(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University dedicated the first phase of the new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL) and celebrated the start of construction on the second phase in a ceremony Thursday. The Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Dan Grooms, talked about the importance of the diagnostic lab which first opened in 1947. “Hands down the Iowa State University’s diagnostic lab is recognized globally as a leader in veterinary diagnostic medicine, especially in support of animal agriculture, but also in the support of companion animal health, wildlife health, as well as public health,” Grooms says.

He says examples of that work are diagnosing COVID-19 during the pandemic, and helping the poultry industry when highly pathogenic avian influenza re-emerged this past year “More importantly their work allowed operations to demonstrate that they were free of the disease so that they could continue to move their products,” he says.  Grooms says they’ve responded to the latest outbreak impact cattle. “Highly pathogenic avian influenza has emerged as a potential pathogen in the dairy cattle industry, and I am proud to say that is the people in this laboratory in this College of Veterinary Medicine are at the tip of the spear. Where did we hear that? At the tip of the spear in identifying and understanding this emerging disease threat to animal agriculture,” Grooms says.

He says the lab is also the hub of innovation in animal diagnostic medicine. “Whether it’s developing new diagnostic tests or diagnostic strategy, providing real time surveillance data to monitor disease spread across the state or across the country, or discovering novel pathogens, what separates this diagnostic lab from the most for most others, is the discovery that occurs in parallel to the day to day work,” Groom says.

The construction of the first phase started in March 2021 and it began operating last month. Phase Two construction is scheduled to begin this spring with a projected completion date of 2026. The 141 million dollar project includes state and federal funding along with funding from donors and Iowa State University.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Auditor’s Office, today (Friday), updated the list of candidates for Federal, State and County Offices, ahead of the June 4th Primary Election.

The Primary Election will be Tuesday, June 4, 2024. Voter pre-registration deadline is 5:00 p.m. Monday, May 20, 2024. Pre-registered voters are required to provide an approved form of identification at the polling place before receiving and casting a regular ballot. Voters who are not pre-registered – such as voters registering to vote on election day – and voters changing precincts must also provide proof of residence.

A voter who is unable to provide an approved form of identification (or prove residence if required) 1) may have the voter’s identity/residence attested to by another registered voter in the precinct, 2) prove identity and residence using Election Day Registration documents, or 3) cast a provisional ballot and provide proof of identity/residence at the Auditor’s Office by 12:00 p.m. (noon), June 10, 2024.

Election Day Registrant attesters must provide an approved form of identification. For additional information about providing proof of identity and/or residence visit: https://sos.iowa.gov/voterid or phone (641) 743-2546. Voters may request an absentee ballot from the Auditor’s Office.

Voters may vote in the office between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, beginning May 15, 2024 and Saturday, June 1, 2024 or they may request a ballot be mailed to them. The deadline to request an absentee ballot be mailed is 5:00 p.m. Monday, May 20, 2024. The last day to vote absentee in the Auditor’s Office is Monday, June 3, 2024 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Polls will open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Election Day June 4, 2024.

JOHNSTON, Iowa [WOI-TV] — Since January, Iowa Bird Rehabilitation (IBR) says dozens of trumpeter swans have died from lead poisoning. IBR, a nonprofit organization that steps in to rescue, rehabilitate and release wild birds back into the wild, takes in around 2,000 birds yearly. On average, only one or two are trumpeter swans. But over the past few months, the nonprofit has admitted 11 swans into their care. Iowans send tips to IBR of birds they notice may be ill or injured, so the nonprofit can monitor, rescue and bring the birds into their care.

There’s not a clear answer where the lead poisoning these trumpeter swans — and other bird species — has come from, but IBR said some causes could be fishing tackle or leftover fragments of lead shot from waterfowl hunting (before using lead was banned in the late ’80s).

And with the drought that a majority of the state of Iowa is facing right now, receding water levels mean trumpeter swans, with those long necks of theirs, can accidentally consume lead fragments at the bottom of lakes and rivers more easily.

To help omit lead introduction to bodies of water, IBR suggests using lead-free tackle when fishing and lead-free ammunition while hunting. The nonprofit also recommends anyone who sees a bird needing help or exhibiting abnormal behavior to contact them.

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa company has launched an expansion that will more than double its manufacturing capacity and bring 60 more employees into the company once the project’s done. Maintainer Corporation has a small plant in Rock Rapids and two facilities in Sheldon. Company president Shelley Morris says they’re adding nearly 31-thousand square feet of production space at one of those Sheldon plants, as well as an 11-thousand square foot showroom and training center.

Morris says they hope to begin hiring people this summer and start production in the new space this fall.

After the expansion, Morris projects the company will have about 300 people on its payroll.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s turkey hunting season opens this weekend and it’s estimated up to 35-thousand hunters will participate this year. Nate Carr, an Iowa D-N-R conservation officer for Hardin and Hamilton counties, says the agency’s surveys are showing a healthy population of wild turkeys. “It’s looking like a fairly promising year,” Carr says. “We’ve had three straight years of good hatches, pretty good spring weather, so that’s led to stronger numbers. I think we’re looking at comparable harvests to last year, hopefully, a little bit of an uptick is always good to see.”

The first turkey season runs today (Friday) through Sunday and is for Iowa youth only. The first of the four regular seasons opens Monday and they’ll run through May 12th. “Some things hunters want to make sure they’ve got in their pocket before they go, there’s of course their hunting license, and habitat fee,” Carr says. “So, hunting license if you’re 16 and older is required, habitat for you if you’re ages 16 to 64, and then a valid tag for the season that you’re hunting.”

