(Radio Iowa) — While many Iowans are spending a large portion of time toiling in their yards with the chore of raking leaves, an environmental expert suggests they leave the leaves alone — at least some of them. Jill Utrup, a biologist with the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service, says create a pile of leaves at the edge or your yard or behind the house and just — leave it. “By not raking your leaves, you’re actually leaving a lot of beneficial habitat for many of our beneficial pollinators,” Utrup says. “One pollinator in particular that we’re concerned with is the rusty patched bumblebee, which is a federally-endangered species.”

If you’re concerned about having a hive of unruly insects in the vicinity of your home, she says not to worry. “Only a single queen will actually overwinter, the rest of her colony will die off and she will overwinter,” Utrup says. “She uses what we’d typically see as an unkept spot, leaf piles and brush piles — that type of thing, is what they’re looking for.”

Don’t worry about getting stung next spring, either. She says this is among the first insects to emerge once the snow melts. The rusty patched bumble bee was designated as endangered in 2017 and special teams fanned out in Iowa and several other Midwestern states during 2018 to search out the insect and determine its status here. Their findings were something of a surprise. “They’re thriving still in people’s backyards, believe it or not,” Utrup says. “Whereas a lot of our endangered species we’re finding in more pristine and intact habitat, the rusty patched is more of a generalist. We’re still learning about its requirements and the threats to the species as well.”

The bees were confirmed in multiple Iowa counties and in several metro areas, including: Ames, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Iowa City, Le Mars, Sioux City and Waterloo. Learn more at www.bumblebeewatch.org.

(Radio Iowa) — An Iowa State University study finds farm equity across the state is on the decline. The study of more than 200 mid-size Iowa farms found 44-percent could be classified as having vulnerable liquidity in December of 2018. That percentage was just 31-percent in December of 2014. I-S-U Extension economist Alejandro Plastina says several factors have led to the fall. “There’s been trade issues as of recently, there’s been uncertainly about crop prices,” Plastina says. “In 2019, pushing liquidity even further down, weather issues prevented planting and delayed planting.”

Those factors combined put a lot of stress on farm operations, he says. The average loss of working capital on Iowa farms and ranches between 2015 and 2017 is about 189-dollars per acre. Plastina says, “Mostly all farms lost substantial amounts of working capital and the slight increase in working capital over 2018 was not enough to compensate the loss in working capital since 2014.” Without government assistance last year, including 646-million dollars in Market Facilitation Program — or M-F-P — payments, he says economic conditions on Iowa farms would have been even worse.”In 2019, we saw a small increase in liquidity from 2017 levels but still, liquidity levels are low compared to the last ten years,” Plastina says. “Most of that increase in liquidity, unfortunately, is not coming from crop revenue or livestock revenue, but from government payments.”

Plastina expects the numbers for 2019 to be poor as well. He’s advising producers to secure their operating loans for the next year or two and to do as much as they can to protect their working capital.

The National Weather Service in Des Moines reports “Confidence is very high in well-below temperatures across Iowa next week. Normal high temperatures for this time of year are generally in the low to mid 50s, and normal lows are in the mid 30s.” Meteorologists say as of now, there is potential for high temperatures on next Monday and Tuesday to struggle to make it into the 20s for much of Iowa, after low temperatures in the single digits. Those values would be around 20 to 30 degrees below normal for this time of year.

With highs potentially reaching the 50s, this Saturday (11/9) will likely be the “warmest” day of the next week, so if you have outdoor activities, Saturday may be the day to get them done!

A Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy responding Tuesday afternoon to disturbance in rural Crescent, arrested 55-year old Dale Margaret Mitchell, of Crescent. Mitchell was taken into custody for Assault without intent to cause Bodily Injury or Mental Illness. Her bond was set at $1,000. And, Deputies responded at around 2:40-p.m. Tuesday to a report of an armed subject at a residence in Underwood. Taken into custody for Assault w/use or display of a weapon, was 38-year old Elijah Luke Emery, of Underwood. He was being held in the Pott. County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Courtesy KNOD) – Members of the Harlan Community School District’s Board of Education Monday, asked Interim Superintendent Lynn Johnson to stay on another year.

(She said the Board announced their intention to open the position up to a permanent search, next November.)

Johnson said she accepted their invitation to stay on for another year.

