(Radio Iowa) – It’s been seven years since a total solar eclipse darkened parts of the Midwest, and although Monday’s event won’t be a total eclipse in Iowa, it will be significant for most of the state. Chemistry and Planetary Sciences Professor Channon Visscher, at Dordt University in Sioux Center, says you will definitely notice something’s happening.

“Up in the northwest corner of Iowa here, we’re gonna see about 75% coverage,” Visscher says. “If you go down to southeast Iowa, you’ll get up to about 90% of the sun’s just getting covered, but throughout most of the state we’re going to see about three-fourths of the sun get covered up by the moon.” The eclipse will begin about 12:40 p-m, but Visscher says you won’t notice it until about 1 p-m. The maximum coverage will occur around 2 p-m, and the event will end about 3 p-m. If the weather is clear, you will be able to view the partial eclipse, but Visscher says you’ll need eye protection.

“We recommend solar glasses, eclipse glasses, welding glass works, shade 14 or darker is typically what’s recommended,” he says. “Another popular technique is using a pinhole in a sheet of aluminum foil and you can cast an image of the sun, and you can see the little bite out projected on a surface.” The most spectacular part of an eclipse is the diamond ring effect when the moon completely covers the sun and just slightly moves off. Unfortunately, you must be in the area of totality to see that effect and the nearest point is southern Illinois and southeast Missouri. However, Visscher says a partial eclipse has its own unusual things to look for.

“The most noticeable thing during a partial is sort of the quality of the light shifts, the shadows shift,” he says. “In fact, we won’t have a lot of leaves on the trees yet but if you see sun passing through a tree for example, a lot of times what you can see is all sorts of little projections with little bits of the sun bit out by the moon.” Visscher says if you have a chance, get out and see it, as the next total eclipse in the vicinity won’t happen until 2045, and that will cover parts of Kansas and Colorado, not Iowa. If you plan to make the drive to be in the path of totality, Visscher says you want to be in the middle of the swath of totality for the longest view, about a 50- to 100-mile-wide area.

The 2017 eclipse (NASA photo)

“Inside the path of totality, the total eclipse itself lasts about a maximum of about four minutes if you’re right near the center of it. It drops off to about two minutes near the edges,” Visscher says. “So that’s really a pretty brief moment in time, but that’s where you have that complete coverage of the moon in front of the sun.” Whether you travel to see the total eclipse, or stay put for the partial, remember to wear your solar eclipse glasses, which you can find at most retail outlets.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa lawmakers may create a grant program to help recruit attorneys to practice in rural areas of the state. Representative Brian Lohse of Bondurant says it would be modeled after a program in South Dakota. “They started small like we are with, I believe, five attorneys. I think they’ve now funded up to 13 different attorneys in different parts of South Dakota,” Lohse says. “So hopefully we have the same success both in attracting attorneys to rural areas, but also in increasing the number of contract attorneys that we have doing that important work across the state.”

Contract attorneys are appointed by judges to represent indigent clients in criminal court. According to the Iowa State Bar Association, since 2014 there’s been a nearly 50 percent decline in the number of attorneys willing to take those cases. Lohse, who is an attorney, says it’s difficult to find an attorney for any legal work in some areas. “Just like we see in many other professions, they’re older, they want to retire, they age out,” Lohse says. “We need to bring some young blood into that mix.”

A bill that’s won approval in a House committee would create a Rural Attorney Recruitment Fund to provide incentives to up to five attorneys for five years. The incentives could be worth 90 percent of the tuition for the University of Iowa Law School.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Workforce Development is now what’s called the I-D-me (ID.me) identity verification system for unemployment claims after a test run of the system. I-W-D executive director Beth Townsend says it’s a modern system the makes sure unemployment benefits aren’t stolen. “Helps you prove to us that you are who you say you are, so that when we pay you, we know the money is going to the person that’s ‘s legitimately making the claim,” Townsend says. She says all you have to do is present your information to be checked.

“There’s three different ways you can do that. You can do it online through the I-D-me app, you can do it through a video chat appointment with a I-D-me staff person who looks at your documents online, and then you know, and then verifies your documentation,” she says. “Or you can bring it into the American Job Center and our U-I staff there can take the documents, upload them and get your identity verified that way.”

