(Radio Iowa) – A man escaped catastrophe when he was rescued from a grain bin Monday morning in Appanoose County.

The Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office says it received a call at 10:39 a.m. with reports of a man trapped in a grain bin in rural Moravia. The Moravia Fire Department arrived at the scene and extracted a 58-year-old male from the grain bin that was half full.

The man, who has not been identified, was airlifted to a hospital in Des Moines where he is reportedly in stable condition.

(Radio Iowa) – The proposed Iowa route for a Texas company’s carbon pipeline has changed and more than 200 people packed a public hearing in Manchester to express their opinions on the project. The Navigator pipeline would ship liquefied carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to storage in Illinois. Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, a vice president for Navigator, says the route was adjusted once Archer-Daniels-Midland decided to pursue its own carbon pipeline.

A dozen POET ethanol plants in Iowa would be connected to the the Navigator pipeline route. Dubuque County Supervisor Ann McDonough says the company has given zero safety information to emergency services in the area.

A man who spoke at the hearing in Manchester said the proposed route would come within a quarter mile of his house and he’s concerned about ruptures.

In 2020, a carbon pipeline rupture in Mississippi prompted the evacuation of a small town, as liquified carbon dioxide can cause nausea, headaches, mental confusion and respiratory issues. Several speakers urged the audience to send written objections to the Iowa Utilities Board, which will review Navigator’s requests to seize property from landowners unwilling to sign voluntary easements for the pipeline. Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions is the third company seeking landowner agreements for a pipeline.

ATLANTIC, IA – Produce in the Park is delighted to offer customers local peaches this week. Market Manager Brigham Hoege says vendor Brun Ko Farm will be selling the Iowa-grown peaches in the downtown City Park, and the market’s guest chef will be handing out samples of peach salsa. Peach salsa is good with chips, but also pairs well with pork (also sold at the park).

This week’s food trucks are Pim’s Thai and Pomodoro Fresh Italian. Pomodoro offers a plain butter noodle option for kids, and will offer that popular dish in adult-sized portions thanks to Produce in the Park customer feedback.

Emily Paulsen of Brun Ko Farm with Iowa peaches

The Atlantic Lions Club will be at the park this week with free putt-putt golf and bags games, and Atlantic Parks and Recreation will set up checkers and chess, in addition to a variety of yard games. Produce in the Park continues to welcome new vendors to the park throughout the season. Within the last few weeks, a vendor selling sourdough bread and produce has joined the market, along with a vendor selling hand-embroidered dishtowels and t-shirts. Check out these new vendors at the park on August 25.

Produce in the Park is a farmers market and community gathering held Thursday evening from 4:30-6:30 PM in the Atlantic City Park through October 13.

Produce in the Park August 25 DETAILS…
Time: 4:30-6:30 PM
Location: Atlantic City Park (10 W. 7th St. Atlantic, IA 50022)
Live Music: Sarah Selders
Food Trucks: Pomodoro Italian and Pim’s Thai
Activities: Putt-putt with Atlantic Lions Club, Yard games and board games with Atlantic Parks and Recreation
Fresh local produce: Peaches, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, eggplant, garlic, and more!
Guest Chef: Peach Salsa
Fresh Produce: Tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, garlic,
Meats: Beef, pork, lamb, chicken
Staples: Honey, farm-fresh eggs, granola
Treats: Kringle, pastries, fresh-squeezed lemonade, popcorn
Crafts and More: Jewelry, candles and melts, bath salts, art prints, plants
Free drawing for farm-fresh eggs (sponsored by the Cass County Local Food Policy Council)

Payment methods accepted: All vendors accept cash. Many accept credit cards, Venmo, and Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) Senior and WIC checks. All qualifying food vendors accept SNAP/EBT (also known as food stamps). All fresh produce vendors both accept and distribute Double Up Food Bucks (coupons given for SNAP/EBT purchases of fresh produce).

