(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports 49-year-old Connie Ann Hallberg, of Lorimor, was arrested late Thursday afternoon, in Creston. Hallberg was taken into custody at 302 N. Pine Street on a charge of Failure to Appear (in court). She was transported to the Union County Jail and later posted a $300 cash bond, before being released.

And, a Creston lawn service (Green Valley Pest Control& Lawn, reported Thursday afternoon, a Stihl leaf blower had been stolen from 1103 N. Birch Street. The loss was estimated at $125.

(Radio Iowa) – A national report ranks Iowa’s highway system 22nd in the country, a drop from 20th last year, in terms of its condition and cost-effectiveness. The study’s lead author, Baruch Feigenbaum of the Reason Foundation, says they calculated the rankings based on a series of 13 categories, including pavement quality, spending, safety, and traffic congestion. “Iowa does nothing outstanding but it also does nothing terribly,” Feigenbaum says. “Its highest ranking is 13th and that’s in rural and urban fatality rates, and its lowest ranking is — well, it does one thing poorly — structurally deficient bridges which is 48th, but the majority of Iowa’s rankings are right there in the middle.”

Among Iowa’s other placements, the organization’s Annual Highway Report showed Iowa ranked 30th in urban interstate pavement condition, 22nd in traffic congestion and 18th in overall fatality rate. The study also rated the states for how much they spend per mile of state-controlled road. “In terms of state-controlled highways, Iowa’s spending $63,471 (per mile) and that is an average across all state-controlled roads,” Feigenbaum says. “In overall spending, Iowa’s 19th and in capital and bridge costs, Iowa’s 34th.” Earlier this week, President Biden signed a massive infrastructure bill into law which promises to pump some five-billion federal dollars into Iowa for projects from roads to public transportation to airports. It likely won’t mean anything visible right away, he says, as far as improvements to our highways.

“I don’t think they’ll change radically in the near future,” Feigenbaum says. “It tends to take a couple of years for any changes that the state DOT makes in terms of more repavings, newer roads, things of that sort, to take effect.” Even with the influx in federal dollars, he’s doubtful Iowa’s 22nd place ranking on the report will shift significantly in either direction. “Over time, I think that will improve the state’s performance, but it will also improve other states’ performance,” Feigenbaum says, “so everyone will get better, hopefully.”

Compared to nearby states, Iowa’s overall highway performance is better than Illinois (ranks 40th overall) and Wisconsin (26th) but worse than Missouri (2nd), Minnesota (18th) and Nebraska (21st). The Reason Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit think tank, based in Los Angeles.

See the full report at:
https://reason.org/policy-study/26th-annual-highway-report/

(Radio Iowa) – The Farm Bureau’s annual survey of items used for a traditional Thanksgiving feast found a 14 percent increase in cost compared to last year. Iowa Farm Bureau economist, Sam Funk, says they based the cost on a meal for ten people. “That amount was 53 dollars and 31 cents on average — which is on average for across the United States for those voluntary shoppers who went out there and purchased those market basket items,” he says. The price of the meal centerpiece turkey was up an average of one dollar, 50 cents per pound. “The turkey was the highest cost increase year-over-year for that particular survey. And U-S-D-A has put out their own survey as well — and those turkey prices increased,” Funk says. “In general what we’re seeing is there are a lot of different factors coming into play. They are going to cost just a little bit more for the turkeys this year.”

Some people canceled the big holiday gathering last year, but plan to return to the tradition this year — and that comes as he says the supply of turkeys is down by about four percent. “You’ve got a little bit of a reduction in the supply, you’ve got more demand because people are probably going to gather around for those celebrations and will be looking for that traditional turkey or meat centerpiece,” Funk says. “So, you are going to find that tighter supplies, higher demand, yields higher prices.”

Other items in the Farm Bureau survey include frozen pie crusts, pumpkin pie mix, whipping cream, dinner rolls, fresh cranberries, rolls, whole milk, frozen peas, sweet potatoes, and stuffing. The increase for those items minus the turkey is six-point-six percent compared to last year. Funk says many people will tell you they can get a better turkey price by shopping. He says you can go to several different stores and find prices that are all over the board.

Funk says in some cases you might find a late sale where turkey prices are below a buck a pound.

Police in Red Oak report 29-year-old Nathan Aldrich, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 4:15-p.m. Thursday. He was arrested on an active Montgomery County warrant for Contempt (of court) – Resisting a Court Order. Aldrich was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and posted a $300 bond before being released.

(Radio Iowa) – The lead negotiator for the U-A-W local that represents employees at John Deere’s plant in Ankeny died of Covid the day after the strike at Deere and Company ended. Curtis Templeman‘s death from Covid was announced late Thursday on the Facebook page for U-A-W Local 450. According to a Facebook post on Thursday morning, Templeman had what he thought was the sniffles, but found out he had Covid.

The Des Moines Register reports Templeman was hospitalized at the beginning of November and Templeman told a Register reporter he planned to participate in last week’s contract talks by phone from the hospital. The union praised Templeman’s selfless service during negotiations and said he held on long enough to see the contract with Deere had been ratified.