(Radio Iowa) – A Nebraska man died while trying to save his son at East Lake Okoboji Wednesday morning.  An investigation determined 41-year-old Brandon Urban of Omaha had swum to help his son who had fallen off a paddleboard and he became entangled in weeds. Brandon Urban then got caught in the weeds — and after freeing boy was unable to keep himself above the water’s surface.

Urban was located and pulled from the water by some friends and lifesaving measures were attempted but he died later at Lakes Regional Healthcare. Authorities say Urban was NOT wearing a lifejacket.

(Radio Iowa) – Students will be heading back to school across the state soon — and Governor Kim Reynolds says she hopes the school year will be fairly normal despite COVID-19. “We absolutely do, we have to learn to live with that, with this, we can do it safely and responsibly. It’s slowed a little bit, but we are in a pretty good place. Our vaccination rates continue to increase,” Reynolds says.

Reynolds says the vaccination rate is at 62 percent for Iowans and 66 percent for the same group that has had at least had one single dose. The governor says there’s some encouraging news too for younger Iowans. She says she just learned that 13 to 81-year-olds are at 57 percent for being fully vaccinated. “So, we are seeing the numbers move in the right direction,” she says.

Reynolds says the whole COVID picture should include more than vaccination numbers. “There’s a natural immunity when you have COVID-19, and that should be a part of the narrative, and so I’ve asked them to run those numbers. And let’s take a look at what that looks like in addition to those who have already been vaccinated as well,” Reynolds says.

Reynolds says the vaccine will be available at the Iowa State Fair, and the state is continuing to work with communities to provide them vaccines.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Insurance Division is using civil penalties and licensing fees paid to the agency to fund a financial literacy program aimed at women. The program is called SmartHER Money. The Iowa Insurance Division paid an Iowa-based consulting firm called AMPERAGE a quarter of a million dollars to create, advertise and manage the program. A SmartHER Money conference is planned for August 19th in Cedar Falls, plus the firm has created a new state website under the SmartHER Money brand.

The company conducted an online survey last fall that found 93 percent Iowa women who responded have a role in managing their finances, but only half of the women described their household as financially secure.

According to the consulting firm, younger women who responded to the online survey were more likely to report stress about saving for retirement and having enough money saved up to deal with emergencies. Eight percent had saved nothing in the past year and 45 percent said they are not confident they’re saving enough for retirement. Half of the women who responded to the online questionnaire said they didn’t have the time or knowledge to be more involved in making decisions about household finances.

(Radio Iowa) – The pace of vaccinations appears to be trending up slightly in Iowa as the number of patients hospitalized in Iowa for treatment of Covid grows. In the past 40 days, the number of Covid patients in Iowa hospitals has grown from 46 to more than 200 — a 77 percent increase.

The Iowa Department of Public Health’s weekly report shows the state averaged about 500 new cases of Covid in each of the past seven days. That’s about seven percent higher than daily case counts a year ago. The state website shows just over 47 percent of Iowans are fully vaccinated — a three-tenths of a percent increase from the previous week.

Leonard Management Group, a family-owned company that owns local McDonald’s restaurants, is donating more than 75 school supply kits to local teachers. In Atlantic, the giveaway takes place Thursday, August 5th, from 9-a.m. until 11-a.m., at the McDonald’s located at 1510 E. 7th Street.

Management Group officials say this donation is a way to show appreciation for teachers and all they provide for their students. The kits include pencils, dry erase markers, hand sanitizer, tissues, paper, post-it notes and more. Quantities are limited; to receive a kit, teachers must sign up for a time slot.

In addition to the school supply kits, teachers will have a chance to win prize giveaways. In all, Leonard Management Group is donating more than $30,000 in school supplies to teachers across Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports a man was arrested Wednesday (today), after Deputies followed-up on an anonymous tip about illegal drug activity in Shenandoah. They observed a large Marijuana plant that did not appear to be a wild plant. The resident of the property was confronted about the growing plant.

A subsequent search of the residence and property conducted by the Page County Sheriff’s and Shenandoah Police Department resulted in the arrest of the resident, 29-year-old Corbin Mackenzie Moody, of Shenandoah. He was charged with Possession of a controlled Substance – Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and False Report to Law Enforcement.

