(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson is among a bipartisan group of lawmakers airing concerns about the delivery of absentee ballots for this year’s election. Hinson and other members of a House subcommittee quizzed the head of the U-S Postal Service during a hearing late last week.

Hinson mentioned the letter election officials from around the country sent Postmaster General Louis DeJoy earlier this month. The letter cited concerns the Postal Service had not made improvements to address the late delivery of absentee ballots that prevented those votes from being counted in 2022 and 2023 elections.

DeJoy says a year-round task force in the Postal Service has been focused on delivering mail-in ballots and he’s having meetings with Postal Service executives twice a week to review progress. Hinson asked DeJoy how complaints about ballot delivery issues will be handled.

DeJoy told lawmakers the Postal Service is pausing its consolidation of mail processing centers in October and the first half of November, to accommodate absentee ballot deliveries. The Republican who led the committee said those changes have caused broad problems with the delivery of all mail. Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says those are major systematic changes and Iowans want delivery problems fixed.

DeJoy says nearly all mail-in ballots in the last presidential election were delivered within seven days, which he describes as the commonsense and recommended time frame for processing and delivering mail.

[UPDATED] (Radio Iowa) – A Sioux City man was found dead in his pickup after it went off Interstate-29 and into the Missouri River Friday. Sioux City Police Sergeant Tom Gill says it happened around 5:30 p-m Friday.

Gill says a passenger in the truck was able to get out and made it to shore.

The driver has been identified as 55-year-old Delana Jackson of Sioux City. The passenger in the truck has not been identified.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Nebraska was arrested Thursday morning (Sept. 26) in Nebraska. 56-year-old James Mut Nyang, of Bellevue, NE, was picked-up from Nebraska authorities, on an Adair County warrant for Violation of Probation. Nyang was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $2,o00 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Dozens of utility workers from Iowa are now in Ohio, helping restore electricity to thousands of homes and businesses in areas where the remnants of Hurricane Helene caused widespread damage over the weekend. Geoff Greenwood, a spokesman for MidAmerican Energy, says they sent about 70 line workers and support crews to Cincinnati after staging with their big bucket trucks in Des Moines and Davenport on Friday night.

There are areas of the south and southeastern U-S that were much harder hit by the storm’s remnants than Ohio, and Greenwood says the Iowa crews that are now in the Cincinnati metro are expecting to get another assignment very soon.

It’s still unclear where the Iowa crews will be heading next to lend a hand.

At the peak, about 140-thousand Cincinnati area customers were without power, and by 9 A-M on Monday, only three-thousand or so remained offline, so the Iowa crews should be wrapping up there very soon. While Ohio is a long way from the ocean, the former hurricane still caused severe damage.

Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy serves 820,000 electric customers in Iowa, Illinois and South Dakota, and 797,000 natural gas customers in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds spent about a third of the month of September on a trade mission in India. Reynolds says the groundwork for her meetings was laid decades ago by the Iowa native who won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his research that improved wheat and rice yields.

Borlaug took a wheat variety he’d developed to India in the mid-1960s and increased wheat production there by 60 percent.*

Reynolds met with India’s Secretary of Agriculture as well as the country’s Minister for Food Processing and Minister of Commerce. Iowa Corn Growers President Stu Swanson says a memorandum of agreement was signed to promote discussions between Iowa’s and India’s feed sectors.

An Iowa-based start-up company called “Power Pollen” also signed a letter of agreement with an India company called V-R-N Seed that does business in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. Power Pollen, which is based in Ames, has developed a process for collecting pollen, storing it and then applying it to fields to increase production of rice, wheat and corn seeds.

(Radio Iowa) – An analysis from the group Food & Water Watch says Iowa is the top-ranking state for producing manure from livestock feeding operations at 109 billion pounds annually. Amanda Starbuck is the nonprofit organization’s research director.

Starbuck says there is a difference between the two types of waste.

While manure can add nutrients and organic matter to farm fields, Starbuck says the sheer amount of waste is too much for the land to handle.

Food & Water Watch used the latest data from the U-S Census of Ag and the E-P-A’s definition of medium-sized concentrated animal feeding operations to develop state rankings and create interactive maps. The 20-year trends across the U-S show fewer farms but larger livestock operations.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports two people were arrested Sunday (Sept. 29) on drug charges. 47-year-old Christina Roberts, of Omaha, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and possession of  drug paraphernalia. She posted $1,300 bond, and was released.

And, 48-year-old Timothy Horvath, of Blenco, was arrested Sunday for OWI/2nd offense, possession of Marijuana 3rd offense, possession of Methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was being held in the Mills County Jail on a $5,300 bond.

The Creston Police made a few arrests over the weekend.  On Saturday, September 28, 26 year old Isaac Wayne Hayes of Creston was charged with violating a no-contact order.  Hayes was held in the Union County Jail on $500 cash bond.

On Sunday, September 29, 22 year old Christopher Gage Selvy of Creston was charged with violating a no-contact order.  Selvy was held without bond.  Also Sunday, 22 year old Zoe Paulette Marie Hull of Creston was charged with violating a no-contact order and held without bond at the Union County Jail.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic will meet at 5:30-p.m. on Wednesday, October 2nd, at City Hall. During their regular meeting, the Council will act on an Order to close selected streets (see map below) for the Atlantic Fireman’s Parade  on October 12th, beginning at 4-p.m.

The Council will also act to pass the 3rd and final reading of an Ordinance that amends the City’s Code of Ordinances, with regard to “Prohibited Trees,” and an Order to approve a partnership with the Nishna Valley Family YMCA and the City of Atlantic, for management during the Summer of 2025, of the Sunnyside Pool.

YMCA Director Dan Haynes, last week, sent a report to the City Administrator after closing Sunnyside Pool for the year. The admissions were down a little from 2023, even with a significant boost during RAGBRAI. The pool needs to be painted. The City loses money operating the pool, which is typical for cities our size. Haynes said that the Y would be willing to manage the Pool again next summer, but the sooner they get the contract, the better so there is time for planning and promotion.

In other business, the Council is expected to approve the second pay application to the Hensley Group, LLS, for the Sunnyside Park Splashpad project, in the amount of $88,058.91. And, Mayor Grace Garrett is expected to announce the date for Halloween Trick-or-Treating in Atlantic, is Oct. 31st, from 5-until 7-p.m.

Oct. 12, 2024 Atlantic Fireman’s Parade route

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the proposed vacating and closure of a street in all of Walnut Avenue, in the unincorporated town of Hawthorne. The hearing will be held as part of the Board’s regular weekly meeting at the courthouse in Red Oak that begins at 8:30-a.m., and will be followed by action to approve or disapprove the vacating of the unimproved street.

The Supervisors are also expected to set the dates for public hearings on the upgrading of two streets (210th & 150th) from Level B (dirt) to Level A (gravel). The hearings are tentatively set to be held at 8:45- and 9-a.m. respectively, on October 22nd.

In other business, the Montgomery County Supervisors will receive an update from Auditor Jill Ozuna, with regard to an ICAP renewal extension option from Jan. 10th to February 10th. They are also expected to discuss Board of Supervisors Compensation Board representatives, and a Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund request for an additional $1,000, among other business.

*************

*Please note, this is a public meeting; however, it may be conducted via ZOOM

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85039693411

Meeting ID: 850 3969 3411

Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 If you are calling in, Press *9 to raise your hand if you wish to speak.31