A former Mason City woman is identified as one of three victims in an Arizona homicide case. Fifty-seven-year-old Lisa Baker of Wittmann, Arizona, was found on June 9th in the back of a burned pickup truck in a remote area of Surprise, Arizona. Baker is a 1975 graduate of Mason City High School and later attended Iowa State University.

Two other victims were identified and both had criminal records, according to Arizona court records. An autopsy shows all three were shot before being burned. Police as of last week said they didn’t have any suspects in the case. Anybody with information about the case was being asked to contact the Surprise Police Department.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Records say June’s rainfall was the highest ever recorded for a single month in Sioux City. The Sioux City Journal says 16.65 inches was reported at the airport, swamping the May 1903 record of 11.78 inches.

Farmers near Smithland and Oto have said their gauges recorded 20 to 22 inches of rain last month. The state’s rain record for a single month belongs to Red Oak in southwest Iowa. It recorded 22.18 inches of rain in June 1967.

Police in Atlantic report the arrest on Monday, of 23-year old Kristopher Christensen, of Atlantic. Christensen was taken into custody on a charge of OWI/1st offense. He was booked into the Cass County Jail.

The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) has announced 11 Iowa water systems and communities have been awarded fluoride certificates by the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors on behalf of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and American Dental Association (ADA). Among the communities receiving a 50-year Award from the IDPH, was Audubon (Audubon Water Supply) and Villisca (The Villisca Municipal Water Department).

Fluoridation is the adjustment of fluoride in the water to an optimal level for preventing tooth decay. The award recognizes communities that maintained a consistent level of optimally fluoridated water throughout 2010.

Fluoride is a natural element found in rocks, soil, and water. Fluoride’s benefits for teeth were discovered in the 1930s. Dental scientists found low tooth decay rates among people whose water supplies contained natural fluoride. In communities of 20,000 people, every $1 invested in water fluoridation results in $38 of savings in dental treatment costs.

The CDC has recognized community water fluoridation as one of the ten great public health achievements of the 20th Century and recommends water fluoridation as a safe, effective, and inexpensive method of preventing tooth decay. IDPH is a strong supporter of fluoridation programs. The IDPH Division of Environmental Health monitors the fluoridation of public water supplies, assists and trains water system operators, and helps communities with fluoridation projects. To see the fluoridation status of Iowa counties and towns, visit www.idph.state.ia.us/hpcdp/fluoride_search.asp.

Iowans who are planning to celebrate Independence Day by hitting the open road will find plenty of company on the interstates and gasoline prices a little higher as they leave the state. Gail Weinholzer, spokeswoman for Triple-A-Iowa, says the travel forecast for the 4th of July weekend calls for a boost in vacationers. “AAA Travel is predicting 41-million Americans will journey at least 50 miles or more sometime between Wednesday, July 2nd and Sunday, July 6th,” Weinholzer says. “That’s about a 2% increase over last year and it’s about 14% more than travel for Memorial Day.”

That’s five-million more travelers on this holiday than the last one. The motor club says most travelers, about 85-percent of them, will be heading to their destinations in motor vehicles, so gasoline prices will be one deciding factor in how far they go. She says prices are down slightly in Iowa, compared to the rest of the U-S. Weinholzer says, “Gas prices are below the national average by anywhere from a nickel to a dime but above last year’s totals that people were experiencing at the pump last year.”

Davenport has the cheapest gas in the state, averaging $3.45 a gallon while it’s most expensive in Waterloo at $3.59. The 4th of July holiday falls on a Friday this year, making for a natural three-day weekend for most Iowans. She says Independence Day is usually the busiest of the summer holidays, for good reason.  “We’ve got some states that don’t let their schools out prior to Memorial Day and others that go in prior to Labor Day but obviously everybody is off around the 4th of July,” Weinholzer says. “School schedules typically keep Memorial Day and Labor Day lower than the 4th of July travel.”

The current statewide average price in Iowa is $3.55 a gallon, compared to the national average of $3.68. The highest-ever statewide price for gasoline in Iowa was hit in July of 2008 at 4-oh-two a gallon.

(Radio Iowa)

w/ Ric Hanson

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The first arrest during the month of July in Red Oak, occurred early this (Tuesday) morning. According to Red Oak Police, 22-year old Kyle Lee Foster, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 5:45-a.m. at a residence on east Valley Street. Foster was taken into custody on a valid Montgomery County warrant for Failure to Appear in court on a 3rd degree burglary charge related to the theft of a vehicle.

Foster was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 cash bond.

Wet weather has done some damage to crops, but the latest U-S-D-A crop report out Monday showed 79-percent of corn and 75-percent of the soybeans were rated in good to excellent condition. Just five-percent of the corn crop was rated in either very poor or poor condition as were six percent of the soybeans. Another U-S-D-A report on planting showed a record number of soybean acres were planted, but corn planting remained about the same or was down in several Midwestern states. Nationwide about four million fewer acres were planted in corn this year — down four percent from last year. The U-S-D-A’s Anthony Prillaman says many farmers are sticking with what has worked during a run of good years.

“Definitely weather concerns, economic concerns, all of that goes into what the farmers end up deciding what they’re going to plant,” Prillaman says. A fear of lower corn prices may’ve moved many farmers to plant more soybeans. “The biggest thing for soybeans this year was just the economics, is what was driving that increase in that we’re seeing in soybeans acres across the country,” Prillaman says.

He says persistent drought conditions may have contributed to lower corn acres in Kansas, Colorado and the Dakotas. In Iowa, soybean acres are up slightly compared to last year, while farmers planted the same amount of corn. But heavy rains in the past week underscore that ultimately weather will be a major factor.

(Radio Iowa)

To prevent death and injury, Iowa law enforcement is again asking the motoring public to buckle up, slow down and drive sober. According to the Iowa Department of Transportation, there were 6 traffic fatalities during the 4 day Fourth of July weekend last year, three of which were alcohol related.

This year, July 1-7, 2014, over 250 city, county and state law enforcement agencies across Iowa will participate in a special Traffic Enforcement Program (sTEP) in an effort to keep everyone safe as they travel. The sTEP projects are funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau through a program with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This money enables more officers to work more hours on roadways all across the state during times of the year when travel increases and traffic crashes, injury and death are most probable.

“Too many people still take the attitude that it will never happen to me,” sTEP Coordinator Randy Hunefeld said. “But fatal crashes can and do happen every day. We’ve made a lot of progress, but there are still too many people in Iowa dying because they are unbuckled, speeding, and driving intoxicated or impaired.”

Iowa law enforcement officers need your help and are asking every motorist that gets behind the wheel to buckle up and drive responsibly. Let’s make this 4th of July Holiday, a safe one.

For more information, please visit www.iowagtsb.org – www.stopimpaireddriving.org

After a warm and humid week across Iowa, near-record cold temperatures are slated to move into Iowa for the next few days. The National Weather Service in Des Moines says non-severe, scattered storms are possible mainly north of I-80 this afternoon. Rainfall amounts with these storms should be on the very light side, with totals remaining less than one tenth of an inch. Mostly cloudy skies should help keep temperatures in the 60s and 70s across the area today.

Cooler air will continue to move into the region tomorrow, as highs will be confined to the upper 60s and low 70s. For Thursday morning, the record low in Atlantic is 43 degrees. As of now, it appear the temperature Wednesday night into early Thursday morning we will be very close to that number.

Warmer air and storm chances will return to Iowa for this July 4th weekend, so if you do have outdoor plans Saturday into Monday, make sure to monitor the weather forecast each day, beginning with today.