Carr reminds you, there is a bag limit. “Each hunter can get up to two tags with at least one being for season four,” Carr says. “Shooting hours for turkey is a half hour before sunrise to sunset, so traditionally, hunters get out there well before sunrise to get in with the turkeys before they start gobbling.”

There was a free-for-all on Iowa turkeys in the early 1900s, and between hunting and drastic reductions in habitat, the big birds eventually disappeared from Iowa’s woodlands and forests. Wild turkeys were reintroduced in 1966 and have since expanded their numbers across the entire state. Learn more at www.iowadnr.gov.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department report the arrest Thursday evening, of 28-year-old Andres Martinez, of Creston. Martinez was charged with Violation of No Contact Protective Order. He was taken to Union County Jail and held without bond until seen by a Judge.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Workforce Development executive director Beth Townsend says they are continuing to meet with workers at the Tyson plant in Perry as the June closing date approaches. “We have been working with the local economic developers with the mayor, with the community with Tyson, with D-Mack, with other nonprofit entities. We’ve had our mobile unit on site twice, ” she says.

She says they have now also opened a transitional office. “So that people can come in between, before, or after shifts,” Townsend says. “We will be there…two or three days a week from now until you know there’s no longer in need to help people.” Tyson says it has offered workers a chance to take jobs at other facilities. Townsend says the may or may not be an option for employees. “It always comes down to individual factors, right. And so our focus is going to be on helping the everyone who wants to stay in Perry find jobs in the local area. And we’re lucky because you know, they’re very close to Polk in Dallas County,” Townsend says.

She says there are many job openings in those areas. “That’s where we’re going to be spending a lot of our focuses on helping individuals find jobs that would not require them to move around the state,” she says.

There are approximately 13-hundred Tyson workers that will be impacted when the plant closes at the end of June. There are other ancillary businesses that are also expected to layoff workers in connection with the closing.

(Harlan, Iowa) – The City Council in Harlan City plans to fill a Council vacancy by appointment. Harlan Ward 3 Councilperson Jeanna Rudolph has announced her resignation effective May 8, 2024.

Residents of the City of Harlan have the right to file a petition that the vacancy be filled by special election. The petition must be filed within 14-days after the publication of the notice or within 14 days after the appointment is made by the City Council, whichever is later.

Any eligible Harlan resident that resides in Ward 3 of Harlan City limits and is interested in filling this vacancy can complete a form for consideration which will be available on the City website or at City Hall. Forms should be returned to City Hall by May 2 at 4:30 p.m.

DES MOINES, IOWA [WHO-TV] — This fall you can return to the ‘heart’ of the cassette-era at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines when Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Heart bring their “Royal Flush Tour” to town. Heart will play the downtown arena on November 19th. Tickets go on sale through HyVeeTix.com today (Friday, April 5th).

Heart has had dozens of songs reach the charts in their nearly 50 year career, including classics like “Magic Man”, “Crazy on You”, “Barracuda”, “Heartless”, “These Dreams” and “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You”. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.

Heart will be joined in Des Moines by Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening. Jason is the son of founding Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham whose death in 1980 led to the end of the band. Jason has since joined the surviving members of Led Zeppelin for live performances. Bonham will play a catalog of his father’s hits.

(Radio Iowa) – A fourth-year dental student at the University of Iowa has carefully crafted a work of mosaic art immortalizing Hawkeye basketball star Caitlin Clark — out of more than 700 Rubik’s Cubes. Like millions of other fans, Sioux City native Brian Dang closely follows the Iowa women’s basketball team. He wanted a new project to sink his teeth into while also spotlighting the accomplished Clark, and anyone who’s seen his finished work agrees, it’s a three-point swoosh.

“I used to be an engineer, so I like all these different kinds of 3-D puzzles and I like to suffer a little bit,” Dang says, laughing. “I like to figure out the hard, difficult things, so I got into Rubik’s Cubes because I was pretty bored at home, my parents don’t have internet or anything, and then I decided I just wanted more of a challenge, like trying to make art out of it.” Dang found a bulk supplier who sold him the necessary 720 “mini” Rubik’s Cubes for around 300-dollars. He’s made a few other smaller pieces of art using the plastic cubes as his medium, but none of them were this big. Dang says the portrait took a lot of planning.

“You want to have nice contrasts and stuff because you only have so many colors you can use with a Rubik’s Cube,” Dang says. “I plan it out on a spreadsheet. It’s takes a bit. And then I kind of pixelate the picture a little bit, because all pictures are just pixels. And then once I have that all planned out, it takes maybe three days, and then I go about solving my Rubik’s Cubes to those different colors.” The work features Clark in a white Iowa jersey, with her right hand to her ear, and it’s remarkably realistic. While the Iowa City campus isn’t gigantic, the 25-year-old Dang says he’s never met Clark, nor has he bumped into her between classes, but he hopes their paths will someday cross.

Brian Dang (UI photo)

“Yeah, no, that’d be awesome. If I could get a picture with her with it, and have her autograph it, that’d be amazing,” Dang says. “But both of us probably have busy times because I’m in the clinic a lot here at the school, and then she’s busy playing in all these games, so it’s really hard to get in contact with each other, or even running into each other.” For now, the piece is on display at the U-I dental building. Dang says if the Hawks win the national championship on Sunday, he may be inspired to create another “cubist” Clark that’s even bigger and better.