MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – A RAGBRAI participant from Sioux City has been found dead in his tent in Mason City in the second death during the weeklong bicycling event. The Des Moines Register reports 74-year-old George “Frank” Brinkerhoff was found dead inside his tent Thursday morning at Parker’s Woods Campground. Mason City police Sgt. Greg Scott ways Brinkerhoff was participating in the Register’s Annual Bike Ride Across Iowa. Scott didn’t know if Brinkerhoff was riding alone or with a group.

Scott says Brinkerhoff appeared to die of natural causes, but a medical examiner who responded hasn’t determined the cause of death. On Monday, 62-year-old Tom Teesdale, of West Branch, had a heart attack and died at a hospital in Emmetsburg.

There have been 30 deaths during RAGBRAI’s 42 years.

Police in Council Bluffs report one person was arrested Wednesday in connection with a robbery that occurred Saturday morning. Warrants for 1st degree robbery were issued Wednesday for 21-year old Jared Brandt, and 34-year old Misty Huff, both of Council Bluffs. Huff was arrested that same day, while Brandt remains at-large. Both are suspected robbing two men who agreed to meet with a man after arranging for the sale of a pickup truck.

Jared Brandt. Wanted for 1st degree robbery.

When 56-year old James Burdick and 54-year old Robert Coates, both of Omaha arrived at the pre-determined location at around 10:40-a.m., Saturday, Brandt allegedly pointed a small caliber revolver at the men and demanded their cellphone and cash they’d brought with them to purchase the truck. Huff allegedly was armed with a crow bar.

Misty Huff. Arrested 7/23/14

The Council Bluffs Police Department is asking for your help in finding Jared Brandt, who’s 6-feet 1-inch tall, weighs about 270-pounds, and has short black hair. He should be considered armed and dangerous. If you have any information on his whereabouts, call the Council Bluffs Police Department at 712-328-4765.

Three people were hurt when a semi and a pickup collided Tuesday afternoon on Highway 71, in Montgomery County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 1995 Chevy 1500 pickup driven by 41-year old Dannie Runyon, of Red Oak, was traveling north on Highway 71 at around 4:45-p.m.. A 2012 Kenworth semi driven by 41-year old Keith Steen, of Queen City, MO., was also traveling northbound behind the pickup, when Steen tried to pass at the intersection with Highway 34.

The semi clipped the left rear corner of the pickup, which went off the road to the northeast after the impact, and entered a ditch. The pickup came to rest after striking a tree. Runyon, and two passengers in the pickup, 36-year old Kevin Houchin, and 42-year old Robert Denny, both of Red Oak, were transported to area hospitals.

Runyon and Houchin, who were wearing their seat belts, were both flown by LifeNet to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, while Denny, who was not belted-in, was transported to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital by Red Oak Rescue.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department and Villisca Fire and Rescue personnel assisted at the scene.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley blasts the Obama administration for not telling state officials about dozens of Central American children being placed in Iowa after entering the U-S illegally. Grassley, a Republican, says the feds were wrong to put the 139 children in Iowa homes without giving the state a heads-up to provide health care, mental health care and other state services. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, disagrees.

“My colleague is just wrong in saying that somehow we ought to let everyone know where these kids are, who they are,” Harkin says. “That is wrong.” Harkin says the operation was kept secret for a reason as there have been angry protests in other U-S cities along the Mexican border which likely traumatized the already-frightened children. “These kids need to be protected, housed and kept safe,” Harkin says. “They don’t need to be made public objects where perhaps people can go out and picket a house. Maybe some family has taken in two or three of these kids to feed them and keep them safe. This is a humanitarian gesture.”

Reports say as many as 57-thousand children from Central American nations have entered the U-S, undocumented and unaccompanied, since last fall. Earlier this week, Governor Branstad said he didn’t want the children brought to Iowa, calling them “lawbreakers.” Again, Harkin disagrees: “There’s a reason for the privacy, there’s a reason to protect these kids,” Harkin says. “Keep in mind, these kids are not criminals, they’re refugees. They’re kids that are escaping murder and violence and rape and all kinds of bad things.” The children deserve due process, Harkin says, and it needs to be determined if they qualify for asylum.

