(Radio Iowa) – An asteroid is approaching the Earth which the experts say will come close enough to be caught in our planet’s gravity well, technically becoming a second moon, at least for a few months. University of Iowa physics and astronomy Professor Casey DeRoo says this asteroid will be captured by the Earth’s gravitational pull around September 29th, it’ll slow down, then go into a sort of U-shaped orbit. “For a horseshoe orbit, it’s something that starts off in front of us and ends up behind us as we are orbiting the sun,” DeRoo says. “Really, it’s going to do just a single slingshot around the Earth and sort of an oblong or ellipse, and then carry on its way behind us, having approached from the front.”

The asteroid known as “2024 PT5” is only about 33 feet in diameter, or about as big across as a school bus. While it will come relatively close to Earth, close in astronomical terms, DeRoo says there’s no chance the asteroid will hit us. “They are easy to pick out, their trajectory versus the stars, because they’re the things that are moving more rapidly than the stars themselves, right? And so with just a couple of observations over the course of a few days, you can actually get quite a bit in terms of orbital parameters,” DeRoo says, “and those orbital parameters tell you essentially how that orbit will evolve within our solar system. So we are 100% confident on this kind of trajectory.”

If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of this wandering space rock, you’re wishing on the wrong star, because even though it’ll be in our orbit, it’ll still be many tens of millions of miles away. “If you imagine trying to see a school bus from the distance of the moon, that would be the difficulty that you’re trying to actually encounter here. So it is a really faint object,” DeRoo says. “This is the kind of thing that you pick out with dedicated ground-based observatories or telescopes. So you’re going to have a difficult time finding this from the ground, unless you’ve got, say, a two- to three-foot telescope lying around.” By that, he means a two- to three-foot diameter lens would be needed.

The experts say the asteroid will slingshot out of orbit around November 25th, after about 56 days as our looming moon. Where did it come from? There are various theories. DeRoo says it could have been created many millennia ago when the Earth and Moon first separated, or it may have fallen out of the asteroid belt that hovers between Mars and Jupiter. We’ll likely never know for sure.

(Radio Iowa) – The State Fire Marshal has been called in to help determine the cause of a fire that heavily damaged a Jones County bar Tuesday. The Jones County Sheriff’s Office says emergency personnel were called to Jones County Local about two miles southwest of Anamosa, shortly before 6 a-m. When firefighters arrived, they were met with heavy smoke and fire inside the building.

Fire heavily damaged the Jones County Local bar Tuesday. (KMCH photo)

The business was not open at the time. No employees were present, no injuries reported. The inside of the building sustained heavy heat, smoke and fire damage.

(Corning, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Adams County are investigating a potential threat of violence in the Southwest Valley School District. The threat on social media was reported at the high school in Corning, Tuesday morning. School officials said the high school was made aware of a potential threat of violence via Snapchat to a student.

After initiating an investigation, authorities deemed the situation safe, and said there was no concern of a threat at this time. In a post on the district’s Facebook page, Superintendent Chris Fenster said classes have resumed. Read the Superintendent’s letter to parents and students, below:

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Montgomery County, Tuesday, unanimously voted to reinstate the County’s Compensation Board, but decided to leave their policy for public comment during their meetings, unchanged, for now. Their current policy has a two-minute public comment period that follows the reading and approval of the previous Board meeting minutes, near the top of the weekly agenda.

Supervisors Chair Mike Olson proposed limiting the number of people speaking on a particular topic, and prohibiting personal attacks against board members. He said the policy would be similar to what the Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors placed into effect, after comments regarding wind energy got out of control.

Supervisor Randy Cooper objected to some who wanted the public comment period moved to the end of the meeting. He said it would inconvenience some residents wanted to briefly attend the meeting and then get back to their jobs. Supervisor Donna Robinson suggested any changes should be made after she and Cooper – who are not running for re-election – leave at the end of the year.

(Radio Iowa) – A state administrator says a report from the state auditor on the frequency of nursing home inspections is inaccurate and incomplete. State Auditor Rob Sand released an analysis Monday showing nursing home inspections were occurring, on average, every 17 months — and that’s about four months beyond the federal standard.

Larry Johnson — director of the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing — says the federal data the state auditor relied upon did not provide a snapshot of all the inspections that had been conducted before June 1st — because there’s a lag time in completing the paperwork. “Had he contacted us both before, during and after his audit, we would have provided accurate information,” Johnson says.

Johnson says data for the current federal fiscal year shows the statewide average time between Iowa nursing home inspections is now under 13 months. “So we are exceeding what is expected of us,” Johnson says. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pays 86 percent of the salaries for state nursing home inspectors. Johnson decided to use some of that funding to pay overtime to state inspectors, speeding up the annual reviews of Iowa nursing homes.

“We only have 13 nursing homes left to do and we have two weeks left to do it,” Johnson says. That’s because the federal fiscal year ends September 30th.

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa judge has affirmed that the Lyon County Sheriff will be able to seek reelection — as a Libertarian Party candidate. Lyon County Sheriff Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep ran as a Republican in the June Primary, but lost the G-O-P nomination to Iowa State Trooper Brian Hilt. One person wrote the sheriff’s name on the Libertarian Party’s Primary ballot, so the sheriff became the Libertarian Party’s nominee instead.

Hilt — the Republican who beat the sheriff in the G-O-P primary — asked a judge to reverse a Lyon County Objection Panel’s decision that the sheriff had qualified for the November ballot.

Lyon County Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep (Photo provided by KIWA)

The judge, in his decision, said the trooper’s argument that the sheriff shouldn’t win the Libertarian Party’s nomination was arguably supported by common sense — since got it by a single write-in vote, but the judge said that conclusion is not supported by state law.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-N-R says a broken water main will likely to lead to dead fish in the only state trout stream near a major urban area. The D-N-R says the break allowed chlorinated water into McLoud Run in Cedar Rapids Wednesday. D-N-R staff reported seeing stressed fish in the stream after the water flowed in, and it is expected that dead fish may be observed over the next few days.

Chlorinated water from a main break leaked into McLoud Run trout stream in Cedar Rapids. (Photo courtesy of Iowa DNR)

Murky stream conditions hampered efforts to count any dead fish, but the D-N-R says they will be surveying the area when the water clears.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – A Council Bluffs man was sentenced today to 220 months in federal prison for possessing a distribution quantity of methamphetamine.

According to public court documents, law enforcement used a confidential informant to purchase methamphetamine from Philip Duane Sales, 54, in fall 2023. On December 20, 2023, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Sales’ residence and seized approximately 70 grams of methamphetamine and currency, some of which was utilized during a controlled buy in October 2023.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Sales will be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement (SWINE) Task Force, Council Bluffs Police Department, Iowa Department of Narcotics Enforcement, and Iowa State Patrol.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Two Council Bluffs men were sentenced to federal prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine:

• Michael Guy Given, 36, was sentenced on August 14, 2024, to a 120‑month prison term; and
• Brian Michael Hogan, 50, was sentenced on September 17, 2024, to a 120‑month prison term.

According to public court documents, between March and April 2023, Given and Hogan conspired to distribute methamphetamine in the Council Bluffs metropolitan area. During a search warrant, law enforcement located methamphetamine, a digital scale, and drug packaging materials.

After completing their terms of imprisonment, Given and Hogan will each be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department and the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement (SWINE) Task Force.