Iowa
UI honors 2024 Hawkeye Distinguished Veterans Award recipients
Six members of the University of Iowa community who served their country in the United States Army and United States Navy are being honored with the 2024 Hawkeye Distinguished Veterans Award.
Veterans Week events
To honor military Veterans of the United States Armed Forces, the University of Iowa has planned events taking place from Nov. 10 — Nov. 17.
Visit this webpage to see more details, including what will be taking place on Veterans Day on Nov. 11.
Criteria for the award — which was established in 2015 — include a strong UI connection, honorable service to the U.S., military accomplishment or contributions, and service to the community.
Hawkeye Distinguished Veterans Award recipients will be honored in a ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, in the Richey Ballroom at the Iowa Memorial Union. All are welcome to attend the ceremony.
The 2024 Hawkeye Distinguished Veterans Award recipients are:
Edwin “Andy” Anderson, United States Army
Howard Cowen, United States Navy
David Dierks, United States Army
John H. Fraser, United States Navy
Robert Hedgepeth, United States Army
Zachary Graham, United States Army. Graham will receive the Hawkeye Distinguished Veterans “Larry Lockwood” Student Award.
Read more about the honorees.
Colonel Edwin “Andy” Anderson served in the United States Army for 30 years, including 23 years as a Green Beret. During his service, he earned the Special Forces Tab, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Master Parachutist Badge, and numerous foreign Jump Wings. After retirement, Anderson served on the Board of Directors for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation for 14 years; co-founded the Soldier, Family, and Command Support Association; and serves as an ambassador for the World War II Foundation. Anderson served four years as UI assistant professor of military science with Army ROTC and established the UI’s Army ROTC inaugural “Ranger Challenge” team.
Lieutenant Howard Cowen served eight years in the United States Navy. As an Iowa City resident, Cowen has served as commissioner for the Iowa City Human Rights Council and the Johnson County Health Improvement Planning Committee, as well as a consultant for the Emergency Housing Project. Cowen graduated from Iowa with a Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1976 and a Master of Science in dental public health in 1995. He has served as a College of Dentistry faculty member for more than 40 years.
Master Sergeant David Dierks served 28 years in the United States Army. For his service, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Army Achievement Medal. During his 50 years at the UI Center for Advancement, Dierks raised awareness and philanthropic support to meet the needs of Veterans in the UI community. Within the community, he served on the boards for the Iowa City Free Lunch Program and the Hoover Presidential Foundation. Dierks received a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and mass communication from Iowa in 1970.
Captain John H. Fraser served in the United States Navy on active duty for seven years, followed by 18 years in the Naval Air Reserve. He was awarded the Air Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, and two Vietnam Service Medals. Fraser has been a member of the Iowa City Noon Rotary Club since 2012 and is a past chair and current member of Iowa City’s Iowa Climate Action Commission. Fraser graduated from Iowa in 1996 with a Master of Business Administration. He served as the Henry B. Tippie School of Management Executive MBA Program director from 1997 to 2011 and is a current board member of the Tippie College of Business Institute for International Business.
Colonel Robert Hedgepeth served in the United States Army for 30 years. His awards include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Army and Air Force Commendation Medals, and the Iowa National Guard’s Medal of Merit. Hedgepeth serves on the board of directors for Safeguard Iowa, a public private partnership for disaster response and recovery, and helped found the Army ROTC’s Mighty Hawkeye Battalion Alumni Association. He recently served on the advisory board for the university’s Iowa Technology Institute. Hedgepeth graduated from Iowa with a Bachelor of Science in engineering in 1989.
Captain Zachary Graham served four years in the United States Army. For his service, he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal and Army Achievement Medal and earned the Pathfinder and Air Assault badges. Within his community, Graham has served as president of the Tau Sigma Military Dental Club, which organizes fundraisers for dental treatments for low-income Veterans. He co-founded the Pediatric Smiles Fund, which raises money to support dental care for underinsured pediatric patients. Graham is a fourth-year student in the College of Dentistry.
