Oats: $2.92 (same in all counties)
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa retailers that sell clothing, shoes, or both will likely be significantly busier over the next two days, as this is the state’s annual sales tax-free weekend. John Fuller, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Revenue, explains how it works. “I think it’s a good time for back-to-school shopping or any other type of shopping,” Fuller says. “Basically, there’s no sales tax on articles of clothing and footwear that are under $100. That’s the gist of it. It starts one minute after midnight on Friday and goes to midnight on Saturday.” People are always looking for money-saving loopholes and Fuller says there are a few stipulations on the two-day offer.
“Clothing does not include things like jewelry, sports equipment, watches,” Fuller says, “and there’s a complete list of what is taxed — and what will not be taxed — at revenue.iowa.gov.” He says the savings will grow based on how much you spend, and through Saturday night, you’ll be able to save plenty. “Well, yeah, it’s 7%, that’s the state sales tax in most areas in state,” Fuller says, “so whenever you can save a little bit of money, that’s a good thing.” 
This tax “holiday” is typically held the first weekend in August and it’s been an annual ritual since 2000. The event usually saves consumers a total of around five-million dollars over the two days.
(Radio Iowa) – D-N-R Hydrologist Tim Hall says it looks like July will end up slightly wetter than normal once the final numbers are in. He says it continues the string of normal or above normal months that has pulled Iowa out of the drought. “The challenge that we’ve seen in the most recent month is although the rainfall is about average a lot of it came in the last week or ten days of the month,” he says. “And anytime you get a month’s worth of rain in a couple of weeks period of time it can be very, very challenging.” The latest map from the National Drought Monitor shows a clear map with no drought areas. Hall says while the colors indicating drought areas quickly washed off the map, the process was slow and steady. “While we’ve had a pretty rapid turnaround in drought conditions, this trend toward wetter weather and sort of giving us our side of the drought started almost ten months ago in October of last year,” Hall says.
Hall says water flows are back to normal on most waterways. “Last year there was a record number of irrigation permits that were in danger of being cut off because of low flow. If the stream flows too low, we don’t allow irrigators to withdraw water to irrigate under their permits. This year, no irrigation permits are even under any pressure,” he says. The drought had cities putting water use restrictions in place and Osceola has been looking at a plan to recycle wastewater. Hall says we’d be wise to not stop thinking about water use plans. “We would caution and advise any utility that’s sometimes struggling with water supply to think about where they were a year ago and keep working on some proactive solutions,” Hall says, “because droughts gonna come back. Maybe not this year, maybe not next year, maybe not for several years.”
He says the drought will come back sometime and it’s best to be prepared and take steps that can help minimize the impact when it does.
(Fremont County, Iowa) – A for-profit nursing home in southwest Iowa that has filed for bankruptcy says it owes Iowa taxpayers more than $1 million in fees the state failed to collect. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports that in May, the for-profit Tabor Manor Care Center in Fremont County filed for bankruptcy, listing $1.3 million in assets and $2.3 million in liabilities.
By far, the 46-bed nursing home’s single largest creditor is the State of Iowa — specifically, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services/Iowa Medicaid Enterprises. The home has reported that it owes the agency $1,169, 257. The debt is tied to unpaid Quality Assurance Assessment, or QAA, fees that date back to 2019, according to bankruptcy records.
Tabor Manor isn’t the first Iowa nursing home to file for bankruptcy after neglecting to pay the QAA fees to the state. In 2021, the Iowa-based QHC Facilities nursing home chain filed for bankruptcy and informed the court that it owed taxpayers more than $3.9 million due to unpaid QAA fees.
Tabor Manor Care Center in Fremont County has filed for bankruptcy while owing the state $1.1 million. (Photo via Google Earth; court document courtesy U.S. District Court)
In 2022, DHHS reported to state lawmakers that of the 379 Iowa nursing homes that were required to spend their increased Medicaid revenue on pay increases for certified nurse aides, 68 of them – or 18% of the total — failed to do so. An additional 37 homes – or 10% of the total – failed to meet a different standard that required them to spend 60% of their excess revenue on compensation for all staff.
Despite the lack of compliance by some care facilities, DHHS proposed a major increase in state spending on the QAA program last year. According to a budget analysis by House Republicans, $111.2 million was appropriated from the Quality Assurance Assessment Trust Fund for Fiscal Year 2024, which ended June 30. “These funds do not revert back to the general fund,” the GOP advised state legislators, noting that it would result in a $68 million increase in revenue for facility owners.
In recent bankruptcy-court filings, Tabor Manor Care Center has said the biggest financial hurdle it now faces is the unpaid QAA fees owed to the state. “In order to continue our important work, the company deferred payment of QAA fee obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic and the post-pandemic recovery period,” the home’s owner and administrator, Mitchell Worcester, told the court.
He said that before filing for bankruptcy, his company tried to negotiate a plan to pay off the $1.1 million debt over a “period of time which matched the company’s ability to pay.” He said the state was “only able to offer a payment plan of relatively short duration, including escalating payments, which the company will not be able to perform to.” Worcester told the court that one of “the principal purposes” of the company’s bankruptcy filing is to address the $1.1 million debt in a manner that will enable the home to remain open.
The company’s goal, he said, is to renew negotiations with the state on a payment plan.
