Iowa
Iowa State basketball’s Lipsey, Otzelberger net USA TODAY Sports preseason Big 12 awards
Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger on where his team is this preseason
Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger on where his team is this preseason
A panel of writers who cover the Big 12 Conference for the USA TODAY Sports Network released its individual preseason awards for the upcoming 2024-25 men’s college basketball season.
Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger and point guard Tamin Lipsey were recognized. Former Waukee High School and Drake University star Tucker DeVries also earned preseason Big 12 accolades.
Otzelberger was named Preseason Big 12 Coach of the Year. Otzelberger guided the Cyclones to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. They reached the Sweet 16 for the second time during his time as head coach. Iowa State finished 29-8 last season and won a Big 12 tournament championship.
Lipsey was voted Preseason Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and earned a spot on the Preseason All-Big 12 First Team. Lipsey averaged 12.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.7 steals per game last season.
His 2.7 steals per game were tied for the fourth-most in Division I basketball. The 6-foot-1 Ames native was also named first-team All-Big 12 and landed a spot on the Big 12 All-Defensive Team last season.
Expectations are high for DeVries to make an immediate impact at West Virginia. The two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and three-time all-conference selection elected to transfer from Drake and follow his father, the Mountaineers’ newly-minted head coach Darian DeVries, to West Virginia.
The 6-foot-7 DeVries averaged 21.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He also shot 44.4% on the floor and 36.3% from long range.
He was named Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and earned a spot on the Preseason All-Big 12 Second Team.
Here are the preseason All-Big 12 teams and individual awards as chosen by the USA TODAY Sports Network’s Big 12 coverage team:
First team
G — L.J. Cryer, Houston
G — Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State
G — Caleb Love, Arizona
F — J’Wan Roberts, Houston
C — Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
Second team
G — Dajuan Harris Jr., Kansas
G — Coleman Hawkins, Kansas State
G — Jeremy Roach, Baylor
F — Tucker DeVries, West Virginia
F — Norchad Omier, Baylor
Preseason Coach of the Year
T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State
Preseason Player of the Year
Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
Preseason Newcomer of the Year
Tucker DeVries, West Virginia
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State
The USA TODAY Sports Network’s panel of Big 12 men’s basketball voters includes Arne Green of the Topeka Capital-Journal, Travis Hines of the Des Moines Register, Jacob Unruh of The Oklahoman, Michelle Gardner of the Arizona Republic, Nathan Giese of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Scott Springer of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Jordan Guskey of the Topeka Capital-Journal and Christopher Boyle of the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
Iowa
Iowa reaches final settlement in lawsuit alleging state hasn’t provided adequate mental health care for kids
Iowa’s youth struggle to find mental, behavioral health services
Rachel Callahan constantly hit roadblocks over several years as she worked to find mental health services for her son.
Iowa will take steps to ensure Medicaid-eligible children with mental illness diagnoses will receive the necessary mental and behavioral health care services as part of a recently announced settlement agreement.
The lawsuit, filed in early 2023 by Disability Rights Iowa and other national health and law advocacy organizations, accused Iowa of “longstanding failure” to provide Medicaid-eligible children with legally required and medically necessary mental and behavioral health services.
The suit was filed against Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Director Kelly Garcia.
The plaintiffs alleged that Iowa administers an inadequate mental health system, despite receiving federal funds for children’s mental health care. As a result, Medicaid-eligible children younger than 21 who require intensive home and community-based services face a high risk of being placed in institutions away from their families and communities, they argued.
More than 300,000 youth — or about three out of every eight Iowa youth under the age of 21 — are covered by Medicaid. Of that population, nearly 90,000 had a serious emotional disturbance in state fiscal year 2020, according to court records.
Advocates behind the lawsuit say the steps proposed by the state in the agreement present a “radical change” that will ultimately be a positive move for youth in Iowa who need mental and behavioral health services.
“That’s a lot of children that this is going to directly impact in terms of the services they’re able to receive, and change the trajectory of not only their immediate circumstances and immediate mental health needs, but also their long-term prospects,” Catherine Johnson, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, told the Register.
A preliminary settlement was reached in December after more than a year of negotiation between the plaintiffs and the state health and human services agency. The judge issued preliminary approval of the agreement last week, and set a final approval hearing for early May.
What does this settlement mean?
To address the plaintiffs’ alleged shortfalls in behavioral health services for children, the state agreed to ensure key services are available statewide to Medicaid-eligible children with serious emotional disturbances. The state is required to complete this process by the end of 2032.
