SIOUX CITY, Iowa – If you need to travel around the U.S. 20/Interstate 29 interchange in Sioux City next week, please watch for ramp closures as the Iowa Department of Transportation crews inspect bridges in the area. The five bridges are on U.S. 20 and will be inspected on Aug. 7 and Aug. 8, weather permitting. The DOT will be closing the westbound U.S. 20 to the southbound I-29 ramp on Monday, Aug. 7. Motorists will  be directed to a detour using Floyd Boulevard.

On Tuesday, Aug. 8., the DOT will close the southbound I-29 exit to eastbound U.S. 20 (to Fort Dodge). Travelers will be directed to a detour on U.S.20 over to Nebraska and then turning around to go east.

Both of these ramp closures will be in place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

(Sioux City, Iowa via KCAU) – Iowa Dept. of Transportation data show nearly 80% of Iowa motorcyclists killed in 2022 were not wearing a helmet. As thousands of bikers head to Sturgis, South Dakota for a motorcycle rally that runs through August 13th, the Iowa State Patrol urges safe driving.

Seventy-eight percent of motorcyclists killed in 2022 were not wearing a helmet, a 3% increase from 2021, and a 10% increase from 2020.  The number of fatalities, 49, was down from 2021, when 68 motorcyclists died. Despite Iowa’s lack of a motorcycle helmet law, Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla said the Iowa State Patrol always recommends safety.

Thirty-two bikers have been killed on Iowa roads so far in 2023, putting Iowa on track to see more motorcycle fatalities than in 2022. There were no laws introduced in the most recent legislative session to require riders to protect themself with a helmet. Iowa, Illinois and New Hampshire are the three states with no motorcycle helmet laws. Other states require helmets for riders age 17 or younger, or for all riders.  In 2022, 45% of motorcyclists were impaired, a 2% decrease from 2021 and 6% decrease from 2020.

83rd Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, 2023 (Sturgis.com)

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report a woman was arrested Thursday evening on a Red Oak P-D warrant. 31-year-old Amanda Joy Williams, of Red Oak, was wanted on a warrant for Urinating and Defecating in Public. Williams was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The legislative liaison for the state Board of Education says there isn’t one general set of instructions to schools for removing books from school libraries. Liaison Eric St. Clair was asked about the new laws that prohibit publications that depict sex acts and the teaching about gender identity. “We get feedback from the field, which is helpful in terms of what perhaps we thought was clear and isn’t clear. And as we get that feedback we review it on a case-by-case basis and determine how to appropriately respond,” St. Clair says. He was asked if there is a general set of guidelines they use to respond to districts. “It depends on the situation, and how it would be best addressed,” he says.

Board president, John Roberts, says he’s also getting feedback. “Talking to educators, there’s a lot of confusion, I know. People in the field that I’ve talked with, are looking for the D-E (Department of Education) or for somebody who provides direction, because right now people are and neither guessing what is right or wrong and not being a violation of the law,” he says. Roberts says the law doesn’t take effect until the first of the year — but there is confusion now as districts try to address the issue. “Anything that the D-E can do to help alleviate some of that confusion would be more than welcome,” he says.

The law also requires school districts to make available a comprehensive list of all books available to students in school libraries on their website.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who plan to do some back-to-school shopping today (Friday) and tomorrow will be able to stock up on new duds at a discount as it’s the state’s annual Tax-Free Holiday. John Fuller, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Revenue, says the tax holiday always falls on the first weekend in August. “There are some rules around this,” Fuller says, “and basically Iowans will not be charged sales tax when they purchase clothing or footwear that’s less than $100.”

He offers some examples of what is — and isn’t — included in the two-day holiday. “If you want to buy maybe school shoes for your children, and they’re less than $100, you would not pay — in most parts of the state — the 7% sales tax,” Fuller says. “It does not include things like jewelry, sunglasses, things like that, but clothing and footwear, typically clothing that you would wear every day.”

Iowa’s first tax-free weekend was held in August of 2000. Fuller says the holiday helps Iowa’s economy and its businesses. “They benefit by about $5-million not paying sales taxes for those two days, so it’s significant,” Fuller says. “It goes up a little bit each year and I think it’ll be popular again this year just because inflation is creeping up and whenever you can save some money, that’s a good thing.”

The Tax-Free weekend started at 12:01 this morning and runs through 11:59 P-M Saturday. Learn more at https://tax.iowa.gov/iowas-annual-sales-tax-holiday.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University professor’s research is part of a large, federally funded project to improve the quality of sweet corn. Alan Myers is a professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at Iowa State. His research is focused on how carbohydrates are stored in sweet corn kernels. “What I look at directly is the synthesis part,” Myers says, “the growth of the kernel from when it’s first fertilized from pollen and egg into making the mature kernel that we chomp down on when we bite down on an ear of corn.”