Produce in the Park August 2022 farmers markets are sponsored by the Atlantic Community Promotion Commission, Cass County Tourism, Cass Health, First Whitney Bank and Trust, the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, and Deter Motor Co.
For updates on Produce in the Park, follow Produce in the Park on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ProduceInThePark) or Instagram (www.instagram.com/produceintheparkatlanticia/), or visit the Produce in the Park website to sign up
for the e-newsletter at www.produceintheparkatlanticiowa.com.

For information on vending at the park, contact Market Manager Brigham Hoegh at produceintheparkatlanticiowa@gmail.com or 712-249-5870.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Iowa Aviation Museum’s 29th Annual Wings Fly-In/Drive-In and the Hall of Fame Induction for 2022, will be held Saturday, August 27th, at the museum in Greenfield. A pancake breakfast will be served by the Fontanelle Lions Club from 7:30 to 10 am. Cost of the breakfast, which includes admission to the museum, is $8 for adults and children under 5 are free. PIC eat free.

Immediately following the breakfast, Connie Rex Younger and Nicholas A. Turner will be inducted into the Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame. More information on the men and the Hall of Fame can be found on www.flyingmuseum.com or on the Iowa Aviation Museum Facebook page.

For questions, contact 641-343-7184 or email aviation@iowatelecom.net.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University researchers have developed a way to take 3-D pictures with a robot to study the leaf angles of corn plants. Professor Lie Tang says the leaf angles play an important role in how the plant captures sunlight, but it’s hard for a photographer to get pictures with thousands of plants growing together. “Some of them they can grow more than ten foot tall. And you want to capture the angles from bottom to the top in a very tight space,” Tang says. Tang is a professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering and says they developed a system with multiple tiers of cameras that are customized to work together.

“We could have binocular vision or stereo vision, just like our human beings who have two eyes. So we can perceive the world in three dimensional space. It’s the same kind of principle, we even have two cameras through something we call the matching between two cameras,” he says. Tang says the cameras on the robot they call “Phenobot Three,” gives them color plus depth to help determine the leaf angles.  There’s a quite a breakthrough piece, to be able to exactly detect the different angles in a very complex imaging situation,” Tang says.

Lie Tang (ISU photo)

Tang says they use A-I or artificial intelligence and deep learning to sort through the data to measure the angles accurately. “So we are training our computer algorithms to understand the different angles to be able to recognize different angles through training. So that has proven to be very successful,” according to Tang. There are various corn hybrids with an upright leaf angle, to assist in the photosynthetic process and improve crop yields, but the I-S-U researchers say the genetics that control this trait are relatively unknown.

It’s hoped the advanced photo system will help them learn more. The research is supported by a two-point-five million-dollar National Science Foundation grant.

(Radio Iowa) – The Centers for Disease Control estimates the vast majority of Iowa kids have had COVID. The C-D-C analyzed samples from children between the ages of six months and 17 years who had blood drawn at commercial labs for non-COVID tests in May and June. The C-D-C estimates 84-and-a-half percent of Iowa children had COVID or were recovering from an infection in late spring. Having had COVID indicates a person likely has antibodies against the virus that prevent reinfection. A U-C-L-A study of mild cases of COVID has found antibodies against COVID drop after about three months and disappear after a year. The Mayo Clinic’s website shows the number of daily cases of COVID in Iowa has been dropping since the end of July.

The C-D-C estimates just under 80 percent of U.S. children had COVID or were recovering from an infection this spring. An earlier estimate from the agency indicated that by the end of April about 60 percent of ADULTS either had an active case of COVID or had recovered from one recently.

(Iowa DNR News) – LOGAN, Iowa – The Harrison County Attorney’s Office, Monday (Aug. 22nd) charged a Fremont, Nebraska man, 22-year-old Garret Vanderheiden, with involuntary manslaughter, a class D felony, and boating while intoxicated – first offense, a serious misdemeanor. The charges stem from a boating incident that occurred May 29th, and that resulted in the death of 20-year-old Emma Olsen, from of Omaha.

