(Radio Iowa) – Much of Iowa’s eastern third remains under excessive heat warnings and heat advisories today (Tuesday) and many communities across the region are opening cooling centers. Polk County’s Extreme Temperature Plan also lowers the barrier for entry to homeless shelters. Brett McIntyre, with the county’s emergency management office, says the plan prepares for high temperatures at night, which can worsen the effects of daytime heat.

“When it’s hot during the day and it cools off at night, people are able to recover a bit more effectively,” McIntyre says, “but when it stays hot at night, that’s when you’re really able to see the uptick in heat illness and then stresses on other resources.” Under the county’s plan, Central Iowa Shelter and Services in downtown Des Moines offers daytime services to people of any age and overnight stays to those over 18. The plan also provides free rides on DART buses to shelters and cooling centers. McIntyre says increasing access to shelters can reduce heat-related illnesses and takes pressure off emergency rooms and other city services.

“The more avenues we can give people to get to places to cool down,” he says, “we can try to eliminate that extra burden on our healthcare system.” Polk County’s plan is in effect until 7 A-M Thursday.

People looking to use the cooling centers are advised to call ahead to make sure they’re open. A full list is available at polk-county-iowa-dot-gov.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Members of the Atlantic School District’s Board of Education will hold a Work Session Wednesday, in the Achievement Center at 1406 SW 7th Street, in Atlantic. Their meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., and includes discussion with regard to:

1. Superintendent search plans.
2. A review of the District’s Attendance Policy and Practice.
3. PLC (Professional Learning Community) Process roll-out plans
4. Program size (educational & extracurricular).

The Board’s next REGULAR meeting is on Sept. 11th in the High School Media Center, beginning at 5:30-p.m.

You can view the Work Session meeting through this YouTube link.

(Radio Iowa) – More than 40 languages are spoken in Waterloo-Cedar Falls, ranging from Burmese to Bosnian, and from Spanish to Congolese French. Glen Keith, executive director of Love Incorporated, says the nonprofit faces an increasing challenge to provide housing and employment assistance to non-native English speakers as translators are in very short supply. “When you think about legal documents, people applying for different things, there’s an incredible need,” Keith says. “And then you think about all the nonprofits that are serving this community, we’re all in the same boat asking for help.”

Keith says it’s becoming harder to connect people with essential services due to the shortage of translators. “We have such a diverse community here in the Cedar Valley,” he says, “and oftentimes it bridges a lot of misunderstandings and cultural gaps, and being a volunteer-based organization, it’s always tough to find enough translators to talk with folks that are calling us for assistance.”

Love Incorporated has only 2 translators, one each for Spanish and French.

(Radio Iowa) – For the last time this summer, law enforcement agencies are ready to launch a STEP, or a Selective Traffic Enforcement Program. Iowa State Patrol spokesman Trooper Paul Gardner, from the Fort Dodge post, says STEP will put dozens of extra law enforcement officers on the roads during the upcoming holiday weekend, and they’ll be seeking out speeders, impaired drivers and other lawbreakers.

“Statewide, we’re at 195 traffic deaths to date, compared to 242 last year, so that’s almost a 20% reduction,” Gardner says. “We want to maintain that reduction in our traffic crashes and traffic fatalities, especially with Labor Day coming up. It’s a holiday where parties are common, drinking might be common as well, so we want people to drive sober, drive safely.” Garner implores Iowans who are hosting events for the holiday to make sure their guests don’t drive impaired by calling them a taxi or Uber, giving them a ride home or offering them a place to crash.

“If they’re going to be consuming alcoholic beverages, make sure they’re getting a sober ride to their destination,” Gardner says. “That way, we can make sure that they’re getting home safe and they’re not getting into trouble by either being pulled over and they’re under the influence and they end up in jail for the weekend, or even worse, they get somebody else hurt or killed.”

The three-months between Memorial Day and Labor Day are considered the “100 Deadliest Days” in Iowa, when there’s typically a rise in teen crashes and deaths. During that period, the patrol says Iowa often averages 30 deaths of drivers and passengers between 14 and 18 years old.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says the final round of Local Food for Schools grants are out for this year. Among the recipients in the KJAN listening area, are the following school districts: Atlantic, Audubon, Bedford, CAM, Clarinda, Council Bluffs, Essex, Griswold, Nodaway Valley, Panorama, Shelby County Catholic School, Shenandoah, Treynor, West Central Valley, and the West Harrison CSD. Naig says “What this is all about is providing some small grants, two-thousand dollars ($2,000) to those school districts, and that will be an incentive for them to buy locally.”

Schools can use the grants to buy meat, eggs, produce, dairy and other local foods from area farmers. “It is a case of, yes, it’s a it’s a good food and nutritious local food, fresh food for students, but also it can be a really nice market opportunity for farmers,” Naig says. He says 137 public and private schools were awarded grants in this round “We’ve been excited that 110 farms or food businesses have participated in this program, now entering its its third year,” Naig says, “and here’s the I think even more exciting is that we’re seeing a lot of interest in folks either expanding their farms or getting into it.”

