(Radio Iowa) — An ethanol plant in northwest Iowa suspended production last week and industry officials say it won’t be the last. Ethanol plants in Iowa and across the Midwest are expected to sharply cut back on their production in the coming weeks. DeLayne Johnson, C-E-O of Quad County Corn Processors in the northwest Iowa town of Galva, says the two biggest reasons for the reductions are oversupply and the trade dispute with China. “Tariffs are actually reducing our exports,” Johnson says, “and in addition, the small refinery exemptions EPA has given to Exxon, Shell, Mobil and others is certainly eating into the demand as well, to the tune of 2.8-billion gallons of ethanol and about 1-billion bushels of corn.”

Plymouth Energy in Merrill suspended production last week. That’s one of at least ten ethanol plants nationwide to temporarily shut down. Three others have closed. While recent exports have helped, Johnson says tariffs from two of the nation’s biggest ethanol customers are countering that. “With the tariffs, we’re really not able to move anything into China and that’s potentially as much as a billion gallons a year,” Johnson says. “Also, Brazil, there’s a significant tariff there which they are also a very large client. So, we are really missing two of the largest markets.”

Iowa is the nation’s largest ethanol producer, making a record 4.35-billion gallons in 2018. Johnson says biofuel processors in Iowa and elsewhere will need to change up their operations in the future. “That will be very important as we move forward for people to continue to diversify and get more value out of that kernel of corn,” Johnson says, “or look for synergies with other processing and become true biorefineries where we may be doing multiple things in one company. There’s some plants that are doing that as well.”

The margins for ethanol production in the western corn belt have fallen to a four-year seasonal low while ethanol inventories are at their highest levels in nine years.

(Radio Iowa) — Voters in five Des Moines suburbs have approved a one-percent local option sales tax that will go into effect January 1st. In March, voters in six Polk County cities, including Des Moines, approved raising the local option sales tax on July 1st — but the measure failed in five other Polk County communities.

Yesterday, nearly eight-thousand voters cast ballots in Bondurant, Clive, Grimes, Johnston and Urbandale and the one-cent sales tax passed on the second try.

According to unofficial results, the margins for passage were significant, ranging from 65 percent approval in Urbandale to 82 percent in Grimes. An Iowa Department of Revenue report shows 97 percent of Iowa cities and towns have a local option sales tax.

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports the Fremont County K9 Unit, Tuesday evening, arrested two out-of-state people following a traffic stop on Interstate 29, at mile marker 10.

Mikayla Croskell

Matthew Gingell

28-year old Matthew Gingell of Mission KS, and 23-year old Mikayla Croskell of Lee Summit MO., were arrested after deputies located drug paraphernalia, marijuana, and THC Butane Hash Oil in their vehicle. Croskell and Gingell were transported to the Fremont County Law Enforcement Center, where each was  being held on a $1,000 bond.

Gingell was also being held  on an outstanding warrant from Olathe, KS.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — As predicted, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it plans to keep water releases into the lower Missouri River elevated, as runoff continues to keep upstream reservoirs full. The Corps said in a news release Tuesday that water releases from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will remain at current levels, which _ at 70,000 cubic feet per second _ are more than double the average amount for this time of year.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state has settled a complaint with a Cedar Rapids woman and her son who threatened to file an excessive force lawsuit over a May 2018 incident in which officers in pursuit of a suspect entered a home and restrained several people. The State Appeal Board on Tuesday approved a $100,000 settlement with Shashona Wright, the mother of Lamonte O’Neal, after they threatened to file a federal lawsuit claiming O’Neal was injured. The state denies injuries occurred.

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — A religious activist accused of burning four LGBTQ children’s books that he checked out of a library in Iowa has been convicted of criminal mischief and fined. Sioux County Attorney Thomas Kunstle says 63-year-old Paul Robert Dorr, of Ocheyedan, was found guilty of the misdemeanor Tuesday and ordered to pay $125 in fines and court costs. Dorr posted a video to Facebook in October in which he denounced the Orange City library and threw the books into a burning barrel.

