(Audubon, Iowa) – Officials with the Audubon Chamber of Commerce, Sunday, announced Saturday’s the T-Bone parade winners.

Antique Tractor, 1959 and older: Keith Grabill

Milestone Tractor, 1960 and newer: Matt Randeris

Saddle: The Audubon County Saddle Club

Jr. Division: The Girl Scouts

Sr. Division: 1st place – Audubon Fire and Rescue / 2nd place – Southwest Iowa Real Estate

Good Neighbor: Exira Fire Department

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University Extension specialist says canning or freezing home grown fruits and vegetables has become more popular in the last 10 years — and that picked up during the pandemic and is continuing now with higher food prices. Food specialist Renee Sweers says it’s important to preserve your produce using updated techniques.  “People tend to think that they should just fall back and do things, the way that their grandparents did or the way you know, somebody in their family in the past did it. And that might not always be the safest method,” Sweers says. “I think it’s kind of hard for people to understand, food preservation has been around for such a long time, kind of hard for people to understand that it really is based on science.” She says some cooking methods aren’t the best and safest anymore.

“We don’t use the what they used to call open kettle canning, where you just put the hot food in a hot jar and just put the lid on it. There’s no processing, I mean, that is an old process that is no longer considered safe,” she says. Some of the new technology is also not safe for canning foods — including the pressure cookers that you plug in. “Yes, we would do pressure canning in a pressure canner — but the instant pots and some of those types of electrical devices for pressure cooking are not to be used for canning,” Sweers says. And while you can get some helpful information online — she says there is also a lot of information out there that isn’t correct.

“We usually say, you know, if you come to our website, if you come to Iowa State University Extension Outreach, that’s going to be a reliable source, and really any of the extension services in the country –so whether you’re using Nebraska, or Kansas or Illinois or whatever, they should have good, reliable information,” according to Sweers. She says one other source that they always recommend is the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Council Bluffs, Iowa — A so-called “electrical event” at the Google Data Center in Council Bluffs, Monday, resulted in three people transported to Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, hospital with critical injuries. KETV in Omaha reports authorities responded to the center, which is located near Bunge and Wabash avenues, at around noon, Monday. No information was immediately available about what caused the incident.

The incident was under investigation. A Google spokesperson provided KETV with a statement which read, in-part: ” The health and safety of all workers is our absolute top priority, and we are working closely with partners and local authorities to thoroughly investigate the situation and provide assistance as needed.”

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department says no injuries were reported after two vehicles collided at an uncontrolled intersection Monday afternoon. The accident happened at around 4:20-p.m. at the intersection of Maple & Page Streets. a 2014 Dodge van driven by 22-year-old Kelby Aaron Durnin, of Fairbank, was traveling west across Page Street and having the right-of-way, proceeded through the intersection.

The van was struck broadside by a 2013 Chevy Impala traveling north on Maple Street, and driven by 20-year-old Skye Marie Davis, of Harlan, who had the responsibility to yield. Davis told Police she didn’t see any signs at the intersection, and when she proceeded, didn’t see the van until it was too late to avoid a collision.

Damages amounted to $5,000. No citations had been issued as of the time of the report.

(Radio Iowa) – Mike Franken, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, says Republican Senator Chuck Grassley is engaging in double-speak when explaining his no vote on capping insulin prices. Grassley says his vote was not about insulin, but about Democrats ignoring Senate budget rules.

“The short of it is: Did you vote for it or did you not vote for it? You didn’t vote for it so just admit it,” Franken says. “…There’s 240,000 Iowans that this affects.” Grassley says the senate should pass a bipartisan package that would include a limit on insulin prices. This weekend’s Senate vote to cap insulin prices at 35 dollars a month failed, as it needed 10 Republican senators to pass.

Franken says Grassley played politics when he had the chance to cap the sky high prices Americans are paying for insulin. “Why did you vote no?” Franken asked. “You voted no because that’s what Mitch McConnell wanted you to do.” During this weekend’s Senate debate on the package of health and energy proposals, Grassley criticized the bill’s tax credit for electric vehicle purchases. Franken says he hears from voters who want to buy electric vehicles — and have access to charging stations.

“We talk about the mayoral race in New York City of 100 years ago when the biggest issue was the removal of horse manure and four years later it was pedestrians getting hit by cars,” Franken says. “We talk about when smart phones came into existence in 2007 and everybody has one today,” Franken says. Franken says the technology is shifting to electric vehicles — and Iowa is in a position to benefit as more electric vehicles take to the road because of the state’s power generating capacity.

(Radio Iowa) – Dubuque Police say a former Clarke University student has been arrested after making a threat that prompted the closure of Clarke’s Dubuque campus earlier today (Monday). Just before 8 a.m., Clarke University announced the campus was closed due to an active social media threat. Police have arrested 23-year-old Rashaud Colbert in a southwestern suburb of Chicago. He’s been charged with a threat of terrorism, a felony.

The Clarke University campus reopened shortly before noon. Clarke is a private Catholic college with an enrollment of about 12-hundred students and more than 320 professors and staff.

