The Adair County ISU Extension office, in partnership with the Adair County Fair Board, are experiencing unprecedented times as we move forward quickly and cautiously with plans for the 2020 Adair County Fair. The COVID-19 pandemic is having a large impact and influence on what the 4-H/FFA fair experience will look like this year. In fact, COVID-19 is causing the cancellation of many fairs, events, and festivals both in Iowa and around the nation.

Adair County Extension staff continue to gather information daily from public health authorities, CDC guidelines, emergency management, and ISU Extension and Outreach guidelines and restrictions, so we may do our due diligence to keep our youth, staff, fair volunteers, and visitors as safe as possible during this extremely challenging time. This will not be a normal fair experience. However, we are working hard to create an environment that highlights the hard work of our youth, while providing a modified platform to create a safer experience.

In the interest of public health, Adair County Extension is creating plans to implement procedures to follow regarding mandated CDC guidelines with social distancing, added signage, additional hand sanitizers and increased sanitation procedures throughout all of our events. As a reminder, if you feel you are sick, vulnerable, showing symptoms of COVID-19, or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, we ask that you please stay home. We understand families and friends will need to come to their own decision on whether to participate and/or attend this year’s fair. We ask that you adhere to CDC guidelines and keep a social distance of six feet or more from others.

This year’s 4-H/FFA mission for fair is to provide an opportunity to showcase all that 4-H and FFA youth have learned, skills they have gained, and life lessons they have experienced which will help them in their future endeavors. We are concentrating on how their projects and livestock exhibits have taught them valuable lessons and how it will help to empower them as they move forward in life. This year is not necessarily about the competitions and rewards. It is more about resiliency, persistence and the gaining of knowledge.

Please check the Facebook page ‘Adair County ISU Extension’ or website at https://www.extension.iastate.edu/adair/ for the latest information.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Opposition from lobbyists for the liquor and restaurant industries helped kill a price increase on Iowa booze that was intended to discourage problem drinking. The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division announced June 5 that it would implement a price floor for liquor products beginning July 1. The plan would have set a minimum unit price for liquor based on bottle size and alcohol by volume.

Emails released Friday show that the Iowa Restaurant Association, representatives of national liquor brands and one of Iowa’s largest distributors all raised concerns about the change. The division abruptly withdrew the plan on June 12.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds told President Donald Trump that his is “an administration of action” that is identifying barriers and gaps for U.S. workers and finding solutions. Reynolds is a member of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, which Trump established by executive order last year.

Trump’s daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross chair the panel. Video provided by the White House includes Reynolds praising Trump during a Friday visit to the White House for creating the board. The panel’s goal is to develop strategies for improving the workforce.

(Radio Iowa) – The upcoming Independence Day holiday would ordinarily be a very busy one for vacationing Iowans, but a new estimate finds travel will be down about 15-percent this summer, compared to last year. Mark Peterson, a spokesman for Triple-A Iowa, says the COVID-19 pandemic has more people itching to get out and go, but fewer of them are expected to hit the road, just to be on the safe side.

“No, it won’t be as busy, it’s going to be down,” Peterson says. “People are still going to be concerned and conservative in the way they address some of their travel. It’s kind of like a wait-and-see attitude.” Airports in Iowa and at various destinations will be nearly vacant. Leisure air travel is predicted to be down 74-percent between July and September from a year ago. Worse yet, travel by rail, bus or cruise ship is expected to fall 86-percent for the quarter, compared to 2019.

With people avoiding airports and hotels, Iowa recreational vehicle dealers are reporting record sales and rentals. “More people want to be a little safer, a little more inclusive, when they go out,” Peterson says. “If they’re going to spend the night someplace, they know that the place they’re going to stay is going to be safe. They know that the RV is going to be the best way to go so, yes, they are being used a tad more this year.” While the interstates and highways are more sparsely traveled these days, he warns that’s not an invitation for motorists to ignore the speed limit.

“There aren’t as many cars and the road’s a little bit open and all of the sudden, we seem to be having people traveling a tad bit faster,” Peterson says. “We’re getting record numbers of vehicles traveling in excess of 100 miles per hour.” Road trips in cars are still popular for those who are traveling, accounting for 97-percent of the favored modes of transportation. Car trips are expected to see the smallest decrease in travel volume of just three-percent year-over-year.

