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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — About two dozen environmental demonstrators are undertaking a 100-mile march in Iowa to protest the Dakota Access oil pipeline in Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports that they began their eight-day trek Saturday in Des Moines. Advocacy groups Bold Iowa and Indigenous Iowa organized the march to show unity against the $3.8 billion, four-state pipeline. Protesters plan to walk 10-15 miles a day, completing the march Saturday in Fort Dodge.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Three people are dead and two others are injured after a three-vehicle crash on Interstate Highway 29 in western Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports the Iowa State Patrol is investigating the cause of the Sunday crash in Harrison County north of Omaha, Nebraska. According to the Iowa State Patrol, an 80-year-old Rock Valley man drove off the road, across the median and hit two vehicles near Little Sioux.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democrats know who their voters are. They just have to figure out how to get them to the polls in November. That’s why the liberal group NextGen America is pouring more than $30 million into an effort to mobilize and energize young voters in 11 battleground states. It includes things such as setting up a dog petting booth on the University of Wisconsin-Madison to attract students and register them to vote. The group has nearly 800 organizers on 421 college campuses.

BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — The father of slain Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts says his daughter’s death should not be used to promote political agendas. A Mexican farmworker suspected of being in the U.S. illegally has been charged in Tibbetts’ death. Rob Tibbetts in an opinion piece in The Des Moines Register spoke out against using “Mollie’s soul in advancing views she believed were profoundly racist.”

In an update to our earlier reports, the Iowa State Patrol says a third person has died as the result of a crash on Interstate 29 in Harrison County, Sunday. Two other people were injured. 80-year-old Rock Valley resident Richard Van Zee drove off the road, across the median and hit two vehicles traveling south near Little Sioux. His car sideswiped one vehicle and then hit a pickup truck carrying three people from Indiana. The accident happened at around 6:15-p.m.

Van Zee and 77-year-old Mary Ann Van Zee were killed in the crash. Knightstown, Indiana resident, 65-year old Elizabeth Cobbs,  who was in the back seat of the pickup and also died. The driver of the pickup, 66-year old Michael Gerrish and his other passenger, 52-year old Melinda Gerrish, both from Shirley, IN, were injured.

The accident remains under investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — About two dozen environmental demonstrators are undertaking a 100-mile march in Iowa to protest the Dakota Access oil pipeline. The Des Moines Register reports that they began their eight-day trek Saturday in Des Moines.

Advocacy groups Bold Iowa and Indigenous Iowa organized the march to show unity against the $3.8 billion, four-state pipeline. Protesters plan to walk 10-15 miles a day, completing the march Saturday in Fort Dodge.

Native American Coalition of the Quad Cities President Regina Tsosie told the newspaper that the pipeline could break and poison the water. She also says it has desecrated sacred sites.

Protesters have pushed back against the pipeline for years. But a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study of the pipeline released last week says it poses no significant environmental threats.

Today’s Labor Day Country Music Festival in the Grant Iowa Park has been cancelled due to the continuing rainfall.

Two people are dead, three others were injured during a crash at around 6:15-p.m. Sunday on southbound Interstate 29, in Harrison County. The Iowa State Patrol says a 2017 Cadillac XTS driven by 80-year old Richard Lee Van Zee, of Rock Valley, for some reason drove off the left side of I-29 near mile marker 99, entered the median and the southbound lanes of the Interstate, where it sideswiped a southbound 2005 Chrysler 300 driven by 31-year old Saul Escobedo Gonzales, of Des Moines. The Cadillac then hit a 2008 Ford F-450 truck that was behind the Chrysler.

The Cadillac came to rest in the median. Gonzales was able to pull his car off the road and onto the shoulder, while the pickup came to rest in the west ditch. Van Zee was transported to the hospital in Missouri Valley, where he died. A passenger in one of the vehicles, 65-year old Elizabeth J. Cobbs, of Knightstown, IN, was transported to Burgess Hospital in Onawa, where she died from her injuries. 77-year old Mary Van Zee, of Rock Valley, along with 66-year old Michael E. Gerrish, of Shirley, IN, and 52-year old Melinda A. Gerrish, also of Shirley, IN, were also injured in the crash. Mary Van Zee was flown by LifeNet to Mercy Hospital in Sioux City, along with Michael Gerrish, who was transported by ambulance. Melinda Gerrish was transported by ambulance to Burgess Hospital.