Townsend says anytime you are dealing with paying a benefit there are going to be people who try to take advantage of it, and this bolsters their efforts to prevent that fraud. “We’ve always had a pretty robust security system in place, which we don’t discuss publicly, obviously, because we want to not give anybody a heads up on what we’re doing,” Townsend says. “But we but it is something that we have worked on for a long time, and Id me is used in about 29 other states.” She says they had good results in their pilot run. “It’s been thoroughly tested. We have seen really good success, 96 percent of the people who have used it so far have of over 21,000 people have successfully verified their identity. It takes less than five minutes to do it,” she says.

I-W-D says since January I-D-me has also already helped them identify and halt more than 12-hundred fraudulent attempts to obtain benefits. The I-D-me is now required of anyone who files an unemployment claim.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Two people were arrested in Montgomery County, Wednesday, on separate warrants. 31-year-old Justin Lewis Marsden, of Red Oak, and 31-year-old James Michael Cruz, of Tabor, were taken into custody for Violation of Probation. Their cash bonds were set at $2,000 each.

(Radio Iowa) – Federal tax returns are due in less than two weeks and Iowans are being warned that scammers are stepping up their attempts to trick us. I-R-S spokesman Christopher Miller says criminals will be trying to send you convincing-looking tax-related messages. “The goal of the scammers is to get you to click on a link or an attachment,” Miller says, “so they can steal your personal information or download malware to steal your passwords, which can lead to identity theft.” With April 15th looming, Miller says people are anxious about their taxes — or their refunds.

“Crooks try to capitalize on that anxiety to lure people into their trap,” Miller says. “So we strongly advise that people not open any unsolicited email or text message that appears to be from the IRS or is connected to the IRS.” He says Iowans need to stay on the ball as crooks are working harder to rip you off as tax season comes to a close. “They’re steady throughout the year, but we tend to see an uptick in these scams during filing season, again, because people are waiting, potentially to hear from the IRS,” Miller says.

Any questions you have about your return can be answered online at I-R-S-dot-gov.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Organizers of the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (® RAGBRAI) today (Thursday), announced the full route for the July 20th through 27th event. The 51st ride begins in Glenwood at Keg Creek, a Missouri River tributary. From there the riders pass through towns of Silver City, Henderson, Emerson and the first overnight stop in Red Oak. The next day, riders will pass through Elliott, Griswold, and Lewis, before stopping for the night in Atlantic.

From here, riders will roll through Wiota, Cumberland, Massena and Fontanelle. After the make their way into Greenfield, the bicyclists will cruise into Orient and Macksburg, before they camp for the night in Winterset. Other, overnight stops include Knoxville, Ottumwa and Mt. Pleasant.

The 424-mile route is among the shortest on record, and about 75 miles less than the 2023 edition, but it will also be among the hilliest, with 18,737 feet of climb.

View the full map below.

PARKERSBURG, Iowa (KCRG-TV) – The Parkersburg Police Chief has been charged after selling alcohol at a bar after hours. Officials say that on February 11th, 2024, a deputy conducted a bar and alcohol compliance check at Maddogs Sports Bar in Parkersburg. At approximately 2:09 am, the deputy found multiple subjects both inside and outside of the bar drinking.

David Jara, who is the Parkersburg Police Chief, was working behind the bar at the time. He was charged with Selling or Dispensing Alcohol or Beer After Hours.

(Des Moines, Iowa [Iowa Capital Dispatch]) – The Iowa Senate, Wednesday, reconfirmed the director of the state Department of Natural Resources, despite concerns from some Democrats that she is forced to operate as a puppet of Gov. Kim Reynolds. “Kayla Lyon is just like many of Gov. Reynolds’ other appointees and department heads — she can only do so much,” said Sen. Claire Celsi, D-West Des Moines. “She can only do what the boss tells her to do.”

Lyon, 39, of Ames, was appointed to the post by Reynolds in 2019. Her reconfirmation by the Senate this week was prompted by state law, which requires another confirmation vote for appointees after four years. She leads a department of about 890 full-time and 450 seasonal employees. It is charged with maintaining public areas and wildlife and the enforcement of environmental regulations on businesses, cities, drinking water utilities and livestock operations.