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds has signed a bill into law that changes the rules for awarding state grants to businesses that promise to expand broadband service. A spokesman for the governor says five MILLION dollars will be distributed in the next 12 months. In addition, the state will use 85 million dollars in FEDERAL pandemic response money for broadband projects. That block of money is to be distributed based on federal guidelines. Representative Ray “Bubba” Sorenson of Greenfield says up to 35 percent of the project costs can be covered by the STATE grant money. “The Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grant Fund will award grants based on a competitive basis that is weighed towards providing faster speeds and serving the un-served and underserved areas,” Sorenson says.

Senator Rich Taylor says service at his home just outside of Mount Pleasant is very limited.“If we really want to keep our kids out in our communities, we’ve got to provide better internet service for them,” Taylor says.

The new law Reynolds signed this week directs state officials to draw up new, more accurate maps showing broadband speeds so it’s clear where internet access is slow or non-existent.

(Radio Iowa) – Due to COVID-19, the Iowa State Fair will not go on this summer, but something called the 2020 Fair Special Edition is now on the schedule. The state fair’s website says the special edition will be held at the fairgrounds in Des Moines over three weekends in August. It’ll be an opportunity for only FFA and 4-H members to showcase their animals.

The site says the edition will focus on the superior showmanship, hard work, and determination of Iowa’s youth. Each club will have the traditional categories, including cattle, horses, goats, poultry, rabbits, sheep and swine. The fair says it will follow all recommendations for social distancing, hand washing and sanitization.

https://www.iowastatefair.org/participate/competition/how-to-enter/

Cass County Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall reports deadlines for property taxes, Driver License and motor vehicle in Cass County Treasurer’s Office, have been extended in response to COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds issued a proclamation (Friday) today, that extends the deadlines to July 25th for March 2020 property tax payments, Driver License, vehicle registration renewals, vehicle title registration and license plates. Keep in mind the September 2020 tax payments will be due soon, we also take partial tax payments.

While her office is open by appointment only for Cass County Citizens, Marshall says they are encouraging citizens to use online, mail, email and drop box if possible. Online payments can be made at www.iowatreasurers.org.

Mail in payments can be mailed: Cass County Treasurer, 5 W 7th St, Atlantic, IA 50022. The drop box can be found at the courthouse main entrance door. Anyone with questions regarding property tax, Driver License or motor vehicle inquiries should contact Cass County Treasurers Office at 712-243-5503 or email cass.treasurer@casscoia.us

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa agency whose power to remove problem officers was recently expanded generally has taken years to ban those who commit serious crimes and rarely punishes officers for improper policing alone. Records show the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy Council has sought to decertify 17 officers in the last 2½ years after determining they had committed crimes or misconduct that warranted their removal from the profession.

An Associated Press review found that most of those officers had been found guilty of felonies, domestic violence or other crimes that disqualify them from working in law enforcement. Only one officer since 2018 has been decertified for improper police work.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Cedar Rapids nurse accused of taking painkillers from hospital patients’ intravenous lines and injecting herself has been sentenced to four months in federal prison. Federal prosecutors say 43-year-old Kelly Postel, of Anamosa, was sentenced Friday to the prison term and fined $5500. She also was ordered to pay restitution and forfeit her nursing license. Prosecutors say Postel obtained an excess amount of fentanyl and morphine from the hospital pharmacy and administered patients’ prescribed amounts and then injected herself while at work with the leftover drugs. Authorities also say Postel took fentanyl from a patient by using a syringe to withdraw it from an intravenous line and injected herself while still at work.

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Police in suburban Des Moines say a man sicced a pit bull on other people at a party before he killed the dog himself after it turned on him. Television station KCCI reports that 33-year-old Juan Carlos Moreno Martinez, of Ankeny, was arrested Thursday and has been charged with several counts of assault, animal neglect, trespassing and probation violations. Police say the incident happened at a June 6 party in Ankeny, when Moreno-Martinez crashed the party and agitated the dog with the intention of intimidating others at the party. The animal ultimately attacked three people, one of whom was seriously injured. Police say Moreno-Martinez fatally stabbed the dog when it turned on him.