The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Dairy producers in Iowa and across the country are getting some help from the USDA. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says revenues for dairy producers have dropped 35 percent over the past two years and that’s led to a surplus of cheese which is at its highest level in 30 years. “So, in an effort to try to provide help and assistance and to complement the work that we’ve done with the Margin Protection Program, we’re announcing a purchase of about 11 million pounds of cheese that will be used for food banks and pantries to help families who are struggling financially with their food assistance and food help,” Vilsack said.

photo courtesy of traveliowa.com

The purchase is valued at $20 million and should help the market “a bit,” according to Vilsack. The 11 million pound purchase is far less than the amounts recommended by the National Milk Producers Federation and the American Farm Bureau. “This is at the end of the fiscal year. We don’t have as much flexibility in the program, obviously, because we’ve already made commitments to purchase various other products throughout the year that are faced with a similar set of challenges and circumstances as our dairy producers are,” Vilsack explained.

In addition to the cheese purchase, Vilsack has extended the deadline for signup for the Margin Protection Program. Instead of having until September 30, dairy producers now have until December 16. Iowa ranks 7th in the country for cheese production. Wisconsin and California are by far the top two cheese producing states in the U.S.

(Radio IA/Brownfield Ag News)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A Des Moines hospital is alerting about 2,600 people who had open-heart surgery there from 2012 to 2015 that they might have been exposed to a bacterial infection. The Des Moines Register reports that two of the former Mercy Medical Center patients have been diagnosed with an infection with the germs, called non-tuberculous mycobacteria.

Iowa Department of Public Health medical director Patricia Quinlisk described the germ as “a cousin to tuberculosis, but it’s much less potent and much more slow-growing.” She says University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics issued a similar warning earlier this year. Quinlisk says people who undergo the heart procedures tend to have weak immune systems.

Mercy Medical Center says the bacteria could have spread from a heart-lung bypass machine used in heart surgery.

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman reports a Notice of the Atlantic Community School District Special Election was published Wednesday. Persons desiring to vote prior to election day afternoon may vote an absentee ballot at the office of the Cass County Auditor during regular business hours up thru 11:00 a.m. on Election Day September 13th, 2016. The Auditor’s Office regular business hours are 8-a.m. thru 4:30-p.m., Monday thru Friday. The office will be closed Labor Day, September 5th.

The Public Measure up for vote during the election, asks if the Board of Directors for the Atlantic Community School District is authorized for a period of ten (10) years, to levy and impose a Voter approved Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (V-PPEL) not to exceed 85¢ per $1,000 of assessed valuation of the taxable property within the school district, beginning July 1st, 2017, and, to impose a physical plant and equipment income surtax upon the state individual income tax of each individual income taxpayer resident in the school district, beginning with the 2017 calendar year,  with the percent of income surtax not to exceed 20%, to be determined by the board each year.

The ATLANTIC COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT consists of Cass, Audubon and Pottawattamie counties. The polls will open at 12-NOON and close at 8:00 P.M. Sept. 13th. The election is “AT LARGE,” meaning that all residents of the entire school district may vote for the public measure.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:40 a.m. CDT

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – Law enforcement officials have charged a man shot last month by police with assaulting a peace officer and criminal mischief. The Scott County Sheriff’s Office announced the charges Wednesday against 19-year-old Rodricco Radell Parks Jr., of Davenport. The office says the charges were brought after the department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation had concluded their investigation into the July 19 officer-involved shooting.

DECORAH, Iowa (AP) – Heavy overnight rain in northeast Iowa claimed the life of at least one person and forced evacuations and school closures as it washed out roads in and around several communities. The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings Wednesday for several northeast Iowa counties. Nearly 8 1/2 inches of rain fell about five miles from Decorah and more than 5 1/2 inches three miles south of Dorchester.

HAMBURG, Iowa (AP) – The body of a man who was swept beneath a Missouri River barge near Hamburg, Iowa, has been recovered from the river just south of the state border in Missouri. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the body of 42-year-old Jason Grayson was recovered Wednesday downstream from Hamburg. Grayson, of Elliot, Iowa, had been missing since Sunday, when the boat he was in lost power and was swept under a barge moored to the bank of the Missouri River.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa prosecutor wants a judge to issue subpoenas for telephone and bank records of two Texas attorneys who believes are connected to a former lottery computer security administrator who fixed lottery games in several states. Assistant Iowa Attorney General Rob Sand filed documents Tuesday in the cases of Eddie Tipton and his brother, Tommy Tipton, a former justice of the peace in Flatonia, Texas.