(Radio Iowa) – Many areas got some rainfall this weekend — but there was a wide variation in the amounts. National Weather Service meteorologist, Brad Small, says the biggest totals were in the north. “We had very heavy rainfall in north-central parts of the state, around Mason City southwest to Charles City, by Lake Mills, and they saw four to seven inches of rain up there,” he says. Things were a bit more sporadic in central Iowa.

“Some locations saw over an inch. And one of those places was the heart of Des Moines through downtown Des Moines and then the eastern sections,” Small says, “but you get not too far away from that, like up here in the office and Johnston there was only a few tenths, maybe a quarter inch or more in some spots. So that the heavy rains were not really widespread.” Small says that’s typical of the summer thunderstorms, they move through quickly and we don’t get long periods of rain.

One change following the storms is forecasters have revised the outlook that had the state moving back to the sweltering temperatures. “We’re gonna see more seasonal temperatures and humidity levels for the rest of the work week. So, nothing like we saw over the weekend,” he says. “Highs will be in the 80s, maybe 90s at times, but it will be with lower humidity and dew points. So there’s 70-plus dew points we saw over the weekend and even before that are not really in the forecast.” He says it’ll nice stretch of weather this week compared to what had been projected.

“It’s a welcome change in the forecast. Right now it looks like we’re still looking for mid-to-later portions of August, for better chances for above normal temperatures. That’s about the 15th through the 21st,” he says. Small says the temperatures will be nice — but we aren’t likely to see more rain to help with the deficits.

(Radio Iowa) – Federal officials say a southwest Iowa manufacturer has agreed to pay a half a million dollar settlement after a whistleblower claimed the company failed to properly test parts it made for military contractors. W-D-C Acquisitions in Creston, known by its trade name Wellman Dynamics, makes aluminum and magnesium metal castings. A news release from the U.S. Justice Department says Wellman Dynamics parts have been used in the military’s Apache, Osprey and Black Hawk helicopters.

The federal government alleged that between 2014 and 2021, the company did not conduct required strength and quality tests of its parts and falsely certified that tests had been performed. Wellman employee Bradley Keller is the whistleblower who sued the company on behalf of the United States. He’ll be paid 90-thousand dollars. The Justice Department says the claims resolved by the settlement remain allegations and there has been no determination of liability.

Wellman Dynamics has been in business for a century and has about 350 employees at its facility in Creston. A Michigan-based private equity fund known as T-R-M Equity bought Wellman on July 29th. In a news release, Wellman’s new owner indicated very significant investments have been made recently to modernize the facility in Creston.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Education is getting a federal grant to put more local food in schools and early child care centers. It’s the second time the department has received the two-year grant for the Iowa Farm to School program. The Iowa Department of Agriculture contributes matching funds. Brenda Windmuller, at the ed department, says they’ll host more training for school workers on food safety and how local food can be incorporated into school lunches.

“Our big thing is that we want to make sure that the public is aware of what’s going on,” Windmuller says. “We want to increase the number of schools that participate in Farm to School initiatives, maybe eliminate some of that hesitation around it.” The U-S-D-A awarded the state a 67-thousand dollar grant to support Farm to School, while the state ag department will also contribute 25-thousand dollars. Windmuller says there’s no requirements for schools to participate in the program, but she says the funding will allow more education for school staff who are interested.

“If all you want to do is maybe participate in Iowa Local Food Day, once a year, that’s something,” she says. “That’s how you kind of dip your toe in it, learn about it, and then maybe the next year, you can take the next step. Really, that is our main objective, to get more people engaged in the program, and to increase the numbers of participation across the state.”

Additionally, the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa received close to 100-thousand dollars from the U-S-D-A to expand the school garden and increase food storage for students on the Meskwaki Settlement. They’ll also bring more tribal foods into schools and develop a tribal food sovereignty curriculum.

(reporting by Catherine Wheeler, Iowa Public Radio)

(By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jerry Jimenez, Navy Office of Community Outreach)

GREAT LAKES, Ill. – Sailors are some of the most highly-trained people on the planet, according to Navy officials, and this training requires highly-dedicated instructors. At Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), this obligation falls upon hard-charging Navy professionals who train and mentor the Navy’s future warfighters.

Petty Officer 1st Class Madeline Binter, a native of Atlantic, Iowa, plays an important role as an instructor at NETC, providing the fleet with sailors who possess the basic technical knowledge and skills necessary for naval service. “I enjoy being able to play a role in the development of sailors,” said Binter. “It gives me a chance to really prepare them and help paint a picture of what is to come next after Great Lakes. It also gives me the chance to mentor more sailors that will spread all over the fleet.”

Petty Officer 1st Class Madeline Binter (Photo by Lt. Cmdr. Jacob Joy,
Navy Office of Community Outreach)

Instructors are experts in the subject matter they teach, and they provide cutting-edge technical training that transforms civilians into mission-ready sailors. Binter, a 2012 Exira-EHK High School graduate, joined the Navy seven years ago.

(Read the complete Navy Press release, HERE)