The occupants of a home in Red Oak escaped without injury early Monday morning, after a fire broke out at around 3:15-a.m. According to reports, several departments responded to the fire in the upstairs bedroom at 410 East Nuckols Avenue, in Red Oak. A functional smoke detector alerted the residents to the danger.

The second floor of the home sustained extensive fire and water damage. Red Oak fire was assisted at the scene by crews from Elliott and Stanton. Red Oak Police, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, MidAmerican Energy and Red Oak’s Water Department also provided assistance. Firefighters were on the scene for about two-and-a-half hours.

The American Red Cross was contacted to assist the homes’ residents. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) — A new climate assessment for Iowa and the rest of the Northern Plains predicts the region will see overall warmer temperatures and more “rain extremes” in the months and years ahead. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub, based in Ames, says ag producers will need to make more and more adjustments, starting with soil health. “At worst, maintain. Don’t lose any more of your soil, but do things that help regenerate that soil with reducing tillage when you’re harvesting a crop,” Todey says. “Don’t remove some of that stover as much as possible to help renew the soil and help keep regenerating the soil.”

While concerns have been raised for years over nutrient application on fields and the subsequent run-off, Todey says fertilizer use will have to be even more carefully monitored. “Being more judicious with our nutrient application so we don’t get any kind of water quality issues,” Todey says. In some areas of the region, he says agricultural producers may have to consider changing the crops they plant to align better with the changing climate. “Corn and soybeans are things that people know how to grow,” Todey says. “They’re insured. There’s a number of issues supporting that, but, especially when we have the pricing issues right now, are there other things you can grow, that you know how to grow, that are more able to be managed under the conditions we’re dealing with?”

The national climate assessment report endeavors to forecast approaching changes over the next 10-to-30 years.

(Radio Iowa) — State transportation officials are asking lawmakers to give the green light to another state-run driver’s license station in central Iowa. Driver’s licenses and I-D cards are issued in 83 county treasurers’ offices — and the Iowa D-O-T operates facilities in the most heavily populated areas of the state. Iowa D-O-T director Mark Lowe says “We have 17 service centers in 16 counties right now.”

There already are two D-O-T license stations in Polk County — one in Ankeny and the other on the north side of Des Moines. Lowe has presented the governor with a plan to open a new D-O-T service center on the west side of the Des Moines metro, in Dallas County. Lowe says Dallas County officials are overwhelmed. “They’re doing about 26,000 licenses and IDs a year which is over seven times more than the average county treasurer’s office and it’s very comparable to what we do in our Ames, Council Bluffs and Dubuque Service Centers,” Lowe says. “Dallas County officials have come to us and asked us if we would take over the services in Dallas County and we’ve agreed to do that.”

Lowe says Dallas County’s population is two-and-a-half times larger than it was when the Dallas County Treasurer began issuing licenses out of the courthouse in Adel. The D-O-T director told the governor staffing costs for the new D-O-T facility in Dallas County would be half a million dollars.  “You’ll also see in our capital budget $350,000 which would be the build-out of a leased facility to house the new service center,” Lowe says. “And we’re targeting the start of January of 2020 to have that up and running in place and Dallas County has been working closely with us and will be a great partner in that transition.”

This is the D-O-T’s second try at getting a new service center in Dallas County. In 2016, Senate Democrats voted to specifically prohibit the D-O-T from buying, building, renting or leasing any kind of license station in Dallas County. Republicans are now in charge in the state senate — and the senate president is from Dallas County, but he has not commented publicly on the D-O-T’s proposal.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CST

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Food pantries in eastern Iowa and western Illinois are being flooded with milk donations under a federal program to buy and distribute nearly $50 million in dairy products to compensate farmers hurt by trade tariffs. River Bend Foodbank CEO Mike Miller tells the Quad-City Times about 80,000 half-gallons of milk will be distributed to pantries across the Quad-City region until March. Donations are intended to help farmers hurt by President Donald Trump’s disputes with Mexico, China and Canada.

GRINNELL, Iowa (AP) — A federal board has approved a request by students at Grinnell College to withdraw their request to expand a union representing student workers. The National Labor Relations Board on Friday notified the college and students that a regional director at the agency had approved the withdrawal of the union petition.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A man charged in the fatal shooting of a man during a Davenport home robbery last year has been given 35 years in prison. Scott County District Court records say Nakita Wiseman was sentenced Friday in Davenport. Wiseman was among those charged with the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Brady Tumlinson in September 2017.

CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — A judge has dismissed a harassment charge filed against a former Libertarian candidate for an Iowa House seat. Polk County court records say the charge against Chad Brewbaker, of Clive, was dismissed Wednesday. Prosecutors requested the dismissal after their request for a trial delay was rejected. Brewbaker received about 2 percent of the votes Nov. 6 in the race for the 43rd District seat.

(Radio Iowa) — The chief jail inspector for the Iowa Department of Corrections is praising county jail administrators who allow inmates to have limited access to cell phones for texting. Calling it a “positive movement,” Delbert Longley estimates over half of Iowa’s county jails have implemented the practice within the past couple years.

