(Radio Iowa) – Even with all of the rain that fell on Iowa during Monday’s derecho, the latest report from the U-S Drought Monitor shows little change from a week ago. The report shows all or parts of 11 counties in west-central Iowa are in their second week in the D-3 category, which means extreme drought. The scale only goes up to D-4, which is exceptional drought, though none of Iowa has reached that level yet this year.

The report shows much of Iowa’s western half remains under moderate or severe drought, while much of northern and east-central Iowa is considered abnormally dry. Only a smattering of counties on the southern and eastern borders are in normal territory.

The 11 counties now shown in extreme drought are: Adair, Audubon, Boone, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Crawford, Dallas, Guthrie, Sac and Shelby.

(Radio Iowa) – Vice President Mike Pence is on a campaign swing in Iowa today (Thursday), starting at a rally on the state fairgrounds to launch the “Farmers and Ranchers for Trump Coalition. Pence addressed the widespread devastation from Monday’s derecho during his speech. “I must tell you when I heard about this storm, as a lifelong Hoosier, I was taken aback to hear of the magnitude of this storm and its impact,” Pence said.

Farmer Rod Pierce speaks to VP Pence and Governor.

Pence, the former governor of Indiana, did not talk about what specific federal relief may be headed Iowa’s way, but made a general pledge. “On behalf of the President of the United States and our administration I want Iowans to know we are with you. We are going to stay with you and we will work with your governor and your senators to make sure that we bring Iowa all the way back, bigger and stronger than ever before,” Pence said, to cheers. “I promise.”

Pence met privately on the fairgrounds with half a dozen Iowans whose farms were hit by Monday’s derecho. Rod Pierce of Woodward was among the group. “We had 131 mile an hour winds. We probably lost 12-15 of our bigger grain bins. We’ve got probably 2500 acres of corn flat.” Pierce says enhanced crop insurance benefits for farmers would be helpful, along with expanded trade and ethanol production.

“We need a price down in the future here, too, not just this year,” Pearce says. Iowa Democratic Party officials, including former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, criticized Pence for not altering his campaign schedule to personally survey the damage from Monday’s storm. Pence is attending a pro-police rally in Urbandale and will be the keynote speaker at a fundraiser for the Republican Party of Iowa this (Thursday) evening.

The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department is looking for help to create an animal mascot to be the face of the parks. Draw a picture of your favorite animal and give it a clever name. Submit your picture via the Atlantic Parks and Recreation Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/atlanticparksandrecreation) or drop your picture off at City Hall at 23 E 4^th Street by September 15, 2020.

All the submissions will be compiled and then the community can vote on their favorite. The winning submission will be used to promote rules, activities, etc. for the Parks and Recreation Department. All ages and all artistic levels are welcomed and encouraged to participate as the community will vote on the winner and not by how well the picture is drawn.

All submissions will be property of the City of Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department.

(Radio Iowa) – Four of Iowa’s state parks remain closed to all visitors due to extensive damage from Monday’s strong wind storm, while several other state parks are only partly open as cleanup operations continue. Alex Murphy, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the majority of the trouble is with downed trees, as there was little structural damage in the parks.  “We have one cabin that was hit by a tree at Union Grove State Park but otherwise, our parks are open,” Murphy says. “We’re just encouraging people to avoid those areas. Staff are working very hard to clear the roadways, the trails, all of those areas, so people can still get out and enjoy that, although most people in these areas are busy cleaning up their own back yards.”

The state parks that are closed are: Palisades-Kepler, Pleasant Creek, Lake MacBride and Wapsipinicon. Parks that are partly open as cleanup is underway include: Big Creek, Ledges, Pine Lake, Walnut Woods and Rock Creek. Iowans are consistently generous with their time and eager volunteers want to help clear out the mess, yet Murphy says now is -not- the time. “We realize people really want to help, people really want to see what’s happened to their parks that they love and that they visit all the time, but just let staff have their space and get the areas cleaned up,” Murphy says. “The quicker they can do that, the more open these parks will be and we can open up the closed ones as well.”

The winds exceeded 100 miles an hour in some areas during the derecho, and the destruction is extensive. “We’re fortunate a lot of it is tree damage and we didn’t have any of our visitors that were injured or anything like that, so we’re very thankful in those areas,” Murphy says, “but I would have a hard time believing this wasn’t one of the worst straight-line wind damage storms that we’ve seen in our state parks.”

Assessment is still underway, so no dollar figures are available yet on repairs, or on the length of time it may take to reopen all facilities.

iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Parks/Alerts-and-Closures

The Cass County Conservation Board is sponsoring a “Breakfast with the Birds” Program! The program will be held this Saturday, Aug. 15th at Sunnyside Park, Camblin’s Addition Shelter, beginning at 9-a.m. This year, due to COVID-19 there will not be breakfast available, feel free to bring your own breakfast. Officials encourage social distancing, with marked spaces for each family, during the program.

Kay Neuman, rehabilitator and Educator at S.O.A.R., Saving Our Avian Resources. Kay will show and discuss several of her permanently injured birds and will hopefully have one that is fully recovered and ready to release back into the wild!! Please help the CCCB support raptors and education! They hope you will join them for the program!

