Iowa
Auditor Rob Sand says his office did not ignore court spending errors • Iowa Capital Dispatch
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand disputed claims made by Republican leaders that his office was aware of a coding error that led to a misallocation of court debt funds years before taking action on the issue.
Sand held a news conference Tuesday about his report on the Iowa Judicial Branch, which found that $27.5 million in court debt receipts had been misallocated due to a coding error. The report had followed up on letters sent to the auditor’s office by House Speaker Pat Grassley and Iowa Department of Management Director Kraig Paulsen that more than $53 million of these funds had been misallocated — an amount Sand said was inaccurate.
In an October letter to Sand, Grassley wrote that the auditor’s office had been alerted of a financial irregularity by the Department of Transportation in 2022, but that these issues were not mentioned in the judicial branch audits for fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
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“I am writing to gain an understanding from you as to why your office has taken no action since being made aware of these drastic issues at least two years ago,” Grassley wrote. “The State Auditor’s office exists for this very purpose. When you are made aware of misallocated funds by a branch of government, it is your duty to Iowans to investigate, alert the public, and seek to rectify the issue. Your inaction in this case is baffling and inexcusable. If there is any other explanation why it appears that the taxpayer’s watchdog was sleeping on the job, I would be very interested to hear it.”
Sand said the auditor’s office has been in contact with officials from the state judicial branch and DOT multiple times after being notified of the issue in October 2022, and that the office remained in contact with the judicial branch in conducting internal and independent investigations into the issue.
According to the auditor’s report, there were seven state funds that were under-allocated because of the error from fiscal years 2021 through 2024 — the largest being the Road Use Tax Fund, which was under-allocated by more than $10.4 million, and the Victim Compensation Fund by $7.2 million. In the same time period, the state general fund received an over-allocation of $27.5 million, in addition to the SOS Revolving Fund being over-allocated $90,174 and the Jury Witness Fund by $74,166.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird released a statement in October criticizing the auditor’s office for failing to catch the misallocation related to the Victim Compensation Fund that goes toward services like sexual assault examinations, medical reimbursements and counseling.
“No domestic violence victim should have to stay with their abuser because they cannot afford to leave,” Bird said. “The State’s self-proclaimed ‘taxpayer watchdog’ failed at the most basic job of being an auditor: conducting an audit. Crime victims should not have to worry about whether victim services will be there when they need them.”
But Sand pushed back against Bird’s characterization of the issue, saying that the underfunded government accounts never ran out of money when they were impacted by the error.
Sand asked for an apology to his staff for the criticism of the auditor’s office over this subject, and making it a “political” issue.
“I’m asking again, the people who distort the facts around this issue for political gain to publicly apologize to our staff — I would settle for a private apology to our staff that works on these issues,” Sand said. “These accountants and the auditors in this office, they work long hours. It is a difficult profession to be in right now, … Our employees know that their families and their friends are seeing these headlines, and they know that they’re doing their job, they know that they are doing good quality work. But because of these attacks, they have to deal with it. They shouldn’t have to, and they deserve an apology.”
Paulsen, speaking with reporters Tuesday, said although the funds impacted by the error retained money despite the misallocation, it does not mean services — and their recipients in the state — were not affected by the lack of funds.
“You don’t spend your bank account down to zero every month, and neither do state entities funded by court debt,” Paulsen said. “When the funds run low, you cut back and so do state entities. Have citizens been harmed? That’s a question the Legislature should ask.”
While Sand said his office has never had staff with the ability to review coding to check for problems like in this case, Paulsen said the fact the misallocation occurred because of a coding error should not have prevented the office from being able to identify the funding irregularities.
“Don’t get bogged down in thinking auditing has anything to do with coding or programming a computer,” Paulsen said. “… [I]f that was the case, that you had to understand some computer language to audit, then how does the auditor of state do a single audit? How do they go from agency to agency? … There’s still a few very small communities who use paper, but otherwise, there’s no government in the state of Iowa that doesn’t have their financials in the computer system. So if that’s a limitation, how do they … do any of their audits? And the truth is, they do, because it’s not a limitation.”
The programming errors that led to the funds misallocations were found to have likely began after changes were made to the judicial branch’s information technology system for the process for distributing judicial fees and fines to government programs in 2020 and 2021, as directed by the Iowa Legislature.
While the error has been fixed moving forward, the misallocation that occurred in previous years cannot be fixed through administrative action, although the Legislature could take action when lawmakers reconvene in January 2025.
State Court Administrator Robert Gast said in a letter Dec. 6 that the judicial branch has implemented “new programming to correct programming errors in its case management system” as of Nov. 22, 2024, including retroactive corrections to distributions dating back to July 1, 2024. It has also contracted with a third party to review programming changes made to the branch’s IT system, is working with the state auditor “to set up an engagement to review the financial findings and verify that the over and under allocation numbers and the funds impacted as calculated by JBIT are accurate” and is developing an internal process to audit future programming changes.
“The branch cannot move funds that were misallocated in prior fiscal years,” Gast wrote. “We are interested and willing to work with all court debt stakeholders to correct all misallocations from FY21 through FY24.”
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The late boxing great George Foreman lies buried in a cemetery in the northwestern corner of Iowa – a place he has no connection to outside of a lone visit to the region nearly 40 years ago.
