CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa nonprofit nursing home chain wants dozens of its facilities reclassified to residential properties for property tax purposes. If Care Initiatives succeeds in its quest, communities where the facilities are situated would get about half as much tax revenue from the facilities, which mostly are classified as commercial properties.

Care Initiatives has appealed 15 rejections to the Iowa Property Assessment Appeal Board. The company cites Iowa law, but several county assessors dispute that nursing homes are used primarily for human habitation.

Care Initiatives owns and operates facilities located locally, in Atlantic, Avoca, Bedford, Corning, Creston and Panora.

An Atlantic man was arrested twice in one week on Public Intoxication charges. The Police Department reports 54-year old Roy Milczarek was taken into custody Saturday. He was being held in the Cass County Jail pending an appearance before the magistrate.

Milczarek was also arrested last Wednesday, on the same charge.

w/ News Director Ric Hanson

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The cool April weather will delay one of the favorite summer delicacies of Iowans. Growers say sweetcorn planting was slowed and it won’t be available in great supply until after the Fourth of July. Ron Deardorff of Adel, grows 160 acres of sweetcorn in central Iowa. He uses some custom planting techniques to help the corn survive cooler weather. 

He says they lay down plastic and then he has a special planter that pokes a hole in the plastic and drops in a seed. It basically creates a little greenhouse underneath the plastic. Deardorff supplies various stores and vendors with sweetcorn and also supplies it to the annual “Adel Sweetcorn Festival.” Deardorff has been growing the Iowa favorite for almost 30 years, and says genetics have improved the quality of the corn over the years.

He says the corn is sweeter, the plants are healthier, the stalks are better to support the ears. “The corn we were planting 25 years ago wouldn’t even compare to the wonderful stuff we have nowadays,” Deardorff says. The advances also mean the sweetcorn can be stored longer before it loses its flavor. Deardorf plants the corn in about 20 different stages so new corn is maturing right up to labor day. Iowans cook sweetcorn in a variety of ways and eat it with butter and salt and other additions — but Deardorff likes it best fresh without condiments. 

“The true test of corn is raw right there in the field, it’s not covered up by butter, salt and pepper or anything,” he explains, “…I’ll probably eat more raw corn than I do cooked corn.”

With a good crop, Deardorff will produce about one-point-five million roasting ears this growing season. Fuel, fertilizer and seed costs are up this year, which means sweetcorn is expected to see a little increase in price this year once it hits the stores and stands across the state.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)

BOUTON, Iowa (AP) – Financially troubled Xenia Rural Water District has problems with its water, too. The district has sent several warnings about higher-than-allowed levels of nitrite and arsenic in its water. Arsenic can cause cancer, and nitrites can be harmful to infants. The district provides water service in all or part of 11 counties west and northwest of Des Moines as well as in Worth County.

Mark Christianson is supply and treatment manager for Xenia. He told The Des Moines Register that the district is using the sodium permanganate to treat the arsenic problems. And the district is attacking the nitrite problem by using a different process to inject chlorine. The district hopes to cancel the nitrite warning by July.

Officials say the water problems aren’t a result of the district debt problems.

Here is a summary of storm reports from around the area from the storms which passed through late Sunday night thru early this (Monday) morning (as compiled by the Nat’l. Weather Service)…(updated 8:52-a.m.)

Monday

6:55-a.m – 3.15″ rain reported by Ray Book, in Harlan (an official NWS observer). 1.12″ fell from 7am-Sat. thru 7-am Sun., & 2.03″ from 7am-Sun thru 6:50-a.m. today, in addition to some hail.

6:00-a.m. – rainfall in Atlantic from 4-am to 6-a.m.=  .14″

3:27-a.m. Power outage in Atlantic thru 4:28-a.m. Tree fell on power line during strong winds. Large part of town south of Highway 6/7th Street was without power. Numerous 6-inch diameter tree branches down. A 40-to 50-foot tree fell on top of a house. (See pictures on kjan.com. Click “news” under the Community Hub, and scroll down).

3:08-a.m.- half-dollar sized hail (1.5″-diameter) south of Logan, in Harrison Co.

