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‘American Cream’ draft horse would become official state horse

News

March 5th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has voted to name the American Cream draft horse as the official horse of Iowa. It’s one of several breeds of work horses that pulled plows and harvesting equipment for Iowa farmers before horses were replaced by tractors. Senator Annette Sweeney of Iowa Falls says the American Cream draft horse originated in Iowa.

“The American Cream draft horse is the only breed of draft horse that can claim it is native to the United States,” Sweeney says. “In fact, it was foaled in my hometown of Radcliffe back in the early 1900s.”

The welcome sign to Radcliffe notes it is the “cradle” of the American Cream draft horse. Mature draft horses can be as tall as six feet and weigh well over a ton. American Cream draft horses have a cream colored coat, a white mane and, Sweeney says, they were not as tall or heavy as Clydesdales, Percherons or Belgians. “And they were more easily handled within our small farms that we had in the early 1900s,” Sweeney says.

American Cream Draft Horse (Photo from Horse Illustrated)

In the middle of the last century, the state of Iowa recognized the American Cream as a breed of draft horse. However, according to the American Cream Draft Horse Association, there are fewer than 400 American Cream horses alive today. Three senators voted “nay” on the idea of naming the American Cream as the state horse, but 43 senators voted yes. The proposal has to win the approval of the Iowa House, too, before this particular horse breed would official become the state horse. As you may have heard, the Iowa House voted earlier this year to name the Iowa Darter as the state fish.

DARRELL SHOESMITH, 87, of Audubon (Mass of Christian Burial 3/7/24)

Obituaries

March 5th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

DARRELL SHOESMITH, 87, of Audubon, died Sunday, March 3rd, 2024, at the Audubon County Memorial Hospital. A Mass of Christian Burial for DARRELL SHOESMITH will be held 10:30-a.m. Thursday, March 7th, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Audubon. Kessler Funeral Home in Audubon has the arrangements.

Friends may call at the funeral home, where the family visitation will be held on Wednesday, March 6th, from 5-until 7-p.m., with a Rosary at 7-p.m.

Burial is in St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery south of Audubon.

DARRELL SHOESMITH is survived by:

His wife – Lavonne.

His daughters – Cynthia (Mark) Heller, of Audubon, and Kimberly (Jeff—AJ) Hupp ,of Springfield, MO.

His sons – Kevin, of Des Moines, and Linn, of Audubon.

His sisters  – Sandra Crees, Donna (John) Gregersen, and Karen (Dave) Voight.

His brother – Darwin (Kathy) Shoesmith.

5 grandchildren; 5 great-grandchildren, other relatives and friends.

2024 RVC All-Conference Boy’s and Girl’s Basketball Teams

Sports

March 4th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

BOYS
1st Team All RVC — Boys
Name Grade School
Carter Gruver* Jr Woodbine
Cal Heydon* So Coon Rapids-Bayard
Cade Beherns* Sr Coon Rapids-Bayard
Mason McIntosh* Sr West Harrison
Cash Emgarten* Sr Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton
Johnathon Bergmeier Jr Glidden-Ralston
Aiden Flathers Sr Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton
Ryan Bower Sr CAM
*UNANIMOUS SELECTION

2nd Team All RVC — RVC
Name Grade School
Wyatt Raegaller So ArWeVa
Emmet Neumann Sr ArWeVa
Blayne Smith Jr ArWeVa
Collin Bower So CAM
Chase Jahde Jr CAM
Josh Nelson Jr Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton
Jackson Radcliff Sr Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton
Landon Blum Fr Woodbine

 

GIRLS
1st Team All RVC GBB
Player School Grade
Breeley Clayburg* Coon Rapids-Bayard Sr.
Eva Steffensen* CAM Sr.
Taryn Petersen* Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton Fr.
Jaelynn Petersen* Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton So.
Charlie Pryor* Woodbine Jr.
Malia Clayburg Coon Rapids-Bayard So.
Kiera Nichols CAM Sr.
Nicole Hoefer Woodbine Sr.
* Indicates Unanimous Selection

2nd Team All RVC GBB
Player School Grade
Anna Hart Coon Rapids-Bayard So.
Meredith Rich CAM Sr.
Delaney Schurke ArWeVa Sr.
DJ Steinkuehler Woodbine Jr.
Amanda Newton Woodbine Sr.
Sylvia Sullivan Boyer Valley So.
Maclayn Houston West Harrison Sr.
Tiela Janssen Glidden-Ralston Sr.

Iowa Girl’s Coaches Association 2024 High School Girl’s Basketball All-State Teams

Sports

March 4th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

Class 1A

Second Team 
Brynnly German – Martensdale St. Marys (Senior)
Eva Steffensen – CAM (Senior)
Majesta Vos – Lynnville-Sully (Senior)

Third Team 
Charlie Pryor – Woodbine (Junior)

 

Class 2A

First Team
Lindsey Davis – Nodaway Valley (Senior)
Jaidyn Sellers – Panorama (Senior)

Second Team
Tyme Boettcher – Panorama (Senior)

Third Team
Lynnae Green – Shenandoah (Junior)

 

Class 3A

Second Team
Abby Hall – Des Moines Christian (Senior)
Aubrey Schwieso – Harlan (Junior)

Third Team 
Paytn Harter – Atlantic (Junior)

 

Class 4A

First Team 
Abby Tuttle – North Polk (Junior)
Bailey Birmingham – Norwalk (Junior)
Macy Comito – Carlisle (Sophomore)

Second Team 
Alliyah Thompson – Ballard (Senior)
Lucy Scott – Lewis Central (Senior)

Third Team
Raegan Loewe – Ballard (Junior)
Brooke Larsen – Lewis Central (Junior)

 

Coaches of the Year:

Class 1A: Brian Wheatley – North Linn
Class 2A: Bruce Dall – Dike-New Hartford
Class 3A: Jamie Smith – Solon
Class 4A: PJ Sweeney – Clear Creek Amana
Class 5A: Chad Jilek – Johnston

AHSTW Girls Basketball 2023-2024 season recap

Sports

March 4th, 2024 by admin

The AHSTW Lady Vikes girls basketball team ended their season with a 52-34 loss to the Exira-EHK Spartans in the first round of the Class 2A-Region 3 Bracket. The Vikes were led in scoring by senior Delaney Goshorn who had 12 points in the game. The Lady Vikes ended up going 10-4 in the Western Iowa Conference and with a 12-9 overall record on the season.