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least six Democratic presidential candidates are set to attend a forum in Iowa this Saturday organized by gun control advocates in the wake of two mass shootings that killed 31 people in Texas and Ohio. The forum is sponsored by the groups Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action. It will be held in Des Moines while many Democratic White House hopefuls are in Iowa to campaign.

Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Public Safety report the body of an adult female was recovered Tuesday afternoon in a Mahaska County river. Members of the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office discovered the body in the South Skunk River near the Glendale Access, a little after 3-p.m.

The circumstances that lead to the female entering the river and the cause of her death are under investigation by the Oskaloosa Police Department, the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office and the Division of Criminal Investigation. The identity of the female is not known at this time.

An autopsy, which is schedule to be performed by the Office of the State Medical Examiner, will help to identify the female found in the river. Law enforcement is aware that on the morning of August 5th, 24-year old Ashley Shafer was reported missing to the Oskaloosa Police Department. The investigation into her disappearance and current location are part of an active missing person investigation.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Ashley Shafer, or with information on the body found in the South Skunk River is asked to call the Mahaska County Communications Center at (641) 672-2557.

Sheriff’s Deputies in Montgomery County, Tuesday, arrested two 16-year old juveniles from Red Oak. The teens were charged with Forgery – a Class D Felony as the result of an investigation into an incident that occurred August 1st.

Their names were not released. Both were taken into custody, processed and then released to the custody of a parent.

An accident in Adair County Tuesday afternoon claimed the life of a young adult female. The Iowa State Patrol reports a northbound 2012 Chevy Malibu driven by 18-year old Kayci Emerson, of Fontanelle, for reasons unknown crossed the center line of Highway 25 near mile marker 67, or about two-miles south of I-80, and collided with a southbound 2007 Chevy Silverado, driven by 36-year old Nathan Rigsby, of Thayer. The accident happened at around 12:30-p.m.

Emerson, who was wearing a seat belt, was flown by LifeNet helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, where she died from her injuries. The accident remains under investigation.

The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, Fire and Rescue and Iowa DOT Motor Vehicle Enforcement Officers.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — As predicted, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it plans to keep water releases into the lower Missouri River elevated, as runoff continues to keep upstream reservoirs full.

The Corps said in a news release Tuesday that water releases from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will remain at current levels, which — at 70,000 cubic feet per second — are more than double the average amount for this time of year.

The Corps says areas of Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska received two to three times the normal amount of rain in July.

July runoff in the upper basin was 7 million acre feet, more than twice the average. The Corps says this year’s upper basin total runoff is forecast at nearly 53 million acre feet, which would be the second highest total runoff in 121 years of record-keeping. Only the 61 million acre feet seen in 2011 would be more.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A 19-year-old man convicted of stabbing two people to death last year in Sioux City will be sentenced next month. The Sioux City Journal reports Tran Walker faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole when he’s sentenced Sept. 20 in Woodbury County District Court.

A judge last week convicted Walker in a bench trial of two counts of first-degree murder for killing 17-year-old Paiten Sullivan and 18-year-old Felipe Negron Jr.
Police say Walker was in a car with the two on Jan. 28 last year when he first stabbed Sullivan, then Negron when Negron tried to intervene.

Sullivan and Walker had recently broken up before her death. Sullivan’s stepmother testified that Walker and Sullivan broke up because he didn’t want her to finish school.

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — A religious activist accused of burning four LGBTQ children’s books that he checked out of a library in Iowa has been convicted of criminal mischief and fined.

Sioux County Attorney Thomas Kunstle says 63-year-old Paul Robert Dorr, of Ocheyedan, was found guilty of the misdemeanor Tuesday and ordered to pay $125 in fines and court costs.

Dorr posted a video to Facebook in October in which he denounced the Orange City library for having the books and threw them into a burning barrel.

Dorr had fought to have the charge dismissed, saying he was singled out for prosecution because of his anti-gay message. A judge rejected his argument in July, saying the only message being sent to him was “that he cannot burn books that do not belong to him.”