Farmers in Ukraine are now raising hogs thanks to a little help from Iowa State University. Justin Brown, an I-S-U professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine, is leading a series of webinars just for Ukrainian farmers. Due to the prolonged war with Russia, Brown says corn producers in Ukraine aren’t able to export much, if any, of their grain.

Brown says the response to the I-S-U webinars has been very good. He presents them early in the morning and they air in Ukraine around the lunch hour.

Brown prepares his presentation slides in English and sends them to the president of the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders, who translates them into Ukrainian, while the lectures themselves are dubbed in that language for the Ukranian farmers.

Those questions are translated live, along with his answers. The last of the webinars will be presented this month.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department reports that over the last several months, Deputies conducted multiple investigations with regard to the distribution of methamphetamine. Six search warrants were executed between Sept. 5th and 7th, resulting in the seizure of a large amount of meth and cash. Six suspects face numerous felony charges.

On Sept. 5th, 26 year-old Destiny Anderson was arrested at 107 East Elm Street in Red Oak on three total counts of delivery of meth and unauthorized use of a credit card. And, 60-year-old Bruce Fitzwater was arrested at 121 West 3rd Street in Villisca on three total counts of meth delivery, and one count of possession of meth with intent to deliver. Both suspects are in custody on $100,000 bond.

32-year-old Dustin Hunake was arrested Sept. 6th, in Red Oak, on one count each of delivery of marijuana and delivery of a schedule 2 prescription drug. His bond was set at $100,000, also.

Three suspects were Sept. 7th: 59-year-old Dale Sawtelle was arrested at 106 West Walnut in Red Oak on three counts of meth delivery and one count of possession of meth with intent to deliver. Bond was set at $25,000; 62-year-old Ronald Dean Kammerer, Jr., was arrested on single counts of meth delivery and possession with intent to deliver meth. Bond was set at $75,000. Other felony drug charges are pending; And, 53-year-old Fred Welch, IV, was arrested at 1507 North 1st Street in Red Oak, on three counts of meth and one count of meth possession. Bond was set at $25,000.

(Radio Iowa) – The state law Governor Reynolds signed June 1st would let Republicans set new voter registration rules for the Iowa Caucuses — but Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann says requiring Caucus-goers to have registered as a Republican voter weeks in advance is unlikely.

Kaufmann’s son, State Representative Bobby Kaufmann, is a senior advisor on Trump’s campaign and was lead sponsor of the bill that originally suggested Caucus-goers would have to be registered as a Republican — or a Democrat — at least 70 days before Caucus Night. That provision was removed before the bill became law. The Iowa G-O-P chairman says the party’s state central committee is discussing other ways to ensure the integrity of the Caucuses.

On Caucus Night in 2016, 21-thousand Democrats and independent voters switched their voter registrations to Republican that evening. Entrance polls suggested Trump won nearly a third of Caucus-goers who registered as Republicans that night. Kaufmann says there would be push back from caucus-goers if same-day registration wasn’t allowed — and some campaigns have already begun planning for it.

Kaufmann made his comments during an appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S.

BURLINGTON, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports 29-year-old William Thomas Slack, convicted of Sexual Abuse 3rd Degree in Van Buren County, failed to report back to the Burlington Residential Correctional Facility as required Saturday evening.

Slack is a white male, height 5’11”, and weighs 179 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on August 1, 2023.

Persons with information on Slack’s whereabouts should contact local police.

William Thomas Slack (IDOC photo)

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – An employee of Pirate Cove Water Park in Council Bluffs, early Monday morning, discovered the body of a person in the pool. Authorities says police and rescue personnel were called to the park at 915 N. 21st Street, a little after 7-a.m. a for a report of a man down. Responding personnel located a deceased 12-year-old male in the  deep end of the pool, which was closed for the season and not open to the public this past weekend.

Investigators believe that the victim jumped the fence and gained access to the pool. It is believed that the victim entered the deep end of the pool and accidentally drowned. The boy’s family was notified. The police department will not be releasing the name of the victim at the family’s request.

The victim recently began attending Wilson Jr. High School in Council Bluffs.

The 31st Annual Coca-Cola Days will be held September 22nd and 23rd in Atlantic. The event is the second largest collector’s show in the United States and includes a tailgate barbeque open to the public, a Show, Swap & Sell, Coca-Cola themed raffle and many more activities for all ages.

