(Radio Iowa) – Proud Iowa parents who’ve already posted photos online of their kids heading back to school might consider taking them down. Lisa Schiller, with the Better Business Bureau, says sharing pictures of your child holding a sign on their first day of the new school year could create risks.  “Back to school photos with those children holding a board with their full name, age, height, and other details,” Schiller says, “that’s great for your own personal information, keep it in the home, but don’t put it on social media.”

Schiller explains how those popular photos could become dangerous in the online environment.  “Scammers or predators could actually use this information to commit identity theft or they could use it to earn your child’s trust,” she says. Also, all of that data could be used to steal your — or your child’s — identity, or it could be used to guess passwords and break into online accounts.  Schiller says, “You may want to remove personal information from your account that others can see, like your telephone number or your address.”

It’s important to check your social media settings to see with whom you’re exchanging information. Also, look over your “friends” list and make sure what you’re sharing is going to the correct people. Some settings mean if a friend hits “like” on your post, all of their friends can see it, too.

(Radio Iowa) – A federal agency suggests increased noise would be the major impact of a railroad merger that would increase train traffic in some parts of eastern Iowa. The Surface Transportation Board is considering Canadian Pacific’s acquisition of Kansas City Southern Railway. Joshua Wayland, an environmental specialist at the agency, says the increased traffic along the merged line would increase the risk of derailments, hazardous materials spills and collisions. “But we expect that the risk of such incidents would remain small throughout the combined network,” he says, “and that most incidents that would occur would be minor and would not result in any injuries or fatalities.”

The agency calculates there would be a small increase of vehicle delays at rail crossings along the proposed Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern line.  “We project that there would be approximately 24.9 involving trains and motor vehicles per year under the proposed acquisition,” Wayland says, “compared to 19.1 accidents compared to the no-action alternative.” The agency’s Environmental Impact Statement suggests a rail line that stretches from Canada to Mexico would reduce truck traffic in the United States. “The applicants expect that approximately 64,000 truck would be removed from highways each year due to these truck to rail diversions,” Wayland says.

There could be increased truck traffic at terminals where products are unloaded from the trains, but Wayland says regulators don’t expect that to cause much disruption on streets and highways.

Police in Creston arrested a man from Polk County, for Violation of a No Contact/Protective Order. 24-year-old Aristides Esau Perodomo was taken into custody at the Union County Courthouse. He later posted a $300 bond, and was released.

Police in Red Oak, early this (Friday) morning, arrested a woman on a drug charge. Authorities say 18-year-old Lanee Joe Harmsen, of Clarinda, was arrested at around 3:54-a.m. in the 1600 block of Broadway Street, in Red Oak. She was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance (PCS)/1st offense, a Serious Misdemeanor. Harmsen was being held in the Montgomery County Jail, where her bond was set at $1,000.

(Radio Iowa) – August saw below-normal rainfall — but drought conditions did improve in some parts of the state. The D-N-R’s Tim Hall says some areas didn’t get the rain from thunderstorms. “You sort of have to look at it regionally. And some parts of Southeast Iowa were accepted exceptionally dry in the month of August,” Hall says. August was the fifth straight month with below-normal precipitation, and Hall says the state needs a rainfall rally.”To get out of a drought that’s been sort of lingering and brewing for a couple of years, it’s going to take month over month over month of above normal rainfall,” he says.

“We haven’t seen but one month this year, where we’ve had above normal rainfall statewide. We haven’t seen the conditions that we’d like to see that’ll start to dig us out of this long-term condition.” Rivers and streams are running low in some of the drought areas — which can lead to more problems.”There’s water quality issues that come along with decreased streamflow and groundwater. There’s some communities battling nitrate issues. So in northwest Iowa, it’s not very good. And if you look at the streamflow in southeast Iowa, it is also trending downward,” according to Hall.

The fall months are not normally the wettest of the year in Iowa — but Hall says there is some positive recent history. “Going back to 2016 — a really wet September, 2017 a really wet October, 2018 a really wet September, 2019 a really wet September, and last year a really wet October. So we’ve seen the emergence of the trend I think that shows September and or October being above normal for precipitation,” Hall says. He says the timing of the rains are key to rebuilding subsoil moisture. “There is there’s ample opportunity to get some much needed rainfall going into the winter. Depends how much we get and how much gets locked into the soil moisture before the ground freezes,” Hall says.

The latest drought monitor showed just a slight increase in the percentage of the state that doesn’t have any type of drought.

(Montgomery County, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report a man from Elliott was arrested Thursday (Sept. 8th), for Felony, possession of a stolen vehicle. 38-year-old Cory Ross Smith was being held on a $5,000 bond in the Montgomery County Jail. Additional information is not available.

