(Radio Iowa) – The poor air quality that’s forced some Iowans to stay indoors this week, may also impact our pets. Laura Van Vertloo is a professor of small animal internal medicine at Iowa State University. She says there isn’t a lot of research on the effects of air pollution on pets, especially when it comes in short bursts like we’re experiencing now. Still, Van Vertloo says studies show long-term exposure can impact dogs that already have — or are vulnerable to — chronic respiratory disease.

“My recommendation would be to keep them indoors as much as possible, as that allows,” she says, “and when they are outside, try to really minimize a lot of strenuous exercise.” Van Vertloo says the environmental conditions also can affect short-nosed dog breeds, like bulldogs, which can be prone to breathing troubles.

“The chronicity is something that I’m more worried about, but we have a lot of patients that are already on the cusp of being at risk of respiratory distress,” she says, “and those are the patients that I would personally be most concerned about in this scenario.” In addition to keeping pets indoors and limiting exercise outside, the American Veterinary Medical Association says to watch out for symptoms like coughing, eye irritation, and increased breathing rate.

(by Catherine Wheeler, Iowa Public Radio)

Des Moines, Iowa, June 29, 2023 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today (Thursday) highlighted USDA’s investments to increase independent meat and poultry processing capacity and expand market opportunities for fertilizer producers, farmers and rural business owners in Iowa. Vilsack said “While American farmers and ranchers have been responding to the demand to produce more, their communities have struggled to see their share of the benefits. Under the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is committed to championing meat and poultry processors, increasing competition and lowering costs for working families. The announcement I’m making today highlights these producers and reflects the goals of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, which advances a sustainable vision of agriculture, prioritizes the needs of our producers and small businesses, promotes competition, strengthens our domestic agricultural supply chains and brings prosperity to people and places in rural parts of our country.”

During a roundtable with producers and businesses at Landus Cooperative, Secretary Vilsack highlighted several new and recent investments in three key programs that support a wide range of agricultural interests in Iowa. For example:

• USDA is providing a $25 million Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP) grant to Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Company, LLC Pending final NEPA review. The MPPEP program helps independent processors expand their capacity and encourages competition and sustainable growth in the U.S. meat processing sector. Cattlemen’s Heritage plans to use the MPPEP grant to buy equipment for its new, 500,000-square-foot facility in Mills County. When the facility reaches capacity, it is projected to process 1,500 head of cattle per day, increasing consumer access to U.S. meat products at the grocery store.
• USDA is providing nearly $10 million through the Fertilizer Production Expansion Program (FPEP) to Landus Cooperative and Progressive Ag Cooperative to increase local fertilizer options for farmers and producers. The FPEP program increases innovative domestic fertilizer production by spurring domestic competition and combating rising fertilizer costs. Landus Cooperative will use a $4.9 million grant to build a greenfield fertilizer manufacturing and repackaging facility. The facility will manufacture a slow-release, leaf-based nitrogen fertilizer, which will decrease nitrogen application rates and increase overall nitrogen efficiency in growing corn. Landus is the largest agricultural cooperative in Iowa. It provides products and services to 7,000 farmers. Progressive Ag Cooperative will use a $4.9 million grant to construct a dry fertilizer facility to help farmers and producers in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota.
• On June 28, Vilsack announced the award of $2.5 million in USDA Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) grants to nine companies to expand the use and availability of higher-blend biofuels in Iowa. For example, Kimmes Enterprises LLC received a $510,500 grant to replace four E15 dispensers and four ethanol storage tanks at three fueling stations located in Carroll, Rockwell City and Baxter. This project is expected to increase annual sales of ethanol by approximately 635,000 gallons.

USDA Rural Development Iowa State Director Theresa Greenfield said the “USDA is helping build up rural communities by investing in ag producers and hometown businesses that support the security of our food supply chain. The Biden-Harris Administration is leading the way in supporting our rural neighborhoods. When we partner with innovators in the business community, job opportunities for Iowans increase.”

(Exira, Iowa) – The City of Exira is once again going all-out for its 158th Independence Day Celebration and activities. Abby Rasmussen, President of the Exira Community Club, said their “Hometown Pride” events begin in earnest with “Friday In A Hometown,” this Friday, June 30. The week-long celebration concludes with a parade and fireworks on July 4th. Friday’s activities include a Farmer’s Market from 4-until 6-p.m. in the City Park. The Event Center Lounge will open at 5-p.m. In addition to the Event Center food, Hungry Spartan Pizza will serve their various, tasty menu items.

Events on Saturday, July 1st begin early in the morning with a Road Run starting at the City Park.

A Co-Ed softball tournament will be held in the Exira Legion Park, beginning at 9-a.m.. Rasmussen said 10 teams have signed-up. There will also be Master Grillers and Blue Penguin Shaved Ice. And then on Sunday, the day begins with an Ecumenical Church Service at 10:30am in the City Park. EHS Alumni Coffee featuring the Class Of ’73 takes place at 2-p.m. at the Lion’s Building.