A recent DNR evaluation listed more than 700 water body segments in the state that are impaired, meaning they don’t meet water quality standards for recreation, public water supplies and the protection of aquatic life. A primary contributor to the problem is agriculture, which is also under the purview of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. State parks also need about $100 million in repairs, and there is a plan to eliminate all park ranger positions, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Kayla Lyon, left, addresses a joint meeting of the Natural Resource Commission and the Environmental Protection Commission Jan. 22, 2020 at the Wallace State Office Building. (Photo by Perry Beeman/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Lyon was a lobbyist for dairy farmers and farmers’ cooperatives before joining state government. Her reconfirmation required two-thirds support, and Lyon cleared that threshold with a 40-9 vote. All of those who voted against confirmation were Democrats, and they were just over half of the Democrats in the chamber.

The DNR’s funding requests have been roughly static in recent years. Sen. Tom Shipley, R-Nodaway, disputed that the DNR is prevented from taking sufficient action to protect the environment, along with Democrats’ claims of “how bad our environment is.” He said the resurgence of certain animal populations, such as bald eagles and whitetail deer, is evidence that conditions are improving. “We have otters in the river we never used to have,” Shipley said. “We have turkeys in the trees that we never used to have. We have all kinds of bobcats.”

Lyon did not address the Democrats’ allegations but told Iowa Capital Dispatch: “It’s been an honor to serve as the director of the Department of Natural Resources. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work alongside DNR staff across the state, and I’m humbled by their extensive knowledge and passion. My appreciation for this job doesn’t stop at the office or in the field with staff; it extends to when I’m spending time enjoying the resources with my family.”

(Des Moines, Iowa via the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The Iowa House passed a bill Wednesday that would prohibit imitation meat products from being misleadingly labeled as meat — with an amendment prohibiting people from purchasing egg substitutes through food assistance programs. Senate File 2391, approved by a 60-34 vote, establishes fines for businesses that create non-meat products and label them with terms used for butchered meat, if the labels do not also include terms like “fake” or “vegetarian” specifying that they are not traditional meat products.

The bill, largely targeting substitute meat products that are made from insects, lab-grown meat and plants, was approved unanimously by the Senate, but was met with strong resistance during House floor debate Wednesday.

Democrats’ opposition to the bill was not over the labeling of products, lawmakers said, but with a House amendment adding restrictions related to eggs and egg substitutes. In addition to adding labeling requirements and establishing fines for misbranding of “fabricated egg products” as eggs, the amendment also created purchasing restrictions on such products. Iowans could not use food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to purchase egg substitutes.

If egg substitutes are approved as purchasable foods through SNAP or WIC, the legislation would direct the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to seek a waiver or exemption from having these products be eligible for purchase through the programs in Iowa.

(Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport, said the amended legislation would take away the rights of people on SNAP and WIC to buy foods that they are currently able to purchase through the program — many of whom, she said, use egg substitutes due to allergies or other health concerns. She said egg allergies among children are “not uncommon,” and that egg substitutes are often the only available means to replace them. The bill’s floor manager Rep. Heather Hora, R-Washington, said the amendment came as the bill was meant to protect Iowa’s livestock producers, and that House lawmakers “felt it would be important to protect Iowa’s egg producers as well.”

Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, D-Des Moines, said he believed proper food labeling was “imperative,” but he could not support a measure that would specifically restrict people in need of food assistance from purchasing products they need based on medical or dietary restrictions.

In her closing comments, Hora said she understands the concerns about food access, but that the SNAP and WIC restrictions are related to labeling these products as related to eggs. The bill goes back to the Senate for consideration of the amendment.

(Harlan, Iowa) – Officials with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office today (Thursday), released a report on arrests made during the month of March. In order of most recent to the earliest arrests:

On March 31st – Holly Ann Gorden, Age 51, of Dow City, was arrested after a traffic stop. Gorden was charged with OWI- 1st offense, Improper Registration of Plate Lamp, and Failure to Maintain control; and, Mandi Annette Irlbeck, Age 48, of Harlan, was arrested after a traffic stop. Irlbeck was charged with OWI- 1st Offense, Fail to Display Registration Plate, and Failure to Give Continuous Turn Signal.

