(Radio Iowa) – Smoke from the Canadian wildfires is being swept out of the state. John Gering of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has looked at the latest map. “It does appear to be a north to south clearing,” he says. This latest round of smoke had settled at the surface level. That’s why alerts indicated air quality has been unhealthy for sensitive groups. “If it stays up high in the atmosphere, it’s not going to affect people and it’s not going to register on our monitors,” Gering says, “so it’s that combination of emissions, horizontal winds and vertical mixing.” The Iowa D-N-R’s STATEWIDE air quality alert ends at noon today (Monday). The alert has recommended that people reduce long or intense outdoor activities due to the fine particulates in the air.

“They’re about 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair,” Gering says, “so they get in your lungs and your lungs have a hard time expelling the small particles.” The fires carry chemicals which in the presence of sunlight form ozone, an odorless gas. Over the past five years, there have been an average of three to four air quality warnings related to high ozone concentrations in Iowa at ground level. By June 12th, there had been 124 — so that does not include this weekend’s conditions.

“Likewise we’ve had 22 exceedences of the fine particulate matter standard reported through July 12,” Gering says, “and there’s going to be some additional exceedences of that standard coming in, rolling in over the next few weeks.” Staff collect filters at monitors throughout the state and take them to the University of Iowa where they are manually weighed. Gering says that process takes a while, so the in-depth analysis of this weekend’s air quality won’t be completed for a couple of weeks.

(Western Iowa News) – Weather radios blared a severe thunderstorm warning at 1:09-a.m., Monday, for a storm cell approaching northern Cass, Adair, Audubon and part of Guthrie County. That was just the start of what would turn out to be a busy morning for severe weather in western and southwest Iowa. Storms fired-up a couple of hours later in the western counties of the KJAN listening area, and made their way into southern/west central parts of the state, essentially along and just north of Interstate 80, and south of the Interstate.

The National Weather Service in Valley, NE (Omaha) and Johnston, IA (Des Moines), were fielding storm reports all morning , Monday. Those reports came in from trained storm spotters, county Emergency Management officials, and the general public. You can view the latest reports from the Des Moines Weather Service Office HERE, or the Omaha Office HERE.

We’ve compiled a list of storm reports for western/southwest Iowa on the kjan.com weather page. Here’s a synopsis of those reports from the latest to the earliest….

8:40-a.m., 1.25″ hail (Half-dollar size) in Malvern (reported by a storm spotter)

8:38-a.m., 1 inch (Quarter-size) diameter hail reported in Malvern (Mills County), by a trained storm spotter.

8:35-a.m., The public reported Ping-pong ball size (1.5″) hail in Malvern.

6:44-a.m., 1 inch diameter hail reported in Mount Ayr (Ringgold County), by Emergency Mgmt.

5:59-a.m., Nickel-size hail (.88′) 3 miles w/sw of Fontanelle (Adair County); Highway 92 from Gibbon Ave to Delta Ave. completely covered with up to nickel sized hail.

5:27-a.m., 1″ diameter hail reported in Woodbine (Harrison County)

5:10-a.m., Penny-size hail (.75″) 5 miles east of Irwin (Shelby County)

5:08-a.m., Nickel-size hail lasted for 10-minutes in Audubon. (Audubon County)

1:18-a.m., .75″  hail (penny-size) 1 mile w/sw of Stuart (Adair County)

(Avoca, Iowa) – The 127th Annual Pottawattamie County Fair is gearing up for a six-day run, in Avoca. The Fair runs from Wednesday, July 19th through Monday, July 24th. Some, pre-fair events took place late last month and early this month. On Sunday, the 4-H/FFA Shooting Sports Competition took place. On Tuesday (7/18), there’s a 4-H/FFA Pie & Pizza contest at 8-a.m., at Riverside High School. Wednesday (7/19), features 4-H Static Judging at 8-a.m., and Working Exhibits at 2:30-p.m.

