Movie in the Park-

(Lewis, Iowa) –  The Cass County Conservation Board is holding a “Movie in the Park” Campground Program. Staff will show the FREE movie, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The public program will be held at the Campground Shelter at Cold Springs Park in Lewis, IA on Friday August 30th 2024 at 9:00 pm.

In the movie, Coriolanus Snow mentors and develops feelings for the female District 12 tribute during the 10th Hunger Games. Come out for a great movie under the stars! Bring a blanket or chair, snacks, Dress for the weather, we may reschedule at a later date if it rains, and You DO NOT have to be a registered camper to attend the program!

 “Mysterious Monarchs” Programs

The Cass County Conservation Board is holding “Mysterious Monarchs” Programs. The public programs will be held:

• Friday August 30th 5:00PM- Lake Anita State Park Campground loop
• Saturday August 31st 1PM- Cold Springs Park Campground Shelter

FREE! Discover the Monarch Butterflies before their journey south! Conservation staff will tag monarchs and show you how! If you would like a home tagging kit you must attend and pre-register for the Kit. Call 712-769-2372 to pre-register for your kit. You DO NOT have to be a registered camper to attend the program!

(Lewis, Iowa) –  The Cass County Conservation Board will be holding “Stand Up Paddleboard” (SUP) demonstrations later this month. The public demonstrations will be held August 31st at 9-a.m. and 10:30-a.m., at Cold Springs Park- Beach, near Lewis. There is no charge to attend.

Officials say SUP is the fastest growing sport in the paddling community not only across the country, but in land-locked areas like Iowa, as well. It’s fun, healthy as a total body work-out, and offers a unique perspective when it comes to being on the water.

After a quick demonstration, you’ll have a chance to try out the boards for yourself. If you do not bring a life jacket one will be provided to you. Children must be 16 years or older. Paddlers must weigh LESS than 250 LBS.

Paddle Boarding

All events are at the Cold Springs Park- Beach

August 31st

9AM- 5 Spots

10:30am- 5 Spots

Kayaks will be available for checkout at the same time. There are four, sit-in kayaks available. Paddlers must weigh LESS than 250 LBS. There are also four, sit-on-top kayaks. Paddler must weigh LESS than 395 LBS. If you do not bring a life jacket one will be provided to you.

9AM- 4 kayaks, sit in, 4 kayaks, sit on top.

10:30AM- 4 kayaks, sit in, 4 kayaks, sit on top.

September 7th

1:00pm- 4 kayaks, sit in, 4 kayaks, sit on top.

2:30pm- 4 kayaks, sit in, 4 kayaks, sit on top.

You MUST register online to get your spot! https://www.mycountyparks.com/County/Cass/Park/Cold-Springs-Park.aspx

Programs will be cancelled if there is unsafe weather conditions on the Lake.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A man from Nebraska was injured during a chain-reaction crash involving his motorcycle and three other vehicles Thursday afternoon, north of Atlantic. The Iowa State Patrol says the vehicles: a 2014 Honda CTX-130, operated by 60-year-old Anthony Haynes, Sr., of Omaha; a 2024 Dodge Ram 2500 pickup driven by 53-year-old William Smith, of Vernona, NY, and a 2021 Chevy Silverado pickup driven by 30-year-old Jacob Swoboda, of Gretna, NE, were all traveling east on Interstate 80 near Exit 57 (Cass County Road N-16/Olive Street/620th St.) at around 3:25-p.m.

When a pilot car for an oversized load pulled into the traffic lanes, a 2021 BMW X-1 driven by 23-year-old Carly Boss, of Clive, slowed and pulled over to the left shoulder, as the vehicle ahead of the BMW was doing the same thing. When the BMW slowed to a stop, it was struck by the motorcycle.

The motorcycle was then hit by the Chevy pickup truck, which was hit by the Dodge pickup truck. The Patrol says Anthony Haynes, Sr., was transported by Cass EMS to Cass Health in Atlantic, before being flown by LifeFlight helicopter to the UNMC in Omaha. A report on his condition was not released.

Atlantic Fire and Rescue, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office and Cass EMS assisted at the scene.

CRESTON, Iowa – In an update to our previous report, the Iowa Department of Public Safety says that at around 7:37-a.m. today (Thursday, August 15, 2024), officers with the Creston Police Department were dispatched to the 800 block of North Lincoln Street after receiving reports of gunshots. While officers were en route, they were notified of an adult male at the Greater Regional Health Center with multiple gunshot wounds. Medical professionals treated the man, who was then airlifted to a Des Moines area hospital for additional treatment. He is expected to recover.

