Iowa
If we say Iowans help Iowans, why did we fail the Beamans? | Opinion
This is a problem of society, not a problem of individuals.
Hear about the events that lead this disabled family to arrests, separations
Hear from Bonnie and Todd Beaman, disabled parents who recount the events that led to arrests and separation from their children.
No single moment put the Beaman family on a path to separation, squalor and legal trouble. No isolated choice by a family member, or an institution, set up the sobering circumstances that the Register’s Lee Rood and Cody Scanlan exhaustively detailed in a series of reports.
What’s happened to the Beamans is the result of cascading failures, especially in local and state government.
Iowans should not tolerate it.
The Beamans, who have a myriad of mental, physical and intellectual issues, have always faced struggles, but they should have had more help. Iowans are rightly proud that Iowans help Iowans. In the Beamans’ case, there was too little help until it was too late.
It should be nonnegotiable that social services and healthcare agencies have sufficient personnel and other resources to help ― to at least prevent a family from falling through cracks so severely that only the criminal justice system is left to try to pick up pieces.
Hear how Sarah Beaman’s time in group homes would lead to jail
Hear from Sarah Beaman as she recounts her time away from her family in group homes and how she would end up in jail.
Todd and Bonnie Beaman have four adult children. Bonnie and the children have intellectual disabilities, and Todd’s IQ is only slightly above that threshold. The family scraped by for years with Social Security disability income and community-based services provided through Medicaid. The services became less consistent over the years after a managed care organization took over the Medicaid services from state workers in 2016. In 2025, two houses tied to the family, in Menlo and Audubon, were found in appalling condition, including sewage on a basement floor. Criminal cases are pending against three members of the family, and 33-year-old Sarah has been separated from her parents and siblings for almost a year while state workers seek a placement suitable for her needs.
“In Iowa, finding a permanent home with skilled caregivers for anyone with her level of need as proved incredibly difficult, if not impossible, as providers, bed space and Medicaid coverage for such services has dwindled,” Rood wrote. Her reporting also revealed that the number of dependent adult abuse reports in Iowa increased by 50% from 2021 to 2025, and that deaths tied to such abuse went from 18 in 2022 to 31 in 2025.
One important reminder from the Beamans’ story is that the federal-state Medicaid does so much beyond the political flashpoint of assisting lower-income Americans with health insurance and medical costs. Far afield from debates about work requirements, income thresholds and fraud dangers is the reality that tens of thousands of Iowans, and millions of other Americans, are so severely disabled that government-sponsored care is their only chance to survive. This is the sort of spending that members of Congress say they want to protect by cracking down on waste and fraud. But it is hard to imagine care improving as Medicaid spending is reduced by close to $1 trillion over 10 years under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The family’s troubles also echo the door-slamming issues that hundreds of Iowa families have described in the 10-plus years since private companies took over administering health coverage for Medicaid recipients in Iowa. “They either said funds are too limited or they didn’t have anyone who could handle” Sarah’s heath issues, Bonnie told Rood.
The situation deteriorated. One of Todd and Bonnie’s daughters, Charlie, married a man, Joshua Walker, in 2024 who she alleges has committed domestic abuse. Walker walked into a police station one day and admitted he’d violated his parole, but a police officer did not arrest him, the officer said, because he looked and smelled so bad.
Pause on that moment. He was not arrested because he was in such poor shape. The result, according to the Register reporting, was further abuse and further deterioration. We, as a society, turned off the levers of help because they were needed so desperately.
Detaining Walker could have helped the Beaman family. The criminal cases against the family members seem more like, in part, punishment for the rest of our failures. Investigators and prosecutors surely can identify mistakes the Beaman elders have made. But incarceration and other penalties are not the key answer we should reach on the question of the Beamans.
Avoiding these kinds of tragedies for other families will always be difficult, especially if no help comes from Washington. But the Beamans’ case should serve as a rallying cry. The state ombudsman office should examine why the Beamans were left to flounder. Leadership at the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, in flux after Senate Democrats voted down the confirmation of former director Larry Johnson, should make sure other families do not suffer as the Beamans did. Local and state law enforcement must continue its work to train officers to handle people who have mental health issues. And we, as Iowans, should re-examine how Iowans can help Iowans anew.
This is a problem of society, not a problem of individuals. Iowans understand the unique level of difficulty that caring for severely disabled people entails. They understand that case workers and other state employees must make difficult judgments about when families can no longer be kept together, or when autonomy is no longer possible. They know that state workers cannot conjure trained and dedicated care workers from thin air.
Yes, solutions will cost money. Local, state and federal taxpayer money. And that funding is in short supply at every level. But Iowans helping Iowans has long been our ethos. We should have been more helpful to the Beamans. We must be more helpful to other Iowans like them.
Lucas Grundmeier, on behalf of the Register’s editorial board
This editorial is the opinion of the Des Moines Register’s editorial board: Rachel Stassen-Berger, executive editor; Lucas Grundmeier, opinion editor; and Richard Doak and Rox Laird, editorial board members.
Temu sued by Oklahoma AG over alleged deceptive practices
Oklahoma AG sues Temu, alleging illegal data harvesting, deceptive practices and counterfeit Oklahoma merchandise.
Online retailer Temu has sold cheap and counterfeit goods, used underhanded marketing tactics and lied about when and how it takes customers’ data, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says.
