It’s been sunny and relatively warm with temperatures in the 60s and 70s this week, but Iowa Department of Transportation employees are busy preparing for winter. Craig Bargfrede is the DOT’s winter operations administrator. “In our world, October 15th is actually the official start of the winter season and that runs through April 15th,” Bargfrede says.

The agency’s 900 plows and other snow-moving equipment are being brought out of storage for tuneups and maintenance. “Making sure everything is functioning properly on the trucks, plows, blowers – we’re in the process of doing calibration on all of our spreaders to make sure the material is being dispensed properly and accurately across the board,” Bargfrede says.

Over the summer, the Iowa DOT stocked storage facilities with nearly 230-thousand tons of salt to use on roads this winter. “Our annual usage has been somewhere around 140-to-150-thousand tons,” Bargfrede says. “So, if we would have a normal winter season, we have enough salt today to cover our requirement.”

In the coming weeks, even when it’s sunny and dry, Iowans may see DOT trucks spraying brine on roads and bridges. Bargfrede says it’s a “proactive approach.” Spraying brine on areas prone to frost prevents the formation of an icy layer, which typically occurs on cold, clear nights.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship today (Thursday) announced that eleven projects in Iowa have been selected to receive grant funding to help enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops.  The Department received $282,032 through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service to support the program. Iowa agricultural non-profit organizations, cooperatives, specialty crop industry associations or organizations, and producer groups were eligible to apply for funding. The maximum grant award from the Department to sub-grantees is $24,000 and administrative and indirect costs are not allowed.

Among the grant recipients in southwest Iowa, is:

Golden Hills Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) in Oakland, which received $23,991. The organization is working with New Tree School, local growers, and other partners, to create new markets for sales of locally-sourced and locally–propagated native oak trees.  They will first identify public and private lands with old-growth oak trees from which to harvest acorns. Project partners such as farmers and landowners with an interest in propagating oaks will be identified and trained in proper growing practices.

Southern Iowa Resource, Conservation & Development, in Creston, received a $23,968 grant  for a project aimed to draw the millennial demographic to farmers markets. Southern Iowa Resource, Conservation & Development will use text message marketing and Facebook advertising, to exclusively promote specialty crop farmers’ market vendors at area farmers’ markets, in addition to radio and newspaper ads.

Other recipients include: Lutheran Services in Iowa – $24,000; Iowa State University of Science and Technology – $23,750; Iowa State University of Science and Technology- $23,968; Allamakee New Beginnings, Inc. dba Iowa Food Hub – $21,198; The James Gang dba Iowa Valley Global Food Project – $23,331; University of Northern Iowa – $17,186; Practical Farmers of Iowa – $24,000; Iowa State University Extension and Outreach – Johnson County Extension- $20,764; and, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Local Foods Program – $24,000.

Iowa Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said “The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program has supported a wide variety of projects here in Iowa in the past several years to promote locally grown products and we are excited to get another round of funding that will support food safety, research and marketing efforts.  Specialty crops are a very important part of Iowa agriculture as they allow farmers to diversify and give customers access to local foods and other products.”

“Specialty Crops” that are eligible under the program are fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits and horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.  The funds not passed through to Iowa organizations will be used by the Department to administer the grant. Grant funds will be used for projects that benefit and enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops industry as a whole, and cannot be for projects that directly benefit a particular product or provide a profit to a single organization, institution, or individual.

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

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A routine traffic stop early this (Thursday) morning, in Adams County, resulted in the arrest of a man and woman on drug charges. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports a vehicle was pulled over at around 12:15-a.m. in Corning.

Following an investigation, the driver of the vehicle, 20-year old Timothy Graves of Fort Dodge, was taken into custody on an active warrant for violation of probation, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia. His passenger,19-year old Rajah Tanney, of Eagle Grove, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.

Both were booked into the Adams County Jail and held, pending further court proceedings.

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

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BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) – Police have charged a Burlington man with killing his mother by striking her in the head with an electric guitar. The Hawk Eye newspaper reports 29-year-old Garret S. Selters was charged with first-degree murder Wednesday in the death of 56-year-old Linda Selters. Police say Garret Selters struck his mother in the back of her head with a Les Paul guitar.

Linda Selters had called 911 Tuesday morning, seeking help because her son was having an “episode.” Officers quickly arrived and found Garret Selters outside, pacing and stating he’d killed his mother. Linda Selters died Tuesday night at an Iowa City hospital after being removed from a respirator. Garret Selters appeared at a court hearing Wednesday, where his bond was set at $1 million. He was appointed a public defender.

Campus leaders and members of the board that governs Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I are reviewing the effectiveness of campus safety measures. Jacob Simpson of Clinton is the president of University of Iowa Student Government. He says sexual assault is a “pervasive problem” on college campuses throughout the country.  “According to our campus climate survey on sexual assault, 21 percent of the undergraduate female-identified students who completed the survey reported being raped and then 11.4 percent of first-year undergraduate female-identified students who completed the survey reported being raped in their first semester on campus,” Simpson said. “These numbers are astonishing.”

Simpson spoke to a Board of Regents panel yesterday (Wednesday). Paula Knudson is the University of Northern Iowa’s vice president for student affairs. In the late 1980s, she was a resident assistant on a University of Iowa dorm floor when data showed about one in four or five women on campus said they had been sexually assaulted. “If this was a health issue — and it is a health issue — it would be considered an epidemic,” she said. “And it hasn’t changed in that 25-year experience.”