Iowa State running back Carson Hansen speaks to the media after win
Iowa State running back Carson Hansen speaks to the media after win over Arizona
Iowa State football running back Carson Hansen announced on Dec. 23 that he “will be pursuing new opportunities with my last year of eligibility.”
Hansen is the latest Cyclones star to indicate that he will transfer to another school in the wake of coach Matt Campbell’s departure to Penn State. Quarterback Rocco Becht and cornerbacks Jeremiah Cooper and Jontez Williams are among the other Iowa State standouts leaving Ames.
Hansen, a native of Lakeville, Minn., rushed for 952 yards on 188 carries during his junior season with the Cyclones. In three years with Iowa State, he compiled 1,771 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground.
Hansen was the Cyclones’ leading rusher in 2024 and 2025.
“My three years here at Iowa State have been a life changing experience because of the people who make up Ames …” Hansen wrote on Twitter/X. “Thank you to the fans that shook Jack Trice every Saturday and for your belief in this football team.”
Campbell announced on Dec. 5 that he was leaving Iowa State after 10 years as the Cyclones’ head coach. He was quickly succeeded by Washington State’s Jimmy Rogers, who has a big job in front of him to replace the exodus of talent transferring out of Ames.
The Iowa Supreme Court’s 2025-2026 docket is filled with key cases
Iowa’s top court has a busy schedule as it launches into a new term this fall, delving into cases involving subjects including bullying and TikTok.
The Iowa Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a West Des Moines doctor found guilty of sexually abusing a child, ruling that allowing the victim to testify via one-way video violated the Iowa Constitution.
The court on Tuesday, Dec. 23, reversed the conviction of Lynn Melvin Lindaman, a longtime central Iowa surgeon who practiced at the Lindaman Orthopaedics clinic in West Des Moines before he was charged in 2023 with second-degree sexual abuse. The case was remanded for a new trial.
The decision is the latest in a string of rulings that have set Iowa apart as the only state in the country whose highest court has barred one-way video testimony in criminal trials, even in cases involving child victims.
Those decisions already have begun reshaping prosecutions across the state and have prompted lawmakers to launch the process of amending the Iowa Constitution. The change would ultimately require voter approval.
Lindaman, now 75, was convicted after a jury trial in Polk County. Prosecutors alleged that on June 26, 2023, he committed a sex act in Ankeny against a child under the age of 10. A second count of sexual abuse was dismissed prior to trial. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 42½ years because of a prior sexual predatory offense in 1976. He also faced a separate and now-dismissed civil lawsuit from an Iowa woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her in 1975.
The Iowa Offender Search still lists Lindaman as in custody of the Iowa Medical & Classification Center.
On appeal, Lindaman argued that his constitutional rights were violated when the district court allowed the child to testify from another room via one-way closed-circuit television, rather than from the witness stand in the courtroom.
“Today’s decision from the Iowa Supreme Court is an important win for Lynn Lindaman and a major step toward a fair result,” said Lucas Taylor, the attorney representing Lindaman. “Although the court did not rule in our favor on every issue, this ruling recognizes serious errors in the prior proceedings and gives Mr. Lindaman the chance to present his defense to a new jury.”
In a 4-3 ruling issued earlier this year in State v. White, the Iowa Supreme Court agreed with that argument, holding that one-way video testimony violates the confrontation clause of the Iowa Constitution. Writing for the majority in that case, Justice David May said that “when the accused and the witness are prevented from seeing each other, there is no face-to-face confrontation, and the Iowa Constitution is not satisfied.”
The ruling came despite U.S. Supreme Court precedent allowing such testimony and laws in many other states permitting it. Under the Iowa statute the court overturned, judges had been allowed to authorize remote testimony by minors, or witnesses with mental illnesses or disabilities, if a judge found that “trauma caused by testifying in the physical presence of the defendant … would impair the minor’s ability to communicate.”
