(Radio Iowa) – Election day is just six weeks away and very few of the 435 races for U-S House seats are competitive. However, based the amount of advertising alone, two of the congressional races IN IOWA are getting national attention. University of Northern Iowa political science professor Donna Hoffman says about 95 percent of incumbents in the U-S House will get reelected.

“In Iowa, it’s about 85%, so there’s a little bit of a gap there,” Hoffman says. Six years ago, in the 2018 election, Democrats were elected in three of Iowa’s four congressional districts. Republican won all four districts in 2022. “So it’s the notion of a swing in Iowa. It happens at the presidential level. It can even happen in these congressional elections and they can even be competitive,” Hoffman says. “…Finding the right issues, getting the right cycle in terms of midterm (or) presidential election, turnout — all of those things can combine to make for some surprising results.”

U-N-I political science professor Christopher Larimer says while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is spending money on candidates in Iowa’s first and third districts, it’s hard to judge whether those seats will swing to the Democrats. “We’re still kind of trying to figure out: ‘What are the atmospherics of this election going to be?” Larimer says. “As strange as that sounds, we’ve had so much change over the summer.”

University of Northern Iowa professors Christopher Larimer and Donna Hoffman on the “Iowa Press” set. (Iowa PBS photo)

Larimer and Hoffman made their comments during a recent appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S. The professors discussed their recently published research paper titled “Iowa’s Unique Congressional Competitiveness.”

In Iowa’s first district, Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks, the incumbent, is in a rematch with Democrat Christina Bohannan. In 2022, Republican Congressman Zach Nunn won the third district race by about two-thousand. His 2024 Democratic opponent is Lanon Baccam.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department report a second suspect believed to have been involved in  the August 29th shooting of a 17-year-old male, was arrested Monday in Nebraska. According to the report, 20-year-old Ethan William Stevenson was arrested without incident by the Metro Area Fugitive Task Force at a residence in Valley, NE. He was being held in the Douglas County, NE Jail, while awaiting extradition to Iowa, on a charge of Attempt to Commit Murder (A Class-B Felony). Authorities say he is the last suspect in the case.

On August 30th, Detectives with the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division located and arrested 19-year-old Isaac James Landanger, of Council Bluffs. He was being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail on the Felony,  Attempt to Commit Murder charge.

Both men were arrested following an investigation into an incident that took place in Council Bluffs at around 9:30-p.m. August 29th, in the area of S. 26th St. and 3rd Ave., where a 17-year-old male was shot. The teen suffered leg and chest wounds, and was transported to Mercy Hospital prior to officers arriving on scene. His injuries were said to be non-life threatening.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig is back from a trade trip with the governor and business leaders to India. “Met with folks who could be customers of ours in India in terms of importing, food and agriculture products, but also had a chance to brag on Iowa a little bit and talk about what it’s like to do business here, and try to recruit some folks who may want to put a footprint in or make an investment in the state,” he says. Naig says India has a lot of potential.

“The largest country by population, over one-point-four billion people,” Naig says, “and from a food and agriculture standpoint, there are so many things that they need in order to meet that demand. They’ve got a rising middle class, a middle class that will exceed 500 million people.” Naig says there are some key Iowa products that could fill the void there. “We think that there’s tremendous opportunity for us to supply feed to their livestock sector. They’re also looking to improve and increase the amount of ethanol that they’re blending into their fuel. And so ethanol is a very, very real possibility for us to have significant exports to that country,” he says.

Mike Naig (Iowa PBS photo)

Naig says feed and ethanol are just a couple of the items that could be exported. “There are just opportunities abounding there for the things that we produce and have so much in abundance here in the state of Iowa,” Naig says. Naig says they did sign two memorandums of understanding with India. “One with the sort of the livestock and feeding grain sector to explore ways that we can work together, and the other was with a research institute to look at ways that we can work together in terms of research on crop and renewable energy,” he says, “also, how do we prepare the next generation with the skill set that they need to take advantage of the types of technology that we have here in the United States.”

Naig says the trip is part of the effort to lay the groundwork for longer term trade. “I think what we want to do is be positioned to have an opportunity to enter that market and do so in a big way, but it’s going to take some time for that to develop,” he says.

Naig joined the governor, and directors of the Iowa Economic Development Authority and Iowa Finance Authority on the ten-day trip to India.

(Area News) – ISU Extension in Adair, Audubon, Cass and Guthrie Counties will host a free, one-hour learning session for private well owners on Wednesday evening, October 9th (2024) at 6-p.m. The program will help attendees understand their well’s water quality and connect them to resources to manage their well. A representative will also be on hand from the Guthrie County Environmental health department, which provides services to all four counties to offer free well-water testing.

Did you know that Iowa has a unique funding source for free or low-cost annual testing of private wells? Or that some water pollutants are odorless, tasteless and will not be removed by boiling water? If you’re curious about the answers to these questions, then take advantage of the upcoming learning session which will detail how to test your well and who can help, common contaminants, and factors that affect well water quality.

The program will be taught by Catherine DeLong, Water Quality Program Manager for ISU Extension and Outreach. According to DeLong, “About 230,000 Iowans rely on private wells as their home’s main water source, yet many do not know they should be testing once a year and that Iowa has a unique funding source to help cover the cost of testing.”