This Thursday’s Schedule (7/20) includes the following:

• 8:00-a.m. until 4:00-p.m., Open Class Entries drop-off
• 9:00-a.m., 4-H/FFA Poultry Show
• 10:00-a.m., 4-H/FFA Livestock Judging Contest
• 4:00-p.m., Open Class Judging
• 5:00-to 8:00-p.m., Vendor Food Truck night
• 6:00-p.m., Pre-Fair Awards & Queen Competition
• 7:00-p.m., Free Grandstand Area – DJ/Karaoke.

Check out the complete Pottawattamie County Fair Schedule on Facebook, HERE.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Lottery officials are expecting brisk ticket sales again today as there were no jackpot winners over the weekend in either of the big, multistate games, Powerball and Mega Millions. The Lottery’s Mary Neubauer says both games’ jackpots have been growing for a few months now and they’ve reached “eye-popping” levels. “The Powerball jackpot for tonight’s drawing is an estimated $900 million annuity. It’s $465.1 million if you take the lump sum option. That’s the third largest prize in the history of that game,” Neubauer says. “And then I’ve been saying, ‘Hey, not to be left out,’ the Mega Millions jackpot also is way up there.”

The next Mega Millions drawing is tomorrow night and it’s worth $640-million with the annuity option, with a lump sum of $328-million. If you’re eager to get a Powerball ticket before tonight’s drawing, Neubauer says it’s likely the earlier you head for the retailer, the better. “The busiest day for lottery sales here in Iowa and across the country is always the day of the drawing,” Neubauer says, “and here in Iowa specifically, the busiest time period has been when lots of folks are getting off work and making the commute home, so somewhere between 4 and 7 PM.”

Clerks are typically well trained in performing the transaction and it often takes a matter of just a few seconds to issue a ticket, so if there are a few people ahead of you, they won’t be there for long. “We don’t see the huge lines that form in other parts of the country here in Iowa, just because I think our sales are a little more spread out than maybe they are in other parts of the country,” Neubauer says, “but this has become the thing that everybody is talking about. At some point, the jackpots do reach what I call that ‘watercooler moment’ where it just gets everybody buzzing.”

While nobody won either of the weekend jackpots, Neubauer says Iowa Lottery players did win a total of 45-thousand-558 prizes in the weekend drawings. If there’s not a jackpot winner in tonight’s Powerball drawing, Neubauer expects another big jump before Wednesday, which could put the grand prize at more than one-billion dollars.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa chapter of the American Heart Association is launching a pilot program that aims to help a growing number of Iowans overcome the risks of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, which afflicts almost half of us. Wesley Franklin, the agency’s community impact director, says “Check. Change. Control.” will initially focus on 250 central Iowans to better manage their high blood pressure before the program eventually goes statewide. “The ‘Check. Change. Control.’ program is really geared towards empowering patients to take charge of their cardiovascular health,” Franklin says, “with some self-monitoring tips at home around blood pressure, and just providing them some knowledge, some awareness, to better understand their heart numbers going forward.”

The pilot program will run four months and be operated out of hospitals and community care centers in Des Moines, West Des Moines and Stuart.  “The first month will focus on controlling your blood pressure,” Franklin says. “The second month is learning about eating smart and reducing sodium throughout your day. The third month is more of that physical activity component, and the final month is kind of tying it all together and doing more of a mental health and well-being approach.”

The goal is to help Iowans help themselves to tackle what’s known as “the silent killer,” as high blood pressure is hard to spot and if left untreated, can lead to a heart attack, stroke and other serious health conditions. Franklin says the situation in Iowa is worsening. “Within the last ten years, normally, we’re about a third of our population has hypertension but now we shift to about 50-percent,” Franklin says, “so this program is aimed at tackling those numbers to provide some education awareness around hypertension control.”

He notes, many of the 103-million people in the U-S who have high blood pressure are unaware. Central Iowans who are interested in participating in the program can contact Franklin at wesley.franklin@heart.org.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports three recent arrests. Friday afternoon (July 14), 40-year-old Stacy Jean Quakenbush, of Aburn, NE, was arrested after Deputies picked her up in Nebraska. Quakenbush was wanted on an Adair County warrant for Violation of Probation (FTA 5/12/23 for her Probation Violation Hearing). She remains held in the Adair County Jail without bond, until seen by a Magistrate.

