(Iowa DNR News) – If you are ready to explore Iowa’s happy trails and hidden gems, you should download the State Park Passport for a chance to win prizes as you visit parks and forests across Iowa! It’s free to sign up — the more parks you visit, the more chances for prizes! Please note: If you signed up in 2022, last year’s passport has expired. You must sign up again for the 2023 State Park Passport to participate.

From now through Oct. 31, State Park Passport holders can earn points by checking into more than 60 state parks and forests. Get started by signing up and downloading the passport onto your mobile device. Along with checking into parks through the passport, visitors can then discover “Hidden Gems” as they explore. Each park and forest on the passport includes a description of a “Hidden Gem” feature, such as a historical marker, scenic overlook, special trail and more.

New this year — earn and “bank” points that can be redeemed for various prizes. Each park has a different point value (either 100, 200 or 300 points), with remote parks earning higher points. Additionally, every 300 points earns a chance at a sweepstakes prize package.

Prizes for the 2023 State Park Passport:

500 points – any passholder redeeming at this level gets $5 off an overnight camping stay
1,000 points – first 500 passholders to redeem at this level get a weather-proof sticker
2,500 points – first 300 passholders to redeem at this level get a ceramic coffee mug!

Once points are redeemed, your passholder points reset to zero. So, cash-in early, or bank points for higher level prizes. Additionally, for every 300 points earned, passholders are automatically entered into a drawing to win a paddling package (kayak, paddle, life jacket and dry bag) or a three-night stay at a cabin at Lake Darling State Park. There is no limit to the number of entries!

Prizes were donated by sponsorship partners Bass Pro Shops and the Iowa Hunter Education Association.

Post a selfie at the hidden gem with the hashtag #IowaStateParks on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and the DNR will randomly select one photo to win an outdoor cooking package!

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has announced it has awarded more than $7.7 million to the state of Iowa in Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) Grant Program funding. Projects supported by RCE Program funding in Iowa include: The South Concord Street Grade Separation ($7,756,862), City of Davenport. The project will eliminate one grade crossing and create a grade separation at another to provide better access to critical infrastructure, including the regional wastewater treatment plant. The City of Davenport and Canadian Pacific Kansas City are contributing funds totaling a 20 percent non-Federal match.

Nationally, the RCE Program will provide over $570 million in funding for 63 projects in 32 states. This inaugural round of funding will address more than 400 at-grade crossings nationwide, improve safety, and make it easier to get around railroad tracks by adding grade separations, closing at-grade crossings, and improving existing at-grade crossings where train tracks and roads intersect.

Last year, there were more than 2,000 highway-rail crossing collisions in the U.S. and more than 30,000 reports of blocked crossings submitted to FRA’s public complaint portal. “Every year, commuters, residents, and first responders lose valuable time waiting at blocked railroad crossings – and worse, those crossings are too often the site of collisions that could be prevented,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we’re improving rail crossings in communities across the country to save lives, time, and resources for American families.”

For years, FRA has received complaints from citizens, states, and localities regarding the delays and disruptions caused by frequently blocked crossings that force residents to wait hours at intersections or take detours. These delays and disruptions can also prevent first responders from getting to emergencies quickly. Further, over 2,000 collisions occur every year at highway-rail grade crossings. The projects selected for funding in the first year of this program will greatly improve the quality of life in communities big and small, creating safer rail crossings and allowing people to get to and from their homes, schools, businesses, hospitals, fire stations, and workplaces without being stranded and delayed by a standing train.

“The Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program is another critical tool that FRA is using to make a lasting impact on the safety and transportation needs of communities nationwide,” said FRA Administrator Amit Bose. “With these project selections and the many more that are to come, we will save lives and reshape infrastructure in ways that allow individuals to move through their neighborhoods seamlessly and safely.”

Along with projects that build or upgrade physical infrastructure at railroad crossings, FRA awarded $15.7 million for planning activities and $33.1 million for project development and design activities that will build a pipeline of projects for future funding. Twenty two percent of all funding, $127.5 million, was awarded to projects in rural areas or on Tribal lands.