“It gives them an additional communication tool that prisoners have with their families,” Longley said. According to Longley, jail inmates “deserve to be treated with respect” and giving them an easy way to reach family or friends is part of that effort.

“This is a public record. It can be monitored, so we don’t have to worry about improper language or improper communications of any sort going on with it,” Longley said. Many county jail administrators across Iowa have told Longley the text program has helped improve inmate behavior in their facilities.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa farmland values have dropped four of the last five years in the Iowa State University survey — but some farmland owners are still optimistic that will change in the new year. Iowa State University economist Wendong Zhang conducts the annual survey. He says one third of those in the survey expect a modest decline, while 15 percent see no change. “So roughly half are in the camp of a modest decline or no change — half (expect) an increase.”

The optimism about the land values extends beyond this year. “Five years from now a vast majority of people are thinking the land value will be higher than the current level,” he says. Zhang takes a more guarded approach in predicting what might happen. “I think I’m probably a little more pessimistic than the average respondents. In general I see a stabilizing land market. I probably wouldn’t expect a significant increase in the land market — at least in the immediate future,” Zhang says. The limited amount of land available was the top factor cited on the price of land by those in the survey.

Zhang doesn’t expect the number of sales to increase. “In general yes we’ll see more transition, but I don’t think that you will see a large influx at the same time. What you see this year, there is a 22 percent increase in the number of auctions across the state,” Zhang says, “remember that 2017 is really, really low in terms of sales.” The majority of farmland sales — 72 percent — were to existing farmers and that included 69 percent of the sales to local farmers and only three percent were to existing relocating farmers. He doesn’t expect things to change much in 2019.

He says the farm land market will continue to be a tight market. Zhang says much of the land is passed through families — and about the only thing that would change that process is a change in tax law. “If you delay your sales until death, then you avoid paying capital gains taxes. That is maintained in the tax reform and that is one of the major things,” Zhang says. “If that changes then I think that will cause a lot of rethinking in terms of when and how you sell land.” The majority of farmland sales, 52 percent, were from estate sales, followed by retired farmers at 23 percent. Active farmers account for 15 percent of sales, while investors accounted for eight percent.

(Radio Iowa) – A school district in southwest Iowa is being awarded a half-million dollar federal grant for security upgrades through the STOP School Violence Act. Steve McDermott, superintendent of the Creston Community School District, says the 500-thousand dollars will go a very long way in the district, which has an an early childhood center, an elementary, a middle and a high school.

McDermott says, “We have a lot of money invested already in our safety and security but this will really round out and really advance what we’re doing in terms of tightening up security.” The grant includes funding for a shooter alert system, advanced technology which uses sensors which detect if a firearm has been discharged.

“A lot of times you’ll hear where they have an incident or a tragedy where people heard noises but they thought it was firecrackers or some other noise,” McDermott says. “This actually, from air pressure, can determine if a gun goes off and then it sends automatic messages to local law enforcement.” There’s also a “panic button” system being installed, a new entry system and new exterior lighting. The federal dollars will also pay for mobile metal detectors.

“We won’t set those up at a specific door permanently. We’ll move those,” McDermott says. “They’ll be at one door one day and possibly at another door another. We also hope to set those up at football games in the fall.” The district also plans to add more advanced paging systems and expand the current two-way radio system for communications between schools.

GRINNELL, Iowa (AP) — A federal board has approved a request by students at Grinnell College to withdraw their request to expand a union representing student workers. The National Labor Relations Board on Friday notified the college and students that a regional director at the agency had approved the withdrawal of the union petition. Given that, the board considers the matter closed.

Grinnell students had voted overwhelmingly to expand a union of food service workers to include all student employees, leading to a standoff with college administrators. The college sought a board review, prompting the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers to withdraw their request. The students feared a board appointed by President Donald Trump would side with Grinnell, setting a precedence that would hurt similar student unionization efforts at colleges across the country.

In an update to our earlier reports, the Iowa State Patrol reports an Ames woman was cited following an investigation into a rollover accident near Menlo, Sunday morning. 22-year old Rashmi Kuntala was cited for Failure to Maintain control.

Authorities say Kuntala was driving a Ford Fusion on Interstate 80 westbound in the left lane, a little after 9-a.m., when she noticed she was going too fast. The woman tried to brake, but the brakes failed. She then panicked and jerked the steering wheel to the right. The car entered the north ditch and rolled several times before hitting an Iowa Department of Transportation information sign.

Two of the occupants of the vehicle complained of pain, but refused medical treatment.  Stuart Fire and Ambulance, and Menlo Ambulance assisted the State Patrol at the scene.

Police in Council Bluffs are investigating an apparent home invasion Sunday night that resulted in shots fired, with a man and his dog being shot. Authorities say officers were called at around 8-p.m. 1030 5th Ave. Officers arrived and found that a male victim at that location had been shot in the left arm. His dog had also been shot. The dog died at the scene.  The male victim was treated and released from UNMC a short time after the incident.

An investigation is ongoing. Additional information will be released when it becomes available.