The theme for the 2023 Coca-Cola Days is “An Iowa Classic”. The committee brainstormed ways to celebrate the theme through raffle items which include a Coca-Cola beach umbrella, bags game, and bag chairs.

A Classic Car Show & Shine has been added to this year’s festivities that will take place in the front parking lot of the Community Center from 9AM-2PM on Saturday September 23rd. Community members are encouraged to bring their cars to display while also walking through the Show, Swap, & Sell inside the Community Center building.

Kelsey Beschorner, Programs Director at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce said, “We wanted to add something fresh to the event that went along with our theme, and we thought a Show & Shine would be just the ticket. To add a Coca-Cola twist to the event we will be offering commemorative Coca-Cola sunglasses to the first 50 attendees of the Show & Shine.”

Raffle tickets are available at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce for $5 a ticket or 5 tickets for 20. The winner will be announced Saturday, September 23rd at 2 PM at the Show, Swap & Sell meet at the Cass County Community Building. Tickets will also be available for purchase that day.

T-Shirts for the 2023 Coca-Cola Days Celebration are also available for purchase. The shirts are heathered grey and feature the theme, “An Iowa Classic”. T-Shirts can be purchased for $20 at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce or day-of at the Show, Swap & Sell Saturday, September 23rd.

For more information on Coca-Cola Days or a full list of activities, please visit www.atlanticiowa.com, call the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce at 712-243-3017 or email chamber@atlanticiowa.com.

Parts of Iowa got rain Sunday evening into today (Monday), but the state climatologist says the rain won’t put much of a dent in Iowa’s longstanding drought.  Justin Glisan says rainfall amounts ranged from on quarter to half an inch in the northern parts of the state, to an inch or more farther south.

Glisan says northeast Iowa just had its tenth-driest summer, and would need six-to-eight inches of rain above the average to make up for this year’s rainfall deficits.

Glisan says the current drought hasn’t been quite as bad as droughts in 2012 or 1988, because temperatures this summer was cooler overall than those two years.  Glisan made his comments on the Iowa Public Radio Program “River to River.”

The Iowa company planning to build a two-thousand mile carbon pipeline through five states has now been denied construction permits in both North and South Dakota.

This (Monday) morning, South Dakota’s Public Utilities Commission unanimously rejected Summit Carbon Solutions application to extend its pipeline through their state. The South Dakota regulators say Summit failed to follow county ordinances the require buffer zones around city limits and homes.  Summit executives say they will refine their proposed route through South Dakota and resubmit the application.  The company’s statement says Summit Carbon Solutions says remains committed to South Dakota’s ethanol industry as well as the 73 percent of landowners along the pipeline route in South Dakota who’ve signed contracts giving the company voluntary access to their property.

Summit Carbon Solutions has already redrawn its proposed pipeline route in NORTH Dakota after regulators there raised concerns the pipeline was too close to North Dakota’s capital city.  The IOWA Utilities Board started a hearing on the company ‘s proposed pipeline path in Iowa in August.  The hearing resumes tomorrow (Tuesday) in Fort Dodge at 8 a.m.

A Huey helicopter from the Vietnam era has completed its tour of Ames, Boone and Carroll areas. Tom Arentz is one of the crew members on the helicopter that was restored by a group called Friends of Army Aviation.

Arentz and his fellow crew members gave flights out of the Ames, Boone and Carroll airports over the past week. Arentz says the first Huey flew in 1956.

The Friends of Army Aviation, which is based in Alabama, has restored two Hueys. The Patriot Peak Foundation sponsored the helicopter’s flights in Iowa from September 3rd through the 10th. Aretz says they fly with the doors open, not to scare the passengers who spend 85 dollars on tickets for the ride, but to give them insight into the way the Hueys were used in war.

If you are driving on Interstate 80 east of Van Meter on Wednesday night, Sept. 13, around 10 p.m., you need to be aware of the closure of both directions of I-80 for up to 20 minutes, weather permitting. Crews need to complete utility work over I-80 just west of the Dallas County weigh station between Van Meter (exit 113) and Waukee/Booneville (exit 117).

While I-80, as well as the eastbound I-80 entrance ramp from Van Meter (exit 113) and the westbound I-80 entrance ramp from Waukee/Booneville (exit 117), are closed, law enforcement will provide traffic control using a rolling roadblock to assist you through the work zone during the 20-minute closure.