Today:  Sunny with a high near 85. Light and variable wind becoming south southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Tonight:  Mostly clear with a low around 48. Breezy, with a north wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tuesday:  Sunny with a high near 68. North wind at 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Wednesday:  Sunny with a high near 78. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Thursday:  Sunny with a high near 79.

Friday:  Sunny with a high near 74.

(Atlantic, Iowa [Story by Atlantic FFA reporter Maddy Anderson]) – The Atlantic FFA chapter competed in the Southwest Iowa District Soils Judging Contest at the Armstrong Research Farm in Lewis, on Wednesday, September 25th. Atlantic FFA had 6 individuals compete in 2 teams. One team that place 9th, consisted of Lily Johnson, Frank Freund, and Hayden Kleen. Members of Team 2, consisting of Jarrett Hansen, Jacquie Freund and Rylie Vandevanter, placed 25th out of 47 teams.

The Soils Judging Career Development Event is designed towards motivating students to gain knowledge on surface features, the soil profile, land capability and productivity, evaluation of land use and management practices, and suitability of soils for non-agricultural uses. Students also develop the ability to observe selected soil properties, and use these observations to interpret and evaluate these properties for recommendations for land use.

Team members from left to right are: Jarett Hansen, Hayden Kleen, Frank Freund, Lily Johnson, Rylie Vandevanter, Jaquie Freund. (photo submitted)

After the contest took place, Lily Johnson said, “I enjoyed getting the opportunity to go study soil and learn about the different things that contribute to soils judging and was very pleased with how our team placed!”

Asa Lucas, Chris Parks, Christian Adams, and Matt Mullenix take a look at 8 area high school football games each week throughout the season. We try to provide some insight into the match-ups while competing for top prognosticator and the Whosman Trophy.

Who’s Gonna Win? is brought to you again in 2024 by Rush CPA & Associates and Fareway.

Last Week:

Asa Lucas: 5-3

Matt Mullenix 6-2
Chris Parks 6-2
Christian Adams 6-2

Overall 2024 Standings:

Matt Mullenix 26-6
Chris Parks 28-4
Chrisitan Adams 25-7

Asa Lucas 24-8

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KJAN Sports Asa Lucas’ weekly discussion with Atlantic Head Football Coach Joe Brummer. This week we talk about the Week 4 loss against Winterset and look ahead to homecoming against Knoxville.

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(Radio Iowa) – The latest report from the U-S Drought Monitor showed a slight improvement with six percent of the state showing no dry conditions. D-N-R hydrologist Tim Hall says the majority of the state is listed as “abnormally dry,” or just before the drought level. “That’s either a precursor to or remnants of coming out of drought. So in the conditions we’re in where we’re kind of on the edge of being in drought and not being in drought,” Hall says. There are some areas in western Iowa and far northeast that have moderate drought. Hall says the dry weather can be an asset to farmers right now.

“From an ag producer perspective, being dry is great because it doesn’t cause any problems with getting into the field. You get really good grain dry down. Those are all good,” he says. Hall says it would not be good to go much longer without some rainfall. “Thinking forward to the next crop year, we need to be adding some moisture into the soil profile,” Hall says. “So it’s not good when we have a September like we’re in. This is likely to end up being the driest September ever on record for the state of Iowa.” Hall says when you look outside of agriculture needs, the state’s water systems are okay.

“Fortunately for the state of Iowa, we had some wetter than normal months for most of the last 12 months, going back to October of last year. So coming out of some pretty decent wet months this spring and early this summer, we’re in much better shape than we would be had we not had that rain,” he says. Hall says rain naturally drops off as we head through fall and into winter, so making up the gap from the dry September may not be easy.

(Bethesda, MD) – Officials with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report John Deere is recalling multiple models of its Compact Utility Tractors over concerns that their brake systems could fail, creating risk for crashes or injury. The Illinois-based company says there have been four reported incidents — including one hospitalization, two injuries, and some minor property damage. The recalled Compact Utility Tractor models are 1023E, 1025R and 2025R. John Deere says those models can be identified by the model numbers printed on the machines’ hoods. Consumers should stop using these tractors immediately.

The affected models were sold by authorized John Deere dealers from November 2017 through July 2024, and cost between $12,700 and $21,000. The company estimates about 147,900 units are affected. Customers can also check serial numbers for recalled models at the John Deere recalls page.