Iowa State University’s student body president is stressing the need for more lights and cameras on campus to enhance security and aid investigators when incidents occur. A summit will be held on November 1st at Iowa State University to discuss safety and security issues on college campuses throughout the state.

(Radio Iowa)

Bloomberg News is reporting that President Trump has directed the E-P-A to table proposals that would weaken the Renewable Fuels Standard. Governor Kim Reynolds spoke by phone with President Trump Wednesday morning and a few hours later she told reporters in Pella that she intends to keep lobbying on the issue. “It’s not done until it’s done and if you ever think that it is, you’re mistaken,” Reynolds said, “so you don’t stop until you get the final numbers.”

Reynolds spoke at a news conference in Pella. She was joined by leaders in the renewable fuels industry. Grant Kimberley, executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board, says it was “discouraging” to see a federal agency “regressing” on Trump’s 2016 campaign pledge to “protect” the Renewable Fuels Standard. “So I urge President Trump and Administrator Pruitt in the EPA not to buckle in the interests of certain oil companies and refiners, but rather stay true on promises made on the campaign trail,” Kimberley said. “…This is about ‘America First’. This is about American jobs, American energy, national security and, certainly, it’s about rural America and the American heartland.”

Iowa Renewable Fuels Association executive director Monte Shaw says E-P-A’s initial proposals weren’t “good news” and it was important that President Trump get that message. “Quite frankly, it looked like the EPA was looking for just about any and every excuse it could find to lower the numbers for both corn ethanol, biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol,” Shaw said. “It kind of felt like the EPA was saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to put up a giant sign across rural America that says: “Closed for business.”‘ And people got upset. People were disappointed and, to a certain extent, people even felt betrayed.”

On another front, Republican Joni Ernst has used her authority as a U.S. Senator to block a confirmation vote on the man Trump has nominated to run the renewable fuels program inside the E-P-A.  “Able to hold their feet to the fire on a pathway to receive those strong reassurances on these biofuel volumes and the EPA’s commitment to follow both the letter and the spirit of the RFS,” Ernst told Radio Iowa yesterday afternoon.

Chuck Grassley, Iowa’s other Republican Senator, hosted a meeting in his office earlier this week for a group of Midwestern senators who spoke face-to-face with Pruit about these concerns.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Republican governor says President Donald Trump and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency told her they’re committed to a federal program that mandates that biofuels be blended into gasoline and diesel. The issue comes amid a proposed plan by the EPA that could lower targets of the so-called Renewable Fuel Standard. Gov. Kim Reynolds says she had separate phone calls Wednesday with Trump and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. The issue could test Trump’s support in Midwest states.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Uncertainty and confusion are mounting as millions of Americans prepare to select health insurance policies when the new open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act begins on Nov. 1. The uncertainty is especially pronounced in Iowa, which is seeking last-minute approval from the federal government to revamp its insurance market. The experts are not sure what to tell callers who want to know what their insurance is going to look like.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The city of Des Moines is acknowledging that a former police officer falsely told investigators she warned an unarmed man to “get back” before fatally shooting him. The Des Moines Register reports that video and audio recordings of Vanessa Miller’s patrol car show she didn’t warn 28-year-old Ryan Bolinger before firing her weapon in 2015. The city’s attorneys say the circumstances of the shooting made a warning unfeasible. Miller acknowledged the disparity as part of a wrongful death lawsuit.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has killed a rule designed to protect the legal rights of farmers who raise chickens and hogs for the nation’s largest meat processors. The rule would have made it easier for farmers to sue companies they contract with over unfair or deceptive practices. It was rolled out in the final days of Barack Obama’s administration. But the USDA delayed it after President Donald Trump took office. On Tuesday, the agency withdrew it for good.

Atlantic City Administrator John Lund, Wednesday, updated the City Council on the budget process. Lund said a lot of work on the budget has already been accomplished. Operating budgets he said aren’t looking that bad. The trouble has been in the area of Capital Projects, which he said could reach a breaking point, where the City is spending more than it takes in.

He said another area of concern is the Debt Capacity. Lund says the City will have paid off 2011 series bonds at the end of the current Fiscal Year. That will lower the Debt Capacity. Speaking with County Assessor Brenda Nelson, the total assessed value was $352-million. City’s can borrow up to 5-percent of the total assessed value, or $17.6-million dollars, in Atlantic’s case.

The City currently has eight outstanding debts amounting to $13.5-million, which Lund says puts us at a Debt Capacity  of 77-percent. That will drop to slightly below 75-percent by the end of the Fiscal Year. The eight remaining debts will all fall off in clusters, in 2019, 2026, 2028  and 2035. The YMCA debt – which is a Revenue Bond – will be paid off in 2024.

All factors considered, Lund says the bottom line is that the City needs to watch its spending practices. He says the City’s days of borrowing money for the long term are over, at least for now. Revenue bonds are an option, but anything not tied to property taxes is a risky proposition.

Councilman Gerald Brink said the answer is more new construction., but Lund said that comes with a caveat: As long as that didn’t require the City to borrow money to help finance construction., and as long as the new construction is getting the taxable value on the books. If we offer incentives like tax abatement, we’re long delaying any benefits the City itself sees. Lund said “It’s good for the business and good for the property owner for sure, but it doesn’t do anything for the City for an extend period of time. He agreed, that it IS an investment in the future, though.