Jim Field visits with musician, author and composer Jimmy Ryan about his career in music. He has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry and will share songs and stories in a show Saturday, September 9, 2023 at 7:30 pm at the Wilson Performing Arts Center in Red Oak.
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(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – The Guthrie County Fair began Thursday, in Guthrie Center, and continues through Labor Day (Sept. 4th).
Activities today (Friday) include:
Gate admission is $10-dollars, but Carnival rides and Grandstand Shows are FREE. 
Learn more at www.guthriecountyfair.com, or follow them on Facebook at Guthrie County Fair.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa has been vexed by too much water — or not enough — this year, leading to natural disasters in multiple counties for flooding and for drought. The federal government is now offering low-interest loans to help Iowa businesses and non-profits recover. Kevin Wynne (WIN), spokesman for the U-S Small Business Administration, says they’re working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid non-profits in seven eastern Iowa counties that were hit by Mississippi River flooding between April 24th and May 13th, which prompted a federal disaster declaration. “They may be eligible for a FEMA Disaster Assistance Grant,” Wynne says, “so they’ll go to what’s called an applicant briefing and then they’ll come back to SBA if FEMA determines that they are not a critical service, meaning that they’re not a food kitchen or something along those lines, or a hospital or some kind of public infrastructure that supports a community.”
The low-interest federal disaster loans are now available in Allamakee, Clayton, Des Moines, Dubuque, Jackson, Lee and Scott counties. “The loans can go up to $2 million to meet the financial obligations and operating expenses and it’s got about a one year deferral on these as well,” Wynne says. “Low interest rate of 2.375% for the private nonprofits, and of course the businesses have it at 4%. Terms up to 30 years, makes recovery very affordable for these loans.”
The S-B-A loans can be used to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other assets. They can also be used to pay for improvements to protect, prevent or minimize the same type of disaster damage from happening again. “These loans are for economic injury only,” Wynne says. “That means that they didn’t suffer any physical damage but they’re starting to see a decrease in revenues due to the fact that there was a declared disaster in those counties.”
The S-B-A is also offering low-interest loans to small, non-farm businesses in 18 Iowa counties that are being worst-hit by drought. “Businesses in farming towns are going to start seeing a decrease in revenue because farmers are unable to have any disposable income to go and shop in those cities and small towns,” Wynne says. “That’s why we offer these low-interest Disaster Assistance loans to these counties that were economically impacted by the drought.”
The counties covered under this program are: Cedar, Clarke, Decatur, Jasper, Johnson, Louisa, Lucas, Madison, Mahaska, Marion, Monroe, Muscatine, Polk, Ringgold, Scott, Union, Warren, and Wayne. “Those loans are also up to $2 million,” Wynne says. “They have to be used to do any kind of keeping the business afloat such as making payroll, making your rental expenses, keeping the lights on and getting your notes payable paid, just so that they can keep the operating expenses of the economically-impacted business through the disaster recovery periods.”
For information on any of the loans, call 800-659-2955 or visit SBA-dot-gov and follow the “Disaster” link.
(Radio Iowa) – Steam engines well over a century old are chugging to life in southeast Iowa as the annual Midwest Old Threshers Reunion gets underway in Mount Pleasant. Event spokesman Grant Davidson says the machines of yesterday that helped build Iowa into the farming giant it is today are all on display — and they’re still running strong.
The agricultural heritage event includes antique cars, tractors, vintage steam engines, and a steam-run railroad headed by a locomotive built in 1891.
(Midwest Old Threshers Reunion photo)
The five-day event draws tens of thousands of visitors to see the dozens of steam-powered contraptions that were once the latest technology for performing important chores in the field.
Sports, Trojan Preview/Who’s Gonna Win?
Chris Parks, Jim Field, and Matt Mullenix are back for another season of Who’s Gonna Win? With the new addition of Sports Director Asa Lucas. Each week we take a look at 8 area high school football games throughout the season. We try to provide some insight into the match-ups while competing for top prognosticator and the Whosman Trophy.
Who’s Gonna Win? is brought to you again in 2022 by Rush CPA and Associates and Fareway.
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(UPDATED) – The latest Iowa Drought Monitor shows drought conditions have worsened. State Climatologist Justin Glisan says there’s been an 18 percent increase in extreme drought conditions since last week’s report. “The big standout that we see on the map this week is a big expansion of that D3 extreme drought category across north central into northeastern Iowa,” Glisan says. There’s a persistent area of extreme drought in southeast Iowa as well. Some farmers have begun chopping corn for silage because most leaves on the stalks have died. “Corn is drying up out there. Soybeans are dropping pods because of the heat and the dryness,” Glisan says. “Harvest is going to come at us fast given the drier conditions and the warmer temperatures that we’ve seen.”
Small sections of Fremont and Ringgold Counties are the only areas of Iowa considered to be drought-free and Glisan says nearly 99-and-a-half percent of the entire state is now in some level of drought. The U-S-D-A began issuing Drought Monitor reports 23 years ago. “This is going into the 166th week of at least D1, that moderate drought category somewhere in the state, so the longest drought that we’ve had since the Drought Monitor came into inception,” Glisan says, “but also longer term than the 1988 and 2012 droughts.” Those two drought years were more intense because of particularly warm temperatures in the upper Midwest, according to Glisan. Glisan says the statewide average rainfall is about three and a quarter inches in August — about an inch below normal, but Glisan says there’s wide variation in sections of the state.
“If you look at the climate divisions in eastern Iowa, so climate division 3 is the northeastern corner and then east central is where the nose of Iowa is — it’s the top 10 driest August on record,” Glisan says, “so that statewide average is skewed where we see higher precipitation totals across the southern part of the state.” The southern two tiers of Iowa got an average amount of rainfall during the past month. On this last day of August, there is no rain in the forecast anywhere in Iowa.
In southwest Iowa:
Parts of northern and eastern Pottawattamie County, all but the northeastern part of Cass County, along with the southern half of Adair County, most of Adams, and all of Union Counties, are considered Abnormally Dry.
Severe drought conditions exist in mainly the western half of Pott. County and the northern tier of Mills County, while other area counties are seeing a variety of Moderate to Abnormally dry conditions.
Extreme drought conditions are being experienced in a large portion of northeastern Iowa, and parts of seven southeastern Iowa counties.
Jim Field visits with Songwriter Hall of Fame member Steve Dorff. The Corning Opera House will host Dorff Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 7:00 pm as he shares stories about writing these songs and the stars that performed some of his 40+ #1 hits along with his many TV and movie themes.
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Jim Field visits with Laura Sievers Thomson, an Atlantic-native, who is helping her friend Holly Hancock with a project she created. Hancock makes a new, more comfortable, more convenient hospital gown. Her non-profit has donated them to several hospitals around the country. Saturday, they will be recognized at the Iowa football game for their donation to the Stead Family Children’s Hospital at the University of Iowa.
Find out more at www.hollysheart.org.
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The results from the D-N-R’s annual roadside survey show a 15 percent increase in the number of pheasants counted this year. Wildlife research biologist, Todd Bogenschutz (Boyg-en-shuts) says they counted 23 birds for each route.
Iowa’s weather has a big impact on pheasant numbers, and Bogenschutz says a mild winter coupled with a good spring weather for the hatch are paying off.
Bogenschutz says we’re probably looking at a harvest of around 300 to 400-thousand roosters this year, which would be one of the better seasons.
The hunter numbers this year will be around 60-thousand.
The youth pheasant season is October 21st and 22nd. The regular season opens on October 28th and runs through January 10th, 2024.
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