(Radio Iowa) – City staff in Dubuque are preparing for the Mississippi River to crest this weekend. John Klostermann has been in Dubuque’s Public Works department for 47 years and has been its director since 2016. His department has been preparing for this flood since February, but he says their work is built on decisions made half century ago. ) “It’s not something we just decided to do this year or last year,” he says. “It’s been building every year since it was dedicated in 1973.”

Klostermann says it’s normal for SOME of the 17 gates that form the city’s flood wall to be used during spring flood season. “All the gates have been closed and that’s only the third time since the levee system was constructed and completed in 1973 that we’ve closed all the gates,” he says, “so it’s an unusual type event.”

While the river will be at flood stage for another week or so, the National Weather Service anticipates the water cresting in Dubuque at 24-point-four feet on Saturday and then slowly coming down.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s Supreme Court has ruled the Iowa Utilities Board should have considered whether operating coal plants is economical when it approved an emissions control plan from MidAmerican Energy in 2020. Environmental advocates sued the Iowa Utilities Board for rejecting a report that said retiring some coal-fired power plants would be the most cost-effective way to meet state and federal pollution standards.

The report suggested electric generation from wind turbines and solar installations could replace the power being produced at MidAmerican coal-fired plants near Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Ottumwa and Muscatine. The Iowa Utilities Board ruled that evidence was irrelevant. The Iowa Supreme Court ruling says the board is required by law to consider cost effectiveness, so the board must now redo its review of MidAmerican’s emissions control plans.

Governor Reynolds recently appointed two new members to the three-person Iowa Utilities Board — and their terms start Monday.

(Radio Iowa) – The lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Johnston says it’s unlikely the rest of Iowa will experience the kind of flooding that’s hit the 10 counties along the Mississippi River. Brad Small says almost all of the flooding in eastern Iowa is caused by melting snow the fell in Minnesota and Wisconsin, “which is somewhat unusual because a lot of our spring floods are kind of a cumulative thing that started in the fall with maybe a wet fall and then we had a big winter of snowfall and then spring rains started and this is kind of unique that it’s almost entirely driven by the snow pack,” Small says.

“We’re actually kind of low on our rivers in central Iowa and the Missouri is quite low, too.” Drought conditions exist in many areas of western Iowa and Small says it would take a lot of rain to change that. There have already been more than two dozen confirmed tornadoes in Iowa so far this spring. That includes 11 that hit the state on March 31st. Donna Dubberke, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Johnston, says storm spotters are important in identifying where tornadoes are forming.

“They fill in some of the gaps, so it’s ‘ground truth,’” Dubberke says, “and it lets us in real time calibrate what we’re seeing with the technology to what’s actually occurring.”

Dubberke and Small made their comments during taping of “Iowa Press” which airs tonight on Iowa PBS. The five National Weather Service offices that provide forecasts and weather warnings for Iowa are located in Omaha; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Johnston, the Quad Cities and La Crosse, Wisconsin.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic firefighters were called to battle a blaze Friday afternoon shortly after 1:00 pm., Friday. When they arrived, a recreational vehicle parked in the driveway behind the house at 214 W. 14th Street. Thick black smoke was visible for several blocks before firefighters arrived.

According to Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel, the owner of a 2001 Dutchman RV had just plugged the vehicle’s water heater in for the first time this season. The fire was observed shortly thereafter. And, while the damage was too extensive to determine the exact cause of the blaze, Cappel says the water heater is suspect.

The fire caused extensive damage to a nearby Ford Ranger pickup, and rendered unsalvageable a riding lawn mower. Firefighters used foam to snuff out the flames. They were on the scene for about 30-to 45-minutes.

No injuries were reported.

CRESTON, Iowa – April 28, 2023 – If you travel on Interstate 80 at night, there’s an upcoming closure that may impact your route. The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Creston Construction Office reports DOT crews will be painting lines on the pavement on the north- and southbound on ramps for westbound Interstate 80 at Jordan Creek Parkway (exit 121) from 10 p.m. Sunday, April 30 to 1 a.m. Monday, May 1, weather permitting. The ramps will be closed while we are painting.

During these ramp closures, you’ll be directed to a marked detour to 60th Street where you’ll turn around and go westbound on I-80.

(Waterloo, Iowa) – A car traveling the wrong way on Highway 218 in Waterloo early this (Friday) morning, collided head-on with a semi tractor trailer. The accident happened at around 2:15-a.m. at mile marker 185. The Iowa State Patrol reports the 2013 Dodge Charger driven by 26-year-old Jordan Welch, of Waterloo, was traveling south in the northbound lanes when it struck a 2020 Freightliner semi, driven by 50-year-old Ray Mount, of Manly (IA). As a result of the impact, the car became engulfed in fire.

The semi was forced through the concrete median barrier and into the southbound lanes of Highway 218. Welch was flown by AirCare helicopter to the UIHC in Iowa City. The crash remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by Waterloo Police, Fire & EMS, Iowa DOT Motor Vehicle Enforcement personnel, the Iowa DOT and a wrecker service.

(Radio Iowa) – Today (Friday) is Workers Memorial Day and labor groups across the state have ceremonies planned to honor those who lost their lives on the job in the last year. The Iowa Labor Center’s Paul Iverson says year-after-year there is one connection between the deaths.  “Every year, so many things that were so senseless that could easily have been prevented if proper safety practices were followed,” he says. Fifty workers died on the job in Iowa in the last year. They were as young as 20 and as old as 84. Iverson has been putting together small obituaries for the last six years for each worker who died in the state in an attempt to remember they are not just statistics.

“All of those numbers you see are real people. That had real lives. There’s a real human cost and hoping that policymakers take that into account,” he says. Among the 50 people who died on the job, nine were from injuries related to a fall. Around 10 were struck by cars, and several were hit by distracted drivers.