(Radio Iowa) – Two Iowa communities are now part of a network called “Sculpture One,” which loans out large works of art for public display and rotates them from town to town.

Mason City joined the group years ago but Webster City has recently been added to the ranks, which includes Mankato, Minnesota and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Janet Adams, spokeswoman for “Arts R Alive” in Webster City, says they’re thrilled to be added to the list. “We’re a much smaller community than the others, so we were not sure we would be accepted if we ever asked,” Adams says. “As it turned out, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, used to be a part of this consortium and they decided to go on their own. It left an opening for us to apply to become a part of it.”

New sculptures will be installed in May of each year, and Adams says they strive to enrich the cultural interests of the town, region and state by promoting public art through sculpture. “We have a lease agreement of two to three years to see how it’s working and to see how it all implements itself through our systems,” Adams says, “but it looks like we’re going to be getting some different types of sculptures by going with this group and that’s intriguing to us.”

Sculpture in Webster City. (Photo from Arts R Alive Facebook)

New sculptures are being installed this week at West Twin Park in Webster City, with plans for an event in early August. Mason City holds an annual event called Sculptures on Parade, while Mankato has a Walking Sculptures Trail, and there’s a similar Sculpture Trail in Eau Claire.

(Radio Iowa) – Mason City has installed the 2023 version of “River City Sculptures on Parade” throughout the downtown area. The nearly two-mile walking tour started in 2012, and is based on the Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk. The former Sioux Falls director, Jim Clark, helped Mason City get started, and says the artists love it. “The artists make sculptures to sell them, and so here, we’re all just amazed about how many sculptures are sold here, and the artists love that part of the program. They love the hotel, they love the hospitality, everybody we meet here is fantastic,” Clark says.

Clark says the sculpture walks in Mason City and Sioux Falls are family-friendly ways to interact with the fine arts. “What surprised me the most, the first time I drove through our downtown to see the people taking people of each other with every sculpture,” he says. “Then also it was the three generations, and the two generations of grandparents and grandkids, and they make an afternoon of it. They go to lunch, they walk around and see the sculptures, they stop someplace and have ice cream. It gives them something that’s outside, exercise, fresh air, cultural, and it gives them something else to talk about.”

Clark says he’s proud of how the Mason City display has evolved over the last decade. Aidan Demarais of Janesville Minnesota has had a handful of sculptures on the route through the last five years. Demarais says it’s a great opportunity to show their pieces of artwork. “Public art is its own animal and everybody finds something that they like about it. There’s a bull, there’s a face, who knows what we made, but everybody has a chance to find something that they like and I’m just happy to be a part of it,” Demarais says.

Sculpture installation in Mason City. (KGLO photo)

Tim James of Good Thunder Minnesota says it gives artists a chance to make a living through their artwork. “In the past, it was so hard, but now they can travel around with sculptures and get their stipends, and occasionally sell one. This really gives artists a chance to thrive,” he says. Around 80 sculptures are a part of the display.

The River City Sculptures on Parade is a partner with other sculpture programs in Sioux Falls South Dakota, Mankato Minnesota, Eau Claire Wisconsin and Castlegar British Columbia.

(Radio Iowa) – This is prime time for Iowa bird watchers as spring migration season is bringing all sorts of unusual feathered travelers to our backyards, well beyond the everyday robins, sparrows and blue jays. Avian ecologist Steve Kolbe is working to raise awareness about migratory birds as they help provide pest control, pollination and serve as a food source for other wildlife. Kolbe says migrating birds face multiple perils on their journey each year, putting the ecosystem in danger. “They encounter a habitat that has been degraded or destroyed during migratory stopover,” Kolbe says. “It’s sort of akin to if you are used to making a trip and you’re always stopping at a gas station then all of a sudden that gas station is closed-that maybe you planned on filling up and then you have some issues finding gas before you run out.”

Kolbe says Iowans who own a certain type of pet can play a key role in helping these birds on their annual flights. “One of the things that bird researchers really stress is keeping your cats inside,” he says. “Cats are a main source of mortality for birds and especially migrant birds. It’s also safer for cats to be inside, too.”

Kolbe also suggests helping migrating birds by putting out resources like food and water, and reporting birds that you see and their condition. He says websites like “eBird-dot-org” can help document changes in patterns and behaviors throughout time. Iowans can see nearly 400 types of birds throughout the year.

(Creston, Iowa) – Two men were arrested Wednesday on separate charges, in Creston, According to Creston Police, At around 11-a.m., 22-year-old Jeremiah Lee Whitney, of Creston, was arrested at 400 New York Ave. Whitney was charged with Driving While Barred. Whitney was taken to Union County Jail. Bail of $2000 cash or approved surety was posted.