In response to the shooting, the GRHC and other local businesses were placed in a brief lockdown while officers secured the area. The lockdown has since been lifted.

At approximately 2:30 p.m., Creston police officers and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agents arrested Daniel McDowell, 22, of Lorimor, Iowa. He was taken into custody without incident at the Union County Law Enforcement Center and has since been processed into the Union County Jail. He is facing one count of attempted murder and a probation violation.

Daniel McDowell (Booking photo via the Iowa DPS)

This is an ongoing investigation. No additional information will be released at this time.

(DES MOINES) – The Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) and Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) today announced their newly designated 2025 Iowa Thriving Communities.  The communities of Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Mason City, Newton and Waterloo have received designations.

“Housing is the foundation of upward economic opportunity, and when all Iowans have access to affordable homes, families, communities, and businesses can truly thrive,” said IEDA|IFA Director Debi Durham. “Iowa Thriving Communities have stepped up as leaders in embracing housing for all income levels, and I extend my congratulations to our newly designated communities.”

Addressing the housing needs of our thriving economy requires a strategic, proactive, and innovative approach. Iowa communities, local partners, and employers must work together to ensure that all Iowans can afford to live in the communities where they work.

To highlight and encourage these efforts, IFA and IEDA launched the second annual Iowa Thriving Communities designation. This initiative recognizes communities that are going above and beyond, using innovative strategies to attract housing opportunities for their workforce.

“We are thrilled to receive the Iowa Thriving Community designation,” said Mason City Mayor Bill Schickel. “This recognition not only affirms our commitment to providing housing for our workforce but also energizes our ongoing efforts to build a brighter future for all residents. With this designation, we can continue to create a vibrant, inclusive community where everyone has the opportunity to prosper.”

These communities demonstrated their commitment and innovation in welcoming housing for all income levels through a rigorous application process. By showcasing best practices in attracting housing development, they aim to serve as models for both state and national efforts. In addition to the recognition, the designation comes with valuable scoring points for the Federal Housing Tax Credit and Workforce Housing Tax Credit programs, effective through 2025 for each community.

In addition, the following 2024 Iowa Thriving Communities were granted extensions to encourage additional development: Charles City, Creston, Knoxville, Manning, Muscatine, Stanton and West Des Moines.

More information about Iowa Thriving Communities is available at iowafinance.com.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says the current administration has to take responsibility for the crisis at the southern border. Hinson says she’s tired of seeing stories about immigrants who are in the country illegally committing serious crimes. “A recent report from the House Judiciary Committee raised serious concerns about suspected terrorists released into our communities under the Harris-Biden administration. During her time as the Border Czar Harris has only traveled near the southwest border once, and there were reports that border patrol agents were actually told to sanitize the area ahead of her arrival to mask the true severity of the crisis,” Hinson says.

Hinson says the national media are trying to revise history on Harris’ role at the border instead of questioning it. “She, along with every single congressional Democrat who refused to support secure border policies and hold this administration accountable, bear responsibility for the dangerous illegal immigration crisis,” she says. “They bear responsibility for those who have been violently attacked and in some cases killed by illegal immigrants.” Hinson says the issue needs to be addressed.

“There must be accountability for the ongoing crisis at our southern border, and I will continue working to hold Harris and Biden accountable so we can make America safe again,” Hinson says.

Hinson made her comments during her weekly conference call with reporters.

(Radio Iowa) – The Office of the State Archaeologist has spent 12 days unearthing a mastodon skull in south-central Iowa’s Wayne County. State Archeologist John Doershuk says it all started when he got a call about a Facebook post. “It was a photo of this relatively young guy. Huge grin on his face, holding a Fred Flintstone-type, you know, 45-inch long, massive bone,” he says. That was the leg bone of a mastodon that led to the unearthing of the skull.

Doershuk would normally leave such things to paleontologists, but a sample came back approximating its age at 13-thousand-600 years old. That’s on the edge of when native American ancestors would have come into this area of Iowa. ” The last glaciation probably still had the northern part of Iowa under ice. But the southern part was ice free at the time and was starting to vegetate and animals like mastodons were coming in to browse and human hunters would have also found that a hospitable place as well,” Doershuk says.