The fun doesn’t stop there. On Monday, the Exira 158th Hometown Pride 4th Of July Celebration continues with Scott’s Amusements Wristband Day from 4-until 7-p.m. A Community BBQ begins at 5-p.m., Monday, and the Exira Community Club Beer Garden is open from 5-until 9-p.m. 

And, on Tuesday, Stalk Chiropractic Foot Races begin at 9-a.m. in front of Dollar General. The Exira Community Club Beer Garden opens at 9-a.m. Also, in the City Park. The Exira 4th Of July Parade begins at 10:30, with Grand Marshal Glen Ludwig. Scott’s Amusements open at 11-a.m.

For more information: https://www.facebook.com/ExiraCommunityClub

(Radio Iowa) – Most of us have plans for the holiday weekend ahead, but if your schedule is open for the -following- weekend, volunteers are needed to help haul the trash out of a north-central Iowa river. Hamilton County Conservation naturalist John Laird said the Boone River clean-up effort will cover more than four miles of the waterway in Hamilton County by canoe. Registration will start at 7:30 A-M on July 8th at Briggs Woods Park in Webster City.

Since the first river clean-up project in 2007, Laird says volunteers have picked up more than 800 tires, more than seven tons of scrap metal, and three and a half tons of trash. Learn more by visiting the Hamilton County Conservation Board Facebook page.

(Radio Iowa) – Cancer patients in Iowa are facing delays in potentially-life-saving treatments as two important drugs used in chemotherapy are in very short supply. Dr. Richard Deming (DEM-ing), medical director of the MercyOne Cancer Center in Des Moines, says almost 50-percent of the cisplatin and carboplatin used in the U-S were made by a single factory in India — which recently stopped making those drugs. While those key drugs are being made elsewhere, there’s now such a tight supply and high demand for them that chemotherapy treatments are having to be pushed back.

Deming says nine in ten cancer treatment centers nationwide are being forced to delay treatments. A delay of even one week can cause “intense psychosocial distress” for patients and their families, Deming says. If the delay goes into months, he says there’s the possibility the delay in treatment may impact the overall ability to cure someone of a curable cancer.

(Area News) – State Auditor Rob Sand, Wednesday, visited Council Bluffs, Missouri Valley, Harlan, and Audubon as part of his 100-town hall tour. Auditor Sand took questions from Iowans on various topics, including Senate File 478. The bill would, in many instances, eliminate checks and balances by limiting the Auditor’s access to the courts. Speaking in Missouri Valley, Sand said “This is the single most pro-corruption bill in Iowa history. It lets insiders protect insiders and limits the ability of the taxpayers’ watchdog to obtain information necessary to uncover waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”

A group of bipartisan accounting and oversight professionals is also on the record opposing Senate File 478. Their concerns include the threat to the Auditor’s ability to independently oversee the use of federal funds coming into Iowa. Auditor Sand also discussed the new school voucher system that takes money away from public schools to pay for private school tuition. Sand pointed out the new law allows private schools to do anything they want with the tax dollars they receive from the state—except provide a refund.

In Audubon, Sand said “If they want to take a European vacation with your tax dollars after they are paid as tuition, it’s totally legal—no requirement the money be spent on actual education. Public schools have public records, public meetings, and an annual audit,” Sand said, noting the lack of transparency for private schools under the new law. “None of which will apply to private schools—even for the parents of the kids who go there.” (Click to enlarge the photos below)

Missouri Valley Town Hall

Council Bluffs stop

Harlan Town Hall

Audubon stop

Sand discussed his decision to vote against using taxpayer dollars to settle two public records suits last week as a member of the State Appeal Board. Sand was the lone vote against funding the settlements, totaling $175,000, reached by the Attorney General’s office on behalf of the Governor. Sand noted that Iowa law requires public officials who fail to respond to public records requests as required by law to be held accountable in the form of fines and attorneys’ fees. “The Iowa Supreme Court, with all justices appointed by Republican governors, ruled unanimously that Governor Reynolds’ arguments in these cases held no water,” said Sand. “This is a brazen scam by those whose salaries are paid by taxpayers, to skirt a law requiring their own personal responsibility for the fees and fines for hiding public records and using taxpayer funds instead.”

Sand also touted his Public Innovations and Efficiencies (PIE) program. It encourages local governments and school districts to come up with creative ways to save tax dollars. PIE has been so successful, Democratic and Republican auditors in other states are copying it. “It helps our office to hear from Iowans and helps Iowans to hear from someone who is willing to go after insiders’ corruption and waste in Iowa’s governments,” said Auditor Sand in response to the town hall meetings across the state. “I’m proud to continue that work in all of Iowa’s 99 counties.”

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says she believes a so-called “heartbeat” law to ban most abortions in Iowa is connotational. The Iowa Supreme Court recently deadlocked three-to-three after the governor asked the justices to overturn a lower court’s ruling on that 2018 law. “We argued before the Supreme Court that they should lift that injunction and let that law go into effect,” Bird says.

“The court ultimately did not make a decision in that case because it was tied and so by operation of law that allows the district court decision to stand,” Bird says. “I was disappointed, but I will continue to work for the pro-life cause and I think the fight isn’t over yet.” The 2018 legislation — referred to as a hypothetical law by one Iowa Supreme Court justice — would have banned most abortions after about the sixth week of a pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.