Police in Red Oak, Wednesday afternoon, arrested 49-year old Douglas Fay Penry, of Red Oak, on a charge of Criminal Mischief in the 5th degree. He was taken into custody at around 1:25-p.m. in the 400 block of E. Market Street, in Red Oak.

Additional details about the incident leading to his arrest were not released. Penry was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 bond.

HAMBURG, Iowa (AP) — The body of a man who was swept beneath a Missouri River barge near Hamburg, Iowa, has been recovered from the river just south of the state  border in Missouri. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the body of 42-year-old Jason Grayson, of Elliott, was recovered Wednesday downstream from Hamburg.

Grayson had been missing since Sunday, when the boat he was in lost power and was swept under a barge moored to the bank of the Missouri River. The operator of the boat, 47-year-old Johnnie Fields, of Shenandoah, was able to swim beneath the barge and then was rescued by people along the riverbank.

The 16-foot aluminum fishing boat was recovered Tuesday night.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Utilities Board has ordered a Texas company to refrain from building a pipeline on 15 landowners’ properties until Monday to give the board time to review legal issues involving a lawsuit. The board issued an order Wednesday requiring Dakota Access to provide detailed information about the progress of construction in Iowa and the cost the company will incur if it is required to work around the parcels.

The landowners’ lawsuit challenges the board’s authority to allow eminent domain for a privately owned pipeline project. That suit has not come before a court yet, and the board will hear arguments Thursday on the landowners’ motion to halt construction until that happens.  The $3.8 billion pipeline will pass through Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota and South Dakota, and has been met with weeks of protests in North Dakota.

A proposed 150-million gallon per year ethanol plant in Atlantic is still millions of dollars away from becoming a reality. Mark Wedemyer, with the Cass County Board of Supervisors said today Wednesday, that a meeting was held Monday night in Oakland for potential investors in the Ohio-based Farmers Energy Cardinal plant. Wedemeyer said the needs to raise about $15-million more dollars before construction can begin. He said there is a meeting next Monday night at the Atlantic Airport to try and generate more investor interest.

In January, the Iowa Economic Development Authority approved tax benefits in the form of $4.25-million in sales tax refunds for the project that promises to create 49 jobs.

Wedemyer said they’re making pretty good progress on plans for the plant, but there are some sticking points as far as the railroad is concerned, with regard to the rate the company will pay for transportation of Dried Distillers Grain (DDG) and Ethanol the plant will produce. Snyder and Associates Engineer Tim Teig told the Board of Supervisor’s negotiations are underway to resolve the transportation issue.

Wedemeyer said Atlantic is in a good position geographically, to make transportation of those products to both coasts. The proposed ethanol plant will be designed and built by Minnesota-based Fagen, Incorporated. Once constructed, it will be one of the State’s largest. Snyder’s Tim Teig said even with their investment goal still out of reach, officials are anxious to get some work done, because they are confident the plant will become a reality.

He says there’s some early activity with regard to getting side tracks for storage of numerous railcars Fagan purchased. The land has been purchased the needed land and have a contractor lined-up to start grading. The project will require additional crossings of the railroad tracks, north of the existing crossing.

The plans have been submitted to the County Engineer and Snyder and Associates for review, to make sure there are no conflicts with the road design for future paving of the road by the County. To that end, the Board approved giving the firm authorization to assist in the coordination, planning and review of various improvements necessary for the plant, that may impact the Glacier and Echo Road paving projects.

Clarinda Police Tuesday night responding to a domestic assault situation, encountered a woman who said she had been hit with a fist, pushed, and threatened with a Samurai sword wielded by her husband. Upon further investigation, 66-year old Jay Dee Allison, of Clarinda, was arrested at around 10:35-p.m. at the residence, which is located in the 700 block of E. Stuart Street.

Allison was taken into custody without incident, on suspicion of aggravated domestic abuse assault. He surrendered the Samurai Sword to officers without incident, as well. Allison was booked into the Page County Jail and held without bond, pending an appearance before the court.

The female victim of the alleged assault suffered minor injuries and was examined by paramedics who responded to the home at the request of officers. Police reports concerning the incident have been forwarded to the offices of the Page County Attorney, for review and consideration of formal charges being filed.