Sheriff’s officials in Shelby County report a search conducted Thursday night at the trucking company in Panama, resulted in the seizure of a small amount of methamphetamine and the arrest of a rural Harlan man. Authorities say the search was performed by a Cass County Sheriff’s Department K-9 team at the facilities of Panama Transfer at 600 Lasalle Avenue.

Working closely with company officials, authorities found the meth, and arrested 46-year old Brian Michael Coenen, who faces a serious misdemeanor charge of Possession of Methamphetamine. Coenen was brought to the Shelby County Jail and later released on $2,000 bond.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office is warning motorists to expect heavy traffic next Friday, August 17th, when the Des Moines heavy metal rock band Slipknot and other acts perform at the Mid America MotorPlex, during “KnotFest.” Gates at the complex, located near Pacific Junction, will open at 2-p.m. August 17th. The concert will not end until 11:30-p.m.

Officials say to expect heavy traffic at Exit 35 off Interstate 29 and Highway 34. Anyone not attending the concert, is strongly encouraged to find an alternate route to home and/or work. You should expect delays also, on southbound I-29 from Council Bluffs.

Atlantic Fire and Rescue along with Medivac ambulance were dispatched at 8:46-a.m. to the scene of a rollover accident involving two semi’s along Interstate 80 in Cass County, about a mile west of the exit to Highway 71 (mile marker 59).

Overturned semi along I-80 at mm 59 westbound (Ric Hanson photo)

The Cass County Communications Center says both drivers and a passenger in one of the semis were checked for injuries, but all refused transport to the hospital.

According to the State Patrol, a tractor trailer entering I-80 westbound from the Highway 71 interchange was building up speed while his rig was making its way up an incline, when the rig was hit from behind by another semi.  The collision caused the first semi to go out of control, and into the median, where it rolled onto its left side.

The names of those involved in the collision have not yet been released.

HINTON, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa construction company has been sued over an explosion of natural gas that followed a pipeline rupture in northwest Iowa. The lawsuit was filed by the pipeline owner, Northern Natural Gas Co, of Omaha, Neb., against DeRocher Construction, of Le Mars.  Two DeRocher workers were injured by the blast that sent a fireball hundreds of feet into the air on April 25. Authorities say the men were operating trenching equipment that struck the pipeline near Hinton.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City. It says Northern Natural Gas spent nearly $440,000 for emergency response, inspection and repair and other expenses to get the pipeline back into operation. DeRocher Construction has declined to comment.

w/ Ric Hanson

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A retired Anita area farmer has won the horseshoe pitching competition at the Iowa State Fair. Ray Pottebaum, of Anita, won the competition for the 4th year in a row Thursday, according to his son.

A rural Red Oak man was arrested Thursday night on a Simple Assault charge. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports James L. Bourn was taken into custody at around 9:20-p.m. as the result of an investigation into a report of a family disturbance at the Bourn residence. The investigation determined there had been a physical altercation between Bourn and a minor living in the home. Bourn was booked into the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held on $300 bond.

This year’s historic Midwest drought is having an impact on all crops — including popcorn. Gary Smith is President of the American Popcorn Company, the parent company of Jolly Time Popcorn. The company is based in Sioux City and has contracts with farmers in northwest Iowa and northeast Nebraska to grow the company’s popcorn. Smith describes this year’s crop as “okay,” especially when compared with conditions in other parts of the country.

“There is going to be a popcorn shortage because Indiana burnt up in June even, I mean, they didn’t even get started. And we’ve got a lot of competitors in the eastern cornbelt,” Smith says. Smith says about 90-percent of the company’s popcorn is grown under irrigation in northeast Nebraska. He says the dryland popcorn grown in the Sac City, Iowa area is in decent shape having received some rain in July that didn’t fall elsewhere. Still, he says there may be some quality issues in this year’s popcorn.

“I think the test weights will be down. When the test weights are down, then maybe your pops aren’t quite as good, we might struggle with quality issues, but that’s the way Mother Nature treats the product. And I’m just grateful we’re going to have a crop,” Smith says. With field corn prices at, or near, all-time record highs,- popcorn companies have to pay more to prevent farmers from switching away from popcorn production. Smith says the company is already paying record-high contracts to farmers, and he expects the contracts to be higher again next year. He worries, though, about an eventual consumer backlash.

“We’re at the highest point we’ve ever been because of the price of corn. Now with the drought, corn prices have rallied more, and so we’re looking at another increase, which is a big worry,” according to Smith. “Because at some point, America’s consumer is gonna say ‘your products too expensive, I don’t want you any more,’ and I don’t think we’ve gotten there yet. But where is that threshold? I’m not absolutely sure.” The American Popcorn Company has been in business for 98 years. Smith is a fourth-generation family member involved with the company.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has released its latest Water Summary Update. Officials say prior to the rains of August 8th, precipitation averaged 50 percent less than normal for the last two weeks. Shallow groundwater levels in parts of Iowa are at or near historic lows. Recent rainfall has helped to lower water demand, but has not impacted shallow groundwater levels. There have been reports in eastern Iowa, of private wells being drilled deeper or having pumps lowered to meet water demand.

The number of streams with “protected flow” (cannot be used for irrigation) have been reduced from 22 to 19. Streams in most of southwest Iowa are below normal flow, and the report shows shallow groundwater in all of southwest Iowa is not enough to meet the demand for irrigation. More than two-thirds of the State are now under Extreme Drought conditions, including every county stretching from northern Boone County southwest, through northwestern Fremont County. Cass County and the northwestern tip of Adair County are included in the Extreme Drought conditions, while the remaining southwest and south central counties are under Severe Drought conditions.

The past two weeks continued to be mostly hotter and drier than normal weather across Iowa. Temperatures averaged 4 degrees above normal while precipitation averaged 0.60 inches less than normal for the period. Rain totals varied from no rain at Underwood in western Iowa to nearly four inches at Nevada through August 6th. Storms on August 8th (after the cut-off time for the drought
monitor and for the precipitation map) resulted in a statewide average of 0.34  inches of rain, with almost everyone in the state seeing some rain. Among the areas with the most rain, was Audubon, Harrison, Page, and Shelby counties.

For a more thorough review of Iowa’s water resource trends July 23 through August 8, go to http://www.iowadnr.gov/watersummaryupdate. The report is prepared by the technical staff from the Iowa DNR, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and the USGS, in collaboration with the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division.