The Lady Vikes were led in scoring this year by senior Dalaney Goshorn who had 282 points and averaged 13 points per game.

Lady Vikes will be graduating 5 seniors this season: Rylie Knop, Saydi Paulsen, Ella Langer, Delaney Goshorn and Graycen Partlow.

Lady Vikes Coach Jason McCall said he really had a good team but was pleased how his team bought into the program this season.

Coach McCall says it sure was tough to say goodbye at the of the basketball season.

Coach McCall commented about playing in a prestigious Western Iowa Conference.

Coach McCall talked about what his team will do in the summer.

Drake and UNI men prepare for Missouri Valley Tournament

Sports

March 4th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

The Drake and Northern Iowa men prepare for this week’s Missouri Valley Tournament in St. Louis. The Bulldogs are 25-6 and will be the two seed in tournament. The Bulldogs won it last year as the two seed and the regular season Valley champ has won the tournament only three times in the last nine years.

That’s Drake coach Darian DeVries. The Bulldogs play Friday night against the winner of Thursday’s game between Illinois State and Evansville.

UNI is 19-13 and the fourth seed in the tournament. The Panthers closed the regular season on a three game win streak.

That’s Panther coach Ben Jacobson who says his team is playing with a lot of confidence.

UNI opens Friday afternoon against the winner of Thursday’s game between Valparaiso and Belmont.

Iowa State men up to No. 6 in AP Poll

Sports

March 4th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

The Iowa State men are ranked sixth in the AP Poll heading into the final week of the regular season. The Cyclones are 12-4 and a game behind top ranked and Big-12 leader Houston heading into Wednesday night’s game at home against BYU. With a win the Cyclones would finish the season unbeaten in Hilton Coliseum.

That’s coach T.J. Otzelberger. ISU has won three straight games but in the last two The Cyclones have made only eight of 38 from three point range.

Otzelberger is confident the Cyclones will find their range from beyond the arc.

New state rules for real estate ‘wholesalers’

News

March 4th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

The legislature has unanimously approved a a bill designed to set new guidelines for the “wholesaling” of single family homes or properties with up to four residential units. Senator Mike Bousselot, of Ankeny, says the bill requires that only licensed real estate brokers can act as a wholesaler — negotiating a contract with the property owner for an agreed upon price and then selling the home to someone else or an investor.

“Many of us have probably seen the signs around the state and in our communities where they say: ‘We will buy your property.’ Oftentimes, though, those folks aren’t actually taking title to that property, but may be in fact taking advantage of the folks trying to sell their house, in the need of that cash for their home,” Bousselot says. The bill requires more transparency in these kind of wholesale real estate transactions. Bousselot says research shows private equity firms engaged in wholesaling are driving up not only the sale price of homes, but also rental costs.

“By 2030, institutions may hold some 7.6 million homes, or more than 40% of all single family rentals on the market,” Bousselot says. “We need to make sure Iowans have the informtion they deserve when they are selling their home, whether that’s to a wholesaler or to an institutional investor who might be taking advantage of them.” Senators approved the bill Monday (today). It passed the House last month and now goes to the governor for her consideration.

Turkey smashes into semi’s windshield in eastern IA – Driver suffers minor injuries

News

March 4th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Why did the turkey cross the road? Well, it didn’t. Instead, it crashed into a passing semi-truck on Highway 14 in Marion County on Friday morning.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page that a turkey smashed through the windshield of the semi-truck, causing significant damage. Thankfully, the driver sustained only minor cuts from the shattered glass.

The turkey did not survive. No word on what the truck driver had for dinner on Friday night.

Meteorologist says Iowa countryside is ‘extremely combustible’

Ag/Outdoor, News, Weather

March 4th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Local officials in about a third of Iowa counties have issued outdoor burning bans. National Weather Service meteorologist Rod Donovan says over the past week and a half the satellite data for Iowa shown lots of hot spots and radar has picked up smoke plumes from a lot of field fires.

“We actually had a pretty big fire just west of Colfax going across some grassland yesterday,” Donovan says.

It doesn’t take much to spark a fire in current conditions according to Donovan. “Part of the issue we’ve had across Iowa is really our abnormally short winter, at least abnormally dry and warm across the area,” Donovan says, “…not having a prolonged period of snow cover, a lack of precipitation.”

These conditions have extended the drought. Donovan says pastures, cropland and grassy areas enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program are “extremely combustible” right now.

Counties in western/southwest Iowa with a Burn Place in effect (as of March 3, 2024)

“It doesn’t take much for an ignition source to create hazardous fire weather conditions,” Donovan says, “warm, very dry, low humidities in addition to these very strong springtime winds that we get across the state.”

The forecast for Iowa indicates March temperatures are likely to be above normal. Donovan says to expect more red flag warnings from the National Weather Service until plants spring to life and fields start turning green.