(Radio Iowa) – The recent snow and rains have helped push back some of the drought conditions in the state. D-N-R Hydrologist, Tim Hall, the rainfall has been good to see. “The statewide average over the last seven days, three times the normal rainfall for that seven day period. And for the month of March, we’re ahead of normal. And so those things are all reflected in the U-S Drought Monitor this week,” Hall says. Northeast Iowa remains the driest area of the state, but the picture is better than last week.

“Almost 20 percent of the state was designated as D-3 extreme drought. And now that’s down to 12 percent,” he says. Hall says it is good to see the dry weather turnaround in March. “Every month that goes by between March and April in May and June, the monthly precipitation averages go up. So that’s why it’s really critical when we get above normal rainfall in March, because March is a pretty wet month, and even more so for April and even more so for May,” Halls says. He says the past few years a promising start to spring didn’t pan out.

“We’ve seen really encouraging early spring and late winter rainfalls, but then the tap has been shut off. And we’ve missed out on April May and June rainfalls over the past few years,” he says. “So we’re really hoping that this will set a trend that will allow us to see above normal rainfall in April and then May and then June. And that’ll go a long ways toward getting some significant areas of drought wiped off the map here.”

The Drought Monitor shows the areas of the state not reporting any drought have gone from just more than two percent to now just under ten percent.

(Creston, Iowa) – A vehicle traveling east on Highway 25 in Creston, Thursday morning (March 28th), sideswiped an unoccupied 2022 Ford Fleet pickup truck, causing a total of $4,000 damage. The Creston Police Department says the accident happened at around 7:15-a.m.  No injuries were reported.

Officials say 26-year-old Michaela Tabitha Ann Gellerman, of Missouri Valley, was driving a 2004 GMC Yukon SUV, when she fell asleep at the wheel. The vehicle struck the pickup, which was legally parked in the south lane facing east, with lights flashing, because the operator was working in the area at the time.

The SUV was in the north lane passing the pickup, when the accident occurred. No citations were issued.

RED OAK  – The fertilizer spill near Red Oak in Montgomery County earlier this month killed nearly all the fish in an almost 50-mile stretch of the East Nishnabotna River to the Missouri border.

On March 11, NEW Cooperative, Inc. in Red Oak notified the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) of a release occurring on-site. Approximately 1,500 tons (265,000 gallons) of liquid nitrogen fertilizer (32% solution) discharged into a drainage ditch, then into the East Nishnabotna River. The release occurred due to an aboveground storage tank valve left open for the weekend.

Upon learning of the release, DNR staff from the Environmental Field Office worked with the NEW Cooperative staff to stop the release and began cleanup efforts. DNR Fisheries staff began investigating the impacts to the Nishnabotna River.

DNR Fisheries staff documented the fish kill occurring in all 49.8 miles of the East Nishnabotna and Nishnabotna Rivers downstream of the spill. The kill continued in Missouri’s portion of the Nishnabotna River and ended near the confluence with the Missouri River.

DNR Fisheries staff used methods outlined in American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 35, and 571 Iowa Administrative Code Chapter 113 to evaluate the extent of the fish kill and estimate the number of dead fish. The rules and the use of the American Fisheries Society’s methodology are authorized by Iowa Code section 481A.151.

The fish kill count as of March 28th is below. Investigations of the release’s impact to other aquatic life are ongoing.

Cleanup efforts at the NEW Cooperative facility are ongoing. Contaminated soils continue to be removed from the facility and from around a levee west of the facility. The contaminated soils will be land applied at approved locations, at agronomic rates consistent with Iowa law. Additionally, NEW Cooperative is pumping water from the east side of the levee. The pumped water will be stored in on-site holding tanks until land application can occur. A third-party consultant is collecting samples of the water-fertilizer mixture to determine accurate land application rates.

Per Iowa Code section 455B.186, a pollutant cannot be discharged into a river without a permit. DNR field staff are working with the DNR’s Legal Services Bureau to determine next steps with regards to enforcement action and restitution for lost aquatic life. The DNR will continue to monitor cleanup efforts.

Field test results indicate ammonia levels are declining in the river. The DNR continues to advise people to avoid recreating on the river and collecting and/or eating dead fish found on or near the river.

(Radio Iowa) – This week’s deadly collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge may have significant ripple effects in Iowa, as that Maryland port is a vital link in the supply chain for getting Iowa’s commodities and a range of products to overseas markets.

Iowa U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s concerned that as long as that port is blocked by the wreckage and out of commission, the effects will be widespread.