Field corn that’s fed to livestock or converted into ethanol has starch granules that make the kernels grainy and really hard. “Those things don’t exist or there are a lot fewer of them in sweet corn varieties,” Myers says. “…That gives it the taste and mouth texture that people like to eat when they eat good, fresh sweet corn.” The carbohydrates Myers is studying give sweet corn kernels that soft and creamy texture.

“And when people bite into it, it tastes good,” Myers says. The I-S-U laboratory that Myers leads and another lab in Ames that’s focused on speeding up development of hybrid varieties are splitting 800-thousand dollars in federal funding for corn-related research over the next four years. It’s part of a project involving researchers in other parts of the country with the goals of boosting the sugar content and improving the shelf life of sweet corn.

The project is being coordinated by the University of Florida. About 20 percent of the sweet corn grown in the U.S. comes from Florida — making it the top sweet corn producing state.

(Johnston, Iowa) – The Iowa Army National Guard is set to conduct a comprehensive domestic operation training exercise at Camp Dodge from August 7th through the 10th. Officials say the exercise aims to simulate real-world events, including flooding, a derecho, and hazmat concerns, to enhance the readiness and coordination of our forces during emergency response situations.

The exercise will be conducted in collaboration with multiple Iowa county emergency management teams, fostering interagency cooperation and strengthening our collective ability to respond effectively to crises.

During the training exercise, Iowa Army National Guard units will showcase their ability to swiftly respond to a range of emergency scenarios. The simulated events will challenge participants to effectively manage and mitigate the impacts of flooding, a derecho, and hazmat incidents. By replicating these real-world challenges, officials say the Iowa National Guard can assess their readiness, identify areas for improvement, and refine emergency response protocols.

The exercise will include the participation of several Iowa county emergency management teams, private entities such as Mid-American Energy which will allow for a comprehensive and integrated response effort. This collaborative approach will facilitate effective communication, coordination, and decision-making among multiple agencies, ensuring a unified response to emergencies.

The training exercise will be evaluated by personnel from Army Northern Command. Their expertise and guidance will provide valuable insights to further enhance our emergency response capabilities and strengthen partnerships with federal agencies.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congreswoman Ashley Hinson says it’s critical that the U.S. support Taiwan with military hardware as China threatens the independently-governed island. Taiwan produces 60% of the world’s supply of computer chips, while about 14% are made in the United States.

“It’ll take a long time to rehome many of those things here to the United States,” Hinson said early this afternoon, “so it is critically important that we protect Taiwan and our interests there.”

Hinson, a Republican from Marion, made her comments during a foreign policy forum in Cedar Rapids. Hinson is a member of the House Select Committee on China and the committee is hosting a field hearing in Dysart later today about China’s theft of agricultural technology.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, on left, hosts Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher and Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson at The Bastion Institute event today in Cedar Rapids.

“This is a huge threat and I think we’ve kind of been asleep at the wheel for decades in how we’ve handled China,” Hinsaon said at The Bastion Institute forum. “We’ve allowed them into the World Trade Organization. They continue steal our intellectual property…down to our seeds.”

Hinson cites the 2013 arrest of seven Chinese nationals accused of digging up seeds from Iowa farms and sending them back to China. One of the men, caught digging into an Iowa corn field in 2011, pleaded guilty to stealing seeds produced by Monsanto, Dupont Pioneer and LG Seeds.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest Drought Monitor report shows a little deterioration in the conditions in the state in the last week. D-N-R hydrologist Tim Hall says that doesn’t reflect the most recent storms. “The rain that came in southern Iowa over the last two days came after the cutoff for the Drought Monitor,” he says. The monitor shows a large part of eastern Iowa has moved from moderate to severe drought. Hall says the rains we’ve had recently will help.

“Over the last month things have remained relatively stable across the state,” he says. “We ended up behind normal for rainfall in July, although we did get more rain in July than we got in June, so that’s good.” Hall says rainfall in mid July did impact the level of drought, but we haven’t seen consistent enough rain yet to get rid of all the concern. “We’re sort of still on the edge of drought that could become much more significant but it hasn’t gotten appreciably worse,” Hall says. He says the recent rains helped with the much needed soil moisture.

“The other thing that’s working in our favor is that in about another month or so, we’ll get through the peak demand time of the year. So the demand for water will start to drop as we move from August into September. And that certainly helps to preserve whatever waters in the system,” according to Hall. The weather outlook has indicated we could see more rain in August, which would also help the drought situation.