(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa rail line has been sold. The Canadian National Railroad announced it has reached an agreement to acquire the Waterloo-based Iowa Northern Railway. Iowa Northern has some 275 miles of track that runs from Manly to Cedar Rapids, with branch lines from Waterloo to Oelwein, and Forest City to Belmond.

Iowa Northern Railway map of its line.

The Iowa Northern website says it has 110 employees and serves 20 grain elevators, two ethanol plants, and two mineral processing facilities. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, and it must be approved by federal regulators, which is expected in 2024

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst have joined their G-O-P colleagues in a procedural vote that has blocked a bill to provide U-S aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. The bill also would provide funding for U-S border security measures, but Ernst says that’s not sufficient.  “We actually need to change the border policy,” Ernst says. “The policies that are in place right now are actually not addressing the migrant flow that is coming in.”

Ernst says the bill is an acknowledgement by the Biden Administration that there’s a border crisis. “They are the ones that wrote the package and it addresses funding for the border, it addresses funding for Ukraine, for Israel and the Indo-Pacific,” Ernst says. “They tied all four of those things together.”

Biden says he’s willing to make significant compromises on border security if that’s what it takes to get the 110 billion dollar package through congress. U-S military aid for Ukraine will run out by the end of the year and Biden warns that if Russia takes Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t stop there.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Guthrie County say no injuries were reported following two separate collisions involving vehicles and deer. At around 5:15-p.m., a 2023 Chevy pickup driven by 36-year-old Jacob Matthews, of Audubon, struck a deer on Highway 44, west of 215th Street. The impact caused front-end and passenger fender damage to the vehicle. The damage was estimated at $7,500.

And, at around 7:36-p.m. Wednesday, a 2017 KIA passenger van driven by 28-year-old Aubre Sloan, of Philmath, OR, struck a deer on Highway 25 in Guthrie County, between 190th and Nice Avenue. The vehicle sustained about $6,000 damage.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reports two women were injured during an accident early Wednesday afternoon. Authorities say a passenger in a 2011 Ford Focus, 90-year-old Marilyn Stephenson, of Adair, was injured when the vehicle, driven by 81-year-old Helen Ernst, of Adair, sideswiped a 2014 Chevy pickup, driven by 57-year-old James Klemish, of Adair. Stephenson was transported by Adair EMS to Des Moines Methodist Hospital in downtown Des Moines. Ernst was transported to the Guthrie County Hospital by Stuart EMS.  Klemish wasn’t hurt.

The accident happened at around 12:15-p.m., as Klemish was traveling eastbound on White Pole Road near Stuart, and attempted to turn north, into a driveway.

Klemish told Deputies he was distracted by a railroad crew working on the tracks, and saw a road work sign, but failed to see the Ford until it was too late. Authorities noted the railroad crew was far enough away from the scene of the collision to not be a distraction. Furthermore, they said, a Guthrie County Roads crew was clearing ditch debris and DID have road work signs posted, but none of the signs were at or near the scene of the collision.

Damage from the collision amounted to $19,000. Klemish was cited for Failure to Yield upon left turn.

(Radio Iowa) – A Republican in the Iowa legislature says she’ll continue to push for an idea to boost state payments to Iowa child care centers. Representative Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids says the state could continue to make child care assistance payments for days when kids are out sick. She got the idea from the director of her own kids’ daycare who was filling out the required paperwork. “Here was this director sitting before me telling me that paperwork and red tape is what was the most stressful part of her day, when she really just wanted to go work with kids,” Jones says. Jones introduced a bill in the 2023 legislative session that’s still eligible for debate in 2024. It would have the state pay for each day a child is enrolled in a daycare, even if they’re out for part of a day or a full day. Jones made her comments during a child care summit hosted by the Iowa Women’s Foundation.

Lawmakers recently expanded eligibility for child care assistance for low-income families and boosted payments to providers. Representative Heather Matson, a Democrat from Ankeny, say those are positive changes, but Iowa still has a child care crisis to solve. “The vast majority of families in this state — and in this country for that matter, right? — their families are not necessarily on child care assistance, but it is fundamentally unaffordable for almost all families,” Matson says. Matson says the state needs to focus on stabilizing the child care workforce with higher wages and benefits.

Republican Senator Jeff Edler of State Center says gradual approach G-O-P lawmakers are taking on child care issues gives Iowa taxpayers the best bang for their buck.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Officials with the Glenwood Police Department report the arrest on Wednesday, of 44-year-old Melinda Johnson. The Glenwood woman was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense. She posted a $1,000 cash or surety bond and was released.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans are remembering legendary T-V and movie producer Norman Lear, who died this week at age 101. Back in 1969, Lear took over the town of Greenfield, Iowa, for filming “Cold Turkey,” which featured a list of stars, including Dick Van Dyke and Jean Stapleton. Lear returned to Iowa in 2014, and in a Radio Iowa interview, recalled how “Cold Turkey” came out the same year his show, “All in the Family” premiered on C-B-S. The ground-breaking sitcom dealt with controversial issues previously ignored in comedies.