Foreman died March 21, 2025, at the age of 76 in Houston and was buried in Logan Park Cemetery at Sioux City, Iowa, a month later, city officials confirmed. Foreman’s family returned Thursday to his burial site, holding a news conference with Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott to reveal Foreman’s burial place, marked by a large monument that bears an image of him as a teen following his Olympic gold medal boxing win.
The family explained in a statement released by Sioux City officials that he had visited the Iowa city in 1988, and often recalled the sense of peace he experienced there.
After traveling to the city on April 17 last year to bury Foreman, his family said they immediately understood the region’s appeal.
“Our father lived a life of purpose, faith and gratitude,” the family said in a statement released by Sioux City officials. “To see him laid to rest in a place that brought him peace means everything to us.”
Scott joined the family at Foreman’s monument that lies just a few miles north of the Missouri River in an upper Midwest city of nearly 87,000 people. The cemetery overlooks the scenic Loess Hills, created by windblown silt deposits that reach up to 200 feet high (about 61 meters) and line the river along the Iowa border for 200 miles (322 kilometers).
“Their story is a reminder of how one place can stay with someone for a lifetime,” Scott said.
A native Texan, Foreman rose to fame when he made the 1968 U.S. Olympic boxing team, winning gold in Mexico City. He became the heavyweight champion of the world in 1973 by defeating the great Joe Frazier, only to lose the title a year later to Muhammad Ali in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.”
A full 20 years later in 1994, Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship at 45, defeating Michael Moorer in an epic upset.
Foreman retired in 1997 with a 76-5 career record.
He then moved on to the next chapter in his life as a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor, becoming known to a new generation as the face of the George Foreman Grill. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and brought him more wealth than boxing.
A biographical movie based on Foreman’s life was released in 2023.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) — About 50 Iowans braved the threat of severe storms to hear from Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn at his town hall in Dubuque Friday night.
Lahn, a farmer and businessman, said his campaign is about solving the long-term systemic issues facing Iowans.
One priority is addressing what Lahn calls a cancer crisis in Iowa, as the state has the second-highest cancer rate in the country. Solving the crisis means ensuring Iowans have access to clean, nitrate-free drinking water, working with farmers to reduce agricultural runoff.
“Iowans are just ready for something that they should be able to count on, like clean drinking water,” Lahn said. “We have ways to clean up the drinking water in Iowa that isn’t on the backs of farmers, but is working alongside with them because they’re drinking the water too, and they want to do what’s right.”
Lahn also wants to stop Iowa’s “brain drain,” as more of Iowa’s college graduates left the state for opportunities elsewhere.
“Don’t leave! Give me some time! I’m going to fight to keep you here,” Lahn said. “I was one of these kids. I thought I had to leave the state to find something better. We have to prioritize Iowa’s incentive dollars to make sure they’re going to grow Iowa businesses that are going to be here for the long haul, so our kids have places to work.”
Running a distinct campaign feels challenging this election, as Lahn is one of five GOP candidates who want to be Iowa’s next governor, facing U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, former Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state Rep. Brad Sherman.
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand is the only Democrat running for the state’s top office.
Lahn said he stands out by promising Iowa will be for Iowans, pledging to ban the use of eminent domain for private gain and tax out-of-state landowners and data centers at higher rates to lower property taxes.
“It always goes back to follow the money, so when it comes to not being a weak-kneed Republican today, I believe the paramount piece of that is answering only to the citizens of Iowa, not to special interests to pad their bottom line, but what’s best for the people of Iowa,” Lahn said.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa State announced Thursday the addition of women’s wrestling as its 18th varsity sport, with the program scheduled to begin competition during the 2027-28 academic year. The team is the first varsity sport added at the university since soccer in 1996. Iowa State will be the 12th school in the state of Iowa to have an NCAA women’s wrestling program.
The Cyclones will be only the second Power Four institution to feature a varsity women’s wrestling program, joining the University of Iowa.
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The university appointed Alli St. John, a two-time World Wrestling Championships silver medalist, as the program’s first head coach. St. John, who has spent the last three years with the Cyclone Regional Training Center, was a two-time women’s college national champion at King University.
“I am incredibly honored and grateful for the opportunity to be the first head coach of women’s wrestling at Iowa State University,” St. John said. “This is a historic moment not only for Iowa State University, but for the sport of wrestling, too. Iowa State has a rich wrestling tradition, and I’m excited to expand that legacy on the women’s side as we work to build a premier program in Ames that produces not only NCAA champions, but World and Olympic champions as well.”
The program will support a roster of 30 student-athletes with 10 scholarship equivalents, matching the scholarship limit of the men’s team. Official competitions will be held in Hilton Coliseum, with practice facilities in Beyer Hall.
The university also announced a major restructuring of its wrestling leadership, naming long-time men’s head coach Kevin Dresser as the Director of Wrestling. In this new capacity, Dresser will oversee both programs, assisting with fundraising and mentoring the coaching staff, which includes newly promoted men’s head coach Brent Metcalf.
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“The addition of women’s wrestling is an exciting opportunity for Iowa State Athletics,” Dresser said. “The fact that it is one of the fastest growing sports at the high school level coupled with the overall love of wrestling in the state of Iowa makes this a very good decision. I can envision the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk dual already and the excitement it will bring to the sport. I am excited to roll up my sleeves and help start another wrestling program.”
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