You can put them on your pizza, toss them in your salads or fry them in butter and serve as a side dish. For many people, morel mushrooms are some of the tastiest wild foods in Iowa. The season for hunting morels is underway, but Annette Whitrock with the Wapello County Conservation Board says the weather hasn’t cooperated so far this year.  “Depending on where you are, it would be late March until I guess the season’s over through April, sometimes into May, just depending on weather,” she says. “You really need temperatures for the soil probably in the 60 degree area and you can’t be down lower than 40 degrees at night for them to grow. We haven’t had that yet.”

A Morel mushroom (ISU Extension photo)

Soil temperature maps provided by Iowa State University show soil temperatures around 45 degrees for most of Iowa. Overnight temperatures dipping into the 20’s and 30’s are also preventing morels from popping up. Even when they do pop up, morels are some of the most elusive foods to find. Hunting them requires hiking trips through the woods and it takes a sharp eye to spot them. Whitrock says there are some urban legends on the best places to look.

“I’ve been told dead elm trees are the place to look, ash trees, oak trees, old apple orchards or where the May apples are blooming, so it really depends on who you talk to,” Whitrock says. “I think if you find a spot, you find a spot.” Whitrock suggests being wary of all the advice, as people may be trying to drive you away from their best spots. Whitrock says in the early hunting season, morels grow mostly on south facing slopes because that ground is warmer. But be careful, because Whitrock says the inexperienced morel hunter can be fooled or even poisoned.

“There’s some false morels out there and some morel look-alikes that can, depending on how you react to it, I guess they could give you symptoms like cramps,” Whitrock says. “some of them, if you react to them poorly, could kill you.” Whitrock says it’s fairly easy to tell if what you’re looking at is a true morel or an impostor.

“Morels have a darker cap that is pitted, for lack of a better word, and is connected to the stem and I guess the best thing to look for is a hollow stem,” Whitrock says. “If your mushroom doesn’t have a hollow stem, chances are it’s not a true morel — probably don’t want to eat it.”

Whitrock cautions Iowans to make sure they have permission to hunt for morels on property they don’t own. You can find out if you can hunt on public properties by contacting your local conservation board or the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Harlan say a woman from Panama was cited following a collision, Saturday. Stephanie Smith was cited for Failure to Stop in an assured, clear distance, after the 2005 Chrysler she was driving collided with the rear of a 2002 Ford, driven by Zachary Jones, of Harlan. The accident happened on Chatburn Avenue.

Officials say Jones was traveling eastbound and had stopped to turn left into a car wash. Smith was eastbound in the same lane, but didn’t see Jones stopped for the turn. Damage from the collision amounted to $5,500. No injuries were reported.

The Harlan Police Department has released a report on recent arrests. As we mentioned Monday, 25-year old Colton Benson-Blaine, who was listed as escaped Sunday afternoon from the Council Bluffs Work Release Facility, was arrested in Harlan later that same evening. Benson-Blaine, who allegedly stole a vehicle from a construction zone, was located in the area of 5th and Laurel Streets in Harlan, and brought to the Shelby County Jail. He was held at the jail pending transfer to authorities in Council Bluffs. The stolen vehicle was located at J-J Jensen Park, and returned to its owner.

Two people were arrested Saturday, in Harlan. 18-year old Perry Gross, of Manilla, was cited for Open Container as a driver, and charged with OWI. And, 45-year old Carrie Green, of Harlan, was arrested Saturday, for OWI. She was also cited for failure to display a registration plate.

Last week, 19-year old Brett Keane, of Panama, was arrested in Harlan on an active Shelby County warrant for Probation Violation. Keane was brought to the Shelby County Jail.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) – Muscatine police say they have charged a teenager in connection with the toppling of dozens of headstones at a cemetery. The Muscatine Journal reports police arrested the 17-year-old Monday morning and charged him with second-degree criminal mischief. The Associated Press doesn’t generally name juveniles charged with crimes.

Workers discovered April 3 that about 50 headstones had been pushed off their bases at Greenwood Cemetery. Crews had to use equipment to put the headstones back into place. Police estimated the vandalism caused $3,000 in damage.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office today (Tuesday) released additional information pertaining to a pickup truck vs. tractor accident that took place Monday afternoon, south of Cumberland. Officials say the crash happened at around 3:34-p.m. on southbound 690th Street, about 1.5-miles south of Cumberland. It occurred, as 31-year old Cole Andrew Christensen, of Hamlin, attempted to pass an International tractor, driven by 54-year old David Crum, of Atlantic, as Crum was attempting to turn left into a farm drive.

The 1994 GMC Sierra pickup struck the tractor, causing the tractor to flip onto its side. Christensen and a passenger were transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital by Cumberland Rescue, and later transported to Omaha for further medical treatment.

Picture courtesy Mike Kennon, Cass County Emergency Management Agency.

Crum was transported to CCMH by private vehicle. Damage to Christensen’s vehicle is estimated at $15,000; damage to the tractor is also estimated at $15,000. The incident remains under investigation.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley has had breakfast with the man whose nomination to the Supreme Court he has promised to block. The Iowa Republican dined with federal judge Merrick Garland Tuesday in the Capitol’s Senate Dining Room. Grassley evaded reporters afterward, and his office said it would release a statement on the meeting.  As usual, Garland said nothing to reporters.

Grassley has joined with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and most GOP senators in saying they won’t consider a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia until the president elected this November nominates someone.  When he agreed to meet with Garland, Grassley said he would tell that to the judge. Democrats have relentlessly attacked Grassley for refusing to hold the usual hearings for the nominee.

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

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

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Police in Creston arrested a Ringgold County woman Monday evening on an outstanding warrant out of Union County. 24-year old Megann Danielle Stewart, of Mt. Ayr, was arrested at around 7:40-p.m. in Creston. Stewart was being held without bond, in the Ringgold County Jail.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A lawsuit has been filed against the Iowa Utilities board for authorizing use of eminent domain to access land for the Bakken oil pipeline. The Des Moines Register reports that the lawsuit was filed Friday in Polk County on behalf of the Northwest Iowa Landowners Association and individual landowners.

The proposed 1,130-mile Dakota Access Pipeline planned by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners would pass through North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa on its way to Illinois. The suit says Dakota Access does not qualify as a utility and should not have the ability to use eminent domain to build a pipeline.