Iowa

Here’s how you can help Greenfield Iowa recover from Tuesday’s tornado

Published

2 years ago

May 22, 2024

Here’s how you can help Greenfield Iowa recover from Tuesday’s tornado

Unimaginable damage is how the Adair County Sheriff’s Department described the result of the tornado that hit Greenfield, Iowa, Tuesday evening. The city is collecting monetary donations and looking for equipment to help aid in the town’s recovery.

Multiple fatalities and at least a dozen injuries have been reported in Greenfield. It’s not yet known how strong the tornado was or the full extent of the damage. But, much of the town of about 2,000 people has been damaged.

Volunteers asked to stay out of Greenfield, Iowa

Volunteer help is on hold until at least after Wednesday to allow for emergency officials to complete searches, officials said.

Those wanting to help should prioritize making donations versus traveling on their own to Greenfield.

Where to go if you are in need of medical attention?

Adair County Health System is located in Methodist Church in Greenfield for the rest of the week. The address is 108 SW 5th St. Greenfield, Iowa 50849 and open from 7:30 to 6 p.m. The Adair County Health clinic is open for walk-in patients with minor injuries or illness with no scheduled appointments, according to the ACHS Facebook page.

What to do if someone is missing, injured or in need of shelter.

Call 712-732-1314 if you or someone you know is injured, missing or in need of shelter.

What items do Greenfield residents need?

The Adair County Free Press posted a list of requested items by Greenfield residents Wednesday. Any of the following items can be brought to the Creston News Advertiser office at 503 W. Adams St. in nearby Creston.

Here are items Greenfield residents requested in the aftermath of the tornado:

Plastic storage bags
Permanent markers
Totes
Packing tape
Scissors
Disinfecting wipes
Ponchos
Trash bags
Working gloves
First aid kits
Batteries of all sizes
Toilet paper
Paper towels
Shovels
Rakes
Diapers
Baby wipes
Baby formula
Non-perishable baby food
Clothing items (see post for specific size requests)

Access to Greenfield, Iowa is limited after tornado

The Adair Sheriff’s Department said in a Facebook post in the early hours of Wednesday morning that access to Greenfield must be limited to ensure aid can enter the town. Anyone trying to enter the town must provide identification and nonresidents may be turned away.

“In speaking with those who responded to the tornado that struck towns in western Iowa earlier this spring, these steps are needed to prevent a tremendous amount of nonessential people from slowing down the progress of those who are essential to clean up, especially utility crews trying to restore power to the city,” according to the Facebook post.

There are state troopers at most entrances to Greenfield. The emergency proclmation also imposes a curfew for the city between 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. After those hours, you will need identification to prove you are essential help.

More: Where is Greenfield, Iowa? Here’s what we know about the deadly tornado

How to get credentialed to enter Greenfield, Iowa following tornado

Before you can help on the grounds in Greenfield, you must be credentialed to easily enter city limits, according to the Adair Sheriff’s Office.

Visit the Iowa DOT Maintenance shed at 2313 State Highway 92, just east of Greenfield, for credentialing. The process began at 9 a.m. Wednesday. A large red Hy-Vee semi-trailer is expected to be the hub for credentialing, according to the Adair County Sheriff’s Department.

Once you approach a checkpoint, you will need identification showing a Greenfield address or a specific location you are going to help. Be prepared to call someone at the address to verify where you are going, according to the Adair County Sheriff’s Office.

Updates: Tornado, storm damage still being felt in Iowa as clean up begins

How to volunteer to help Greenfield?

The Adair County Sheriff’s Office asked anyone willing to lend manpower or equipment for cleanup efforts to comment their contact information on a Facebook post made by the department on Tuesday. The department asked that volunteers refrain from calling the dispatch number because lines are busy.

Anyone who doesn’t want their direct number on the Facebook post can directly message the sheriff’s office Facebook page, according to the post.

Where is the community shelter in Greenfield?

There is a community shelter in Greenfield at the Nodaway Valley Community High School at 410 NW. 2nd St. The American Red Cross sent a trailer of supplies including water and blankets Tuesday evening.

Iowa’s American Red Cross Division posted to their Facebook that the agency is actively working with local emergency management in impacted areas from the severe weather on Tuesday. The American Red Cross is supporting the independent community shelter, according to the social media post.

The aid organization is still assessing the needs of the community to determine how to help.

How to make donations to Greenfield, Iowa tornado recovery

FNB Bank and Union State Bank, two local banks in Greenfield, are accepting monetary donations for tornado damage from Tuesday.

Donations can also be made to Greenfield’s foundation at greenfieldiafoundation.org.

The Red Cross is also accepting donations at redcross.org/ia.

Who to contact for assistance from severe weather in Iowa?

The red cross has a hotline for anyone in need of assistance from the severe weather, according to the organizations Facebook post.

You can call 1-800-RED-CROSS or 1-800-733-2767.

“We will continue to prove comfort and support to our fellow Iowans in the coming days and weeks,” the Red Cross Facebook post stated.

Kate Kealey is a general assignment reporter for the Register. Reach her at kkealey@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter at @Kkealey17.

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Iowa

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Published

3 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Iowans who commit multiple serious crimes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a “three strikes” bill passed by House lawmakers.
Republicans said the bill would keep Iowans safe and “prioritize victims and public safety over criminals.”
A nonpartisan state agency says the bill would disproportionately impact Black Iowans and could require the state to spend millions to build a new prison.

Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.

House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.

Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”

Here’s what to know about the bill.

What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?

Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.

That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.

All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.

Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.

Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.

And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.

If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.

Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.

Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.

“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”

Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.

“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”

Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says

A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.

FY 2027: $33 million
FY 2028: $66 million
FY 2029: $99 million
FY 2030: $132 million
FY 2031: $164.9 million

The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.

“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”

The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.

As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.

The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.

But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.

“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”

Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”

“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”

Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law

The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”

Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.

Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.

It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.

“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”

Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”

“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.

Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”

And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”

“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”

House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.

That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.

Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings

Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.

The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:

The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket

The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.

The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.

And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.

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Iowa

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

Published

15 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Luke Truesdell’s attorney has filed as of Sunday to appeal his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Truesdell was sentenced last week to three consecutive life sentences plus 50 years for the deaths of four people killed in rural Linn County.

A jury convicted Luke Truesdell, 36, in November on the first-degree murder of Brent Brown, 34; his girlfriend, Keonna Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Parker, 33, of Vinton. They also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Romondus Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids.

His attorneys previously argued multiple reasons for a retrial that could potentially be brought up again.

They said that one juror was overheard talking about news on the case.

They also said the prosecutors inflamed the jury, rather than focusing on the facts.

His lawyers said there is no direct evidence that Truesdell committed the murders.

Truesdell’s defense also pointed to Truesdell’s father, Larry Tuesdell, who was found covered in blood at the scene but never fully investigated. Authorities have not been able to locate Larry.

The state disagreed, citing overwhelming evidence including DNA on the murder weapon, eyewitness testimony and video of Truesdell entering the garage where the four people were found dead.

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Iowa

2026 Iowa high school boys basketball state tournament brackets, schedule

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

2026 Iowa high school boys basketball state tournament brackets, schedule

The Iowa high school boys state basketball tournament is just around the corner and the full field has now been set.

By March 13, four teams will be crowned state champions and there are plenty of worthy squads vying for the title. On Tuesday, the final brackets were released and we now have a clear picture of the eight teams in each class hoping to take home the trophy.

Here’s a look at the first-round pairings and the full state tournament schedule for next week’s IHSAA action.