“There’s a lot of heavy manufacturing and even some grain leaving Iowa through the Baltimore port,” Grassley says, “so it’s going to have a catastrophic impact on the economy.”

Grassley says it’s possible Iowa companies that need to ship their commodities or products overseas via the East Coast can use another port, but most of them are farther away which would likely mean higher costs.

“There’s alternatives, but those alternatives, like Philadelphia, someplace in New Jersey, maybe New York, are possibilities, maybe even Charleston, South Carolina,” Grassley says, “but it’s just going to be a detrimental impact and it’s not going to be short term.”

It’s still unclear how many people died when the bridge fell, perhaps six. Recovery operations are underway. There are calls for Congress to pass an emergency spending measure to pay for rebuilding the bridge, which collapsed early Tuesday after a support tower was slammed by a massive cargo ship, which was apparently malfunctioning.

“I would vote yes on this,” Grassley says. “One question we have, is there any insurance that the shipping company might have that ought to pay for that bridge? I think it’s worth looking into, so we don’t spend the taxpayers’ money. If somebody’s at fault for doing this and they have insurance, they ought to pay for it.”

Early estimates say rebuilding the bridge could cost $2-billion dollars and take a minimum of two years, possibly much longer.

(Radio Iowa) – Lawmakers in the Iowa House are making another attempt to change benefits for first responders covered by Iowa’s municipal retirement system.

Under current law, firefighters, police and EMTs are eligible for disability as well as death benefits if they’re diagnosed with one of 14 types of cancer. Earlier this year, the House unanimously approved a bill to extend disability and death benefits for Iowa police and firefighters diagnosed with any type of cancer, but the plan failed to pass a senate committee by a mid-March deadline. Today, the same bill cleared the House Ways and Means Committee. Representative Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton is the committee’s chairman.

“Our sixth and hopefully final time at attempting to provide parity in the 411 system for our police officers and firefighters,” Kaufmann said. “This is not an exercise in futility. I have expectations of a real hearing in the (Senate), which is something we have not received in the past five years.”

Brandon Pflanzer, secretary/treasurer of Iowa Professional Firefighters, thanked House lawmakers for taking this step.

“What it really is about is fairness. It’s about making sure that we are public employees — firefighters, police officers, EMS providers cross the state of Iowa have the same workers compensation benefits as those in the private sector. Right now that’s not true,” he said. “It also is about fairness in recognizing the risks that our members take and how it lives with them throughout the rest of their life for the service they provide.”

Waterloo Police Captain Jason Feaker, second vice president of Iowa State Police Officers Association, said the group’s pleased the bill also requires local governments to cover the costs of mental health evaluations as part of the annual physicals for first responders. The bill also says police and firefighters qualify for accidental disability benefits if a mental injury is linked to an on-duty incident.

“This will help us get on track with the PTSD that a lot of our members deal with daily,” he said.

According to the National Institutes of Health, about a third of first responders have PTSD at some point in their careers.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County (IA) Extension Office is excited to be partnering with Leah Brooke, Extension Food and Health Specialist, to host a Gardening with Children childcare provider training on Thursday, April 25th, 2024. The training will be offered from 6:30 – 8:30 PM and will be held at the Cass County Community Center, 805 W 10th Street in Atlantic, IA.

Can digging in the dirt be good for children? Yes, when it encourages children to taste new vegetables that they’ve helped to grow. Gardening with children promotes a healthy lifestyle, early learning experiences, social development, and environmental stewardship. Participants will engage in hands-on-learning gardening activities through stations featuring crafts, literacy, container gardening, and taste testing.

Partial funding for this training is provided by Boost 4 Families Early Childhood Iowa. All participants will receive a FREE kids’ gardening tool set for attending! Participants can register for the training at: https://go.iastate.edu/YUEA6U. Registration deadline: April 22nd. Cost is $10.00 per trainee. Registration in I-PoWeR is also required.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach offers regular professional development training for childcare providers, outlining best practices relative to nutrition, physical activity, health, and safety for children in their care. The trainings are appropriate for staff at childcare centers, preschools, and home childcare providers. Each training offers 2 hours credit for childcare license renewal approved by Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) and Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). A full list of all upcoming trainings, offered both online and across the state, can be found online at https://www.extension.iastate.edu/humansciences/cc-provider.

To learn more or to ask questions, contact Leah Brooke, Food and Health Specialist, at lbrooke@iastate.edu or call (712) 623-2592. You may also contact the Cass County Extension Office at (712) 243-1132 or visit www.extension.iastate.edu/cass.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Last week it was announced an Atlantic resident was the victim of a BitCoin scam, now another Cass County resident has come forward to say they too have become a victim of the same type of scam. Rural Atlantic resident Denise O’Brien told KJAN NEWS she wants to warn people that the scam started with a message on her personal Facebook page that resulted in O’Brien’s page being hacked.