And at around 11:30-p.m. Wednesday, 43-year-old Julio Cesar Villalpando Castro, of Creston, was arrested at 806 Laurel Street, and was charged with Theft 5th. Villalpando Castro was taken to Union County Jail. Bail is set in the amount of $1000 cash or approved surety.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – Adair/Casey School District Superintendent Josh Rasmussen has announced the Adair-Casey School Board agreed to hire Ed Den Beste as the new PK-8 Principal for Adair-Casey Elementary and AC/GC Junior High. Mr. Den Beste currently serves as a Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) Coordinator for the Atlantic Community School District and has held that position for the past eight school years.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Iowa and a master’s degree in educational administration from Iowa State University. Mr. Den Beste’s previous educational experiences include serving as an Elementary Classroom Teacher, Special Education Teacher, Special Education Director, and Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) Coordinator.

Ed Den Beste

Ed’s wife, Stacey, is currently the principal at Washington Elementary in Atlantic.  They have three children.  His oldest child, McKenna, lives outside of Elliot and is working at the Red Oak Hospital.  His oldest son, Tate, will be a senior at Iowa State majoring in Agronomy and his youngest son, Roth, will be a senior at Atlantic High School.

Rasmussen said “Mr. Den Beste is looking forward to getting to know the ACGC staff, students, their families and the community.”

RED OAK, Iowa – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has announced Senator Tim Scott will be one of her special guests at her annual Roast and Ride that takes place on Saturday, June 3rd. Ernst previously announced special guests include: former South Carolina Governor & presidential candidate Nikki Haley; former Vice-President Mike Pence; Conservative talk show host Larry Elder, and entrepreneur/presidential candidate from New York, Vivek Ramaswamy. Ernst has invited all 2024 Republican candidates and hopefuls. Additional special guests will be announced soon.

Ernst says she “Can’t wait to welcome [her] friend and colleague Tim Scott to Roast and Ride this year! Iowans…” she said, “are fired up to hear from Tim and many more conservative leaders on June 3rd.

Sen. Joni Ernst on a “Roast and Ride.” (2016 file photo from Radio Iowa)

Proceeds from her annual Ride are donated to a veterans charity. This year, she will be honoring Freedom Foundation of Cedar Rapids. Tickets for Joni’s 2023 Roast and Ride are available starting TODAY (Thursday). Click HERE for more information. Roast and Ride is for all ages, and kids 12 and under get in free.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley says the results of voting in all 50 states should be announced on Election Night. Haley spoke to a crowd in Ankeny last (Wednesday) night and was asked if she feels elections are fair. Haley told the crowd to keep the faith, because a lot of states are running elections right, but Haley said there are a a few states with problems.

In May of 2011, when she was governor of South Carolina, Haley signed a law requiring voters show a drivers license, passport or military I-D to prove they are eligible to vote in her state. She says voter I-D is the right way to verify voters are who they say they are.

Nikki Haley. (RI photo)

Haley is scheduled to make campaign stops in Waterloo and Dubuque later today (Thursday) and she’ll be in Davenport on Friday.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa native and former NASA astronaut is preparing for her fourth launch into orbit this weekend, her first where she won’t be wearing a government-issued spacesuit. Peggy Whitson, who grew up in Beaconsfield, will become the first woman commander of a private space mission, funded by Axiom Space. Speaking from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Whitson says her four-member crew is ready. “We’ve been training a lot, just refreshers, reviewing procedures again, reviewing timelines, and so we really feel like we’re prepared to go,” Whitson says. “We have a few more objectives to meet in the next few days but we are so excited to get to space.”

The ten-day mission will take the team to the International Space Station, where Whitson became the first female I-S-S commander on her second mission in 2008. This mission, dubbed Axiom Two, will be the first mission to take Saudi Arabian astronauts into space, including the first Saudi woman. Whitson says the focus is science. “We’re going to be doing over 20 different investigations. I’m really personally excited about some of the life sciences and the bioengineering ones in particular, but we have a lot of outreach where we’re talking to students,” Whitson says. “We really want to encourage students to do science, technology, engineering and math.”

In a 2007 Radio Iowa interview, Whitson talked about watching the Apollo 11 mission on T-V as a girl, wide-eyed as Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon on July 20th of 1969. “I thought what a cool job,” Whitson says, laughing. “It really didn’t become a reality to me, to become a goal, until I graduated from high school which was, coincidentally, the same year they picked the first set of female astronauts. I think that was when I decided I wanted to become an astronaut.” Whitson retired from the NASA astronaut corps in 2018. She’s now Axiom’s Director of Human Spaceflight and says she’s thrilled to be looking ahead to future challenges.