For the full list of Fiscal Year 2022 RCE Program project selections, please click here. Further information about the RCE Program can also be found here.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Engineer’s Office reports three road closures are currently in effect (beginning 6/5/23). Links to the detour route maps are included below.

• Officials say 160th St will be closed approximately 500′ west of Kent Ave to the intersection with Kent Ave. The road will only be closed during daytime work hours through Tuesday, June 6th.  (detour route)
• 290th St will be closed from Indian Ave. to approximately 0.5 mile east during normal daytime working hours through 4-p.m. Tuesday (6/6/23) (Detour route)
• Quebec Ave will be closed to through traffic from 110th St to 120th St. for approximately 2 weeks (through June 15th). (detour route)

For any additional information, contact the Adair County Road Department at 641-743-6111.

(Radio Iowa) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the estimated new H-I-V infections have fallen nationwide from 2017 to 2021, while Iowa’s new infection rate has remained virtually unchanged. State medical director Robert Kruse says about 14-percent of Iowans with H-I-V are unaware they’re living with the virus. “Public health officials are really recommending, along with the C-D-C, that those groups, ages 15 to 64, get a once in a lifetime test, just to check their status, regardless of risk,” Kruse says.

Kruse says the rate of new HIV diagnoses have increased among many vulnerable groups, including Iowans born outside the U-S. “It’s essential for public health authorities and communities in Iowa to really continue prioritizing H-I-V prevention and treatment efforts, maintaining consistent and accessible H-I-V testing, promoting education awareness, really ensuring access to preventive measures,” he says.

Kruse says Iowa has historically had a low H-I-V rate as compared to the rest of the country.

(Radio Iowa) – Lutheran Services in Iowa is celebrating the opening of an office in Sioux City. The agency provides services in immigrant and refugee resettlement, early childhood needs, and foster care and adoption. Nick Wuertz is director of refugee services at L-S-I and says they provide help to people who come to northwest Iowa from all over the world. “We are proud to have welcomed 150 people here to the Siouxland community over the last year from places like Syria and Afghanistan and Somalia, Ethiopia, Honduras, El Salvador,” Wuertz says, “and we’re planning to continue to welcome others that come here over the year to come.”

Mallory Berkenpas oversees a variety of efforts as the agency’s service coordinator for early childhood programs. “In-home visitation with our Healthy Families America program,” Berkenpas says, “and we recently expanded into new counties. It’s really exciting for us. We also do group-based parent education and adolescent pregnancy prevention work.” Sarah Green, the vice president of philanthropy and church relations with L-S-I, says they need more people to help with their services and to donate supplies for the refugees.

“We’re looking for individuals who can volunteer with our apartment setups, organizing in-kind donations, transporting our resettlement clients to medical appointments or to work,” Green says. “We’re also looking for support for foster care and adoption in early childhood services. We always have a need for in-kind items like car seats, diapers, baby wash formula, things like that.”

Learn more about the organization at lsiowa.org.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man on a trio of charges late Sunday evening. Authorities report 18-year-old Logan Patrick Hastings, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 8:33-p.m. in the 100 block of A Street, on charges that include: Interference with Official Acts; Harassment in the 1st Degree, and Assault While Displaying a Dangerous Weapon. Hastings was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond. Police said a juvenile was also arrested for Harassment/1st Degree. The individual was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs.

(Radio Iowa) – Eight Republican presidential hopefuls spoke to about 900 likely Iowa Caucus goers this weekend.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst hosted the event. It started with a convoy of motorcycles riding from a Harley-Davidson dealership to the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Former Vice President Mike Pence gave a preview of the campaign he intends to launch this week in Iowa. “I believe we have to resist the politics of personality and the siren song of populism unmoored to timeless conservative principles,” Pence said. “We need to stand firm on the conservative agenda…that has always led us to victory.” Pence mentioned the role Iowa’s first in the nation Caucuses play in determining who will be the G-O-P’s nominee.