(Des Moines, Iowa) – The State Department of Natural Resources says a city in Pottawattamie County has for years, failed to comply with federal requirements to limit the amount of pollutants in its stormwater collection system. Carter Lake, with a population of about 3,800, is among the smallest cities in the state that have the requirements, which is due to its location in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area. It is among nearly 50 cities and universities in densely populated areas that are subject to the rules.
Carter Lake is a small part of Iowa that lies west of the Missouri River near Eppley Airfield. (Photo courtesy of Google Earth)
The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports rainfall in the city flows into a stormwater system that pipes it to Carter Lake — a so-called “oxbow lake” that was once a segment of the Missouri River. Flooding in 1877 rerouted the Missouri and left a small part of Iowa on the west side of the river, which is now the city of Carter Lake.
Iowa DNR Senior Environmental Specialist Alison Manz, says the DNR for years has sought to get the city into compliance as a small municipal separate storm sewer system, but those efforts have been stymied by leadership changes in the city. The city had failed since at least 2018 to create plans, programs or ordinances to operate and maintain its collection system, manage pesticide and fertilizer applications, inspect illegal pollutant discharges, and monitor for construction site runoff, according to a recent DNR order.
The city is also required to have information on its website for residents and to form a stormwater advisory committee. For five years, it did not submit a mandatory annual report that documents all of those actions.
Carter Lake recently agreed to pay an $8,000 fine for the violations and to comply with the requirements in the future.
In May, the city posted an advisory to its Facebook page that warned residents about the potential for yard waste to pollute the lake and kill fish. The note said residents should bag grass clippings, leaves and other plant material and compost them.
KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Swimming is not recommended at Lake Red Rock’s North Overlook Beach due to elevated levels of bacteria. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers works with Iowa State University to test the water weekly. They say the “swimming not recommended” signs will stay up until testing shows lower bacteria counts. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports there are currently 13 state beaches that also have dangerously high bacteria count.
Swimming is not recommended at the following state beaches:
Today: Sunny, with a high near 89. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 65.
Tomorrow: Mostly sunny, with a high near 91. Winds Westerly at around 5-mph in the afternoon.
Tom. Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 65.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 93.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 69.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 95.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83.
Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 86. The Low this morning was 61. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 78 and the Low was 64. The Record High here on Aug. 2nd, was 103 in 1930. The Record Low was 42 in 1907. Sunrise today: 6:14-a.m.; Sunset: 8:36-p.m.
(Hardin County, Iowa) – A single-vehicle accident Thursday night in rural Hubbard claimed the life of a man from Texas. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2007 Ford Explorer SUV driven by 30-year-old Pedro Daniel Limon, of Eagle Pass, TX, was traveling south on U.S. Highway 65 at around 9:55-p.m., at a high rate of speed.
When Limon failed to negotiate a curve at J Avenue, his SUV went out of control and entered the east ditch, where it rolled several times and came to rest on its top. Limon – who was wearing a seat belt – died at the scene. The crash remains under investigation.
The Patrol was assisted by the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office, Hubbard Fire & EMS, and Hardin County E Squad.
Iowa State basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger expects redshirt senior Dishon Jackson to provide a needed boost in the paint. After spending three years at Washington State the 6-11 Jackson played last season at Charlotte where he averaged better than 11 points and six rebounds.
Otzelberger expects Jackson to be a factor on both ends of the court.
Jackson feels like he is a good fit for the Cyclone program.
Jackson on what his role will be for the Cyclones.
(Radio Iowa) – A southern Iowa man has grown a piece of fruit that’s destined to set a world record. A state official has verified that Dave Bennett of Davis County grew an eggplant that weighs eight-point-33 pounds. “I’ve been growing eggplants for probably five years now,” Bennett says. “Two years ago I set the state record at 5.6 pounds.” Bennett picked up the hobby from his second cousin, a past winner of the Big Pumpkin competition at the Iowa State Fair.
After growing pumpkins and watermelons, Bennett got intrigued with the purple fruit after meeting a Minnesotan who’d grown a four pound eggplant — and the rest will be history. Bennett has been assured by a representative of Guinness World Records that his paperwork is in order. “Eventually I will have a plaque that says I grew the world’s largest eggplant,” Bennett says. Right now, the world’s largest eggplant is in Bennett’s refrigerator, in hopes of entering it in the Iowa State Fair.
“I’m going to see what it looks like next week and I might arrangements about bringing it up. I don’t know yet,” Bennett said. “It might start wrinkling up and spoiling, I don’t know.” An inspector with the Iowa Department of Agriculture’s Weights and Measures Bureau went to Davis County to weigh the eggplant this week. Bennett used greenhouse grade fabric to create a shade over the plant during its final days outside before it was measured.
Dave Bennett with his 8.33 eggplant. (Photo courtesy of Iowa Dept. of Agriculture and Land Stewardship)
Bennett says you start the growing season by planting “giant variety” seeds, then trim down the vine so it’s supporting just one eggplant. “You just keep fertilizing and stuff like that and hope for the best,” he says.
Eggplant is often treated like a vegetable on the dinner table, but it’s actually a berry, so it’s a fruit. Bennett has never eaten eggplant and ordered it at a restaurant recently, but had to pay his bill and leave to make it to a concert before the dish was served.
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