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Orange City Tulip Festival features new flower for first time in U.S.

News

May 16th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The 83rd Annual Orange City Tulip Festival begins today and it will have something unique this year. A brand-new tulip has been developed, and although it is not in bloom, the bulbs are available for sale.

Tulip Town Bulb Company owner Keri Drescher says the Dutch Heritage Boosters asked if they could partner with her for the new tulip. “I didn’t know a lot about it, but basically it’s new to the U-S, and it’s exclusive to Orange City,” she says. Heritage Booster member Jodi Vander Zwaag says they got the idea when the Consulate General from the Netherlands visited Orange City last year and told them something surprising.

“When we’re in the park he mentioned that we should baptize a tulip and we’re like oh,” Vander Zwaag explained. After figuring out what this meant, they got in contact with a bulb company in the Netherlands that develops exclusive bulbs. They found out the process takes between seven to ten years, but there was a bulb available with orange in it if they wanted it. “So the process went really fast for us and we you know figured out how you baptize a tulip we were able to name it so the Oranjestad DHB,” she says. The name means Orange City, Dutch Heritage Boosters; to honor the Dutch heritage and the Dutch Heritage Boosters.

Oranjestad DHB tulip

Vander Zwaag says that the final act is to baptize the tulip. Not knowing how that’s done, she learned one was just baptized this spring in Chicago. She says it involved the consulate pouring champagne on the tulips. The Oranjestad DHB tulip, is bright yellow with orange to apricot tips, and can be purchased at the festival which runs through May 17th.

Local 24-Hour Rainfall Totals Reported at 7:00 am on Thursday, May 16, 2024

Ag/Outdoor, Weather

May 16th, 2024 by Jim Field

  • KJAN, Atlantic  .32″
  • 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  .22″
  • Exira  .35″
  • Elk Horn  .24″
  • Earling  1.49″
  • Neola  .37″

Atlantic Trojans Girls Golf Team Gets 4th Place Finish at The Class 3A Region 2 Meet on Wednesday

Sports

May 16th, 2024 by admin

The Atlantic Trojans girls golf team got a fourth place finish at the Class 3A-Region 2 Meet on Wednesday at Nishna Hills Golf Course in Atlantic. Here is how the top four Atlantic golfers did individually: Senior Bell Berg shot a 86, sophomore MaKenna Schroeder shot a 89, senior Abby Muller shot a 96 and McKenna Sonntag shot a 99. The Trojan girls finished with total team score of 370. The medalist was Eden Lohrbach from Gilbert and runner-up was Ava Lohrbach from Gillbert. The two state qualifying teams were Gilbert who had a low score of 299 and Nevada placed second with a score of 348.

Coach Kathy Hobson talked about how her team did at the regional.

Trojans coach Hobson commented on what her message was to the girls after the regional meet.

This will end the Trojans girls golf season. The Trojans will only be losing Berg and Muller to graduation this year but there is more talent coming back for next season.

 

High School Boys Tennis Substate Championship Results

Sports

May 16th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

IOWA CLASS 1A SUBSTATE CHAMPIONSHIPS 

North Polk 5, Shenandoah 2

Boone 5, Kuemper Catholic 0

Pella 5, Grinnell 0

Wahlert Catholic 5, Central DeWitt 0

Waverly-Shell Rock 5, Ballard 0

Xavier 5, Fairfield 0

Decorah 5, Aplington-Parkersburg 1

High School Baseball Scores from Wednesday

Sports

May 16th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

Hawkeye Ten 

Denison-Schleswig 7, Storm Lake 6

Raccoon River Conference

Carlisle 12, Grinnell 0
Boone 13, Norwalk 2

West Central Activities Conference

Pleasantville 10, Bishop Garrigan 1

Other Non-Conference Scores

Fort Dodge 15, Des Moines North 1
Southeast Polk 8, Des Moines Roosevelt 4
Lynnville-Sully 13, Collins-Maxwell 0
Des Moines East 16, Roland-Story 4

High School Girls Regional Soccer Results

Sports

May 16th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

Regional Scores

Class 1A

Van Meter 10, Lamoni 0
Humboldt 3, Webster City 0
Solon 2, Regina Catholic1
Des Moines Christian 10, Chariton 0
Wahlert Catholic 2, Clayton Ridge 0
Dike-New Hartford 3, Aplington-Parkersburg 1
Pella Christian 3, Grand View Christian 2
St. Albert 7, Riverside 0
Assumption 6, West Branch 0
Bishop Heelan 4, Sergeant Bluff-Luton 0
East Sac County 3, Sioux Center 1
Gilbert 3, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 0
Harlan 3, Kuemper Catholic 1
Tri-Center 4, Missouri Valley 3
Nevada 10, Williamsburg 0
Treynor 6, Logan-Magnolia 0
Underwood 11, AHSTW 0
West Central Valley 6, Clarke 0

3 arrested on drug charges in Red Oak, Wednesday

News

May 16th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report three people were arrested on drug charges Wednesday afternoon. At around 3:30-p.m., Officers with the Red Oak Police Department conducted a search warrant on a residence in the 400 block of N. 4th Street. As a result of the warrant and investigation, Police arrested 54-year-old Kenneth Gerald Owens, 47-year-old Chrystal Rush Stewart, and 60-year-old Robert Wade Abraham, of Red Oak.