(Radio Iowa) – The dean of Iowa State University’s history department says he experienced a surprising sweep of sadness at the news Queen Elizabeth had died. Simon Cordery was born outside of London and his family moved to the U.S. when Cordery was 15. “She’s the only head of state, like most Britons, I’ve ever known and her presence was always a source of stability,” he says. “It lent a sense of permanence to an ever changing world.”

Cordery. who has dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom, says the queen was an incredible ambassador for all things British — even for people like him who aren’t necessarily in total support of the idea of a monarchy. “Depending on what happens to the monarchy in the next 50 years, and as a historian I wouldn’t dare to even begin to speculate, I can imagine she that will be perceived and interpreted as a person who saved the monarchy at a time of incredible trial and uncertainty,” Cordery says.

Simon Cordery. (ISU photo)

Her uncle abdicated from the throne to marry a twice divorced American and Elizabeth’s father became king until his death in 1952. Elizabeth ascended to the throne at the age of 25. “Her ability to become in many ways a voice of the British people surprised and delighted a lot of English and Scottish and Irish and Welsh people who didn’t really know what to expect from this admittedly very young princess,” Cordery says. Elizabeth’s eldest son is now King Charles the third and Cordery suspects he’s in for a bit of a rough ride.

“He’s got a tough act to follow. I don’t envy him and he’s had a lot of bad press, of course — some of it his own making and some of it just because of who he is,” Cordery says. “…I can’t imagine that he will make any major missteps. The question is how strong of an advocate will he be for maintaining the commonwealth, how much of his time will he be able to devote to making sure that the infrastructure that his mother has so carefully nurtured will remain in place.”

Cordery is teaching a class in western civilization this semester and he’s looking forward to hearing students’ reactions to Queen Elizabeth’s passing. “I’m curious to know my students’ response to this news,” he says. “I’m curious to know how quickly they learned about it, what their immediate thoughts were, how they feel about it all.”

Several Iowa elected officials issued written statements after the announcement that Queen Elizabeth had died. Senator Chuck Grassley’s staff released a photo of Grassley with the queen after her 1991 address to the U.S. congress. Governor Kim Reynolds has ordered all flags in Iowa to be flown at half staff until after the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth on Monday, September 19th.

(Radio Iowa) – Testimony began today (Thursday) with the playing of a 9-1-1 call in the first-degree murder trial of a Merrill man accused of killing his son. The jury heard from the dispatcher — and heard two 9-1-1 calls made by Thomas Knapp’s wife Darlene on the day of the shooting.

In the second call, Darleen Knapp says her 51-year-old son Kevin Juzek, is trying to defend himself against his father who has a shotgun.

Plymouth County Deputy Rick Singer testified that they found Knapp walking with his hands in his coat and he had trouble understanding them.

Knapp is hard of hearing and during testimony sat in a wheelchair wearing a pair of headphones. The trial will resume Friday at the courthouse in Le Mars.

(Radio Iowa) – An author from Lake City is publishing a book later this year on Iowa’s connection to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Darcy Maulsby says she first became fascinated with the story of the doomed ship when it was discovered in the mid 1980s at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean. In recent years, she heard another author give a lecture that included the mention of some Swedish immigrants who were onboard and headed for Iowa — who survived the disaster.

“I had known that there were maybe one or two people with ties to Iowa and the Titanic but I ended up doing a blog post and then I kept researching,” Maulsby says. “I found out that there’s roughly about 20 people with ties in one form or another to Iowa and the Titanic.” She says her upcoming book, “Iowa’s Lost History from the Titanic,” will focus on Iowa’s many connections to the luxury liner from all over the state.

“Some were folks that were actually coming from Europe to settle in America,” Maulsby says. “Some had grown up in places like Cedar Rapids and had actually moved on but still had family in the area, so they all have their own different stories.” Maulsby will present a program on her findings at 1 P-M Saturday at the Mulberry Center Church in Webster City.

https://www.darcymaulsby.com/blog/iowas-lost-history-from-the-titanic/

(Cass County, Iowa) – The operator of a crane suffered lacerations to his face and neck after a bridge collapsed Thursday afternoon and the crane went into a ditch in Cass County. According to dispatch reports, the accident happened one-quarter of a mile east of 765th and Pella Road, northeast of Massena, at around 3-p.m.

The crane operator was able to get out of the machine and was walking around following the accident. Cumberland-Massena Fire and Rescue, Cass EMS, and Sheriff’s Deputies were heading to the scene. Cumberland and Cass EMS were told to “disregard” at 3:15-p.m., as Massena had incident command.

Cass County Secondary Roads was notified as well.

No other details are currently available.