The free program will take place on Wednesday evening, October 9 from 6:00pm –7:00pm at the Anita Community Center, located at 805 Main Street in Anita. While there is no charge to attend, pre-registration is requested for seating and materials. To RSVP contact the county Extension office in Adair (641-743-8412), Audubon (712-563-4239), Cass (712-243-1132) or Guthrie (641-747-2276) county, or email keolson@iastate.edu. Information about this and other upcoming programs can also be found online at www.extension.iastate.edu/cass.

(Radio Iowa) – A sort of snowplow driving school is getting underway this week for hundreds of Iowa Department of Transportation workers who will be using those big orange machines to keep our roads clear of ice and snow in the season ahead. Craig Bargfrede, the DOT’s winter operations administrator, says trailers containing sophisticated snowplow simulators are being set up at many DOT garages across the state.

“It provides realistic training in the simulator,” Bargfrede says. “Ultimately, it’s refreshing our folks on winter driving skills, puts them in scenarios that are similar to being out on the road, but it does it in a much safer environment, and it doesn’t put wear and tear on our trucks.”

DOT Snowplow cam

Ideally, before the snow flies in Iowa, a wide cross-section of DOT drivers will have brushed up on their snowplow skills. “Each year, we shoot to get right around 500 across the state,” Bargfrede says, “which is about a third of our force, when you include both our full-time staff and then the seasonal staff that we get each year.” Bargfrede has been in the simulators himself and says the experience is very close to being in the large, lumbering vehicles in all sorts of difficult conditions.

“The scenarios are very realistic. The seat that you sit in, the controls are very realistic and very comparable to actually being in the truck,” Bargfrede says. “There’s such things as if you should kind of drift over to the edge of the road and you hit the rumble strips, the seat will actually shake.”

While this past Sunday was the start of fall, Bargfrede knows winter weather can sometimes arrive in Iowa early, and his goal is to have all crews and equipment ready for the roads by October 15th.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports three arrests took place over the past week. As previously mention, 52-year-ol Donnell Marie Griffith was arrested Sept. 16th in Fontanelle, on an Adair County Class D Felony warrant for Going Armed with Intent. The Sheriff’s report says that on Sept. 11th, Griffith allegedly went armed with a handgun, with the intent to use it without justification. The report said Griffith claimed the weapon  – a Smith and Wesson .38-Special –  accidentally discharged when she pulled it out of her pants and put it on a shelf in the kitchen.

The investigating Deputy informed her he responded because a 911 caller claimed she had pointed a gun at the caller. Griffifth said “If that would have happened, I would just put one right between his eyes.” Four unused rounds and a spent shell casing were taken into evidence at the scene. Griffith was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $5,000 cash or surety bond.

Friday afternoon, 32-year-old Amber Leigh Garrison, of Fontanelle, was arrested by Fontanelle Police, on warrants for Harassment in the 3rd Degree, and Reckless Use of a Firearm – resulting in property damage. Garrison was being held in the Adair County Jail without bond until making an initial court appearance. And, Saturday night, 22-year-old Dylon Lynn Dowdell, of Greenfield, was arrested by Adair County Sheriff’s Deputies on an Adair County Felony warrant for: the Domestic Abuse Assault of a pregnant person – impeding the flow of air/blood; Assault causing bodily injury or mental illness; and Criminal Mischief in the 3rd Degree.

Dowdell was being held in the Adair County Jail without bond until making an initial court appearance.

(Farmhamville, Iowa) – Authorities in northwest Iowa’s Calhoun County report that on Sunday, Sept. 22nd, a juvenile female was reported missing in Farmhamville. The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office responded and investigated. During their initial investigation, a male subject was detained. Upon further investigation, law enforcement this (Monday) morning, located the deceased body of the missing person, who they are currently identifying as “Jane Doe.”

Authorities say at this time, they feel there is no ongoing threat to the public. Charges in the case are currently pending. The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office is being aided in its investigation, by the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Iowa State Patrol, the Webster and Greene County Sheriff’s Offices, and several local police departments.

(Cass County, Iowa) – A Town Hall meeting will be held this (Monday) evening in Atlantic, with regard to the EMS public measure that will be on the November 5^th General Election ballot across Cass County (IA). The informational meeting takes place at 6-p.m., at the Cass County Community Center next to the fairgrounds. For those unable to attend, another meeting will be held from 2-until 3-p.m. Tuesday, at the Heritage House, in Atlantic.

The measure asked voters: Shall the Cass County Board of Supervisors, upon recommendation by the Cass County EMS Advisory Council, for the purpose of funding emergency medical services in Cass County, including, but not limited to, ambulance service, personnel, and equipment, be authorized, for a period of 15 years, to 1) levy and impose a local option income surtax of one percent upon the state individual income tax of each individual taxpayer who is a resident of Cass County on December 31 for each calendar year commencing with the calendar year 2025, and 2) levy and impose an ad valorem tax not exceeding seventy-five cents per one thousand dollars of assessed valuation on all taxable property within Cass County commencing with the levy of property taxes for collection in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026?

County officials have previously said the levy will have very little impact on taxation.

A third Town Hall meeting will be held at the Legion Hall in Massena, on October 1st.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports an individual was arrested on a warrant, last Wednesday. 40-year-old Jamie Lee Stephens, of Macedonia, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office on the warrant for False Report to Public Entity. Her bond was set at $1,000.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Atlantic Police Department say two people were arrested on separate charges, Saturday. 39-year-old Summer Cole, of Atlantic, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/2nd offense. And, 28-year-old Weneity Seker, of Atlantic, was arrested for Driving while License Denied or Revoked. Both were transported to the Cass County Jail, and booked-in.