Lear wrote, directed and produced some of the most popular television shows of the 1970s, including “Maude,” “Good Times” and “The Jeffersons.” Lear said his experiences in Iowa stuck with him and influenced his daily life — which he credits in his many successes.

“Cold Turkey” was filmed primarily in Greenfield, but also used locations in Winterset, Orient and Des Moines. The movie tells the story of a small town — fictional Eagle Rock, Iowa — that takes up the challenge for all its residents to quit smoking for one month to win a $25 million prize. Lear, recalling the summer of ’69, remembers how Iowans adopted Van Dyke and how everyone in the cast enjoyed meeting the locals.

Lear had a photo from that summer in Iowa that he keeps framed in his home.

The native of Connecticut has a home in Vermont, but Lear was named an “Honorary Iowan” in 1999 when he returned to Greenfield with Van Dyke and others to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Cold Turkey.” Lear was in Iowa in 2014 as a special guest at the “Celebrate Iowa Gala” at the State Historical Museum in Des Moines.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Customers of Atlantic Municipal Utilities (AMU) shouldn’t expect to see any rate increases next year for their electricity and water service. AMU General Manager Steve Tjepkes reported the good news to the Atlantic City Council during their meeting Wednesday evening.

Tjepkes said the last increase in the water rate was 5-percent in 2023. AMU’s Capital Budget for 2024 is $1.9-million. In the past, a good chunk of their budget (50%)was spent on power purchased from the Council Bluffs coal plant and Purchase Power contracts (50%). Last year, the wholesale market price of power decreased 45-percent. Electricity market prices, he said, are driven by the price of natural gas.

AMU GM Steve Tjepkes speaks to the Atlantic City Council (12/6/23)

Tjekpes noted both the Electric and Water Departments are debt-free. The Electric Dept. paid-off the remaining $2.525-million of outstanding debt in 2022. He said also, AMU received a “National Excellence in Reliability Award” from the American Public Power Association (APPA).

Steve Tjepkes said also, with regard to Capital Projects, is the replacement of customers’ water meters.

The utility is in the process of engineering and planning for the replacement of an underground water storage tank with an above ground tank. Tjepkes says the current estimated project cost is $1.8-million. AMU will be applying for a grant to offset a portion of the cost.

At the conclusion of his presentation to the Council, Wednesday night, the Council passed a Resolution approving the Calendar Year 2024 AMU Budget, which the AMU Board approved Monday night, following a public hearing. The Resolution will be filed by the City Clerk and forwarded to the Cass County Auditor’s Office.

(Radio Iowa) – A report on national farmland values shows prices are holding their own despite several down economic issues. Peoples Company president Steve Bruere says 2023 has been a transitional year for farmland after seeing so many transactions in 2022. “As the interest rates have started to move up in 2023, there’s a lot of folks I think, anticipated that farmland values would soften a little bit in the higher interest rate environment. And what’s happened as farmland is performed really well over the last year,” Brewer says.

He says their report is not a survey, but reviews all types of sales information and other factors. Iowa’s cropland has held its own along with the rest of the country. “Iowa values were relatively flat to stable and 2023. But I’ll tell you the last two or three weeks, there’s been over one-thousand acres that have sold in Iowa that have brought over 20-thousand (dollars) an acre,” he says. “So there’s plenty of ammunition out there and there’s still some really big numbers floating around.” The report shows Iowa cropland values overall up eight percent this year. Bruere says the value of cropland can’t just be viewed based on the return you get from farming the ground.

“I think that’s one of the misnomers on farmland is a lot of times people look at farm in Iowa and say, well, that’s a two or three percent return. Well, the last 20 years Iowa farmland has averaged about seven percent appreciation. And so what this report does is aggregate those two returns,” he says. Bruere says the ups and downs of corn and bean prices are only a part of figuring the value of farmland. “It’s much more than just interest rates and commodity prices. I think that’s what shocked people about this year, if you were looking solely at commodity prices and solid interest rates, you might think that land values are softened a little bit,” he says. “But when you when you start to understand what’s happening in the renewable space with wind and solar and carbon, and what you’re seeing with advances and yields and whatnot, that long term vision for farmland is pretty bullish.”

And there’s a limited number of acres to buy as he says only about one percent of all farmland in the country hits the open market on an annual basis. “There’s very little of it for sale, it’s a generational asset. So when it comes time to buy, something, you are really buying the future revenue stream,” he says.

You can find out more about their land value report at the Peoples Company website.