Two men were arrested March 30th in Shelby County, following a traffic stop on Highway 59: 21-year-old Sheldon David Shaw, of Fredonia KS, was arrested for being a person Ineligible to Carry a Weapon, Possession/Marijuana 1st offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. And, 34-year-old Bret Adam Gardner, of Fall River KS, was charged with Possession- Marijuana 1st offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

On March 29th, Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 37-year-old Joshua Wendell Tucker, of Fall River, KS, following a traffic stop on Highway 59. Tucker was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, PCS use in Structure or Vehicle, Possession – Marijuana 1st, and Ineligible to Carry Weapon.

On the 24th of March, 29-year-old Monrel Dupris Mccarthur, of Harlan, was arrested after a traffic stop on Hwy 59. McCarthur was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with OWI- 1st Offense, Reckless Driving, Fail to Yield to Emergency Vehicle, and Driving on Wrong Side.

On the 23rd, 41-year-old Timmy Lee Sigler, Jr., of Harlan, was arrested on a Shelby County warrant for Violation of Probation.

On March 21st, Shelby County Deputies arrested 37-year-old Nicholas Steven Segebart, of Shelby, on an active Shelby County Warrant for Harassment – 1st degree.

The previous day, 27-year-old Rose Marie Strong, of Exira, was arrested on a Shelby County warrant for Violation of Probation.

There were two arrests in Shelby County on March 16th: 42-year-old Taylor Reid Schleis, of Harlan, was arrested following a call for service. Schleis was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with OWI- 1st Offense and Failure to Maintain Control; and, 30-year-old Kendra Kathleen Kyle, of Avoca, was arrested following a call for service. Kyle was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Contempt- Violation of No Contact Order.

One person was arrested March 14th in Shelby County. 21-year-old Junior Anthony Newsom, of Harlan, was arrested following a call for service. Newsom was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Obstruction of Emergency Communications, and Interference with Official Acts.

Two women were arrested March 13th following traffic stops in Shelby County: 33-year-old Ashley Elizabeth McWilliams, and 27-year-old Kellsea Marie Williams, both of Harlan, were arrested on separate charges following their traffic stops on Cyclone Avenue, in Harlan. McWilliams was charged with Driving while Barred. Williams was charged with Driving Under Suspension.

On March 12th, Carl Kent Parkhurst, Age 39, of Shelby, was arrested following a traffic stop. Parkhurst was transported to Shelby County Jail and charged with Driving while License Suspended.

On March 10th, Steven Glenn Herrington, Age 60, of Council Bluffs, was arrested following a traffic stop and charged with OWI- 1st offense.

There were three arrests March 9th in Shelby County: 36-year-old Brunshay Naboski Miller, of Atlanta, GA, was arrested following a call for service. Miller was transported to Shelby County Jail and was charged with Interference with Official Acts- Bodily Injury, and Eluding- Speed 25 Over Limit; 34-year-old Deonte Leon Carr, also of Atlanta GA, was charged with Interference with Official Acts- Bodily Injury, and Eluding- Speed 25 Over Limit; and 35-year-old Charlie B. Hadfield, of Harlan, was arrested March 9th for Disorderly conduct- Fighting/Violence.

On the 8th of March, 30-year-old Jacob Taylor Jones, of Elkhorn, NE, was arrested for Walking on the Wrong Side of Highway, and Consumption of Alcohol in Public Place.

Three arrests occurred March 2nd, in Shelby County: Carlos Bravo, Age 25, of Denison, was arrested for Driving while License Suspended, Possession of Controlled Substance- Marijuana/1st Offense, Keeping Premises or Vehicle for Controlled Substance Violation, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Operating a Non Registered Vehicle, and Speeding; Charles Allen Greene, Age 46, of Harlan, was arrested for Driving while License Suspended; and, 35-year-old Joshua James Holste, age 35, of Harlan, was arrested for OWI- 1st Offense.

And, on March 1st, Shelby County Deputies arrested 23-year-old Michael Leinen, of Portsmouth, on an active Shelby County Warrant.

Note: Criminal charges are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.