Corbin Moody

Moody was transported to the Page County Jail and held on a $1,600 bond, pending further court proceedings.

(COUNCIL BLUFFS) — The Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Agency reports, earlier today (Wednesday), the Regional Water Rural Water Association had announced the lifting of boil orders in Shelby and Harrison Counties. Those areas also included some facilities in Pottawattamie County such as Tri-Center Schools; the Minden Casey’s General Store; and near Shelby, the Menards Distribution Center and Love’s Travel Center properties.

Around 3:00 p.m., with the return of passing water test results, other areas and residential properties that were affected are also starting to be released from boil orders that went into effect just over one month ago.

Regional Water customers in Pleasant Township (North of Rosewood Rd., South of York Rd/I-80, East of 360th St. and West of 420th St.) and Valley Township (North of G30, South of Rosewood Rd., East of 420th St., and West of Hwy 59) are now lifted from the boil advisory. If your account number starts with A15, C15, or C17, you can now use the water as normal.
Regional Water also informed those customers that for those who have an automatic ice maker, they recommend you flush it before consuming any ice.

If you do not have any other guidance from your manufacturer on how to do so, we recommend that you throw out all ice that was made during the boil advisory and let the ice maker run for a full twenty-four-hour cycle; throwing out any ice made during that time before using it normally. If your ice maker comes with different instructions on how to flush it, follow those instructions instead of their provided recommendation.

Updates will continue to be provided on the emergency management agency’s website at https://pcema-ia.org, twitter feed, and Facebook page. Regional Water system updates, alerts, and additional information can be obtained directly from Regional Water Rural Water Association’s website at https://www.rwrwa.org/.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University graduate whose company builds life-size sculptures out of LEGO bricks will create a tribute to one of the Ames institution’s most famous graduates during the Iowa State Fair. Chris Ihle, who runs We Build U, was hired by his alma mater to create a LEGO George Washington Carver, but the innovative inventor won’t be depicted just standing there.

“We definitely didn’t want to build him as a Civil War statue because he’s a person,” Ihle says. “We found a black-and-white photograph that shows him in a lab coat, working with the beakers. It really captures the science of what Washington Carver did.” Ihle and three other team members will spend an estimated 300 hours during the fair making the sculpture — which will use about 44-thousand LEGO bricks. We Build U just marked its third anniversary and Ihle has a client list that ranges from rappers to pets to presidents.

“I surely didn’t invent LEGOs and I surely didn’t invent self portraits, so I just combined the two,” Ihle says. “Nobody ever wakes up and says, ‘Today, I’m going to go buy a life-size LEGO statue of myself or a loved one,’ and we’re the only place in the world that offers that.” Ihle has created LEGO sculptures for musicians, reality TV shows, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the Ultimate Fighting Championship — and even Iowa native opera singer Simon Estes.

“If you’re awesome, we can build you and if you’re not awesome, go do something awesome and then we’ll build you,” Ihle says. “If you can’t do anything awesome, go ask your mother because I’m sure she thinks you’re awesome and in that case, we’ll build your mother in LEGOs. And I guarantee you, she’s going to cry when she sees it because everybody loves themselves and everybody loves LEGOs.” Carver was Iowa State’s first black student and faculty member.

This year marks the 125th anniversary of Carver receiving his master’s degree at I-S-U. His research resulted in the creation of more than 300 products from peanuts, more than 100 products from sweet potatoes, and hundreds more from a dozen other plants native to the South. Fairgoers will be able to see the statue as it’s being built in the fair’s Varied Industries Building and once the fair is over, the LEGO Carver will go on display on Iowa State’s campus in a location to be determined.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reports a young adult from Panora was injured during a rollover accident late Monday morning. Authorities say 18-year-old Paul Richard Hansen was driving a 2001 Buick Century Custom west on 120th Street – a gravel road – at around 11:30-a.m., when the car went out of control. The vehicle entered the eastbound ditch before it entered the westbound ditch and struck a large rock.

The car rolled over and came to rest in a cornfield. Hansen was wearing a seat belt. He complained of pain and possible injury before being transported by his parents. No citations were issued. The vehicle sustained $1,500 damage and was declared a total loss.