(Radio Iowa) – The northwest Iowa town of Graettinger claims to have the state’s oldest Labor Day celebration, and another edition starts this (Friday) afternoon and runs through Monday night. Event co-chair Phillip Schmidt says the tradition had humble beginnings 127 years ago as a one-day event in a pasture with a tent and a traveling carnival. Schmidt says it’s grown to three-and-a-half days, now, with events including a golf tournament, a Miss Graettinger pageant, a truck and tractor pull, a large bake sale, and something called Cow Pie Bingo, where you pick a square on a field where a bovine may leave its mark.

See the full rundown of this weekend’s events at the Graettinger Labor Day Facebook page.

The final holiday of summer is here and those who plan to fly are expected to once again see big crowds at the airport.

(Radio Iowa) – Jessica Mayle with the TSA in Des Moines says the day before Thanksgiving is usually considered the biggest travel day of the year, but not this year. “‘This is just an incredibly busy time across the country. If you look at the top ten busiest days in the history of the TSA, they have all happened since May of 2024,” she says.

Mayle says getting to the airport two hours ahead of time is important. “Even an airport like Des Moines where, you know, or Cedar Rapids, any of our airports in Iowa, you know, we don’t see wait time issues there, but two hours is such a good rule of thumb, because it just gives you a little bit of a buffer,” Mayles says. “You do make a mistake. You do have something that you don’t mean to have. You need to run it back in your car. You need to check your bag. It just gives you a little bit of extra time.”

She says it begins with packing. “Start with an empty bag. Make sure you’re only putting the items in that you need to have, that you want to bring on this trip, and then check our website if you have any questions, do that research. That way you’re not caught off guard at the checkpoint,” she says.

Denver Airport. (Radio Iowa photo)

Mayle says some preparation can make the lines move faster for everyone. “It’s really not about, you know, expecting anyone to be perfect all the time. It’s just, what can you do to minimize those issues? Because, again, it’s just 30 seconds for you, 25 seconds for the next person. It just adds up when it goes back to back,” Mayle says.

She says you can find out all you need to know on the TSA website.

(Radio Iowa) – Thousands of people and at least 80 aircraft are expected at the Clarinda airport on Saturday for what’s known as Fly Iowa 2024. It’s the southwest Iowa community’s first time hosting the event in nearly two decades. Co-chair Steve Mowery says the big air show has been two years in the making. “The whole town is involved, from financial institutions,” Mowery says, “and of course our EMS, police and fire departments.” Plenty of pyrotechnics are promised for the air show, between 2 and 4:30 P-M Saturday, and Mowery says the climax will be a re-creation of a World War Two air battle, featuring some classic warbirds.

“We have a B-25 bomber of Jimmy Dolittle fame,” Mowery says. “We’ll have two P-51s, arguably the war’s best fighters, and also, we have pyrotechnics. There’s 400 gallons of fuel that we’ll blow up with dynamite. Spectacular.” There will also be what are described as high-energy aerobatic performers, and a micro-jet similar to one used in a James Bond movie. Prior to the air show, Mowery says there will be plenty of family fun activities.

“Several bounce houses, a rock climbing wall. NASA has donated aircraft for the event, so there’s going to be all kinds of aviation-specific things for the kids,” Mowery says. “Face painting, a railroad is coming, all kinds of food trucks.”

Admission to the air show is free, and spectators are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. Fly Iowa is a nonprofit statewide aviation fair organized by the Iowa Aviation Promotion Group.

DENVER (KDVR) – “Big Boy,” one of the world’s largest trains, took-off Wednesday from  Denver, Colorado, and plans to stop in 10 states while on tour. It’s stops include the Union Pacific Museum in Council Bluffs, where four lucky winners of an auction that took place August 12th, will ride in the cab on September 4th, during Big Boy’s planned Heartland of America tour. The train will then make it’s way to Carroll and Boone before heading to points eastward.

The history of Big Boy started with 25 trains, each of which were 132 feet long and 1.2 million pounds. The company said all are now out of service or on display, except for one: Big Boy No. 4014.

It originally ran in 1941 and retired after 20 years and over 1 million miles. However, after a lengthy restoration, the Union Pacific Railroad says the train is now the world’s largest operating steam locomotive and is hitting the rails again.The tour runs for eight weeks.

You can see all the scheduled stops and viewing opportunities at the Union Pacific Railroad’s website. Some of them are longer display visits – planned for Rochelle, Illinois; Houston; and Fort Worth, Texas – and dozens more are short “whistle stops” or viewing opportunities. They’ve also set up a live tracker so you can watch it move across the country on tour.

OMAHA, Neb. — [KETV] – Dozens are facing charges in hundreds of pharmacy thefts across the nation, including several in rural areas of Nebraska and Iowa. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Omaha division says a Houston-based organization has been linked to more than 200 pharmacy break-ins across 31 states in 2022 and 2023. They stole an estimated $12 million worth of controlled substances. Officials said 42 individuals, all from Houston, Texas’s Fifth Ward, have been indicted in the Eastern District of Arkansas. Five of which are linked to thefts in western Nebraska and western Iowa.