She says anyone who goes to her personal Facebook page is seeing an imposter. She says you can help her deal with the scammers, by simply blocking the page.

A message on her now fake Facebook page says “Congratulations to me!!! So this just came in today after months and months of endless study and training. I’m happy to announce that I’ve been certified as an Expert Crypto Trader after undergoing the rigorous training which lasted for over 24 months. I’ve been keeping this secret for a long time. Getting here wasn’t that easy but l’m not a quitter. I always work hard so I can achieve my goals . I’m really thankful to my family for supporting me throughout the whole process . A CERTIFIED CRYPTOCURRENCY EXPERT (C.C.E)”

It also shows a fake Trading Certificate. O’Brien says people may think she’s selling BitCoin, but that is absolutely NOT TRUE. She does however, have a legitimate business on her farm.

She says if you’re a Facebook user and you see a suspicious message pop-up on your timeline, don’t click or respond to it.

Atlantic business owner Ann Bruck was also the target of a BitCoin scam. She wants her customers, prospective clients and followers of her business “Designer Portraits,”to know both her personal and business Facebook paged were hacked. Scammers began sending similar messages and tagging her customers and friends about BitCoin. Like Denise O’Brien, Bruck has been trying to get her pages back but she faces the same brick wall.

If any of her followers have been affected by the scam, an FBI form is available to fill out to try and clear things up. She too, stressed Ann Bruck and Designers Portraits are still in business, but she is not selling cryptocurrency, and that she is currently unable to book appointments through social media.

(Radio Iowa) – The longest-serving member on the state board that oversees the operation of the Iowa Lottery is retiring. Mary Junge is a certified public accountant and practicing tax attorney from Cedar Rapids who didn’t expect to end up with the longest tenure on the board when she started in May of 1999. “I don’t know, it just happened I guess, it’s just I came to enjoy it so much it was something so different than what I was doing in my work,” she says “… and the knowledge just kept building year after year and then…. it takes a while to really think that you kind of understand what’s going on. And then you get to that point and then you get to that point and you want to continue to contribute.” She served until 2014 and then was off the board for a time before being reappointed in 2016. Junge says a lot changed through those 23 or so years.

“Technology and just the, I mean I was just commenting to some people just the changing locations…first there was the old really old building on Grand Avenue and then moved into the Insurance building and then here, all that progression and the growth that went with that,” Junge says. She says there’s one thing she will really miss about being on the Board. “Well definitely the people, I mean you can’t be on the board this long and that develop friendships and relationships with people here it’s just been really monumental,” Junge says. Junge was honored at this week’s Lottery Board meeting.

Iowa Lottery C-E-O Matt Strawn told Junge the Iowa Lottery is grateful and it “is stronger and improved because of your service.”

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests:

On Tuesday (March 26th), 72-year-old Daniel James McDermott, of LaVista, NE, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Failure To Appear. His bond was set at $2,000.

On Wednesday (March 27th), 41-year-old Jeffrey Dale Hankins, of Malvern, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Violation of Probation. His bond was set at $10,000.

(Mills County, Iowa) – The former Superintendent for the Atlantic Community School District is among three Superintendent finalists for the shared East Mills and Sidney School Districts. In a press release (shown below), school officials with the two districts announced Thursday they had narrowed their search to Steven Barber, Michael Brown, and Troy Damman. Barber served as the Atlantic School District Superintendent for six-years before resigning in June, 2023. He currently serves as the interim superintendent of the Grinnell-Newburg School District.

Barber holds superintendent licensure in advanced studies and a master’s degree in education from Iowa State University.

Michael Brown previously served as superintendent of Boyd County Public Schools in Spencer, Nebraska. He currently the director of the Quest Forward High School in Omaha, and holds an education specialist degree in school administration from Wayne State College and a master’s in education from the University of Nebraska-Kearney.

Troy Damman is currently superintendent of the Erie-Galesburg School District in Erie, Kansas and was also previously superintendent of the Waconda School District in Cawker City, Kansas. He holds a master’s degree in educational administration from Baker University.

Both school boards contracted with Grundmeyer Leader Services to assist in the search and plan to conduct final interviews with the three candidates on Wednesday. The boards plan to discuss and reach a final decision soon after the formal interviews.

The next superintendent would officially begin leading the two school districts July 1st, succeeding Tim Hood who announced his retirement as superintendent of the two schools last month.