1:54-a.m. – Penny sized hail (.75″-dia.) 3 miles west of Pacific Junction, in Mills County.

Sunday

11:52-a.m. – Kellerton, Ringgold County: Thunderstorm wind damage. Four mature trees downed along with numerous 4-to 6- inch diameter limbs. Two separate power lines downed by falling trees. An abandoned mobile home moved off of its foundation. (Time estimated by radar).

11:23-p.m. – Nickel-sized hail (.88″-dia.) in Shenandoah, Page Co.

11:15-p.m – Golfball-sized hail (1.75″-dia.) in Sidney, Fremont Co.

10:50-p.m. – Pea-to-dime-sized hail (1/2″-dia.) & heavy rain in Sidney.

10:35-p.m. – quarter-zied hail (1″-dia.) northeast of Arispe, in Union Co.

10:33-p.m. – 1.5″ hail in Arispe, in Union Co.

10:03-p.m. – .88″-dia. hail north of Clarinda, in Page Co.

10:00-p.m. – 1″-dia. hail 4 miles south of Clarinda.

A large portion of Atlantic and nearby rural areas were without power for about an hour this (Monday) morning, after a tree limb fell on a power line. Officials with Atlantic Municipal Utilities report the incident, which occurred between 21st and 22nd Streets, on Olive, happened at 3:27-a.m. 

Power was restored to the affected customers by 4:28-a.m.  AMU could not provide a figure early this morning, on the number of customers who lost power.

Only minor injuries were reported following a car versus motorcycle accident Sunday afternoon, in Montgomery County. Sheriff’s officials say 49-year old Larry Brown, of Griswold, was checked by Red Oak Rescue for minor injuries at the scene of the crash, at Highway 48 and 130^th Street, but refused medical transport to the hospital.

According to the Sheriff’s Department, a 1999 Ford Mustang, owned and operated by 16-year old Abigail Cook, of rural Emerson, was making a left turn from 130^th Street onto Highway 48, when she pulled into the path of a 1987 Yamaha motorcycle, owned and operated by Larry Brown. Brown laid his cycle down onto its side just before it hit the Mustang. The accident happened at around 2:20-p.m., Sunday.

The collision caused at total of $4,500 damage. Cook was cited for Failure to Yield upon entering a through highway, and failure to have insurance. Brown was also cited for failure to have insurance.

On a separate note, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says 46-year old Randall J. Conry, of rural Elliott, was arrested Sunday on a 60-day mittimus, or, order by a court or magistrate, to appear and serve a jail sentence.

AMES, Iowa – June 19, 2011: 5 p.m. – The location where Interstate 29 is closed in
Council Bluffs has been changed. The road is now closed starting at the North 35th
Street interchange (milepost 54B). 

Both north- and southbound lanes of I-29 are now closed from milepost 54B in Council
Bluffs to milepost 71 near Loveland.

Northbound I-29 travelers must exit at North 35th Street. 

All ramps at the I-29/North 25th Street interchange (milepost 55) have been closed. 

Key traveler information resources
·  Iowa DOT’s flood information call center 866-452-8510, open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
daily, speak to an operator for travel assistance
·  Road condition information 24 hours a day: visit www.511ia.org, or call 511 (in
Iowa) or 800-288-1047 (outside of the state) for a recorded message of road closures

·  Iowa DOT on Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/iowadot/ 
·  View the flooded Iowa roads map for road closures, detours and areas at risk of
flooding - http://tinyurl.com/3o2mtlp

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Cooper Nuclear Station in southeast Nebraska is operating as normal despite flooding along the Missouri River. Nebraska Public Power District spokesman Mark Becker says workers continue to monitor flood barricades and the protections are holding up well.

The Columbus-based utility on Sunday issued a “notification of unusual event” for the plant. Such a declaration is required when the Missouri River rises to 42.5 feet, or 899 feet above sea level. Cooper is at 903 feet elevation, and the river would have to climb to 902 feet before officials would shutter the plant.

Becker says the river is forecast to crest there at a little over 900 feet. At such a level, officials would need to barricade internal doorways at the plant to protect equipment.