This mastadon skull and other bones were recovered in Wayne County. (photo from State Archaeologist’s FB page)

So far no mastodon bone in Iowa bears cut marks consistent with human involvement, but Doershuk says he’s looking for that in this fossil. Doershuk says he was particularly excited about a two foot section of tusk recovered from the site. He called it a “goldmine” for answering all sorts of questions about the animal.  “Apparently there are techniques now to determine how many calves a female mastodon had that get recorded as a chemical signature because of the changes in the body chemistry during the pregnancy and the birth. And that gets recorded in the tusks,” Doershuk explains.

The team didn’t find any stone tools near the bones that might indicate there was some human interaction.

[Update] (Radio Iowa) – Governor Reynolds is seeking a waiver to use federal funds to provide boxes of food for low income Iowa kids NEXT summer. Reynolds turned down 29 million dollars in federal funding for a program THIS summer that would have provided an extra 120 dollars in grocery money for each child who qualifies for a free or reduced price lunch at school. Iowa was one of 13 states that did not participate in the program.

The money is distributed with Electronic Benefit Transfer or E-B-T cards that can be used at grocery stores where food stamps are accepted. The governor’s request is for Iowa to get the 29 million next summer and use it to provide boxes of groceries to feed an estimated 300-thousand children. Reynolds says her alternative will use bulk purchasing and provide healthier food to families, at lower cost.

Iowa Hunger Coalition spokesman Luke Elzinga says it’s not exactly what the group hoped for, but it acknowledges there’s a need to act because Iowa food pantries are overwhelmed. “We appreciate the state’s willingness to explore alternative options,” he says, “but we also remain steadfast in our belief that using Summer EBT to provide grocery benefits directly to families is the best decision for Iowa.”

Democrats have criticized Reynolds for refusing to accept the federal money to feed low income kids this summer. Some Democrats in the legislature say the governor now is proposing a new and untested way of distributing food assistance and she should, instead, use the same benefit system established for food stamps.

(Radio Iowa) – State officials say the latest report shows the closure of Tyson’s pork processing plant in Perry has had little effect on the state’s overall unemployment rate. Iowa’s unemployment rate was 2.8% in July, unchanged for the fourth consecutive month. Jesse Dougherty, a spokesman for Iowa Workforce Development, said less than half of the nearly 1400 workers who lost their jobs when the Tyson plant closed in June applied for jobless benefits in July. “We do know that there was around 200 that transferred to other Tyson plants. Some workers took time off. Some returned to their home country and have plans to return back to the area. Others we do know have found some jobs in similar fields,” Dougherty said. “We can’t tell exactly what that number is yet.”

Tyson was the largest employer in Perry. Tyson cited financial struggles within the pork industry as the main reason for closing the plant. The state set up a transition center at the plant to help the Tyson workers find another job and Dougherty said his agency is still evaluating data about how many are now employed elsewhere. “We don’t have quite the full picture of that yet,” Dougherty said. “…Layoffs are always a difficult situation, but because this was announced in March, we do think we were able to lessen some of that impact.”

About half the employees lived in Perry and the rest commuted to the work at the plant and Dougherty said that’s perhaps another factor in the lower than expected number of unemployment claims. “And I do think Perry does benefit from the fact that you’re also in between the Des Moines metro and Ames,” he said. “That has also helped a little bit.”

Today’s report shows there were about a thousand more Iowans receiving unemployment benefits in July compared to June. Dougherty said the unemployment rate stayed steady because jobs were added in some sectors of the economy. “We actually did have some smaller gains in non-durable goods factories. They were a lot smaller than the losses in Tyson, but they did offset that a little bit,” Dougherty said, “and we also had some gains in education and health care and then also leisure and hospitality.”

The sector that includes leisure, hospitality, entertainment and recreation businesses in Iowa added about 500 jobs in July. “Even though that has been hard hit across the country, it is a good indicator of spending,” Dougherty said. The education and health care sectors are lumped together in the monthly report and added 700 jobs. “Nursing and residential care facilities — that was most of the 700,” Dougherty said.

The total number of Iowans in the workforce has dropped in the past year, however. There were over 21,000 fewer Iowans working last month compared to July of 2023. The number of construction jobs in Iowa has declined by over 3000 since March and in July alone Iowa’s manufacturing sector shed 800 jobs.