The crash remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) — From sunsets reflecting off shimmering lakes to gleaming skyscrapers against a night sky, Iowans who love to take pictures of our state’s many stunning sights are being called to action. Entries in the 9th annual Keep Iowa Beautiful photography contest are now being accepted. Bill Jackson, a spokesman for Keep Iowa Beautiful, says the competition is open to all. “It’s an opportunity for amateur and experienced photographers to show Iowa’s rural and urban beauty,” Jackson says. “It’s a fun way to show what you, as a photographer or part-time photographer, really enjoy about Iowa.”

Jackson says Iowans can submit their photos now showcasing the land between two rivers. He says the judges tend to see a lot of entry’s depicting rural landscapes.”We like to have urban experiences,” Jackson says. “I know in past years we’ve had some river scenes going through communities, we’ve had pictures of the state capitol. It’s whatever you in your area enjoy most about Iowa.”

The first prize winner gets $50, second prize wins $40 and the third-place finisher gets $30. “And also, each one of those will win a one-year subscription to ‘Our Iowa’ magazine,” Jackson says. “It’s written by Iowans for Iowans and has a lot of great photography and great, fun stories about Iowa.”

Each photographer can enter up to 10 photos at a cost of $5 per entry. The entry deadline is December 14th. Learn more at www.keepiowabeautiful.com.

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

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(Radio Iowa) –Propane prices are creeping slightly higher in Iowa as farmers prepare for the harvest and drying their grain. Paul Ovrum, an ag marketing specialist with the Iowa Department of Agriculture, says the corn harvest will likely begin earlier in parts of southern Iowa this fall due to continued drought. He says those early birds could impact propane prices for the good. “As they start harvesting earlier, that may relieve some of the pressure that happens typically later in the fall when everybody’s harvesting at once,” Ovrum says. “If it’s spread out a little more, that may lessen demand on supplies in Iowa.”

Lesser demand typically means lower prices. Still, foreign markets are helping to drive up propane costs, according to Ovrum. “We have seen, since late 2016, a steady increase in demand for propane overseas from U.S. supplies,” Ovrum says. “So, as the U.S. manufactures propane, a lot of that, more and more, is going overseas and that has increased prices here.”  Propane is averaging $1.26 a gallon in Iowa, up about 13-cents a gallon from a year ago. It’s estimated 67-percent of Iowans use natural gas to heat their homes, 15-percent use electricity and 14-percent use liquid propane.

(Radio Iowa) — With the 2018 Iowa State Fair now behind them, the foundation that oversees the upkeep of the fairgrounds is working on plans for improvements. Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation executive director, Peter Cownie, says a recently announced record donation of 10 million dollars will help them with that task. “Six of which will go towards renovation of the 4-H Building on the fairgrounds, which will commence after the 2019 Iowa State Fair,” Cownie says. “So we will develop the planning and the budget for that in the next year.”

The donation comes from the Richard O. Jacobson Foundation and the remaining four million dollars will go to the foundation’s endowment and help with the upkeep of the other buildings which benefited from donation from the late businessman. While they will spend the next year putting together a plan for the 4-H Building renovation — Cownie says they have a wish list they’ll look at. “We want to build some new classroom space for it, we want to update the kitchen, the restrooms, we want to update all the lighting, all the flooring, it will be a top down renovation,” Cownie explains. “That facility was built during 1939 and the Great Depressions and it’s obviously the backbone of the fair.”

Cownie says the updates will increase the flexibility and use of the building after the annual fair run. “The primary purpose of the Iowa State Fair is those 11 days every August,” he says, “but we are also renting those facilities out during the interim. It’s rented out in the interim now and it certainly will be in the future. Name it, they can host events in there for that. It can be rented out for that. It can be rented out for a thrift show, a craft show.” Once the renovations is completed after next year’s fair, the 4-H Building will have a dedicated memorial in honor of Jacobson and the 15 million dollars total he donated to the organization. The fair grandstand got a facelift before this year’s fair and Cownie says they have plans for work leading up to next year’s event.“In between now and next year’s fair we’re going to develop a new gate and new road to the west of the grandstand. And on top of that — within the next two years we are going to develop a new, smaller grandstand,” Cownie says.

The mini grandstand will hold fewer people for events.He says it will have about five-thousand seats and allow them to hold their tractor pull there.

The Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation is a non-profit organization created in 1993 to fix up the building on the fairgrounds. The foundation has raised more than 150 million dollars from individual contributions, state appropriations, in-kind services, and corporate, federal and state grants since it began.

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

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