(Radio Iowa) – A quarter of a million Iowa homes and business are still without power this (Thursday) morning. Ames residents have been warned damage is so dense and significant, power may be out for a week in some areas. Governor Kim Reynolds toured Marshalltown Wednesday afternoon and told reporters the damage she saw may be worse than the devastating tornado that hit Marshalltown two years ago. “Just from a mental perspective of trying to deal with all of that, it’s just tough,” Reynolds says. “They’re hit pretty hard again.”

The governor has gotten an aerial view of crop damage this week and she visited a grain elevator that was critically damaged. With silos and bins smashed in areas that were hit Monday, Reynolds says storage for this year’s crop will be a significant issue. “There’s no way that they’re going to be able to rebuild the bins this fall — materials, construction — I mean, just across the board it’s not going to happen,” she says.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says farmers may have to resort to open-air storage — piling the grain on the ground.

Cass County residents and visitors celebrated Christmas in July at Lake Anita State Park and by joining in the Cass County Christmas Cookie Recipe Exchange facilitated by the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce.

A child talks to Santa at Lake Anita State Park, in July 2020 (Photo submitted)

Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh says at Lake Anita State Park, campers participated in a campsite Christmas decorating contest, and children got the chance to talk to Santa. Even though it was typical July weather, Santa still wore his red suit. Many people spending additional time at home to help slow the spread of COVID-19 have been baking, so the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce facilitated the Cass County Christmas Cookie Recipe Exchange.

Lake Anita State Park Christmas in July campsite decorating contest first place entry.
(Photo submitted)

Here are two of the shared recipes:

Decorated Sugar Cookies
Submitted by Beverly Johnson
Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup butter (not margarine)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon soda
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

1. Cream together sugar and margarine
2. Beat in egg, vanilla, and lemon zest
3. Stir in sour cream
4. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, soda, nutmeg
5. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture
6. Chill dough (this is a rich dough and must be chilled)
7. On lightly floured surface, roll out to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and cut into desired shapes and place
   on ungreased cookie sheet
8. Bake in 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes – makes 1-2 dozen depending on size of cookie
   cutters.

NOTE: Before refrigerating, you can color the dough with a soft gel paste. Before baking, sprinkle with
colored sugar. Tips: It is a rich dough, so it is very important the dough is chilled and try to not use too much flour.

Grandma Suiter’s Gingersnap Recipe
Submitted by Ardyth Harris Gillespie
Ingredients:
• 1 c sugar
• 3/4 c butter
• 1 egg
• 1 T ginger (dried, ground)
• 1 t soda
• 3 ½ c sifted flour
• 1/4 t salt
• 3/4 c sweetened molasses

Directions:

1. Cream sugar and shortening.
2. Add well beaten egg.
3. Combine molasses and soda and add sifted dry ingredients.
4. Chill, then roll into balls and bake on cookie sheet at 350 degrees.

Tips: It takes about 6-8 minutes to bake for a chewy cooking. A little longer for a snap which is
harder and good for dipping in milk. A third variation, especially at Christmas time, is gingerbread men
and in my generation other cooking cutter shapes. It could be gingerbread women as well.
Depending upon the thickness, these take 4-6 minute.

For more information on local wellness events or resources, follow Healthy Cass County on Facebook @HealthyCassCounty.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) – State Ag Secretary Mike Naig says some of the corn that was flattened by Monday’s storm will bounce back, but it’s anybody’s guess as to what percentage of damaged Iowa crops may be harvested. Grain bins, silos and elevators were damaged as well, so losses extend to the 2019 crop. “Tens of millions of bushels of commercial grain storage and millions of on-farm grain storage was impacted, destroyed or severely damaged,” he says.

Naig warns there will be storage issues for the 2020 crop, so farmers may have to truck their corn and soybeans further or resort to on-the-ground outdoor storage. “Certainly there’ll be a lot of effort to repair whatever storage can be repaired and brought back online before fall,” Naig says, “but it’s hard to imagine that any significant amount of the storage that’s been damaged will be able to be rebuilt before harvest this year.”

The state climatologist says Monday’s derecho passed through about a third of the state. Naig says localized crop losses in central and east central Iowa fields that were flattened by Monday’s storm will be severe, but it’s too soon to estimate the value of crop losses in those high damage areas. Naig says some livestock barns were damaged, too, but there have not yet been reports that hogs, cattle or poultry were killed in the storm.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — The family of a fourth worker who died of coronavirus during an outbreak at Tyson Foods’ largest pork processing plant is suing the company over his death.The lawsuit says Isidro Fernandez of Waterloo, Iowa died April 26 from complications of COVID-19, leaving behind a wife and children. The case was filed last week and is similar to one brought in June by the same lawyers on behalf of the estates of three other deceased Waterloo workers.

The lawsuits allege Tyson put employees at risk by downplaying concerns and covering up the outbreak in order to keep them on the job. Tyson says the deaths are tragic but that it vigorously disputes claims fo wrongdoing.