IA Ag Secretary Mike Naig (RI file photo)

Naig expects the program to continue and grow. “While we’re able to supply …what schools are looking for in terms of today, right now, I think this is an area that’s growing, and so I believe we’re going to see increased interest in schools and institutions looking to buy local,” he says. “And I think we’re going to be seeing either an expansion of and the addition of some farms that are going to try to supply that marketplace. And really is a nice upside for folks.”

Naig says through the first two rounds, more than one-point-seven million dollars has been awarded to 162 Iowa schools, and more than 110 farms and food businesses have sold products to schools through the program.

Here is a link to the schools approved for grants: https://iowaagriculture.gov/sites/default/files/2024/2024%20LFS%20Iowa%20Schools_0.pdf

(Montgomery County) – Firefighters from Elliott, Red Oak and Grant were dispatched late Monday afternoon, to the 1100 block of Lumber Avenue in Montgomery County, where multiple haybales were said to be on fire. The Red Oak Fire Department posted on social media, that the first arriving units reported three bales on fire, and that there were bales on a trailer that were burning as well. The bales were extinguished by firefighters, assisted by local farmers with a tractor.

With the exception of Elliott firefighting personnel, all other crews were released from scene a little after 5-p.m. Elliott crews remained on scene to conduct mop-up operations. No injuries reported. The haybale trailer sustained minor damage and approximately three bales destroyed.

Other assisting agencies:

Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office – Red Oak, Iowa

Montgomery County 911

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Two people from Montgomery County were arrested Monday on separate, active Montgomery warrants. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 23-year-old Dyllan Hunter Hansen, of Elliottt, was arrested at around 7-p.m., on a warrant for Failure To Appear on an original, Possession of a Controlled Substance charge. Hansen was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

And, at around 8-p.m. Monday, deputies in Montgomery County arrested 37-year-old Jennifer Lynn Holz, of Red Oak, on a warrant for Failure To Appear on an original charge of Theft in the 3rd Degree. Holz was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $3,000 bond.

ADEL, Iowa — A man and woman from Adel were arrested late Sunday evening, after law enforcement officers allegedly found several dogs and juveniles living in a feces, trash-filled home. According to the Adel Police Department, on Sunday at around 8:15 p.m. officers responded to a report of an “animal neglect situation” at the home of Corey Allan Robinson and Angie Lynn Collins in the 100 block of North 13th Street.

According to court records, the tip claimed there was a dog at this residence that reportedly had matted fur and was covered in feces. During the execution of a search warrant at the home officers found two juveniles and multiple dogs inside. According to a criminal complaint, officers found “piles of trash, rubbish, feces, flies, expired food, non-running water, and a house in non-habitable conditions.”

Authorities say the juveniles were removed from the care of Collins and Robinson and placed with family members and the dogs were transported to AHeinz57 Pet Rescue for treatment. Collins and Robinson were both charged with multiple counts of animal neglect and child endangerment and were booked into the Dallas County Jail.

DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating a bright blue liquid observed near the West Branch of the East Nishnabotna River near Oakland, in Pottawattamie County.

On August 22, the DNR Field Office in Atlantic received reports of a blue liquid in an inlet area on the east bank of the East Nishnabotna River in Oakland. According to information provided anonymously to the DNR, the blue liquid was first observed around August 11th.

By the time DNR officials were notified, the blue liquid was found in the recessed area near the river and not in the river. Soil staining in the area shows the blue liquid likely reached the East Nishnabotna River before the DNR was notified.

A bright blue pool of unidentified liquid near the East Nishnabotna River in Oakland

A large storm sewer outlet was identified directly above the pooled water. Oakland city officials were notified, and assisted DNR with placing booms and absorbent pads to avoid further release into the river.

Water samples were collected and submitted to the State Hygienic Lab for analysis. No dead fish were observed.

If anybody has any information on the incident, please contact the DNR Field Office in Atlantic at (712) 243-1934.

To report a release after hours, please call the DNR’s emergency spill line at (515) 725-8694. Quick reporting can help DNR staff identify the cause of an incident. The DNR website has more information about spill reporting requirements.

(Radio Iowa) – A Sioux City woman who is the wife of a Woodbury County Supervisor has been released from a federal prison in Minnesota after serving time for voter fraud. Fifty-year-old Kim Taylor will now spend four months on home confinement in Sioux City. She was convicted last November by a federal grand jury on 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, three counts of fraudulent registration, and 23 counts of fraudulent voting.

Taylor was released from the minimum security prison in Waseca, Minnesota Friday. Her sentence is under appeal.

The charges all stem from signing up voters during her husband Jeremy’s runs for supervisor and Congress. He was never charged but did decide not to run for another term on the Board of Supervisors.