DES MOINES, Iowa — The drought conditions are continuing to worsen across Iowa. According to the latest report from the Iowa Drought Monitor released Thursday, for the period ending Oct. 18th, the entire state remains in a drought, but 84% is now moderately dry. That number was just 57% last week. About 7% of the state remains extremely dry.

(Radio Iowa) – Early voting for Iowa’s General Election began this week and a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution is on the back of the ballot. Richard Rogers of the Iowa Firearms Coalition says gun rights advocates began lobbying for it 12 years ago — after they realized Iowa is one of only six states without state level constitutional protection of the right to keep and bear arms. The amendment says any gun restrictions would have to be judged by a legal standard called strict scrutiny. Rogers says the U.S. Supreme Court set up an even tougher legal standard in a ruling this summer.

“Frankly, the strict scrutiny thing I believe has largely been muted, but we can’t go back 12 years and rewrite the amendment and this is an all or nothing deal, I think,” Rogers says. “We’ll have this one chance and we won’t see another opportunity to put this in the state constitution in our lifetime.” Critics say if this STATE constitutional amendment is adopted, it will be nearly impossible to pass new gun safety measures in Iowa. Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner has joined Iowans for Responsible Gun Laws, a coalition of 30 different groups.

“We are not anti-gun, we are not anti-Second Amendment and we are not here to suggest taking your guns away,” Gardner said. “We are, however, here to inform you of a very poorly worded amendment that definitely will not make Iowans safer.” The only other states with similar constitutional amendments are Alabama, Missouri and Louisiana.

(Radio Iowa) – Data from the Iowa Association of Realtors indicates the number of existing home sales in Iowa continues to decline and the overall prices for Iowa homes sold remain above last year’s levels. The median price for an Iowa home sold in September was 225-thousand dollars. It’s down slightly from the record set in July — but it is 13-and-a-half percent higher than the media sales price of Iowa homes sold in September of last year. The NUMBER of homes sold last month was down nearly 24 percent compared to last September.

The president of the Iowa Association of Realtors says there’s typically a slow down in sales in September — plus the number of homes on the market remains lower than normal.

Iowa homes up for sale in September spent an average of 31 days on the market before being sold. The president of the Iowa Realtors Association says industry experts project homes will start spending longer on the market and there will be slower growth in home prices soon.

DES MOINES, Iowa (October 20, 2022) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Thursday,  confirmed a positive case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Dallas County, Iowa. The virus was found in a non-commercial backyard flock, and this is the first confirmed case of HPAI in Dallas County. Prior to Thursday’s confirmation, the last case of HPAI in an Iowa backyard or commercial flock was May 2.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said “It is not unexpected that we would face additional highly pathogenic avian influenza challenges in Iowa given that the fall migration is underway, and many other states have recently announced confirmed cases. We continue to work with impacted producers, USDA, and other industry stakeholders to refine and implement our response plans to limit the spread of this virus. Enhanced biosecurity remains the best line of defense to protect animal health.”

Commercial and backyard flock owners should prevent contact between their birds and wild birds. Sick birds or unusual deaths among birds should be immediately reported to state or federal officials. Biosecurity resources and best practices are available at iowaagriculture.gov/biosecurity. If producers suspect signs of HPAI in their flocks, they should contact their veterinarian immediately. Possible cases must also be reported to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship at (515) 281-5305.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recent HPAI detections in birds do not present a public health concern. It remains safe to eat poultry products. As a reminder, consumers should always utilize the proper handling and cooking of eggs and poultry products. An internal temperature of 165˚F kills bacteria and viruses.

(rural Griswold, Iowa) – In an update to our prior report, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday (10/20), released additional information, with regard a UTV accident that took place Sunday afternoon. Officials say deputies and area First Responders were paged-out to a UTV accident that had occurred in the area of 550th and Richland Road.

Responding personnel found that a 2020 Polaris Razer, operated by Alex Minor, of Atlantic, was traveling Southbound in the West ditch, adjacent to Highway 48, when it struck a field entrance. The UTV flipped end-over-end several times and eventually came to a rest on its wheels. Alex Minor and a passenger, identified as Ashley McDonald, of Atlantic, suffered serious injuries and were transported to a medical facility by Griswold EMS, for emergency care.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday, released a report on three arrests from over the past week. On Wednesday (Oct. 19), deputies arrested 32-year-old TR Etomara, of Atlantic, for Driving While Revoked and Providing False ID to Law Enforcement. Etomara was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release.

