A fight in Shenandoah Monday, has resulted in charges being filed against a teenager. A 17-year old male faces a charge of Willful Injury, following an incident at 707 West Summit Street. When officers arrived, they found 26-year old Cody Tunnel bleeding from a puncture wound. Tunnel was taken toShenandoahMedicalCenter for treatment. A report on the extent of his injuries is not available. Officials said the unidentified teen allegedly involved in the fight was booked into the Council Bluffs Juvenile Detention Center.

Two juveniles in Adams County face a felony Criminal Mischief charge, and aggravated misdemeanor charge of burglary in the 3rd degree, following incidents of vandalism over the weekend. The Adams County Sheriff’s Department reports the unnamed juveniles allegedly sliced 11 tires and broke into one vehicle, causing around $3,500 in damage. The juveniles were detained by authorities at around 11-p.m. Saturday. One of the youths was released to their parents, while the other was released to Juvenile Services.

(9-a.m. News)

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Flood warnings or flash flood watches are now posted in 92 of Iowa’s 99 counties. Many roads are washed over and closed, including about a dozen state and U-S highways. National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Vachalek says more rain’s coming. “We’ll have to keep our eye on the possibility of more heavy rainfall, especially tonight and tomorrow and over the next couple of days,” Vachalek says. “The actual system that’s producing all of this rain is not going to move east until about Friday afternoon or evening.”

Some areas of Iowa have gotten eight inches of rain since Friday. The 24-hour rainfall total in Atlantic (ending today at 7-a.m.) was .2″ (two-tenths of an inch). Our 48-hour total at the KJAN studios was 1.15″. 

Massena reports a 24-hour rainfall total of .54″. Other, unofficial 24-hour rainfall amounts include: .”25 near Avoca; .3″ in Oakland; 1.04″ at Malvern; .84 at Hamburg; .35″ in Audubon. Weekend totals in 3/3″ in Clarinda, 2.95″ in Audubon, and 2.85″ in Red Oak.

(Radio Iowa/KJAN)

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LE MARS, Iowa (AP) – A northwest Iowa couple have been rescued from their home after it was surrounded by rising floodwater from a nearby creek. Stephanie Luecke told the Sioux City Journal that she and her husband, Ray, had never seen Willow Creek rise so quickly near their home off Iowa Highway 3 on the northeast side of Le Mars. She says the water “surrounded us like an island.”

Water was creeping up the front porch by the time rescue workers arrived at 12:30 p.m. Monday. The Lueckes expect to spend three days at a nearby motel but don’t know what they’ll do next. Stephanie Luecke says she and her husband are wondering what they’d done “to deserve this.”

Officials say Le Mars got nearly 4 1/4 inches of rain over the weekend.

The weather pattern will remain the same for the next several days with chances for additional thunderstorms increasing again later this afternoon and tonight. Some thunderstorms early this morning over Central Iowa may bring some brief heavy rainfall…but the focus will shift to the southern half of the region again tonight as both a threat for heavy rainfall and a slight risk of severe weather returns. A stronger storm will move into the region later Wednesday evening and Thursday keeping thunderstorm chances in the forecast through Friday.

Gardening is being promoted to Iowans through a new statewide initiative that’s designed to reach out to people who’ve never grown anything as well as current gardeners who might be able to grow a little more to give away. Angie Tagtow is project coordinator for Cultivate Iowa. “We are focusing our efforts on low-resource Iowans to encourage them to think about gardening as a way of not only putting fresh foods on their plates but also saving their food budget and hopefully improving health and food security,” Tagtow says. 

The project also targets existing gardeners, encouraging them to grow more produce and donate it to a nearby food pantry or community group. Gardening doesn’t need to take a lot of time or money, in fact, she says it should save you both commodities. Through gardening, Tagtow says you can keep some green in your pocket while also putting green on your table. “You don’t need to have a back yard to grow a little bit of your own food,” Tagtow says. “If you go to the Cultivate Iowa page and click on the garden link, we’ve got some simple steps in which all of us can do to grow some really wonderful vegetables in containers.” 

In fact, using containers as a garden also means fewer weeds to pull. The website, www.cultivateiowa.org, contains a trove of downloadable information on how to start the process of tilling the soil and growing delicious veggies. “Tomatoes and peppers are great container garden as well as backyard garden plants,” Tagtow says. “Easy to grow, they’re some of the best-tasting vegetables that we have and some of the vegetables that we most often eat here inIowa. So, tomatoes and peppers and greens also do really well whether it’s directly sewn into the ground or in containers as well.” 

To get started, she says, all you really need is a container, potting soil and either seeds or plants. For established gardeners who can grow a little extra to donate, CultivateIowaenables them to make pledges, find nearby organizations that accept fresh produce and track their donations.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DAYTON, Iowa (AP) — State and local investigators expect to meet today to plan the next steps in their search for a missing 15-year-old central Iowa girl. Officers searched the Des Moines River yesterday as they continued looking for Kathlynn Shepard. Police believe she and another girl were abducted a week ago. The other girl escaped.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Forecasters are predicting flooding problems across much of Iowa as rain keeps falling this week. Three to six inches of rain is expected across the state this week after six to eight inches fell in the past few days. Both Marshalltown and New Hartford are at risk of flooding.

EMMETSBURG, Iowa (AP) — Family members of a two-year-old Emmetsburg boy who drowned during Memorial Day weekend are grappling with his death. Larzen Hanson was one of three children inside a pickup truck that slipped into gear and rolled into Five Island Lake. Relatives and bystanders rescued two of the children, but Larzen remained trapped.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A group of volunteers in Waterloo is working to create a community garden for Burmese immigrants. The Reverend Ken Stecher says many of the community’s Burmese immigrants have a rural background, and they’ll feel more at home working in the garden. Twenty Burmese families have already signed up for the garden.

Two public hearings will take place during the Tuesday night meeting of the Audubon City Council. The first hearing is with regard to the sale of City-owned lots, all of which are in Block 13 of the City of Audubon. The hearing will be followed by the receiving of bids, and action on those bids. The Council may reject all bids, act on a resolution selling the properties to successful bidders, or table the matter until their next, regular meeting.

The Audubon City Council will also hold a public hearing on the 2012-2013 Budget Amendment, followed by action on a resolution approving the amendment. Other action items include those pertaining to a resolution prohibiting the use of excessive force, and a residential anti-displacement and relocation assistance plan…both of which need to be adopted as a requirement for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) award.

The Council will also consider an Audit proposal. Their meeting in the Council’s Chambers at the Audubon City Hall, begins at 7-p.m., Tuesday.