OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new report says a May survey of business supply managers suggests economic growth will slow over the next three to six months in nine Midwest and Plains states.
The report issued Monday says the Mid-America Business Conditions Index dropped to 54.3 last month from 55.9 in April. The figure was 58.2 in March. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says tariffs and flooding have harmed several states.

The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth. A score below that suggests decline. The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

(Radio Iowa) — The city of Cedar Rapids turned its traffic cameras back along with a switch in the calendar to June. City public safety spokesman, Greg Beulow says drivers will get a grace period to adjust. “During the month of June the police department will only issue warnings to individuals, ” Beulow says. “We want to make it very clear that the traffic cameras are back on. They’re activate at locations on Interstate 380 at the dangerous S-curve. And they are also located at five other dangerous locations throughout the city of Cedar Rapids.”

Beulow ways there are signs up that indicate the speed cameras are coming up and their locations are all listed on the city website.”There’s nothing to hide, we want people to be aware that they are activated and that warnings are going to be issued. The main goal is to reduce speed so that people obey the speed limit,” Beulow says. “The number of crashes and the number of serious crashes that involve injuries has decreased. The other big one is the number of fatalities,” according to Beulow.”We’ve only had one fatal crash while the cameras have been operating — as opposed to seven before the cameras were operating.”

Beulow says there were a lot of comments when the information about the cameras being turned back on went up on social media. “We hear it really from both sides. Some really support it — they think that when the cameras are on the motoring public is safer. The statistics that we have support that. There are some that don’t agree with the cameras at all,” he says.

He says some people believe they should be able to talk to the officer in person when they get a ticket. Others says it is a big money grab as the cameras bring in millions of dollars for the city. Beulow says they have addressed the money concern. He says any money generated from the cameras will go toward hiring ten police officers and an administrative person to manage the automated traffic system and the municipal infraction process.

The cameras were turned off during a court challenge against them. The city won that court battle and decided to turn the cameras back on.

(Radio Iowa) — SEVENTEEN Democratic presidential candidates will be in Iowa — at the same time, in the same place — this coming Sunday. Former Vice President and perceived front-runner Joe Biden will NOT be at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Hall of Fame Dinner in Cedar Rapids June 9th, but most of the competitors for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination will be.

The Iowa Caucuses are eight months from today (Monday, June 3rd).

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — All students in the Council Bluffs school district will receive free meals beginning this fall. Lisa Stewart, director of nutrition services for the district, told the board of education this week that the entire school district now qualifies for Community Eligibility Provision, a federal program that allows students to eat free breakfast and lunch.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Nearly all the Democratic presidential hopefuls have yet to hire staff or spend money in the nation’s biggest state, California, which also offers the largest number of delegates. Most of the attention is being focused on the four states that vote first for a party nominee _ Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. A Los Angeles-based strategist, Michael Trujillo, says in the wake of the state party’s convention that California will end up being pretty wide open in the primary race.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 26-year-old man died after collapsing near the end of a race in Des Moines. Des Moines fire officials say the man collapsed Saturday during the EMC DAM to DSM race after apparently suffering a cardiac arrest. The man’s name has not been released. A total of 3,464 runners finished the race which starts at Saylorville Dam and ends in downtown Des Moines.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 13-year-old boy has drowned in a large pond in north Des Moines. Police say Van Cin Lian of Des Moines went into the pond Saturday afternoon with two other boys. At some point he went underwater and didn’t resurface. Dive teams from several agencies responded and used a drone in an attempt to find the boy. Divers recovered his body about 6 p.m.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 13-year-old boy has drowned in a large pond in north Des Moines. Police say Van Cin Lian, of Des Moines, went into the pond Saturday afternoon with two other boys. At some point he went underwater and didn’t resurface.

Dive teams from several agencies responded and used a drone in an attempt to find the boy. Divers recovered his body about 6 p.m.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — All students in the Council Bluffs school district will receive free meals beginning this fall.

Lisa Stewart, director of nutrition services for the district, told the board of education last week that the entire school district now qualifies for Community Eligibility Provision, a federal program that allows students to eat free breakfast and lunch.

The Daily Nonpareil reports families in elementary schools could save up to $700 a year, with families of high school students saving up to $900 a year.

Stewart said the students qualified because of a state decision in March 2018 to accept certain classifications of Medicaid enrollees as automatically qualified for free lunches. She says the change was not caused by a sudden decline in the area’s economy.

Police in Council Bluffs were dispatched to Mercy Hospital around 2:30-a.m. today (Sunday), where a woman was reported to have been cut with a knife during a disturbance. The victim told officers that the alleged female offender, 23-year old Shyanne Dalton-Birdsong, was fighting with Shyanne’s roommate and “made stabbing motions” towards the roommate with a knife. The victim tried to intervene between Shyanne and Shyanne’s roommate, and ended up having two of her fingers cut.

Officers went to 3115 12th Avenue and located Dalton-Birdsong and her roommate. The suspect was arrested on charges of Aggravated Assault and Aggravated Domestic Abuse.

Rescue crews responding at around 3:30-p.m. Saturday to a report that a child went into a pond in Des Moines and never resurfaced, have recovered a body.

According to KCCI, the body of a boy was found in the pond on Des Moines’ northwest side, at around 6:30-p.m. The child’s name was not immediately released.

The incident occurred in an old quarry that’s about 30-to 40-feet deep toward the middle. The pond is located in the 4200 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — A temporary flood barrier at Burlington has failed along the swollen Mississippi River has failed, sending floodwaters rushing into the city’s downtown. The National Weather Service says Burlington officials have confirmed that a large, sand-filled barrier failed Saturday afternoon, forcing some businesses in the downtown area to evacuate. The weather service has issued a flash flood warning for a 4- to 6-block area of downtown Burlington until 10 p.m. Saturday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a runner died near the finish line of a race from Saylorville Dam to downtown Des Moines. Des Moines Fire Department officials say a 26-year-old man died Saturday morning near the finish line of the 12.4-mile race. Officials didn’t release details about how the man died or release his identity. Race organizer Michael Zimmerman said in a statement, “On behalf of all of those that ran today and the entire running community, we are heartbroken about the loss of a fellow athlete.”

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in Iowa say one person drowned at Terry Trueblood Recreation Center in Iowa City and a would-be-rescuer was taken to a hospital. Television station KCRG reports that the incident happened Friday afternoon when a bystander reported that a swimmer disappeared under the water around 3:45 p.m. Searchers with law enforcement and the Johnson County Metro Dive Team found a body about an hour after the incident was reported. The person’s name has not been released.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a runner died near the finish line of a race from Saylorville Dam to downtown Des Moines. Des Moines Fire Department officials say a 26-year-old man died Saturday morning near the finish line of the 12.4-mile race. He was later identified as Jefferson-Scranton 2011 graduate Chase Flack. Officials didn’t release details about how Flack died.

Michael Zimmerman, a race organizer, released a statement saying, “On behalf of all of those that ran today and the entire running community, we are heartbroken about the loss of a fellow athlete. Our heartfelt condolences are with this athlete’s family and friends.” More than 3,000 people ran in the race.