2026/01/15

Eye Opener: Walnut Creek Campus latest; Iowa State women's basketball drops 4th straight

It's Thursday, January 15.

Today's emoji forecast: ❄️🥶 Snow chances are returning as we head into the weekend. Jon Rivas has your forecast.

What people are talking about:

Gov. Kim Reynolds' property tax plan could mean big changes for city and county services in Iowa.
An Iowa teacher will not receive unemployment benefits after a hearing determined he committed job-related misconduct by posting negative social media comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Widespread outage issues impacted thousands of Verizon customers yesterday.

TOP STORY: The end of Walnut Creek Campus

THE 101: The West Des Moines School Board says the Walnut Creek Campus will not serve as a standalone school next year.

WHY IT MATTERS: Walnut Creek has served as the district's alternative school. A recent proposal to send students to Valley High School drew considerable pushback from the community, including teachers and parents.

"This was not an easy decision for us to even recommend," Steven Schappaugh, Executive Director of Secondary Education for the West Des Moines School District, told KCCI, going on to say there's been some confusion about the future of the alternative high school.

MAIN TAKEAWAYS:

District leaders say they will keep control of the Walnut Creek building, but it's unknown what the district will do with the facility.
The district is also sorting out what alternative education options will be offered next year. The district say night classes, summer schooling and more will still be offered.
Parents and guardians with questions about alternative programming are encouraged to reach out to the district.

4 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

🏀 Losing streak continues: The Iowa State women's basketball team watched a second-half lead slip away at Colorado, giving the Cyclones their fourth loss in a row. Read more

🙏 Pleasant Hill icon: Martha Miller, who spent decades as a force in local politics and civic life in Pleasant Hill, died recently at 96. Read more

🏆 Down, but not out: Despite a 17-point deficit in the second half, Drake pulled off a miraculous comeback to beat Southern Illinois and snap a three-game losing skid. Read more

🪧 Trump's next move: President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy troops as protests against ICE persist in Minneapolis in the wake of a deadly shooting by an ICE agent. Read more

WINTER WEATHER APPROACHES

Temperatures will eventually climb into the 30s for the afternoon with more clouds and snow chances. Southwest winds will help us climb as the clouds move in. This will also bring a chance for some brief snow showers this afternoon into evening. We will not see much in the form of accumulations and should only see snow stick on grassy areas.

Friday will bring the better chance for scattered snow showers as another cold front passes. Strong northwest winds will return overnight into the final day of the work week. The snow showers will be off and on during the day and night. Most of these snow showers will be low impact, light snow. Some will have the potential to create lower visibility at times and potential slick conditions. Again, accumulations look to be light staying under an inch through the next few days. The northwest winds will make it feel like the teens, single digits, and eventually feeling subzero into Friday night and Saturday morning.

Saturday will be the coldest day with lows in the singles digits and highs in the teens. Strong northwest winds will continue which will make it feel below zero all day long. Additional flurries and snow showers will be possible, but mainly just the morning with a clearing for the afternoon. Sunday will carry another chance for isolated snow showers as temperatures climb back up to near seasonal norms. MLK Day will bring another round of harsh cold with wind chills dipping back below zero for most of the day. Temperatures look to rebound deeper into next week.

DAY BY DAY:

Today: Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. High 35F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.
Friday: Windy with increasing clouds. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Morning high of 35F with temps falling to near 25. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph.
Saturday: Cloudy early, decreasing clouds in the afternoon. High 12F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
Sunday: Sunshine and clouds mixed. A few flurries or snow showers possible. High 30F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph.