(Radio Iowa) – The southwest Iowa town of Greenfield is welcoming thousands of RAGBRAI riders as the near-halfway point on today’s 82-mile leg of the bike ride between Atlantic and Winterset. Greenfield was hit by a powerful tornado in May that killed five people and wiped out dozens of homes.

Local health care worker Bailey McLaughlin is a RAGBRAI volunteer and she notes as cyclists explore Greenfield, the tornado’s path is still very evident. “It mainly hit residential areas but the hospital that I work at, Adair County Health System, did sustain some damages,” she says. “It’s mostly internal so you’ll see that they don’t look that bad on the outside, but on the inside, lots of damages.”

McLaughlin is encouraging cyclists on the week-long ride to make a donation to help the town recover. “We are getting a lot of support from RAGBRAI, especially today, but we still continue our efforts on our website which is ACHSiowa.org,” McLaughlin says. “You can go and click on our link up there and then that goes straight to tornado relief as well.”

Photo of tornado damage in Greenfield by Melissa Ehrman Johnson

On that website, you’ll find a link to the Go Fund Me page that has a $250,000 goal.

In addition to the five people killed, 35 people were injured by the twister, which the National Weather Service classified as an EF-4 with top winds of 185-miles an hour.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the attempted assassination of former President Trump cast major doubt on Secret Service policies and procedures.

“Obviously everything that I’ve heard, either the non-answers or what we know for a fact, it wasn’t handled as properly as it should have been,” Grassley said this morning.

Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned today, saying she takes full responsibility for the security lapse.

Grassley has posted messages on social media calling it a monumental security failure and he’s called on the Inspector General reviewing security measures at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania to provide regular updates to the public.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest report from the Iowa Association of Realtors shows home sales are down in Iowa, while the number of homes on the market is rising. The president of the Iowa Association of Realtors says the strong storms that hit the state in late spring and early summer likely dampened the market — and the group’s news release says sales took a slide in June.

There were 17 percent fewer homes sold last month compared to June of last year. There’s been a huge year-to-year jump of nearly 32 percent in the number of homes on the market. The Realtors say the slight decrease in interest rates and more available homes could spur late summer home sales.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The 75th Cass County Fair gets underway this Thursday, July 25th, in Atlantic. The Fair runs through July 30th, and concludes with the Livestock Auction at 8-a.m. Tuesday. In between now and then, there are lots of 4-H/FFA shows, inflatable carnival and many other activities for the whole family to enjoy. The Cass County Fair is always FREE: No entry fee, no charge to park, and no charge to view the exhibits and entertainment. There’s also great Fair food at the 4-H and FFA Foodstands, along with the Chuckwagon, each of which have a variety of delicious hot, and refreshingly cold, food and drinks to choose from.

Highlights include: The Little Miss & Mister, King & Queen Contests, on Thursday, as well as Senior Recognition and a Youth Dance; Mechanical Bull riding and a Bull Ride/Rodeo on Friday, as well as Mutton Busting; Saturday’s entertainment includes Youth Water Fights, and a Tractor Pull; There’s a Pedal Tractor Pull on Sunday, as well as a County Fair Church Service, 75th Fair Grounds Celebration Cake Special, Cow/Calf and Feeder Calf shows, and a Horse Fun Show.

Next Monday at the Cass County Fair, there’s a Beef Show at 8-a.m., Best of Iowa at 9-a.m., Rotary Watermelon Feed, Dairy Cattle Show, Building Awards, the Parade of Champions & Bucket of Junk Fundraising Auction, along with the Grand Champion Beef Selection.

See the full schedule HERE.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa law banning most abortions in Iowa will go into effect Monday at 8 a.m. A district court judge has filed the motion to dissolve the temporary injunction that has blocked the law for over a year. Last July, Governor Reynolds signed the law that forbids abortions in Iowa after fetal activity can be detected, which happens around the sixth week of a pregnancy. Attorneys for Planned Parenthood and the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City immediately sued. A Polk County District Court judge issued the temporary order that kept the law from going into effect.

On June 28th of this year, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled the law was constitutional, but court procedures required the district court to take the final step to have the law go into effect.

Governor Reynolds signed a similar law in 2018, but the state’s highest court — with a different set of justices than are on the court today — ruled Iowa women had a right to an abortion under the Iowa Constitution. Since then, Reynolds has appointed the four Iowa Supreme Court justices who agreed Iowa’s six week abortion ban is constitutional.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests occurred over the weekend.

On Saturday: 28-year-old Christian Andrew Guerra was arrested for Possession Controlled Substance (Bond: $1,000), and, 30-year-old Carlos Alberto Carcamo Mencia was arrested for OWI/2nd offense (Bond $2,000). Both are from Fremont, NE. They were arrested at a location on Bunge Avenue a little after 5-a.m., Saturday.

And, two people were arrested on drug charges Sunday evening, in Mills County: 29-year-old Devyn Mae Benack and 29-year-old Llewellyn Sidney Harmonson, Jr., both of Sanborn, IA, were charged with Possession of Controlled Substance and a Drug Tax Stamp Violation. Their bonds were set at $5,000 each. Their arrests took place at around 6-p.m. Sunday, on Hilman Road.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – The Guthrie County Board of Supervisors met this (Tuesday) morning in Guthrie Center. The Board, by a vote of 4-to-1, accepted the Payroll reports from July 23, 2024. Supervisor Mike Dickson said he thought there were too many overtime hours. He said “I don’t think we need that much.” He said also, “There’s one department that has it all.” Vice Chair Maggie Armstrong …

It was noted that the Board used to get explanations for why there was overtime for the next payroll period, but that has been lacking in recent times.

In other business, the Guthrie County Supervisors agreed to move forward with EMS discussions, including getting a better grip on what the actual 9-1-1 calls as opposed to calls for transport. Guthrie County Health Services Director Jotham Arber said the service providers send their information to the State, but the data itself is not broken down into emergent transfers, transports to hospitals, etc. The Board wants to know what money from the proposed levy for EMS as an essential service will be used for, with regard to how each entity uses their funds.

Guthrie County BOS mtg., 7/23/24

The process of making EMS an essential service would mean citizens of Guthrie County would pay a 75-cent levy per $1,000/assessed valuation. The language for the measure that will be on the ballot in November was introduced last week, for the first time.

There’s still some tweaking to be done before the final description of how the levy will be used is printed on the ballot for voters to approve. The measure needs 60% voter approval in order to be passed.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department today (Tuesday) released the name of a man on a motorcycle who died Saturday, after the cycle collided with the passenger side of  a truck. 38-year-old Rodney Worley, of Council Bluffs, was injured during the crash that happened a little after 3-p.m., July 20th, at the intersection of S. 17th and 2nd Avenue, in Council Bluffs.

Worley was to transported to UNMC where he died from his injuries. The driver of the truck was identified as 39-year-old Todd Hays, of Council Bluffs. He was not injured. The collision remained under investigation by the Council Bluffs Police Traffic Unit. It is still unknown if drugs or alcohol were factors in the incident.