“I have to tell you over the last two years Karen and I have spent a lot of time reflecting and praying about everything this country is dealing with and what I might do to serve. andI don’t have anything to announce today, but when I’ve got time to announce the coming Wednesday, I’m announcing in Iowa,” Pence said, to cheers. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis  says he’s not making idle promises on the campaign trail that he’d forget as president.

“The one thing you know about me from Florida is when I tell you I’m going to do something, I’ll do it,” DeSantis said. “…I will be an energetic executive. I will go on offense. I will lean to all the issues that matter.” South Carolina Senator Tim Scott announced at the event that he’ll be on “The View” today (Monday), after a co-host of the show said he doesn’t understand systemic racism because he’s a Republican.

“I scare the dickens out of the radical left and Joe Biden,” Scott said. “The proof of my life destroys their lies.” Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley indirectly criticized the debt ceiling deal Iowa’s Republican congressional delegation supported. “We are almost $32 trillion in debt,” Haley said. “…I don’t know that our kids are going to forgive us for this.” Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, businessmen Vivek Ramaswamy and Perry Johnson and former radio show host Larry Elder also spoke at the event. Former President Donald Trump was invited, but chose not to attend. Ernst says Trump has a strong base of support in the state.

“But at the same time, people don’t want to hear about what has happened in the past…They want to know: What are the future decisions that will turn our country around? And who is going to lead us forward? So whether that’s President Trump, whether it’s one of the candidates we saw on the stage, they’re hungry to hear about the future,” Ernst said. Ernst was asked if she’d consider an invitation to serve in a Republican president’s administration or the party’s VICE presidential nomination.

“I have visited with various candidates just about their prospects, OK?” Ernst said, laughing. “But I will do whatever I am called to do and continue to serve Iowa and strengthen our country — that’s my role. That’s what I will do.” Trump considered Ernst as a running mate in 2016, but Ernst said at the time she had a lot more to do in the U.S. Senate. In July of 2016, Ernst was in the middle of year two of her first six-year term.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Democratic Party leaders have unanimously approved a plan to hold Caucuses on the same night as Iowa Republicans, but have Iowa Democrats use a mail in card to express their presidential preference.

The plan is being presented to the Democratic National Committee, which has already already voted to deny Iowa Democrats the first go at voting in the 2024 presidential campaign. Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart says the new schedule of early voting states is still in flux, however, and the mail-in plan offers new flexibility. Iowa G-O-P chairman

Jeff Kaufmann says the mail-in idea is a charade and will do nothing to ensure both parties retain first-in-the-nation status for their Caucuses Governor Reynolds has signed a law that makes it illegal to use a mail-in system for the presidential delegate selection that starts with the Caucuses, but Iowa Democratic Party chair Hart says Democrats are united in conducting the most inclusive Caucuses in history with mail-in participation — no matter what.

(Cass County, Iowa) – **SEE A SEPARATE STORY UPDATE, POSTED AT 10:40-A.M. MONDAY ** The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports Anita, Wiota, and Adair Fire and Rescue battled multiple sheds/hog barns that caught fire Sunday afternoon, east of Anita. Authorities said the heat of the fire could be felt from the roadway, and firefighters had to contend with 90 degree weather in their turnout gear.

Additional details were not immediately available. Video via the Cass County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – In an update to our previous post, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Nebraska was seriously injured and flown from Cass Health in Atlantic to a trauma center, following an accident north of Atlantic, Sunday morning.

Atlantic Fire and Rescue along with Cass EMS and Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the scene at the 57 mile marker on-ramp to I-80 eastbound at around 11:10-a.m. A Chevy Blazer rolled multiple times. Another vehicle was involved in the accident, but no serious injuries were reported to the occupants of that vehicle.

Photos are courtesy the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.

LifeNet1 helicopter out of Des Moines flew the male crash victim from Atlantic to an undisclosed hospital. The Sheriff’s Office reports alcohol is believed to be a factor in the crash. The accident remains under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol.

Traffic on the interstate was stopped or slowed near the scene soon after the crash. Additional details are currently not available.