The settlement agreement includes a detailed implementation plan Iowa HHS, which has been dubbed by state officials as the Iowa REACH initiative.
The plan includes specific steps the state will take to develop and deliver intensive home and community-based mental health services to children statewide when deemed medically necessary, and will be lead by a team from across the agency who will be responsible for overseeing the plan.
The agreement, along with the state’s REACH strategy, signals “a major step in the right direction for Iowa youth and their families,” Garcia said in a statement Wednesday.
“Iowa HHS is fully committed to implementing new strategies and evaluating current outcomes to ensure we are meeting the needs that our children and youth deserve and families expect,” she said.
Johnson praised the significant work to develop the settlement agreement, noting that the plan laid out by the state would create major structural change to Iowa’s current mental and behavioral health system for youth. Because of this plan, she said youth will be able to stay with their families in their community, receiving the services and supports they need to succeed.
“They get to go to school with their friends and they don’t have to go to an institution or a hospital that’s scary and they don’t know anyone,” Johnson said. “They get to stay with the people that love them, and grow up with mental health services in place. Your future is different, perhaps, than it might have been without this brand new structure.
“I think it’s just very, very significant, and I’m really excited for the implementation to begin so that Iowa can have these services in place as soon as possible for our kids.”
What are the terms of the settlement?
Among the terms of the settlement, the state must ensure Medicaid-eligible children receive mental health services “in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs and are free from serious risks of segregation and institutionalization, including the unnecessary use of out-of-home placements.”
These changes must ensure Iowa youth receive the supports necessary to maximize their success growing into healthy and independent adults, the settlement agreement states.
To reach that goal, the state must develop and implement certain relevant services, which include intensive care coordination. This is a “single point of accountability” for ensuring medically necessary Medicaid services are coordinated and delivered appropriately to Iowa youth, according to the settlement agreement.
State officials also agreed to provide intensive in-home and community therapeutic services, with the goal to “maximize the child’s ability to live and participate in the community and to function independently.” That includes individual and family therapy.
The state must also boost its 24/7 mobile crisis intervention and stabilization services for young Iowans as part of this settlement agreement.
To support their effort, state officials say they will utilize additional Medicaid services to support children with serious emotional disturbances and “to help maintain them in their homes and communities and avoid higher levels of care and out-of-home placements.”
These additional services include respite care or other supports meant to help children build skills and help the family’s ability to successfully care for the child at home.
However, state officials warn that while it can request funding from state lawmakers for these initiatives, the settlement ultimately does not have authority over the Iowa Legislature.
Both parties also agreed to an independent monitor tasked with evaluating the state’s progress in implementing the proposed plan. The monitor — which will be a third-party selected at a later date — will issue reports on the state’s effort each year, per the settlement agreement.
Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com or at (319) 339-7354.
Iowa
Iowa woman charged with numerous counts of child endangerment, animal neglect pleads guilty
WASHINGTON, Iowa (KCRG) – A Washington, Iowa, woman has pleaded guilty to several charges, including child endangerment, after police said they found dead animals and black mold in the home where she and four children were living.
A criminal complaint says the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services conducted a welfare check on the living conditions of four minor children at a home in the 600 block of South Marion Avenue on Dec. 13, 2024.
Police said Teresa Richmond, the children’s maternal grandmother, was living at the home at the time, and told officers she is a caretaker for the children.
Following the welfare check, police conducted a search warrant on Dec. 20, 2024.
During the search, police found 24 live dogs, five live cats and three dead animals (one dog, one hedgehog and a bearded dragon).
Officers said there was urine and fecal matter throughout the home, and black mold in the basement due to a broken sewer pipe.
According to law enforcement, all the living animals were in poor condition, and Richmond was unable to provide proof of Rabies Vaccination for one of the dogs.
Richmond was charged with four counts of Child Endangerment, seven counts of Animal Neglect, three counts of Failure to Provide Current Rabies Vaccination, and three counts of Failure to Dispose of a Deceased Animal.
Court documents filed on Thursday say the court accepted Richmond’s guilty plea to one charge of failure to dispose of a dead animal. The two other charges of failure to dispose of a dead animal have been dropped.
The court also accepted her guilty plea to three of the animal neglect charges and one of the rabies vaccination violations. The rest were dismissed. The court also accepted her plea of guilty to the child endangerment charges.
A sentencing hearing is set for March 13.
Two other adults were also charged in relation to this case. John Zaiss, 35, and Heather Egbert, 37, were charged with four counts of child endangerment each.
