(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop Tuesday evening in the 1900 block of N. Broadway Street, in Red Oak, resulted in a man being arrested on an OWI/2nd offense, charge. Red Oak Police report 32-year-old Michael Todd Archer, of Red Oak, was arrested on the aggravated misdemeanor charge, and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $2,000.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa motorists will need to be extra watchful for pedestrians this (Wednesday) morning as this is Walk, Bike and Roll to School Day. Matt Burkey, manager of the Safe Routes to School program at the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, says the annual event encourages students to lace up their walking shoes or hop on their bicycles and find an alternative to riding the bus or getting a ride to school. “So if you’re in walking distance, go for it. If there’s a safe way to bike there, do it,” Burkey says. “If you’ve got rollerblades, or if you need help getting around, like if you have a wheelchair or other mode of transportation, just find a way to get to school that doesn’t involve being dropped off right at the curb.”

There are several motives behind the day, Burkey says, which includes promoting environmental sustainability, building communities, and physical fitness. “We’ve been talking a lot about mental health issues with adults and young people these days,” Burkey says, “and every study out there shows that even a little bit of exercise is not only good for you physically but also good for you mentally.” The day is a great opportunity to get students excited about walking and biking, he says, while also promoting a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle, in addition to reducing their carbon footprint.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the school pick-up and drop-off lines in towns around Iowa and the country and it’s getting kind of bananas,” Burkey says. “The amount of cars there, the idling, the air pollution. That air pollution from idling cars is really bad, especially for kids since they’re so low to the ground.” Schools are encouraged to register their participation online and if they’re not taking part today, they can do so any day during May. Learn more at: www.walkbiketoschool.org

(Radio Iowa) – The drought has taken a toll in northwest Iowa, but two communities have found relief through hundreds of thousands of gallons of high-quality water from the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System piped into their communities. Sioux Center and Hull had been waiting for more than 30 years for their hook ups that came one month ago. They celebrated Tuesday with a ribbon cutting, where Lewis & Clark Executive Director Troy Larson talked about getting the project to this point. “This has been a long slog, and it’s taken us a lot longer to get here than we ever thought it would,’ he says. “I mean, this idea of Lewis and Clark started in the late 80s. Back when parachute pants were still popular. It was incorporated in 1990. We thought we’d get here about 2016 but for unfortunately, we didn’t get the federal funding as quick as we thought.”

Larson says adding Lewis & Clark water, which comes from the Missouri River and an aquifer will be transformational for the communities of Sioux Center and Hull. Sioux Center will receive 600-thousand gallons each day, while Hull pumps in 400-thousand gallons a day to blend with their current water supply. There were originally 59 communities which signed up for the project in 1993 — but the latest two make the total hooked up at 20. “In 1993 the rubber met the road in terms of committing to the project from the late 80s to 93 it was what I call the dating phase in 93 they had to get married,” he says. Larson says the project is working on expanding the system from producing 40 million gallons per day to 60 million gallons by 2031.

Congressman Randy Feenstra, grew up in Hull, and served on the Lewis & Clark board for seven-and-a-half years. He recalled the condition of the water in his home town was so bad they gave visitors a warning. “People who came to our house, you know people from outside just don’t drink the water because you’re gonna get sick I mean you’re gonna have problems some from this is true in Hull,” Feenstra says. Feenstra also recalls the meeting when funding plans were made known. “I remember being at the meeting where we finally heard that it was gonna be an annual appropriation, that we we’re gonna get funded,” Feenstra says. “But probably didn’t understand what that annual appropriation really meant. What a battle, a literal battle it would be every single year to get funding. But here we are.”

Feenstra commends all those involved in connecting the 377 miles of pipe that was laid and the additional infrastructure. The remaining communities to be connected to the service include Sheldon, which should connect to the system late this year or early next year; Madison, South Dakota should connect in the middle of 2024; and Sibley should connect in late 2024 or early 2025.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop in the 1000 block of 110th Street in Montgomery County at around 12:40-a.m. today, resulted in the arrest of a man from Clarinda. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 52-year-old David Allen Holste was taken into custody for Driving While Barred – an aggravated misdemeanor. Holste was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Sixty Republicans in the Iowa House have given final legislative approval to a bill outlining state spending for administrative and regulatory agencies. One Republican and 34 Democrats in the House voted against the plan. Representative Megan Srinivas, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the bill provides a nearly 22 percent increase in the budget for the governor’s office.

“There’s an unprecedented half a million dollars that is completely unearmarked that we are giving to the governor’s office with no answers as to how that money is needed or needs to be spent,” Srinivas says. A spokesman for Governor Kim Reynolds says the money will be used to recruit and retain staff in the governor’s office. Representative Michael Bergen, a Republican from Dorchester, says the governor and her staff are implementing a major reorganization of state government and the budget for Reynolds’ office is smaller than governor’s offices in states of similar size, like Utah and Kentucky.

“So I fully support the governor’s ask and feel that it’s merited,” Bergen says. Several budget bills were passed in the House and Senate Tuesday, with more on today’s (Wednesday’s) docket.