“We want to be able to have a commercial space station. We plan to have the first module up in late 2025 and that will expand our capability to do commercial space,” Whitson says, “and to have more and more people available, have more and more different science and payloads coming from all over the world. We are using these missions to learn how to optimize for that future mission in space.” Whitson will become the only person in history who’s gone into space aboard an American space shuttle, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft (twice), and a private SpaceX capsule. Each member of the crew is taking along a small memento or two, including Whitson. “So for me, I have flown three previous times into space and on each of those occasions, I flew the necklace that I wore when I got married, and I intend to fly it again.”

Whitson set a record during her first three missions for spending a total of 665 days in space, more than any other U.S. astronaut, and she’ll add to the total on this trip. Whitson was also the International Space Station’s first science officer, and she logged more EVAs — or spacewalks — than any other woman. Also, at 63, she’ll be the oldest woman from any nation to reach orbit. Launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon capsule from Kennedy is scheduled for Sunday at 4:37 PM/Central.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic, Wednesday evening, awarded the 2023 Fireworks Display Contract to last year’s vendor, “Wild Wayne’s,” and after discussion, tentatively set the days fireworks may be used leading up to the show, as June 30 through July 4th, from 6-until 11-p.m. on those dates. Action on approving the actual days for fireworks use by the public, will come during their next City Council meeting.

The agreement with “Wild Waynes” will cost the City $12,500, which is more than what was budgeted for, but City Administrator John Lund said he can accommodate the cost overrun through use of the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) Progress Fund. A spokesman for Wild Wayne’s said he knows there were complaints about last year’s show at the Well Fields/Sports Complex being too short and not visible enough. He attributed that latter due to the fact he was situated on a lower part of the terrain, which didn’t give him the proper placement needed to set-off the type of display his Class-B fireworks should have had. The Council will finalize this year’s site location after consulting with Fire Chief Tom Cappel, and Public Works Director/Street Superintendent Kirk Knudsen.

Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett asks residents to be considerate of their neighbors when setting off fireworks.

In other business, the Council, after a public hearing was held – during which there were no comments – passed an amended FY 2023 Budget, as previously explained and twice published in the local newspaper. The Council tabled, however, approving an agreement with Fusebox Marketing, for City Website Design & Development, Website hosting, Security, and Site Health, a Website Enhancement plan along with photography and video services. It was the second time the matter was tabled.

Atlantic City Council mtg. 5-17-2023

After much discussion, the Council agreed they wanted to hear formal presentations from 5Q in Atlantic, and Fusebox Marketing, to compare services that are not currently offered and those that could be. While 5Q services are currently used by the City, the Chamber and CADCO, Mayor Grace Garret said feedback she’s heard privately from certain individuals indicates they are not entirely happy with the company, and that she herself has had issues navigating the City’s website.

She said also, “There are no local customer service representatives. They are east coast to west coast, which means we are all on a different time frame.” Garrett said “We must have adequate technology,” and space, to provide what is required of a city to publish. The Mayor said when she personally tried to help someone outside of Atlantic navigate the City’s website in order to find information they were requesting, she had to go through about “six layers to find what I needed to tell them to use.”

A motion by Councilperson Otte to approve an agreement with Fusebox, was rescinded by her, until such time as the Council hears presentations from both website providers. In other news, the Atlantic City Council passed a Resolution “Adjusting season 2023 benefits for Sunnyside Pool lifeguards,” which, as we’ve mentioned provides for a $1,000 sign-on bonus, with $500 paid after a full 40-hours of work completed, and the balance at the end of the swimming season. The Council also passed the 3^rd and final reading of an amended Sewer Service Ordinance, and the 2^nd reading of an amended Special Parking Permit section of Ordinance #1032.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council was shocked to learn during their meeting this (Wednesday) evening, that our new Parks and Recreation Department Director has submitted his resignation, effective May 26, 2023. City Administrator informed the Council about the news Wyatt Adderton, is resigning. Adderton told Lund about his decision following Monday’s meeting of the Parks and Rec Board. Lund says the news came like a “shot in the stomach.”

John Lund said Wyatt is an exceptional worker and offered to talk through Adderton’s issues with the Personnel and Finance Committee.

Adderton said he would wants to the discuss his reasons for feeling disparaged. One is the management of the Sunnyside Pool. Lund says compensation isn’t an issue for Adderton, “it’s the work environment,” and issues of harassment.

Wyatt will talk with his spouse and see if they can “Make this work.”  Lund made it clear though, that “effectively, the Parks Department is a joke,” and a symptom of a dysfunctional organization that we have.”

The City Council will meet 1-p.m. Monday with Wyatt and the Personnel and Finance Committee to discuss the issues at hand, and ask if he will reconsider his resignation.