Bird is suing the China-based retail giant, accusing it of numerous violations of the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. Temu, which has aggressively been promoted in the United States under its “Shop like a Billionaire” tagline, competes with Amazon and other online retailers and operates online marketplaces for third-party sellers.
The lawsuit, filed July 1, cites years of complaints to the Attorney General’s Office, Better Business Bureau and other watchdog groups about the quality and reliability of Temu shopping, with reports often citing purchased merchandise that bear little resemblance to the photos of items offered for sale.
Those complaints are just the tip of the iceberg, Bird alleges. Her suit accuses Temu of dishonest pricing practices, such as labeling items for sale despite listing them at their normal price. Temu also allegedly uses “gamification” tricks to encourage users to make purchases, sign up their friends on Temu, and other actions, but often fails to deliver on the promised benefits, it says.
In some cases, the company is accused of simply fabricating sales. “Numerous” Iowans have reported receiving and being charged for Temu packages they never ordered and were unable to return, the complaint alleges.
The company also has lied about its business practices in other ways, including covering up its use of forced labor to manufacture many of the items it sells, Bird claims.
App allegedly violates data privacy laws
Temu isn’t just angling to make a sale, Bird claims. She also accuses the company of vacuuming up customers’ private data, even hiding code in the company’s mobile apps to bypass users’ cell phone security and collect private data without their consent.
The complaint states that forensic experts retained by Iowa found the app collects data far beyond what might be necessary to complete transactions, conceals its exfiltration of sensitive data and “reconfigures itself even after having been downloaded to a user’s phone” without consent.
Much of this echoes code previously found in Pinduoduo, another e-commerce app owned by the same Chinese conglomerate, which was banned from the Google Play store in 2023 due to malware concerns. Many of those programmers, and much of the banned code, has been transferred to the Temu app, Bird claims.
Iowa Wave among fake merch sold on Temu
Temu often has been accused of violating intellectual property laws, and those practices have directly affected Iowa, Bird claims. The complaint includes examples of unauthorized University of Iowa, Iowa Wave and Dowling Catholic clothing.
Bird notes in her complaint that a portion of sales of authentic Iowa Wave merchandise goes to benefit pediatric cancer patients and others at the Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
Iowa businesses and sellers on other marketplaces also have reported Temu stealing their branding and in some cases simply copying their product photos and descriptions to market unauthorized products.
Iowa joins several states, including Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska, that have filed consumer protection lawsuits against Temu in recent months. Temu did not respond to a message seeking comment.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
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Here’s everything a dispatcher does to get emergency services to your location when you dial 911.
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A 14-year-old Dyersville girl has died from injuries caused by a watercraft collision on Clear Lake on the 4th of July.
The crash involved five people in two personal watercrafts and occurred around 5:30 p.m. near the McIntosh Woods State Park boat ramp on a part of the lake called Little Lake, according to a release from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Passengers on a nearby pontoon immediately helped the victims before the Iowa DNR water patrol and conservation officers, Ventura and Clear Lake fire departments, Iowa State Patrol, Clear Lake Police Department and the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office came on scene.
The release does not give the names of the four children involved.
A 35-year-old woman, an 11-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy, all from Greenwood, South Carolina, were treated at the Mercy-One Medical Center in Mason City and released on July 4. A 15-year-old Mason City girl was transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and is in serious condition.
While the investigation is ongoing, Iowa DNR officers have ruled out alcohol or other impairments as contributing factors to the crash, the release states.
Isabelle Foland is a communities reporter for the Register. Reach her at ifoland@registermedia.com.
As the Iowa State Cyclones get set for the 2026 campaign, the program is also looking toward the future and rebuilding a program that was hit hard by departures.
Last season, Iowa State battled a lot of injuries, but was still able to have a pretty good year. However, following the campaign coming to an end and before bowl season kicked off, the team lost head coach Matt Campbell to the Penn State Nittany Lions.
As expected, a lot of players from the program ended up leaving, leaving the team with nearly an entire roster to rebuild. However, new head coach Jimmy Rogers has been able to come in and make a good impression early on.
While Iowa State might not be as talented as they were last year, they have a good coach and a lot of depth. The Cyclones will be hoping that he can develop and get the most out of some of these new players, but the team certainly won’t be competing for a Big 12 title next season.
For Iowa State, with at least this year being a rebuild for the program, they will be looking toward the future. With that comes a need to recruit well, and that is something Rogers and the staff have been impressive at so far.
Iowa State Recruiting Class Shaping Up Nicely
Following the four-star addition of Chuck Alexander, who flipped from the Louisville Cardinals, the 2027 recruiting class is looking really strong right now for Iowa State. According to Rivals, they rank 49th in the country right now, and that is a strong place to be for the team.
With Alexander being the new top recruit for the team, he will be joining a class that has been highlighted by some good offensive talent so far. Running back Isaiah Hansen is regarded as a very good player at his position, and the team also has offensive lineman Will Slagle.
With the three top recruits so far being offensive players, a future core might be starting to come together for Rogers and the program. While the team might be a bit more defensive-minded this year, there is clearly a focus on improving offensively for the future.
Overall, with time still to go, this class could continue to get better. However, it is really encouraging to see what Rogers and the staff have been able to accomplish so far. Recruiting will be key for Iowa State to get back to where they want to be, and they are off to a strong start.
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