Johnson was hired as Harlan’s Interim Schools Superintendent on July 15th. She served as the Arlington, Nebraska District Superintendent before retiring from the district on June 30, 2019.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Another former employee has been given probation for using guests’ credit cards for a scam at a Sioux City hotel. Woodbury County court records say 36-year-old Sandra Lalumendre was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison, suspended, and five years of probation. She’d pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft. Prosecutors dropped a credit card fraud charge in return.

Court documents say that from May 14 through Sept. 8 last year, Lalumendre and Ethan Ehlers fraudulently overcharged guests’ credit cards at the Howard Johnson hotel in downtown Sioux City. They’d then force refunds and split the money. The documents say the total was more than $32,700.

Ehlers has been sentenced to three years of probation. The two have been ordered to jointly pay $10,000 in restitution to the hotel.

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) — A proposal to spend an additional $3.5 million to build a Warren County courthouse and justice center has fallen short of approval. Officials say nearly 56% of voters supported the measure Tuesday, but it needed 60% of the votes to pass. Warren County Supervisor Aaron DeKock says the result disappointed him, but the project still will go back out to bid in January. Voters approved $29.9 million for the courthouse and justice center in August 2018. The project has been stalled since construction bids came back $7 million over budget. The old courthouse and jail have been torn down.

View the full results of the election from the IA Sec.of State’s website: https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/IA/Pottawattamie/98457/web/#/summary

Contested races only ; I = Incumbent; * = winner(s) of contested races

Council Bluffs:

City Council (Vote for 3)

Deb Bass                 2,000

Chad Hannan          3,174*

Roger Sandau         2,942*

Nate Watson          1,615

Sharon White         1,588

Joe Disalvo             2,950*

Neola:

Mayor (Vote for 1)

Karla Pogge               173*

Dawn M. Goodsell     111

City Council (Vote for 3)

Richard D. Schuning     138*

Jason Zaborowski         63

Jonathan McDonald     92

Joseph R. Munch          132

Ty Ungrad                     166*

Lori Eckrich                   203*

Oakland

City Council (Vote for 2)

Jeremy Perkins           147*

Tina Drahota              84

Kelly Towne                120

Coralee Bernard          89

Betsy Moniz              183*

City Council to Fill a Vacancy (Vote for 1)

Douglas Reed            194*

Courtne Turner          141

 

Underwood

City Council (Vote for 3)

Royce D. Forbush        88

Josh H. Madsen          134*

Robert W. Dose           94*

Ashleigh M. Robinson  98*

Walnut

City Council (Vote for 2)

Justen Tooley             64

Erich Cochran             92*

LaVonne Wood           62

Cheyenne Mertz         95*

Avoca

City Council (Vote for 2)

Lori Hansen              168

Fred G. Miller III        179*

Matt Gramkow         197*

City Council To Fill a Vacancy (Vote for 1)

Steve Kerr                 123

Charles J. Stolz          157*

Carson

City Council (Vote for 2)

Frankie Knudsen         71

Marlene Richardson    74*

Troy Graves                 90*

Crescent

City Council (Vote for 3)

Michelle Hargens         78*

Charles Hildreth           63*

Jack A. Powers              78*

Randall J. Adams           45

Hancock

City Council (Vote for 3)

Donald Ehlers              24

Vince Guyer                 30

Linda Wageman           36

City Council to Fill a Vacancy (Vote for 1)

Ray C. Evans                35

AHSTW School

Director District #2 (Vote for 1)

Kim Wise                    314*

Robert Bryant             224

Board of Director (Vote for 1)

Steven Kock               283*

Michelle Mertz           263

Treynor School Board (Vote for 3)

Gina Mieska               242

Keith Christensen       306*

Amy Bierbaum           139

B.J. Dreyer                   283*

Stephen Winchell        295*

Bob Beattie                 181

Riverside School

Director District #3 (Vote for 1)

Jamie Kadel                362*

Rodney Pendgraft       204

Underwood School Board of Directors (Vote for 3)

Nathan Burns              132

Brian Leaders               176

Nicole Snyder              168

Rick Larson                  223*

Teresa Mace                193*

Matt Brummett            216*

Tri Center School Board (Vote for 2)

Cecilia Thomas     107

Sara Arnold           201*

Katie Ausdemore  346*

Tami Harman        170

Council Bluffs School Board (Vote for 4)

Jill Shudak             3,265*

Dick Dallinger        1,488

Troy Arthur             2,284*

Chris LaFerla           2,276

David Coziahr         2,646*

Lewis Central School Board (Vote for 3)

Brian Stoufer         823*

Amie Adkins          899*

Daryl Weilage        724*

Travis Houseton    655