(Radio Iowa) – The dean of Iowa State University’s history department says he experienced a surprising sweep of sadness at the news Queen Elizabeth had died. Simon Cordery was born outside of London and his family moved to the U.S. when Cordery was 15. “She’s the only head of state, like most Britons, I’ve ever known and her presence was always a source of stability,” he says. “It lent a sense of permanence to an ever changing world.”

Cordery. who has dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom, says the queen was an incredible ambassador for all things British — even for people like him who aren’t necessarily in total support of the idea of a monarchy. “Depending on what happens to the monarchy in the next 50 years, and as a historian I wouldn’t dare to even begin to speculate, I can imagine she that will be perceived and interpreted as a person who saved the monarchy at a time of incredible trial and uncertainty,” Cordery says.

Simon Cordery. (ISU photo)

Her uncle abdicated from the throne to marry a twice divorced American and Elizabeth’s father became king until his death in 1952. Elizabeth ascended to the throne at the age of 25. “Her ability to become in many ways a voice of the British people surprised and delighted a lot of English and Scottish and Irish and Welsh people who didn’t really know what to expect from this admittedly very young princess,” Cordery says. Elizabeth’s eldest son is now King Charles the third and Cordery suspects he’s in for a bit of a rough ride.

“He’s got a tough act to follow. I don’t envy him and he’s had a lot of bad press, of course — some of it his own making and some of it just because of who he is,” Cordery says. “…I can’t imagine that he will make any major missteps. The question is how strong of an advocate will he be for maintaining the commonwealth, how much of his time will he be able to devote to making sure that the infrastructure that his mother has so carefully nurtured will remain in place.”

Cordery is teaching a class in western civilization this semester and he’s looking forward to hearing students’ reactions to Queen Elizabeth’s passing. “I’m curious to know my students’ response to this news,” he says. “I’m curious to know how quickly they learned about it, what their immediate thoughts were, how they feel about it all.”

Several Iowa elected officials issued written statements after the announcement that Queen Elizabeth had died. Senator Chuck Grassley’s staff released a photo of Grassley with the queen after her 1991 address to the U.S. congress. Governor Kim Reynolds has ordered all flags in Iowa to be flown at half staff until after the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth on Monday, September 19th.

(Radio Iowa) – Testimony began today (Thursday) with the playing of a 9-1-1 call in the first-degree murder trial of a Merrill man accused of killing his son. The jury heard from the dispatcher — and heard two 9-1-1 calls made by Thomas Knapp’s wife Darlene on the day of the shooting.

In the second call, Darleen Knapp says her 51-year-old son Kevin Juzek, is trying to defend himself against his father who has a shotgun.

Plymouth County Deputy Rick Singer testified that they found Knapp walking with his hands in his coat and he had trouble understanding them.

Knapp is hard of hearing and during testimony sat in a wheelchair wearing a pair of headphones. The trial will resume Friday at the courthouse in Le Mars.

(Radio Iowa) – An author from Lake City is publishing a book later this year on Iowa’s connection to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Darcy Maulsby says she first became fascinated with the story of the doomed ship when it was discovered in the mid 1980s at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean. In recent years, she heard another author give a lecture that included the mention of some Swedish immigrants who were onboard and headed for Iowa — who survived the disaster.

“I had known that there were maybe one or two people with ties to Iowa and the Titanic but I ended up doing a blog post and then I kept researching,” Maulsby says. “I found out that there’s roughly about 20 people with ties in one form or another to Iowa and the Titanic.” She says her upcoming book, “Iowa’s Lost History from the Titanic,” will focus on Iowa’s many connections to the luxury liner from all over the state.

“Some were folks that were actually coming from Europe to settle in America,” Maulsby says. “Some had grown up in places like Cedar Rapids and had actually moved on but still had family in the area, so they all have their own different stories.” Maulsby will present a program on her findings at 1 P-M Saturday at the Mulberry Center Church in Webster City.

https://www.darcymaulsby.com/blog/iowas-lost-history-from-the-titanic/

(Cass County, Iowa) – The operator of a crane suffered lacerations to his face and neck after a bridge collapsed Thursday afternoon and the crane went into a ditch in Cass County. According to dispatch reports, the accident happened one-quarter of a mile east of 765th and Pella Road, northeast of Massena, at around 3-p.m.

The crane operator was able to get out of the machine and was walking around following the accident. Cumberland-Massena Fire and Rescue, Cass EMS, and Sheriff’s Deputies were heading to the scene. Cumberland and Cass EMS were told to “disregard” at 3:15-p.m., as Massena had incident command.

Cass County Secondary Roads was notified as well.

No other details are currently available.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest financial report shows the State of Iowa has a sizeable surplus, but sales tax payments slowed significantly this summer. Jeff Robinson is a senior analyst for the Legislative Services Agency. He says some transactions from the last state fiscal year are still being processed, but the state treasury will wind up with hundreds of millions more in tax payments than state officials had predicted in March.  “At the June 30 conclusion of the cash year, gross General Fund revenue was $435 million above projections,” Robinson says. “Individual income tax produced almost 70% of the excess.”

Robinson says since July 1st, state income tax payments from individuals AND corporations have remained strong. However, sales and use tax payments to the state were down four percent. From July 1st through September 2nd, total state tax revenue increased 13 million dollars. That’s a less than one percent increase compared to the same period last year. The tax CUTS that lawmakers approved this spring will start going into effect January 1st.

