(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Food System Coalition wants to make locally-produced food the norm, not the exception, and is releasing a 250-page plan to get there in the next decade. One priority in the plan is to make it easier to get food from the farm to the table. That means supporting more local and regional infrastructure, like small-scale processing for specialty crops, grains, dairy and livestock. Coalition executive director Chris Schwartz says more than 40 partners across Iowa helped shape the plan.

“Which details all the things that we think we need to do in the state of Iowa to have a food system that is more local, that is more nutritious, that is more environmentally sustainable, and is more just for people doing the work.” Strategies include improving farmers’ access to land and expanding incentives to adopt practices that protect Iowa’s soil, water and air. Giselle Bruskewitz is the senior program director at Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development.

“We’re talking about small grain processing, rural grocery stores getting the infrastructure that they need,” Bruskewitz says, “vegetables that can be processed at scale so that schools and other institutions can buy them.” She says the coalition also wants to invest in more refrigerated trucks and food hubs, which aggregate and distribute local products.

Iowa’s network of food hubs serves nearly 70% of the state’s counties.

(Radio Iowa) – Jury selection is underway in the Dickinson County Courthouse for the trial of 44-year-old Kyle Ricke of Algona, who’s accused of murdering a policeman. Ricke’s charged in the fatal shooting last September of Algona Police Officer Kevin Cram. Cram was serving an arrest warrant to Ricke when Ricke allegedly pulled a handgun and shot the policeman.

The trial was moved to Dickinson County on a change of venue, but the start was delayed until today (Monday) due to recent flooding in the Spirit Lake area.

(Radio Iowa) – One of the smallest cities in Eastern Iowa with a population of around 50, is no longer considered a city at all. Randalia was officially unincorporated on June 30th. City Clerk Katrina Lane has lived in Randalia most of her life, and talked with K-C-R-G T-V the impact of the city becoming unincorporated. “It kind of means I worked myself out of a job,” Lane says. Lane’s has four kids and her oldest child is teenage son Andy. “I think it just means that we won’t be able to call it Randalia, but that doesn’t change the fact that we still live in it,” Lane says.

Katrina Lane says Randalia auctioned off the city properties to pay off its debt. “The city creamery, city hall, and the park and the playground equipment were sold separately, she says. Lane said it was a tough day for everyone, including her two young daughters, to see the park equipment go. Lane told K-C-R-G T-V that the population just kept declining and the town didn’t have the people or money to do the jobs to keep it running. “People moving out, people passing away, and…people not coming back in,” she says.

Fayette County will now be responsible for Randalia, including snowplowing its roads and maintaining them.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Department reports five arrests took place from June 30th through July 5th. Most recently:

On July 5th, 52-year-old David Mark Leesley, of Cedar Rapids, was arrested by Police in Adair, for Public Intoxication. His Breath Alcohol Content (BAC) registered .296% (more than 3 times the legal limit). Leesley pled guilty and was released the following day for time-served.

On July 3rd, Adair County Sheriff’s Deputies in Fontanelle, arrested 38-year-old Scotty Allen Zigler, of Adair, for Driving While Barred and Trespass/1st offense. He was cited and released.

On the 1st of July, 33-year-old Melissa Kay McClellan, of Altoona, was arrested in Greenfield, on an Adair County warrant for 3 counts of Harassment in the 3rd Degree. She was released later that day on a $500 bond. 30-year-old Austin Wayne Harrison, of Stuart, was arrested at the same location, on an Adair County warrant for Violation of Probation. He was released the same day on a $2,000 bond, with 10% acceptable.

And, on June 30th, 20-year-old Miguel Pena-Mendez, of West Des Moines, was arrested on Interstate 80 in Adair County, for OWI/2nd offense, and Driving while license is denied or revoked. He was taken into custody following a traffic stop shortly after 1:30-a.m., after Adair County Dispatch received a report about a reckless driver traveling west on I-80 near mile marker 93. Pena-Mendez was released later that morning on a $3,000 bond.

GREENFIELD, Iowa — The City of Greenfield is looking for volunteers this week, to help clean-up ahead of the July 23rd RAGBRAI event. A 12-day cleaning event will take place from July 10 to July 22. Volunteers can check in at the temporary Greenfield Fire station (801 NE 6th Street (just north of Cardinal Glass). Volunteer check in starts at 8 a.m. each day

Large groups are encouraged to call ahead. Contact the Emergency Operations Center phone number: 913-961-4717. Every volunteer must check in before beginning any work.

(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters say parts of Wright and Franklin counties got up to a half-foot of rain overnight, bringing flash flooding to communities including Alexander, Clarion and Eagle Grove. Wright County Emergency Management Coordinator Jarika Beecher says many basements were flooded and many roads were impassible as municipal crews tried to keep up with the torrents.

Eagle Grove football field (Photo by Pat Powers)

“We had a lot of water taken in last night and a lot of city streets were overwhelmed with all the water that was coming in so quickly,” Beecher says, “but they did their best to stay on top of all of it and had some pumps going and both Clarion and Eagle but water still got in a lot of people’s basements.”

Despite all of her training, even Beecher wasn’t immune from the unstoppable forces of nature. “I have a house in Eagle and I had water in my basement as well. I think the drains were just overwhelmed. There’s a lot of water going in so the drains weren’t taking it,” Beecher says. “I’ve been talking with the Eagle Grove mayor, they’re going to try to figure out a game plan for this morning and try to help people out, but there’s only so much that can be done when that much water is being taken in all at once.”