“I just met yesterday with the ambassadors of all three countries, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala,” Harkin says. “Things are now being put in place to help stem the exodus of these kids from those three countries.” Grassley is quoted as saying the cost to taxpayers to care for the children could be as much as one-thousand dollars per day.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa is enjoying a near “normal” growing season this year and crop conditions are conducive to a bountiful crop. Before this year’s crop is even out of the field many farmland owners and tenants will be discussing next year’s rental rate and leasing agreements. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach works to bring unbiased information to both land owners and renters to help both parties make successful management decisions. The land valuation and leasing meetings discuss current land values, rental rates, trends and projections of how values and rents might change in the coming years. Other topics will include: how to calculate a rental rate based on county specific information, the variety of leasing arrangements that land owners and tenants may use, and the expected cost of crop production in the coming year. There will be a leasing meeting held on August 5th at 9:00 am in Audubon, Iowa, at the Audubon County Extension Office, located at 608 Market Street. The cost is $20/person pre-registered, or $25/person without pre-registration. Attendees will receive a land leasing handbook with reference and resource materials. The workshop will last approximately 2 ½ hours. Shane Ellis, ISU farm management specialist for the west central region of the state will be presenting. Registration is due by Monday, August 4th, please call the Audubon County Extension office at 712-563-4239.

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey has announced that the $1.4 million in cost share funds made available statewide last week to help farmers install new nutrient reduction practices have been obligated. The practices that were eligible for this funding are cover crops, no-till or strip till, or using a nitrification inhibitor when applying fall fertilizer. Northey said “The tremendous response to these cost share funds shows again that farmers are committed to using voluntary, science-based conservation practices to continue to improve water quality. In less than one week Iowa farmers committed to matching the state investment, so $2.8 million in new water quality practices will be going on the ground this fall.”

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship received applications covering 59,883 acres from 597 different farmers seeking to participate in the program. That includes 54,679 acres of cover crops, 2,531 acres of nitrification inhibitor, 1,656 acres of no-till and 1,015 acres of strip-till. Farmers in 90 of 100 Soil and Water Conservation Districts across the state received funding.

Northey announced on July 8 that the funds would be available on July 17. All the funds were obligated to farmers in less than five business days. Only farmers not already utilizing the practice were eligible to apply for assistance and cost share was only available on up to 160 acres. The cost share rate for cover crops was $25 per acre and was $10 for farmers trying no-till or strip till. Farmers using a nitrapyrin nitrification inhibitor when applying fall fertilizer were eligible to receive $3 per acre.

Farmers are encouraged to still reach out to their local Soil and Water Conservation District office as there may be other programs available to help them implement these voluntary, science-based water quality practices on their farm.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship received $4.4 million for the Iowa Water Quality Initiative in fiscal 2015. These funds will allow the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship to continue to encourage the broad adoption of water quality practices through statewide cost share assistance as well as more intensive work in targeted watersheds.

Last year in just two weeks over 1,000 farmers signed up for cost share funding to help implement new nutrient reduction practices on 100,000 acres. The state provided $2.8 million in cost share funding to help farmers try a water quality practice for the first time and Iowa farmers provided at least another $2.8 million to support these water quality practices.

Visit CleanWaterIowa.org to learn more about voluntary, science-based practices that can be implemented on our farms and in our cities to improve water quality. Iowans can also follow @CleanWaterIowa on twitter or “like” the page on Facebook to receive updates and other information about the ongoing Iowa water quality initiative.

The Atlantic Police Department has released details about an accident that occurred Wednesday afternoon at 7th and Laurel Streets. Officials say a SWITA bus driven by Dalton Christoffersen, of Atlantic, was traveling south on Laurel Street at around 3:48-p.m., and stopped at the intersection with 7th Street, but then proceeded to cross 7th. Before the bus could completely get across the street, it was hit by an eastbound car driven by Thea Sherman, of Atlantic.

Jason Prescott, of Atlantic, a passenger in bus, and Sherman, were transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Christoffersen was cited for Failure to Yield upon entering a thru Highway. Damage from the crash amounted to $13,500.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) – The city council in Burlington has voted down an ordinance that would have required people to use carrying cases to take toy or replica guns out in public. The Hawk Eye reports the proposal drew a huge outcry from people, many outside Burlington, who wrongly believed it would ban toy guns altogether. Still, council members voted down the ordinance 4-1, saying it was too vague.

Police Chief Doug Beaird (bayrd) suggested the ordinance because he said the department is getting more calls reporting young people carrying pistols or assault rifles. He’s concerned that police officers or adults may not be able to tell whether a gun is real or fake.

He says the situation is a disaster waiting to happen.

w/ Ric Hanson

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A low bridge in Council Bluffs is proving challenging to motorists. Drivers of tall vehicles have hit the train bridge twice this week and at least five times this year. Pat Miller, of the Council Bluffs Public Works Department, told the Daily Nonpareil motorists don’t realize their vehicles won’t fit under the 8-foot 8-inch bridge. New signs and flashing lights have helped, but people still smash into the span, owned by Canadian National Railroad.

Last week, George Weber of South China, Maine, took off his RV’s air conditioning unit, causing about $2,000 damage to his vehicle. He told officers he didn’t realize the RV was so tall. Council Bluffs Police Traffic Division Sgt. Jason Bailey says the bridge rarely suffers damage. He notes, “usually the vehicles lose that one.”