Vanderheiden is accused of being the operator of a 30-foot red and white Scarab that sank in the Missouri River, near Mondamin, Iowa. The charges are the result of an extensive investigation by Iowa conservation officers.

Note: A criminal charge is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors (this) Tuesday morning, passed a Resolution with regard to ARPA funding for the Cumberland Youth Fitness Program. The Board during their meeting on August 16^th, approved a request to equip the facility with a cross-fit training machine, at a cost of $4,919. In other business, the Board continued their discussion from last week, with regard to the potential sale of County-Owned farmland, in the area of Willow Heights. Cass County resident Cary Short commented on the value of the land, and the financial loss the County would take by selling it, instead of continuing to lease it.

He said the taxpayers would lose $29,522 this year alone, if the property is put back on the tax rolls.

He even suggested that if the County wanted to save taxpayers money, it should pass a Resolution to eliminate one of the Supervisor’s jobs and go to a three-member Board, like other Counties have done, and as authorized by the Code of Iowa. That suggestion didn’t sit well with Vice-Chair Mark O’Brien.

Supervisor Bernard Pettinger and O’Brien mentioned going to a three member board could pose a problem as far as transparency is concerned.

Supervisor Steve Green said a good portion of the land is above average in the CSR, which will bring the price up. Land is always an investment, he said, and…

Supervisor John Hartkopf said without the proper guidance, the County could be looking at a “Huge Capital Gains Tax,” if it decides to sell the land. The Board took no action on the sale during their meeting, while they continue to gather information. Certified letters were mailed on August 22, 2022 to the current tenants.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue reports as part of an ongoing investigation, the Atlantic Police Department executed three search warrants on Monday, August 22nd. The warrants were served on residences at 405 Peach Street, 511 Walnut Street, and 706 Palm Street. As a result of the investigation two men were arrested: 19-year-old William Freemark, of Atlantic, was arrested for: Possession of a controlled substance/1st offense – marijuana, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia; 19-year-old Tanner Glines, of Atlantic, was arrested for PCS/2nd offense – marijuana, and poss. of paraphernalia.

The investigation is ongoing and additional charges are pending. Atlantic Police were assisted in their investigation by the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa State Patrol Tactical Team, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Cass County Drone Team.

No other details are being released at this time. If you have information regarding the incident, please call the Atlantic Police Department at 712-243-3512.

(Radio Iowa) – Many thousands of refugees from Afghanistan have found new homes in the U-S in recent months, with several hundred settling in Iowa, and now Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says there’s new evidence several dozen of them should never have been allowed into the country. Grassley says, “At least 70 of these people have been identified as maybe possible national security threats and does the FBI know where they are?” F-B-I Director Chris Wray appeared before a senate panel earlier this month and Grassley asked him where those Afghans who are possible security threats were located. Grassley says Wray didn’t know, but promised to find out and get back to them. Grassley says the security screenings were insufficient.

“We’re also concerned the extent to which their proper vetting of everybody that came to the country and everybody should be properly vetted,” Grassley says, “but we think that 70 had been either vetted or had other suspicions of them being possible national security threats, and that’s what we’re trying to find out.” Grassley says there needs to be more transparency about the Afghan refugees who were flagged by the National Ground Intelligence Center as potential security threats. Grassley says there’s no way to know if any of the Afghans who now live in Iowa are among those who are potential security threats. Still, he says he’s confident the vast majority of the refugees are “hard working” people and will contribute to Iowa’s economy.

“A little bit like we have learned, maybe at the time the Vietnamese boat people came to Iowa 40-50 years ago,” Grassley says. “We probably had some doubt about whether we should be doing that, but for the most part, they’ve turned out to be very contributing people to the economy of Iowa and really good Iowans.” At least 700 Afghan refugees have settled in Iowa in the past year, according to the Refugee Alliance of Central Iowa.