The White decision arose from an Osceola County case, but its effects have since spread and courts across Iowa have begun hearing challenges from defendants convicted in cases where one-way video testimony was used.
Following the ruling, Lynn Hicks, a spokesman for the Polk County Attorney’s Office, said at least five Polk County defendants convicted under similar circumstances could be entitled to new trials.
One of those defendants, Michael Dunbar, already has received a new trial. Dunbar was resentenced after the victim testified in person from the witness stand, and the court again imposed a life sentence.
Dissent fuels push to amend Iowa Constitution
The State v. White ruling has drawn sharp criticism from prosecutors and state leaders, including Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who has argued the decision unnecessarily traumatizes child victims.
Bird has proposed a constitutional amendment to allow children to testify remotely in certain cases. The measure has passed both chambers of the Legislature once and must pass again before going to voters in a statewide referendum.
“Children shouldn’t be forced to testify at arm’s length from their abusers, and many kids can’t. This opinion shows how important it is to restore protections for a child victim to testify remotely,” Bird said in a Tuesday statement to the Des Moines Register. “Our office will continue to fight for a constitutional amendment to ensure kids are protected and abusers are brought to justice. We are grateful our effort has received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Iowa Legislature.”
Justice Thomas D. Waterman, writing in a dissent in the opinion issued Tuesday, rejected the majority’s historical interpretation of the confrontation clause.
“Thunder comes during rainstorms; it does not follow that thunder requires rain. That video testimony was not used in 1871 tells us more about technology than it does about constitutional interpretation,” Waterman wrote.
He also said there is “no historical evidence that the framers of the Iowa Constitution intended a different meaning for confrontation rights than the Sixth Amendment,” and warned that the majority was reading requirements into Iowa’s Constitution that do not exist in its text.
Nick El Hajj is a reporter at the Register. He can be reached at nelhajj@gannett.com. Follow him on X at @nick_el_hajj.
This story was updated to add new information and to correct an inaccuracy.
LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – A coalition of states including both Iowa and Nebraska reached a nearly $150 million settlement with Mercedes-Benz.
The states allege over 200,000 diesel vehicles were illegally equipped with devices designed to cheat on emissions tests between 2008 and 2016.
Mercedes allegedly hid the existence of these devices from regulators and people purchasing the vehicles.
Copyright 2025 WOWT. All rights reserved.
North Carolina Christmas tree farmers are optimistic after Hurricane Helene
North Dakota Seeks to Recover $778K Surety Bond for Grain Sellers in Hansen-Mueller Case
What’s up with Matt Patricia, Sonny Styles and Ohio State’s defensive prep for Miami?: Buckeye Talk podcast
Giant leg lamp lights up small Oklahoma town, turning a Christmas classic into a year-round attraction
The longest whale migration in the world is passing Oregon. Here’s how to see it
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Nick Fuentes says he’ll campaign against Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio in slur-laced rant
Libyan army chief killed in plane crash: What next?
U.S. and Ukraine reach consensus on key issues aimed at ending the war
A 3-D Look Inside Trump’s Revamped Oval Office
Trump admin sues Illinois Gov. Pritzker over laws shielding migrants from courthouse arrests
-
Iowa1 week agoAddy Brown motivated to step up in Audi Crooks’ absence vs. UNI
-
Maine1 week agoElementary-aged student killed in school bus crash in southern Maine
-
Maryland1 week agoFrigid temperatures to start the week in Maryland
-
New Mexico1 week agoFamily clarifies why they believe missing New Mexico man is dead
-
Detroit, MI1 week ago‘Love being a pedo’: Metro Detroit doctor, attorney, therapist accused in web of child porn chats
-
Health1 week ago‘Aggressive’ new flu variant sweeps globe as doctors warn of severe symptoms
-
Massachusetts1 week agoMIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, shot and killed in his home in Brookline, Mass. | Fortune
-
Maine1 week agoFamily in Maine host food pantry for deer | Hand Off