Last Sunday, deputies arrested 26-year-old Sotonas Aten, of Atlantic, for OWI 1st Offense. Aten was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held pending his later release on his own recognizance.

And, on October 15th, Cass County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 23-year-old Kadin Schoenfeld, of Atlantic, on the charges of Eluding, Driving While Barred, and 2 warrants for Violation of Probation. Schoenfeld was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and held.

The Shenandoah Police Department has been notified of a scam. Authorities want everyone to know that the Shenandoah P-D is NOT fundraising for new uniforms, and they are NOT calling people individually.

If you do wish to donate to the Shenandoah police Department you may contact us at 712-246-3512. Thank you.

(Radio Iowa) – Advocates for prisoners says Iowa’s new system of screening mail that’s sent to inmates is confusing and hard to navigate. All non-legal mail is sent to a third-party company to be opened, screened and scanned, then a color copy is sent to the inmate. Professor Alison Guernsey, in the University of Iowa College of Law, says communication between inmates and people on the outside is valuable in maintaining strong connections.

Guernsey says, “I think taking that away from people really contributes to the overall dehumanization that prison inflicts and makes it harder for people to feel like they are still members of their families, still members of their community.”

The new policy was instituted after it was found people were soaking letters in drugs and sending them to inmates who could chew the paper to ingest the drugs. Guernsey, who’s director of the UI’s Federal Criminal Defense Clinic, worries about whether the policy could have negative effects for inmates. “My first gut instinct, when I heard that Iowa DOC was transitioning to a photocopy mail system,” Guernsey says, “was that it was yet another way in which we deny people that we incarcerate a bit of their humanity.”

Guernsey says communication between inmates and people on the outside is valuable in maintaining good relationships and she says this new policy chips away at that. “There is value and humanity in the physical mail that people receive,” she says, “from the smells of their house, to the ability to touch the words on the page and maybe feel the cursive of their husband or wife, or to be able to see the crayon drawing that their seven-year-old child made for them.”

Nancy O’Geary Smith has a son in an Iowa prison and used to send him mail frequently, but she says the new system is confusing and made it difficult to communicate in a system that already has a lot of rules and policies. “It’s very frustrating,” O’Geary Smith says. “They say they want interaction with loved ones, but what they are doing is a contradiction. It is the definite opposite.”

The policy was instituted in July over concern about drugs, particularly a synthetic drug known as K-2, getting into prisons through the mail. The Iowa Department of Corrections says people can continue to send mail to inmates through the postal service, as long as the senders are properly addressing the envelopes with the right information and the mail meets guidelines.

(Catherine Wheeler, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa)  – Campaign finance reports show all but one of the Republicans running for statewide office have a fundraising advantage over their Democratic challengers. That fundraising advantage translates to a sizable campaign spending edge in the governor’s race in particular. Campaign finance reports show Republican Governor Kim Reynolds spent about five million dollars from mid-July to mid-October. Democratic challenger Deidre DeJear spent one-fifth as much and had about 366-thousand dollars left in her campaign account last week. Rob Sand, who’s seeking a second term as state auditor, was the only

Democrat running for statewide office to raise more than their G-O-P challenger. Todd Halbur, Sand’s opponent, ended the reporting period with just about four-thousand dollars in his campaign account. Sand had 600-thousand.

Rick Stewart, the Libertarian candidate for governor, raised about 54-thousand dollars for his campaign from mid-July to mid-October. That includes 25-thousand dollars of his own money. His campaign finance report indicates Stewart spent less than three-thousand dollars on his gubernatorial campaign over that three month period.

(Radio Iowa) University of Iowa president Barbara Wilson says the student athletes on the Hawkeye football team want to win just as much as everybody else and she’s asking fans to find a way to be supportive.

The Hawkeye football team won ten games last season and played in both the Big 10 championship game and the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day. This year’s team record stands at three-and-three and two of those losses were in Kinnick stadium in Iowa City.

Wilson describes Hawkeye sports as the corridor to the university.

The Iowa Wave started in 2017 after the hospital opened. At the end of the first quarter, everyone in the stadium — including the coaches and players on the field — turns toward patients and families watching the game from the 10th floor of the hospital.

Wilson has been the university’s president since mid-2021. She made her comments during taping of “Iowa Press” which airs Friday night, on Iowa P-B-S.