Paws and More, a Washington County animal shelter, took in the surviving animals following the arrests of Zaiss and Egbert.
The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services took in the four children that were found at the home.
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa
Iowa driver’s licenses, ID cards would have to display citizenship status under House bill
Top 5 issues shaping the 2025 Iowa Legislature
Discover the top five issues the Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature could tackle in 2025.
Iowa driver’s licenses and nonoperator ID cards would be required to state whether the holder is a U.S. citizen under a bill being considered in the Iowa House.
A three-member subcommittee voted 2-1 Wednesday to advance House Study Bill 37, sending it to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.
Under the bill, the information displayed on a driver’s license or nonoperator ID would have to specify someone’s “status as a citizen of the United States or status as a noncitizen authorized to be in the United States.”
The person’s citizenship status would be displayed on the back of the driver’s license or ID card.
Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, said the bill was drafted with the intention of making sure only citizens can vote in elections in Iowa.
“We have every right as a state to ensure that only citizens are voting in our elections and we think that at this time this might be the right path,” he said. “We’ll have discussions and see if there’s a different path.”
Rep. Lindsay James, D-Dubuque, said driver’s licenses are used for more than voting and she’s concerned that putting a specific marker on the license could create an opening for discrimination.
“We’ve already heard that folks are using their driver’s license when they are renting cars, when they are purchasing things in a store, and the potential for discrimination when you have a unique identifier is significant,” she said.
It is a felony for a noncitizen to vote in Iowa under state and federal law. Iowa voters in November also amended the state’s constitution to include language saying that “only a citizen of the United States” can vote.
Weeks before the 2024 election, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said he was instructing county auditors to challenge the ballots of 2,176 Iowans who he identified as potential noncitizens based on self-reported Department of Transportation data when Iowans applied for a license or other ID.
A statewide review from the Des Moines Register found that nearly 600 people on Pate’s list tried to vote in the election.
Of those, 506 proved they were citizens and successfully cast a ballot, while 74 had their absentee ballots rejected primarily because they did not provide proof of citizenship.
What did the public say about the bill requiring citizenship information on driver’s licenses?
Some speakers at Wednesday’s subcommittee meeting said they believe the bill would help make Iowa’s elections secure, while others said it singles out immigrants for discrimination.
Lori Stiles, a poll worker from Johnston and volunteer with the election transparency group Iowa Canvassing Volunteers, said the legislation “would help with securing our elections.”
“This designation or some such on a driver’s license would definitely help to identify people who are U.S. citizens,” she said. “Because only U.S. citizens should be voting in U.S. elections.”
Storm O’Brink, a North Liberty resident who works in social services, said the bill singles out immigrant families who are already afraid, “regardless of what their legal status is.”
“I am hopeful that you will hear me today about this,” O’Brink said. “There are people terrified and you can’t just do another thing to single them out in our state.”
Monty Montero-Elliott of Iowa City, whose father was a longtime green card holder from Spain, said the bill “puts a lot of people, frankly, in danger of scrutiny.”
“I think that this is a pointless thing to put on an ID card,” Montero-Elliott said. “I don’t see what it has to do with things that you use your ID for like getting a hotel reservation or renting a car or being able to buy alcohol or anything that you have to show an age ID for.”
Connie Ryan, executive director of Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, said the bill doesn’t fix the problem that the information about someone’s citizenship status could be out of date.
“I worry about people who aren’t yet citizens but are going through the process and they have to put that on their driver’s license and then we’re using those lists for voting,” she said. “And so there’s nothing that indicates when those lists are updated and whether or not they’re accurate.”
The bill does not require Iowans to update their driver’s license or ID if their citizenship status changes.
“That’s certainly something were going to have to walk through and talk through,” Wheeler said. “I would assume, if you’re naturalized obviously you’re going to make sure you have that updated.”
Republicans indicate driver’s license bill could see changes
Rep. Craig Williams, R-Manning, who sat on the subcommittee, said he doesn’t see the bill as discriminatory.
“I think this has some work to be done,” he said. “I’m not opposed to it and I would vote to push it forward.”
Wheeler said he’s open to hearing feedback if people have suggestions to improve the bill. He said House Republicans will continue having conversations about which direction they want the legislation to go.
“This is kind of in the, obviously, the very early stages, and people will come with different ideas,” he said. “Maybe they don’t think it’s the best idea, and they’ll look a different way. Maybe they think it’s a great idea. We have yet to have that conversation on a grand scale.”
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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