At around 10:16-p.m. Wednesday (July 12), Adair County Deputies arrested 24-year-old Jesse Christopher Christensen, of Creston, following a traffic stop near Orient. Following an investigation to his erratic driving, Christensen was charged with OWI/2nd offense. Inside the vehicle, the Deputy observed an open, half-empty can of beer. Christensen reportedly had blood shot eyes and slurred speech. A PBT (Preliminary Breath Test) registered Christensen’s breath alcohol content was over the legal limit. He refused a blood specimen after implied consent, failed a field sobriety test and had an impaired balance. Christensen was released the following day on a $2,000 cash or surety bond, with 10% acceptable.

And, on July 9th at around 8:14-p.m., Adair County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 34-year-old Michael David Crigger, of Greenfield. He was taken into custody in Greenfield, on a Union County warrant, and turned over to Union County Sheriff’s Deputies.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors have a rather light agenda for their meeting at 9-a.m. Tuesday, in their Courthouse Board Room. Action items on their agenda include:

• Acknowledge receipt of Zoning Commission’s Recommendation to change zoning classification from General Agricultural District to Light Industrial District, as requested by Ronald West, for a parcel of land located in Pymosa Township.
• Set the Date of Public Hearing on Zoning Commission’s Recommendation for July 25, 2023 at 9:00 AM at the Cass County Courthouse Board Room

The Board are expected to receive a Quarterly report from Cass County Conservation Director Micah Lee, and a regular, weekly report from Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken. The meeting will be held in-person, and electronically via Zoom, and on the telephone.

Join Electronically:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2899195216?pwd=R0hSa2FOOTh0NUdra1ZSdVhVWHpMUT09
Meeting ID: 289 919 5216
Passcode: 012064
Call In:
312-626-6799, press *9 to indicate you wish to speak.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Montgomery County will meet in a regular weekly session, beginning at 8:30-a.m. Tuesday, at the Montgomery County Courthouse. On their agenda under New Business, is:

a. Approve/Disapprove Homestead & Military Credit Applications with action as necessary
b. Approve correction on the Memorandum of Understanding Between Montgomery County and Montgomery County Development Corporation
c. Courthouse tuckpointing discussion

*Please note, this is a public meeting; however, it may be conducted via ZOOM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86185141628
Meeting ID: 861 8514 1628
Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 If you are calling in, Press *9 to raise your hand if you wish to speak.31

(Radio Iowa)- Two people are jailed after a standoff late Friday, an incident that started when police spotted a wanted man walking into a house in Webster City. The officer was able to identify the man as 24-year-old Ty Christian Pippin, of Webster City. Due to the potential for firearms to be involved, additional law enforcement including the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department and Iowa State Patrol were called in to secure a perimeter and ensure the safety of the public. After a brief standoff, law enforcement officers entered the residence in an attempt to locate Pippin. He was eventually located hiding in the basement area and surrendered without incident.

Pippin was arrested on an outstanding warrant from Hamilton County for contempt of court and an outstanding warrant from Webster County. Also arrested was 18-year-old Bridjett Joyce Humlicek, of Webster City. She was charged with interference with official acts and accessory after the fact.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston say two men were arrested on separate charges, Saturday. A around 1:30-a.m. 44-year-old Brady Gale Richert, of Creston, was arrested at the intersection of Fremont and Elm. Richert was charged with Public Intoxication 1st Offense, Disorderly Conduct-Fighting/Violent Behavior, Harassment 2nd Degree-Threaten Bodily Injury, and Violation of No Contact/Protective Order. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $1,900 cash or surety bond.

And, at around 8:25-a.m., Saturday, Creston Police arrested 25-year-old Clayton Levi Miller, of Des Moines. He was taken into custody at the Creston/Union County LEC. Miller was charged with a Union County Warrant for FTA (Failure To Appear) on an original charge of Possession of Controlled Substance-Marijuana 1st Offense. Miller was booked into the Union County Jail and later released on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.