The DEA Omaha division said the crimes first began in Arkansas and quickly became a trend across multiple states. The administration said they have been part of a joint investigation for 21 months. Officials said the main drugs stolen include hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, Adderall, Xanax and promethazine with codeine. All of the drugs stolen were taken back to Houston and resold.

The DEA Omaha division said since 2022 there have been a total 17 pharmacy break-ins in Nebraska and 11 in Iowa, and some of those are linked to the Houston organization.

Officials want to remind everyone to never take or purchase any medications that are not prescribed to you by a medical professional and filled by a pharmacy.

CLIVE, Iowa — [KCCI] – A multi-million dollar renovation project is set to begin on Interstate 35-80 near Hickman Road in Clive. The Iowa Department of Transportation plans to widen I-35-80 to four lanes and rebuild the Hickman interchange.

Starting this week, drivers on I-35-80 will notice lane shifts, new lane markers, and barrier walls to make space for the addition of a fourth lane between University and Douglas avenues, both north and southbound. The $87 million first phase will span about two years. Following this, the Hickman Road intersection will be completely rebuilt to feature a modern, diverging diamond design to ease traffic flow on and off the interstate.

During construction, many interstate ramps will close periodically, requiring drivers’ patience. The project is slated to be completed by 2028.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds visited Rock Valley today (Thursday) and announced the opening of a temporary school for middle school students. Reynolds stood in front of the new building and spoke of the devastation that greeted her on her first visit to the community after the June flood. ” One of the images that I won’t soon forget was the school we’re at today, Rock Valley K-12 public school building was an island that was completely surrounded by water. Not far away, the Rock Valley Christian School stood with its doors and windows wide open in an effort to help the interior dry out, and the sidewalk surrounding it was piled high with damaged classroom materials and equipment,” Reynolds says.

Rock Valley Community School Superintendent Matt Van Voorst says he looked at the devastation knowing they had only two months before school would start again. ” Every square inch of our district K-12 building was inundated by mud. Contents were destroyed, as well as our grounds, our bus barn,” he says. “To be quite frank, it felt a little bit lonely at first.”
Van Voorst says that lonely feeling didn’t last long as volunteers started arriving along with contractors.

“Saying the word community has taken on a little bit of a new meaning to me. I think I’m going to bold caps and underline that from now on, community, it really is a whole other meaning,” Van Voorst says.

All the public school buildings were hit by flooding and are still under repair. The new modular school will house 150 students in six classrooms, and includes bathrooms, offices, and a common area. Some elementary students will go to class at a local church. Superintendent Matt Van Voorst says the district did meet its goal to have all students learning in person when they come back to class next week. Rock Valley Christian School Principal Marcus De Jager echoes the sense of community.

Governor Reynolds in Rock Valley. (photo from Governor’s video feed)

“Just like Rock Valley community, we are so motivated, so motivated to teach the whole child, because we know how important it is to have some sort of normalcy,” De Jager says. “So it’s our honor and our privilege to host these students starting next week. So let’s celebrate.” De Jager says Rock Valley Christian is ready with finishing touches in the kitchen being made now and buses are on their way from different states. Rock Valley Mayor Kevin Van Otterloo says it’s been 68 days since the flood. He expressed his gratitude to the Governor and her staff, the emergency personnel that worked tirelessly during the disaster, and the sheer number of volunteers that showed up.

“Volunteers have come into Rock Valley to help 104,000 man hours were put in to help us. Without them, we would not be where we’re at today,” Van Otterloo says. He says he received a text early on in the recovery from the governor telling him to never give up. He says the community hasn’t and won’t, and is confident the community will heal. Tours of the new classrooms were held after the event.

The classrooms will be repurposed into a daycare for Rock Valley, once the school recovery is complete. Classes in Rock Valley begin September 5th.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Democrats says changes made by the Iowa Legislature and approved by the governor have left Area Education Agencies short staff as the school year gets underway. Representative Lindsay James of Dubuque says there’s a drop of more than 400. “What does this actually mean? Four-hundred-29 fewer staffers in the A-E-As means that there are 429 fewer professionals on the ground providing vital services for kids in our public schools,” she says.

The reorganization plan of the governor gives the school districts the same amount of money and the Department of Education is taking over some services. James and other Democratic lawmakers say they don’t know how many of the A-E-A employees have left to take other education jobs in Iowa.  “And if you look at the Department of Ed those positions that they are hiring for have not been filled. Many, many, many have not been filled. And so what we’re seeing is an incredible loss and re-shifting to bureaucratic rules in Des Moines and positions going unfilled in Des Moines,” she says.

The Governor’s spokesperson issued a statement that says:

“While the Governor and her team were in Northwest Iowa celebrating getting students back to school after a natural disaster, the Democrats were looking backward and telling Iowans half-truths about special education reform. They are stoking fear, but these are the facts: no funding has been cut for special education or any educational services-it’s been given to the local school districts to control. Some schools have hired former AEA employees, while others have chosen to continue to work with AEAs. As schools decide how to best use their resources to serve their students with special needs, resources will naturally shift. That is the intent-to strengthen the education experience for all students, including students receiving special education services.”