(Courtesy of John Deere via U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission)

John Deere advises customers to stop using the affected machines and to contact an authorized John Deere dealer to schedule a free repair of the front bell crank in the brake linkage. The company says it’s also reaching out to known purchasers directly.

For more information, customers can visit John Deere online or call Deere & Company from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET Saturdays.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has filed a lawsuit accusing an out-of-state company and two of its top executives of failing to properly dispose of over a thousand decommissioned wind turbine blades. According to the Iowa Attorney General’s lawsuit, General Electric and MidAmerican Energy paid millions to a company in Washington state to cut up, transport and recycle wind turbine blades.

The attorney general says that company, Global Fiberglass Solutions, illegally dumped about 13-hundred wind turbine blades at parking lots in Newton and in fields in Ellsworth and Atlantic. The attorney general says those stockpiles posed an environmental risk and the company refused to act despite orders from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The lawsuit seeks civil penalties of five-thousand dollars per day — over a roughly five year period — for violations of the state’s solid waste disposal rules.

The state of Iowa is suing a Washington-state company and its executives for dumping and then abandoning tons of old wind-turbine blades around Iowa, in violation of the state’s solid-waste laws. These blades were allegedly dumped in the city of Newton. (Photo from Iowa Department of Natural Resources files)

Both General Electric and MidAmerican Energy have had the blades removed from the three sites in Iowa and recycled out of state. General Electric has also sued Global Fiberglass Solutions for failing to dispose of retired wind turbine blades in Texas AND in Iowa. Attempts to reach a spokesperson for Global Fiberglass Solutions were unsuccessful.

(Radio Iowa) – The Friends of Ledges State Park in Boone County will celebrate its 100th anniversary Saturday. Park manager Andy Bartlett says it’s a favorite place for one particular form of outdoor recreation. “Ledges is known, not only in central Iowa but across the state, as a premier hiking destination,” he says. Bartlett says there are only four-and-a-half miles of trails, but the provide a lot of different challenges.

“There’s a diversity of difficulty levels, the scenery is amazing, the topography makes it a little challenging, and it’s just really a big draw, especially in the fall months,” he says. “The colors are changing, the weather’s cool, the bugs are almost gone, and you will find a fantastic place to hike here, at Ledges.” He has a favorite spot to visit in the park. “Ledges canyon itself is really one of the focal points, most unique areas in all of Iowa, from the sandstone geology to the native plant diversity the animals that call it home, just the unique experience that it offers for our visitors,” Bartlett says.

Ledges State Park. (DNR photo)

Ledges has faced some challenges through the years with too much water. “Flooding has been, you know, a thorn in the side of any past employee who’s ever worked here at Ledges. The Des Moines River being our west boundary Pease Creek, which flows through the heart of the Ledges Canyon, both of those offer different types of flooding at different times of year, and can pose a little bit of a challenge,” he says. “We had a little bit of flooding early this spring from the Des Moines River, but it it receded out of here in plenty of time for this event.” The event Saturday is open to the public.

“Starting at 10 o’clock, we have a historical characters hike, which is being put on by our seasonal naturalist here at the park. They’re going to lead participants on about a mile and a half hike, pretty easy on the trails, but they’ll meet some of those historic characters that were such a big part of the story of this park and its origin,” Bartlett says.

You can go to the Friends Of Ledges State Park Facebook page to find out more about the events.

(Radio Iowa) – Former President Donald Trump says John Deere will face steep tariffs on machinery made in Mexico if he’s reelected.  “Just notifying John Deere right now, if you do that, we’re putting a 200% tariff on anything you want to sell into the United States,” Trump said. In June, Deere announced it would shift production of skid loaders and compact track loaders from its plant in Dubuque to facilities in Mexico by the end of 2026.

“They think they’re going to make product cheaper in Mexico and then sell it in for the same prices they did before,” Trump said, “make a lot of money by getting rid of our labor and our jobs.” Since March, Deere has laid off about 24-hundred workers at its plants in Ankeny, Dubuque, Ottumwa, Waterloo and the Quad Cities AND at its research and business offices in Dubuque, Johnston, Urbandale and Moline, Illinois.

Deere has said it’s responding to market conditions, as lower crop prices and higher interest rates have depressed demand for its equipment. Deere has not responded directly to Trump’s comments, but a company spokesperson said it is sometimes necessary to move less complex operations to other locations in order to position Deere’s highly value-added activities in U-S factories.