state’s solid-waste laws. The lawsuit alleges that for over seven years, Global Fiberglass Solutions failed to properly dispose of decommissioned wind-turbine blades and stockpiled them at multiple locations in Iowa. The lawsuit, filed in Iowa District Court for Jasper County, seeks payment of civil penalties and a court injunction...

There's an old military saying about a certain material, which was often found on parade grounds back in the days of horse-mounted troops, and how it tends to roll downhill. That's a metaphor, of course, for how pressure on senior officers tends to flow downwards to junior officers, to NCOs, and eventually to the E-4 Mafia and the private soldiers. But in the military as well as in government, sometimes good ideas roll downhill, too. As an example, we have a very good idea, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) being set up by the incoming Trump administration. Now, Iowa...

U. Iowa Paid MSNBC Host Joy Reid $55K to Speak on Campus “An Afternoon with Joy Reid” .. I think I can speak for everyone when I ask… Why? ... A contract signed by Reid and the University of Iowa outlines the financial terms of the agreement which includes the flat rate fee of $55,000, as well as deems the university liable for various other non-essential accommodations. “In addition the Fee, [the University of Iowa] shall provide ground transportation via University Car Service and pay for first-class hotel accommodations, meals, and incidentals for Speaker and one other person.” Reid is...

Is Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., having his Joni Ernst moment? It sure seems like it. On Wednesday, the Hoosier State’s senior senator told CNN mouthpiece Manu Raju he’s still undecided as to whether he will support Pete Hegseth’s nomination to become the next secretary of defense. The comments came after the two veterans met to discuss Hegseth’s potential promotion earlier that day. “I haven’t decided yet, as I’ve shared with him and happy to share with others…We had a good meeting. It was an extensive conversation, and he answered the questions I asked,” Young reportedly said. “We had a very...

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst's husband Gail claimed in divorce papers she cheated on him with a soldier while she served in the National Guard in the early 2000s.. Gail, 65, blasted Joni in attempt to receive alimony payments, lawyer fees and remove her from their home in Red Oak, Iowa, citing 'bizarre behavior'.. He claims the Republican politician, 48, 'walked around the house nude, laid out nude on the back patio, and attempted to crawl into bed naked with him at night'.. The former military man claims he was like a single parent raising their daughter Libby because Joni's career...

“Just 3 percent of the federal workforce teleworked daily prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, 6 percent of workers report in-person on a full-time basis, while nearly one-third are entirely remote,” the report said. A Republican senator is proposing a bill that she says would give the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency a head start on making government more efficient. Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa has proposed the REMOTE Act, which will monitor bureaucrats' computer use and require agencies to report on the downside of telework, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail. The bill would require that agencies...

Only 6% of federal employees work from an office full-time, and a third are fully remote. And some aren’t actually working when they “work from home,” a Senate investigation found.“Washington is still operating as if it’s March 2020,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), the chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus and the report’s author, wrote.“Just three percent of the federal workforce teleworked daily prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, six percent of workers report in-person on a full-time basis, while nearly one-third are entirely remote,” the report states. Government office buildings have an occupancy rate of only 12%, yet the government...

Thursday on FNC’s “America’s Newsroom,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) declined to support former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary. The Iowa Republican said that the vetting process needed to continue. “I did have a very long, lengthy discussion with Pete yesterday,” she said. “I appreciate his service to the nation. I, too, am also a combat veteran. So we talked about a number of those issues and will continue with the vetting process. I think that is incredibly important. So again, all I’m saying is we had a very frank and productive discussion. And...

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has been leading an “aggressive” personal jihad against Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, multiple sources within Trump world with direct knowledge of her outreach to Trump told The Federalist on Wednesday.Ernst’s efforts included personal calls to Trump to urge him to dump Hegseth ahead of her meeting with the Army veteran on Wednesday afternoon. Ernst did not tell Hegseth during her meeting with him about her efforts to derail his nomination, sources told The Federalist.“She’s waging a campaign to replace Pete with herself,” a Trump source familiar with her phone calls with Trump...