Meteorologist Brad Small, at the National Weather Service, says Sunday night’s storms brought some extreme downpours to the region.  “We had a swath of what radar estimated to be four to six inches of rain from the Eagle Grove area through other parts of Clarion in Wright County and then near Alexander in Franklin County,” Small says. “We did have some personal weather stations record over five inches of rain in Eagle Grove and they were hit pretty hard with flooding overnight.”

The water has receded and most roads that were flooded are now open to traffic. Small says the weather will be changing by midweek and will start feeling more seasonal. “We’ve got a larger trend that looks like it’s pointing toward less precipitation and more summery conditions with more heat and humidity, especially as we end the week and into the weekend, when highs in the 90s will be more common for the weekend,” Small says, “and we’ll see heat indices well through the 90s, possibly touching 100 degrees in spots.”

No injuries were reported in this latest round of flooding.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department had a busy holiday weekend. Authorities report nine arrests took place. Friday evening, 40-year-old Yarioska Rondoncama, of Brooklyn, NY, was arrested for Driving While Revoked. Rondoncama was cited and released on a promise to appear.

Two arrests took place Saturday, in Creston: 43-year-old Tammy Jo Coleman, of Des Moines, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance (PCS)/Marijuana – 1st Offense, and OWI/1st offense. Coleman was taken to the Union County Jail and later posted bond before being released; 38-year-old Holly Renee Donehoo, of Mount Ayr, was arrested in Creston, Saturday, for Driving While Suspended. She was cited and released on a promise to appear in court.

And, there were six arrests Sunday, in Creston:

• At around 2:50-a.m., 34-year-old William Albert Bethke, IV, of Sharpsburg, was arrested for OWI/1st Offense. Bethke was taken to the Union County Jail and held on $1,000 bond.
• At around 3:30-a.m., 30-year-old Laura Cecilia Zapata Gonzales, of Lenox, was arrested following a traffic stop, and charged with two counts of Child Endangerment/Substantial Risk, as well as OWI/1st offense. During the same incident, 24-year-old Julissa Padilla, also of Lenox, was charged with two counts of Child Endangerment/Substantial Risk. Padilla and Gonzales were released from the Union County Jail after posting bond.
• Sunday afternoon, 34-year-old Nathaniel Darnell Bifford, of Creston, was arrested for Driving while Suspended. Bifford was cited and released on Promise to Appear.
• Sunday evening, 59-year-old Robbie Allen Dohrn, of Creston, was arrested on a Adams County Warrant for FTA (Failure To Appear). Dohrn was taken to the Union County Jail, and later released on cash-only bond.
• Sunday night, 39-year-old Sherrence Patricia Kilgore, of Greenfield, was arrested on a Union County Warrant for FTA on an original charge of Driving while License Denied, Suspended Cancelled or Revoked. Kilgore was taken to the Union County Jail and later released on $300 cash or surety bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) [updated]  – Rescue crews from Anita and Griswold responded to separate accidents over the weekend, in Cass County (IA). Sunday evening, a single-vehicle rollover accident was reported on westbound Interstate 80, just east of mile marker 70. Anita Rescue was called to the scene, where a woman in the vehicle complained of chest pain following the crash that occurred at around 5:20-p.m. Additional information was not immediately available.

And, a single-vehicle accident happened at around 8:55-p.m., Sunday, on Highway 92, west of Griswold. According to a Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office accident report, an eastbound 2020 Kia driven by Daniel Paul Rossell, of Griswold, was crossing the Nishnabotna Bridge on Highway 92, when Rossell swerved to miss a tree branch on the roadway. The branch was deposited on the road during a recent storm. The car went out of control, entered the south embankment, vaulted a driveway in the yard of 53823 Highway 92, and rolled over, coming to rest in the yard at that location.

A passenger, 52-year-Jody Rossell, was injured in the crash. She3 was transported by private vehicle to Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, for treatment.

(Radio Iowa) – Several health advocacy groups are raising concerns about cancer risks linked to a chemical that’s used to decaffeinate coffee, but a local expert says you can still likely trust that morning cup of joe. Michaela Eckstein, a registered dietician with Gundersen Health System, says a solvent is commonly used on coffee beans to wick out caffeine, and the F-D-A is being petitioned to ban the use of that chemical compound.

“Methylene chloride is in the same category as the sun in terms of being a possible carcinogen,” Eckstein says, “but with the rest of that process, the coffee beans are then rinsed and heated to a super-high temperature so the methylene chloride all evaporates off, in order to be approved by the FDA and end up on our grocery store shelves.” Coffee beans are typically roasted at 400-degrees, which is up to four times higher than the evaporation point of the chemical. Eckstein says only very small amounts of methylene chloride may remain in the beans, or fewer than ten drops for every ten gallons of coffee. Studies find drinking coffee can have a variety of health benefits, including weight management, preventing heart failure, and a lower risk of developing multiple cancers and chronic diseases. Still, Eckstein says moderation is key.

“If we’re drinking caffeinated coffee, usually I recommend less than two cups per day, otherwise we start becoming more at risk of that shaky, jittery feeling,” Eckstein says. “When it comes to the decaf coffee, there’s definitely health benefits up to that three cup per day mark, or about 24 ounces a day.” Iowans who love their decaf coffee don’t have to go without, she says, as that chemical can be avoided with a little effort.

“If we are concerned about that methylene chloride, there are other options readily available,” Eckstein says. “You could get solvent-free coffee, certified organic coffee, or decaf coffee that’s made with the Swiss water processing method as well, or try some of those other great decaf drinks, like herbal tea or sparkling water.” The F-D-A is being asked to ban or restrict the use of several chemicals in food preparation, including methylene chloride, as it’s been connected to causing cancer. Groups making the request include the Environmental Defense Fund, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, Center for Environmental Health, and Environmental Working Group.