Pulse Life Advocates, the group previously known as Iowans for Life, is urging the legislature to convene as soon as possible and pass the same policy again. Bird isn’t making a recommendation about what the legislation should look like. “I think we have many routes ahead of us that would protect the right to life here in Iowa,” Bird says. “I am supportive of a special session if that’s the route the legislature chooses to take.” Bird, a Republican, has been Iowa’s attorney general for nearly six months. Bird says she’ll soon release her review of state-funded victims’ services programs.

“A number of issues came up that we’re working through for the audit to make sure that our office is being responsive when people have questions, that key information can be available to advocates to help them serve victims more quickly and that every part of the state is being served,” Bird says. “We found that some counties weren’t being served by the advocacy organizations that were being funded by our office to serve them.”

Earlier this spring, Bird’s office temporarily suspended the policy of having the state’s victim compensation fund cover the costs of the so-called morning after pill for sexual assault victims. Bird says the “Plan B” medication remains legal in Iowa and her audit of state services for victims will address whether state reimbursement for emergency contraception is appropriate.

Ankeny, IOWA – On June 28, 2023, following a joint investigation by the Ankeny Police Department and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), law enforcement officers arrested 72-year old Lynn M. Lindaman, of Ankeny. Lindaman has been charged with two (2) counts of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree (Class B Felony) against a minor. The charges against Lindaman follow a complaint filed with the Ankeny Police Department on June 27.

Lindaman has been transported to the Polk County Jail, where he remains without bail.

Anyone with information relevant to this investigation is encouraged to contact the Ankeny Police Department at (515) 289-5240 or the DCI at (515) 725-0030. Due to the ongoing nature of this investigation and the nature of the offense, no additional information is being released at this time.

Note: A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

(Radio Iowa) – The leaders of the Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain laid out their three-year plan today (Wednesday) in an event for investors. C-E-O Darren Rebelez says their goal is to open 350 new stores in the next three years. He says they want to continue to their focus of putting stores in rural areas and smaller cities. “Roughly 50 percent of our stores were opened in towns of five-thousand people or less,” he says.

The company added 354 stores in the last three years, giving it more than 25-hundred stores. He says their three distribution centers in Ankeny, Missouri and Indiana make it easier for them to add stores. Rebelez says the ability to add more stores is important. “The industry is shifting from primarily selling fuel and tobacco to prioritizing freshly prepared foods and investing in technology to meet the everchanging needs of the consumer,” he says.”Due to this shifting environment, the longstanding fragmented convenience store industry is evolving, as those who are unable or unwilling to invest, are consolidating to those who are.”

Rebelez says Casey’s would like its new stores in the next three years to be a 50-50 mix of new and acquired stores, but is positioned to change that mix if there were favorable acquisitions available. The company has three stores that don’t sell gasoline, including one near Drake University in Des Moines, and Rebelez says they will consider more. “We’re still learning and assessing that. But the intent with with nonfuel stores all along was really to allow us to penetrate certain trade areas where putting a full, full blown convenience store with fuel just wasn’t practical,” Rebelez says.

The company has some 300 of its own line of branded products, and he says they will look at increasing those. “There’s still some some categories where we’re not necessarily convinced that we need a national brand, where we can actually replace the national brand and just have our own,” Rebelez says, “and those are very margin accurative when we do that. We can go into more premium items. So, we’ve kind of taken care of the baseline terms of national brands, but we can upscale some categories with more premium products.”

The company plans to make its thin crust pizza permanent and increase other prepared food offerings as well. Rebelez says Casey’s is the fifth largest pizza chain in the country.

(Radio Iowa) – City officials in Glenwood are exploring the use of tax incentives to spur redevelopment of the Glenwood Resource Center campus. The state run institution that has provided residential care for people with profound disabilities is scheduled to close in 2024. State officials have suggested that Glenwood’s City Council designate the campus as an urban renewal district. It means property taxes in the area that would otherwide go to the city, county and school district COULD be used to finance infrastructure improvements. Laurie Mead Smothers is a member of Glenwood’s City Council.

“That doesn’t commit us to doing anything, it just makes that an urban renewal area for whatever’s to come up there in the future,” she says. The campus covers 380 acres. Mills County Economic Development Director Andrew Rainbolt say one idea is to develop multiple forms of housing on the site, given its proximity to Highway 34 and the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro.

“I think we’ll have some redevelopment of existing buildings. A lot of them were built as residential buildings and so hopefully we can redevelop those into some affordable and potentially some market-rate multi-family (housing),” he says. “Part of the campus is envisioned to be some high end estate housing.” Glenwood Superintendent Devin Embray says the school district hopes to take over the administrative building on the campus and convert it into an innovation center.

“We’re going to put in place Cyber Security, Robotics and Digital Mass Communications and hopefully Firefighter 1 and 2 in that program for the fall of 2024,” Embray says. “However, it sits on a centralized power plants and we would have to move it off the power plant in order to have it independent from the other buildings.”

There’s also an effort to convert other facilities into veterans housing.