(Radio Iowa) – Fall enrollment at the University of Iowa is up slightly, while Iowa State University saw another drop. I-S-U reports a decrease of 739 students for the fall semester, putting overall enrollment just below 30-thousand. It is the sixth straight year fall enrollment has dropped in Ames since enrollment peaked in 2016 at 36-thousand-291 students.

The University of Iowa reports an increase of 106 students to put fall enrollment at 30-thousand-15. It is the first time fall enrollment has increased in Iowa City since 2016. Both schools report an increase in first-year students.

(Radio Iowa) – A federal judge has given final approval to a settlement for employees who lost their jobs when the Flexsteel plant in Dubuque closed in 2020. Employees who worked at Flexsteel facilities in Dubuque and Mississippi filed a class action lawsuit against the company last year. It claimed Flexsteel used the pandemic as an excuse to immediately close the plants and deny severance pay to laid off employees and the company failed to give a 60 day notice of the layoffs.

A federal judge has approved a settlement of nearly one-point-three million dollars that will provide payments to about 300 former Flexsteel workers. The payments will range from at least one-thousand up to 15-thousand dollars and are based on how long the employee worked at Flexsteel and how much they were paid.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – During a meeting of the Atlantic City Council Wednesday evening, City Administrator John Lund wanted to get an idea of what the Council thinks about renewing the City’s agreement with “The Retail Coach,” as the contract is set to expire. Renewing the contract for a second year, would cost $20,000.

The $20,000 price tag that comes with the renewal, was the result of conversations between Councilman Gerald Brink and The Retail Coach Project Director Austin Farmer, who is working with  the Chamber and the City as a consultant to conduct market research and development to further high-impact retail recruitment and development strategies. Last year, the first-year of the program, cost $30,000.

Brink said Farmer told him that it “normally takes two-years to see some success.” He said the main issue the City faces right now, is a lack of location for certain business.

Councilman Pat McCurdy said “The Retail Coach’” price tag could easily be offset by the introduction of a new employer.

John Lund says “very concrete and specific things are being discussed and worked-on,” and, while he’s not at liberty to say what client or clients may be inclined to locate their business in Atlantic, he doesn’t feel the City is being “Strung along,” just to get more money from “The Retail Coach.”

Lund says value of “The Retail Coach” comes from an extensive collection of data that the City would pay much more for if it was gathered by other means.

There was no formal action on renewing the agreement Wednesday. Instead, renewal of the contract will take place by a vote at a near future Council meeting, and then signed by Mayor Grace Garrett.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is starting to get in shipments of the latest COVID-19 booster shots, and the experts say we should consult with our doctors on the best timing to get vaccinated. The new m-R-N-A booster doses from Moderna and Pfizer are bi-valent, meaning, they protect against two strains of coronavirus. Federal guidance recommends those 12 and older get the shot at least two months after their last dose. Leah Veach, an infectious disease specialist with UnityPoint, says some people may want to wait a little longer between shots if they’ve recently had another booster or a COVID infection. “If you’re right at that two-month point, I surely would have no problem with waiting an additional month or two beyond that,” Veach says, “but I would not wait until say January or February to assess the situation.”

Veach says not to panic and think you need to get in right away for the booster. “Sometimes people hear that two-month interval and think, ‘Oh my goodness, I need to get it right at two months,'” Veach says. “It’s just important to realize that that’s a minimum and that it’s absolutely fine and maybe slightly beneficial to wait a bit longer than that.”

Federal figures show 63-percent of all Iowans have received their initial vaccinations against the virus, but only slightly more than half of this group has received their first booster dose.

(reporting by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

(Atlantic, Iowa; reporting by the Atlantic FFA’s Charli Goff) – The Atlantic FFA Chapter competed in the Iowa FFA Livestock Career Development Event held at Iowa State University on August 27, 2022 placing 15th and earning a Gold medal. Team members included Brett Dreager, Dylan Comes, Joaquin Walies and McKenna Sonntag as they competed against 47 other teams during the contest. Sophomore McKenna Sonntag led the way with earning 4th place individual. McKenna placed 3rd in Beef, 2nd in the Swine division, 3rd in the Sheep & division and 6th in Oral Reasons. Dylan was 2nd on the team placing 69th, Joaquin placed 121st and Brett placed 129th out of 159 individuals.

The FFA Livestock Evaluation Career Development Event provides an opportunity for FFA members to display their agricultural knowledge and skills in the area of Livestock Evaluation. Activities included: placing breeding and market classes of beef, swine, sheep and goats; keep/cull and oral reasons classes; and a general knowledge test.

Left to right
Brett Dreager, Dylan Comes, Joaquin Wailes, Mckenna Sonntag (Photo submitted) Click to enlarge

There were 159 members participating from 47 chapters. Dylan Comes said “It was really fun to spend the day at ISU. The classes were challenging, and touched most aspects of livestock, and I learned a lot.”

The Iowa FFA Livestock Evaluation Career Development Event was made possible with support from the Iowa State University Block and Bridle Club through the Iowa FFA Foundation. The Livestock Evaluation Career Development Event was coordinated and conducted by Will Taylor and other faculty and staff with the Animal Science Department at Iowa State University.