Owens was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance/Methamphetamine, Gathering where marijuana is used, and Possession of Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $1,000. Stewart was arrested for Gathering where marijuana is used. Her bond was also set at $1,000. And, Robert Abraham was charged with PCS/Marijuana – 2nd or subsequent offense, Gathering where marijuana is used, and Poss. of paraphernalia. His bond was set at $2000. Abraham was also taken into custody on a valid warrant for Failure To Appear on an original charge of Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd offense. Bond on that was charge was $2,000, cash-only.

Bill that awaits governor’s signature has ‘enormous loophole’ for open meetings

News

May 16th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Des Moines, Iowa) – A bill adopted by the Iowa Legislature this year that is meant to more harshly penalize open meetings violations might also enable city councils, school boards and others to deliberate in secret, according to the Iowa Public Information Board. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports House File 2539 would increase the penalties for violating a state law that generally requires governmental bodies to operate transparently. That includes providing sufficient notice and agendas for their meetings and deliberating and voting in public.

Purposeful violations of that law could result in fines of up to $12,500 for each board or council member who participated — up from $2,500 — according to the bill. It would further require repeat offenders to be expelled from office. However, a late amendment to the bill might have undercut those provisions.

Under current law, it’s permissible for a majority of a board’s or council’s members to attend the same social event “when there is no discussion of policy or no intent to avoid” open meetings requirements. With the amendment, lawmakers sought to emphasize that includes gatherings that are “hosted or organized by a political party, political candidate or civic organization.”

“There’s some concerns in some smaller counties in Iowa that have, say, three (county) supervisors, that if they’re attending a social event for a political party or a civic gathering, that they would be in violation of the open meetings law,” Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, said last month in support of the amendment during debate in the Senate. “This clarifies that’s not a meeting.”

The problem is that the additional text was placed in a way that fully exempts those gatherings from open meeting requirements, said Erika Eckley, executive director of the Iowa Public Information Board, which is charged with deciding whether government officials violate open meetings and records law.

“This language is in direct conflict with the transparency requirements of Iowa’s sunshine laws and will create an enormous loophole for government bodies to allow for decisions to be made in secret, avoiding public consideration and disclosure, which is contrary to ensuring accountability of government to Iowans and the legislative intent behind the legislation,” Eckley wrote in a letter to Gov. Kim Reynolds this month.

Eckley sent that letter at the direction of IPIB’s legislative committee, which sought to notify Reynolds of their interpretation of the bill before Reynolds potentially signs it into law. Reynolds should veto the bill, said Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, which advocates for open government. Evans supports increasing the fines for violations but said the apparently errant amendment has negative implications that far outweigh the bill’s benefits.

The bill was amended and adopted unanimously in the Senate in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session on April 18. The change was then approved by the House.

Former south-central IA county attorney arrested for her 3rd OWI

News

May 16th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

A former southern Iowa county attorney who was convicted in 2021 of operating while intoxicated — her second offense — and child endangerment is back in the hot seat with a third offense OWI arrest. KCCI reports, that according to court records, Michelle Rivera, former Clarke County attorney, was arrested in Osceola on Tuesday evening after a car collision where the car she was driving struck another vehicle shortly after 5 p.m.

According to the criminal complaint, an officer who arrived on the scene at East McLane Street and South View Drive noticed Rivera showed “impaired balance, slurred speech, bloodshot watery eyes and the odor of an intoxicating beverage coming from her person.” The officer wrote that when he asked Rivera how much she had to drink that day, she initially denied having consumed any alcohol before saying she had one drink at 5 p.m. at work, and then admitted to having four alcoholic drinks.

Rivera reportedly refused a standard field sobriety test and a preliminary breath test and was arrested for operating while intoxicated and taken to the Clarke County Jail. Rivera has since posted a $500 bond and is scheduled to be back in court on May 28. The third offense OWI is a Class D felony carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Rivera’s first OWI conviction came after she was arrested for drunk driving after she lost the November election for Clarke County attorney in 2018. Her second conviction came in March 2021, when she pleaded guilty to OWI and two counts of child endangerment – substantial risk. For that case, she received a suspended two-year prison sentence for each of the child endangerment charges. For the OWI, she also received a two-year prison sentence, with all but 30 days suspended. She was ordered to serve 30 days in the Warren County Jail and placed on probation.

According to the Iowa Department of Corrections website, Rivera completed her probation for the 2021 conviction on Feb. 16, 2023. As a result of Rivera’s 2018 arrest, some cases she handled in the courts were called into question. One case involving a man who admitted to child sex abuse was dismissed entirely.

Rivera was the Clarke County Attorney from 2011 to 2019.

Skyscan Forecast for Atlantic & the Nishna Valley: Thursday, May 16, 2024

Weather

May 16th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Today: Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny to sunny. High near 76. West northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 52. .
Tomorrow: Sunny, with a high near 80. South winds 5-to 10-mph in the morning.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 83.
Sunday: Partly Sunny w/a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. High near 79.

Wednesday’s High in Atlantic was 70. Our Low this morning, 56. We received .32″ rain Wednesday, at KJAN. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 80 and the Low was 48. The Record High for May 16th was 93 in 1939. The Record Low was 25 in 1907. Sunrise: 6:01. Sunset: 8:33.