Enrollment is up at all three state universities this fall. Iowa State University gained 208 students, the University of Northern Iowa 72, and the University of Iowa 27. U-N-I has been trying for several years to keep numbers up, and spokesman, Pete Moris says this is good news.

Getting students to transfer to U-N-I has been one of the strategies — including 857 student transfers this fall.

Moris says they’ve had to counter some of their own success in keeping enrollment up.

Moris says they’ve also had to address some state and national trends as well.

Moris says this year’s numbers are encouraging and they are seeing some good signs for the future.

Iowa State reported an increase of more than two percent for first-year students. The U-I reports this is the fourth-largest incoming first-year class ever with five-thousand-64 students. Iowa State edged back ahead of the University of Iowa for largest overall enrollment with 30-thousand-177 students in Ames, compared to 30-thousand-42 in Iowa City.

Red Oak Police were called to the HyVee Store in Red Oak on Thursday, September 7th.  The loss prevention specialist at the store informed them that 35 year old Sarah Hill of Red Oak and an unnamed juvenile female had been coming into the store over the last four months and not paying for items in the self check-out.  The estimated value of the items taken by Hill was estimated at approximately $2,600 and the items taken by the juvenile were valued at approximately $1,800.  Hill was arrested on a charge of 2nd degree theft and taken to the Montgomery County Jail where she was held on $5,000 cash bond.  The juvenile was also charged with second degree theft and released to a guardian to await a court date.

The Cass County Auditor’s Office updated the latest list of candidates that have filed nomination papers to run in the city/school board elections in November.

The latest to file on Thursday, September 7th are Cheryl Sokol for Anita City Council and Nancy Virginia Coughlin for Cumberland Mayor.

Others who had filed previously include:

Atlantic City Council

• Ward 2:  Jim Behrens
• Ward 3:  Pat McCurdy
• Ward 4:  Linda Hartkopf
• At-Large:  Elaine Otte

Atlantic Park & Recreation

• Mary Strong
• Frank Saddlemire
• Brad Rasmussen
• Lorrie Rasmussen

Anita City Council

• Cheryl Sokol

Cumberland Mayor 

• Nancy Virginia Coughlin

Griswold City Council

• Brenda Tietz

Lewis Mayor

• Rick Sanny

At least four presidential candidates and more than 61-thousand college football fans will be at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames for Saturday’s Iowa/Iowa State game. There will also be 60 to 70 Iowa State troopers who will be trying to keep traffic moving throughout the area. State Patrol spokesman Alex Dinkla says there’ll be many tens of thousands of vehicles, so the roads leading to the stadium are sure to get congested.

He says the primary objective will be to keep traffic flowing smoothly and safely, but they’ll also be watchful for lawbreakers, especially those who’ve been tailgating too enthusiastically.

The current list of Republican presidential candidates who will be either taking part in tailgate events or attending the game include: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former President Donald Trump, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 P-M.

The Iowa Lottery saw the rare occurrence Wednesday of the deadline running out and a one million dollar prize went unclaimed. Lottery spokesperson, Mary Neubauer, says they waited right up to the end of the business day to see if the unknown winner would show.

The winning Mega Millions ticket was purchased at an Ames convenience store one year ago. Neubauer says they did get a few calls before the deadline from people hoping they might be the winner.

She says the fate of the one million-dollar ticket may never be known. And says it’s rare that such a large prize goes unclaimed.

The unclaimed money goes back into the prize pool and Neubauer says the Lottery is working on a plan to give it away.

Neubauer says they are working on the details of the holiday promotion and will announce them once they are finalized.

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports that on July 22nd, just after 9:00 am deputies were called to the 3000 block of 185th Street, for a report of an unconscious male in a vehicle.  The male later identified as 38 year old Joshua Dean Cooney of Braddyville was transported to the hospital by Sidney Rescue.  A search warrant was conducted on the vehicle and deputies discovered approximately 28 grams of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and personal use amounts of controlled substances.

A warrant was issued and Cooney was arrested by the Page County Sheriff’s Office.

Cooney was charged with Possession with Intent to distribute more than 5 grams of Methamphetamine, Possession of drug paraphernalia, Possession of controlled substance 3rd Offense (Meth) and Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp.

Cooney is being held on a $100,000 bond as well as an active Mills County Warrant.

The 41st Annual Carstens Farm Days is this Saturday and Sunday, September 9th and 10th.  The Carstens 1880 Farmstead provides a look back in time to life on the farm in the late 1800’s.

Each year, the show focuses on a different tractor manufacturer.  Board member Terry Torneten say’s this year it’s Farmall.

All tractor colors are welcome.  Torneten says there will be lots of steam and gas demonstrations, crafts, a quilt show and of course plenty of food.  But, he says the highlight is the daily parade.

Breakfast is available each morning and they have a healthy crop of farm-grown potatoes for sale.  Admission is $10 per day for those nine years old and up.  And, the farm is easy to find.

All proceeds help to maintain the farmstead project.

The Shelby County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a pair of resolutions this week designed to give them time to study wind and solar energy project impacts.

The resolutions placed a 180-day moratorium on the siting, construction, and operation of commercial wind energy and solar energy systems in unincorporated areas of Shelby County for the purpose of drafting and adopting an ordinance regulating commercial wind and solar energy systems.

Currently, the county has no ordinances regarding wind and solar energy and they are interested in protecting the county’s infrastructure, natural resources and property rights.  The Board states that they will require substantial time to gather information and coordinate with multiple agencies to review, update or create ordinances, policies and procedures relative to commercial wind and solar energy systems.

It’s been hot and dry for weeks and many Iowans who haven’t mowed their grass in a while are finding little patches of what looks like white cotton candy strewn around their yards. Ginny Mitchell, an entomologist at Iowa State University, says those are the webs of grass spiders and there are easily hundreds of species of the tiny arachnids. Don’t fear an invasion, as Mitchell emphasizes, they’re good bugs.

Mitchell, who’s the Education Program Coordinator of I-S-U’s Insect Zoo, explains why there are so many webs in our yards, perhaps dozens.

Eventually, we’ll have to mow again, which will ruin all of those carefully crafted webs, but that’s the cycle of life. Mitchell says don’t feel sorry for the spiders, as they will feel the vibrations of the approaching lawn mower long before it reaches their sticky lairs.

As fall arrives and the weather cools, some of those grass spiders may try to find a way into your house. Mitchell says to let them be, as they’re gobbling up -other- unwanted pests. The rest of the spiders will stay in the yard and many will make it through the frigid months ahead.

The grass spider webs are typically strung between the tips of grass blades, and you may spy a small funnel or entrance hole in the web. Mitchell notes there’s a fungus that can grow on grass, called dollar spot, which may look similar to the webs, but the fungus will also be down towards the roots.

An archival photography project at the University of Northern Iowa has landed a federal grant to help its users see the big picture. The Fortepan (FORT-ah-pon) Project will use the grant to develop an augmented reality app called Mainstreet 360. It will let users interact with the archive’s 160 years of photographs as if standing where they were taken. Fortepan founder Bettina Fabos (FAH-bose), a U-N-I professor of Interactive Digital Studies, says the app will help Iowans engage with their local history and become a part of its telling.

Fabos says that the goal of the app, and Fortepan, is to unite Iowans through engaging with their shared local histories.

The app is expected to be rolled out by spring, with the grant’s second year devoted to outreach in libraries and schools in — and beyond — Iowa. The 149-thousand dollar grant is from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Fortepan is the name of a black-and-white negative film that was popular for decades during the last century.