Officials with the Nishna Valley Family YMCA in Atlantic say the 10-a.m. Arthritis Water Aerobics class has been cancelled for today.

While the flooding on the Missouri River has caused a lot of headaches for the people living there, an expert with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says it looks like its going to be a good thing for the animals that live in the river. Southwest Iowa fisheries supervisor, Chris Larson, says the flooding is having a major impact on the habitat.

“It’s kind of a biological payday for us in fisheries because the fish have been restricted to the channel for almost 57 years, and now they have this huge expanse of area to live and reproduce and grow and things like that,” Larson explains. Larson says there was an effort to improve the habitat before the flooding, and this is an extra benefit.

He says they obviously did not want to see the river flood to such extent that it damaged human property and lives, but he says there will be a small benefit from shallow habitat areas created that weren’t here before. He says the floodwaters are teaming with life.

Larson says crews have been doing some sampling and they are seeing “young of year” fish species all over the flood plain that they have not seen in the past, especially above Omaha where the river has rarely been out of its banks. He says they are seeing “paddlefish and saugers and blue suckers and all different kinds of species that’re taking advantage of the smorgasbord of food that’s left out there for ’em.”

Larson says there should be a wealth of good new fishing in the area after the floodwaters finally recede Larson says he can’t think of any fish species that have not been found in the floodplain in their limited sampling. The floodwaters are expecting to continue recede through the month of August.

(Radio Iowa)

For the third year in a row, an Adams County man has captured a State Fair title for a prize winning bull. Jim Stalcup‘s 2,768 pound bull “Bubba“ won the Super Bull category at the fair. For Stalcup, of Prescott, it was not only his third win in a row, but his sixth overall. Stalcup will celebrate 60-years in the cattle business, in 2012.

“Bubba” the bull was about 1,000 pounds heavier than the average bull, and more than double the size of market-weight cows that go to slaughter. The six-year old beast eats about a bushel of corn each day, but during the recent heat wave, he ate less than half of that, and lost about 300-pounds.

Bubba has sired about 300 calves since he came of age, five-years ago. His reign as a bull among bulls will come to an end after the fair, when he is sent to his demise, and future as hamburger.

An Audubon County teen was named the second runner-up during the selection of the State Fair Queen title, Saturday night. Chelsea Nelson, the daughter of Dave and Trudy Nelson, of Exira, was a finalist in the contest. The second runner-up wins $700 in scholarship money and a $250 Jordan Creek Mall gift card.

The title of Fair Queen went to Paris Schnepf, of Granville, in O’Brien County, who won a $2,800 scholarship and $600 gift card to the Jordan Creek shopping mall. Her name will also be placed on a brick at the Riley Stage, on the State Fairgrounds.

Cassie Galm, of Spencer, in Clay County was named 1^st runner-up, and Kelsey Orr, of Sioux City, in Woodbury County, was the third runner-up for the title.

The winners were chosen from 101 county queens, and had spent several days with judges at the fair. Last year’s Iowa State Fair Queen, was Lacy Stevenson.

Police in Red Oak report a local man was arrested on a drug charge, Sunday. 23-year old Demarcus Jermar King was taken into custody Sunday afternoon, after authorities executed a search warrant at his residence on West Coolbaugh Street. During the search, officers with the Red Oak P.D. and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office seized more than six-grams of marijuana, and various drug paraphernalia.

King was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 bond, for Possession with the Intent to Deliver. It’s the second time in a little over two-years King has been arrested on a Possession of Controlled substance charge.

The Iowa State Patrol says a Nebraska teen was injured Sunday night when the car she was driving was struck by an SUV a few miles east of Bellevue, Nebraska, on the Iowa side of the Missouri River. Officials say 18-year old Jillian McGlothlin, of Bellevue, was driving a 2000 VW Beetle on 189th Street and turning onto Highway 370, when she was hit on the driver’s side by a 1999 Ford Explorer.

McGlothlin was transported by Pacific Junction Rescue to Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs. The driver of the SUV, 24-year old Tristan Rackley, also from Bellevue, was not injured.

The accident happened at around 8:10-p.m., Sunday.

ONAWA, IA – A pipeline carrying natural gasoline developed a leak over the weekend,
with the potential to lose about 140,000 gallons of gasoline in the Missouri River
floodplain southwest of Onawa.

Enterprise Products of Houston, Tex., reported a drop in pipeline pressure to the
Iowa Department of Natural Resources at 4:30 a.m. Saturday. The pressure drop
occurred at 2:30 a.m. in a section of 8-inch pipe that runs under the Missouri River
from Decatur, Neb., east to Interstate 29 just west of Onawa.

Company officials were able to shut the pipeline down on both sides of the river,
estimating the maximum amount of gasoline in the pipe to be 140,742 gallons. They
had teams searching for the leak by 4:30 a.m. The company tried to verify and locate
the break on the ground, from a plane and from a boat.

By 4 p.m., they suspected the break was on the Iowa side of the river in the flood
plain, but still did not have a specific location. The company is pumping the
gasoline that remains in the pipeline into trucks. If flood water shows up as they
pump, that may help the company locate the break. If not, officials plan to send
divers to look early next week.

Natural gasoline is not natural gas. It is an unrefined light-weight liquid, clear
to light amber in color. It smells of petroleum and floats on water. It is heavier
than air. The product has likely floated on down river. Even if the gasoline is
found, it would be dangerous and difficult to recover in the turbulent flood
conditions.

The DNR notified downstream water supplies in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Blair and
Omaha, Neb., to alert the operators of possible petroleum contamination. The DNR
also notified the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. The company notified
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Nebraska.

A second pipeline carrying propane runs in the same trench as the natural gasoline.
Company officials are using a flare to burn off propane on the Nebraska side of the
river as a precaution.

The DNR is not considering enforcement actions.

Sheriff’s officials in Adams County say a Creston man was arrested early this (Sunday) morning, at the Corning City Park. 20-year old Michael Frabau was taken into custody at around 1:45-a.m., on a charge of Public Intoxication, after he was seen wearing just his boxer shorts.

Authorities in Montgomery County Sunday, investigated a property damage accident in Red Oak. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says a two-vehicle accident happened at the intersection of Highways 34 & 48. When Deputies arrived just after noon, Sunday, they determined a 2008 Chrysler van owned and driven by 86-year old Gene H. Howes, of Hamilton, IL, was traveling east on Highway 34, and failed to yield or stop at the intersection with Highway 48.

The van collided with a 1998 Ford van, driven by 44-year old June Marie Lang, of Red Oak. No injuries were reported. Damage from the crash amounted to $8,000.

Officials say Howe was cited for Failure to Obey a Stop Sign. Deputies were assisted at the scene by personnel from the Red Oak Fire and Rescue Department, Red Oak Police, and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Reserves.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) – Eight drivers are representing the Nebraska trucking industry at the national competition in Orlando, Fla., this week. The drivers all won the chance to represent Nebraska by winning one of the categories at the Nebraska Truck Driving Championships in June. The competition is designed to promote safety while drivers showcase their skills in tests such as an alley dock, side park and right turn. Drivers also have to navigate an obstacle course that designed to represent challenges they face every day.

Tim Dean, of Griswold, Iowa, was named the best professional truck driver in Nebraska after winning the tanker competition. He is one of three drivers for Omaha-based Werner Enterprises who won state categories. Drivers from Crete Carrier Corporation won two of the eight state categories.