(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood say there were two arrests over the weekend. On Sunday, 19-year-old Josiah Franklin, of Omaha, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance. He posted a $1,000 bond and was released. And, on Friday, 25-year-old Montana Garbez, of Glenwood, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension. Garbez posted a $300 bond, and was released.

(Radio Iowa) – A former Storm Lake resident will be featured on the season premiere of “America’s Got Talent.” Amy Freese (Freeze) will be on the show Tuesday with her basset hound Daisy, who does obstacle course runs. “We’ve been practicing together for about four to five years and what we’ve been doing is posting our videos on our social media just because she’s funny but also it’s just really nice to showcase that, a little tiny dog like her can do something that typically big dogs have an easier time doing,” she says.

Freese says one of her social media followers works on the show. “Sent me a message that he had a basset himself and he knew how hard it was to train a basset hound to go through a tunnel and go over jumps and even just listen,” she says, “because basset hounds do tend to be a little stubborn. And he just said, ‘Hey, it’s amazing what she does,’ and he just suggested that we audition for America’s Got Talent.”  She decided to do it. “In December and January, we created a video audition. Later in January, we heard that they wanted us to come and do a live audition. So very quickly had to kind of pull our act together,” Freese says. “My husband drove the dog all the way out to California. I flew and then you’re there for two days. You’re there for a day of practice, and then you’re there for a day of filming your act in front of a live audience.”

Freese says you face a lot of competition to get on the show. “I’ve heard there’s approximately 6,500 video auditions each season and then about 120 to 130 make it to the stage in front of the judges, so that’s very exciting,” she says. “From there, the judges vote on you, yes or no. And then of the 130 that get on stage, maybe 30 go to the live show, which will happen later in the season.”

Freese’s act also includes her other dog, a bloodhound named Clifford. Her audition will be part of the “America’s Got Talent” season premiere at 7 pm on NBC. Freese graduated from Storm Lake High School in 1993, and graduated from Buena Vista University in 1997. She lives in Chicago and works as a special education administrator.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Cass County (IA) was arrested this (Tuesday) morning, in Montgomery County. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 29-year-old Daniel Albert Ward, of Lewis, was arrested at around 4:30-a.m. for OWI/2nd offense, an Aggravated Misdemeanor. Ward was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports two drivers were arrested on separate Driving While Suspended charges. 34-year-old Jennifer Ann Self, of Creston, was arrested Monday night, and 43-year-old Megan Marie Brown, of Lorimor, was arrested this (Tuesday) morning.

Both women were cited and released from the scene of their respective traffic stops.

(Radio Iowa) – When Iowa’s weather gets warmer, the risks rise of a child dying of heatstroke after accidentally being left in a vehicle by a parent or caregiver. It’s a rare tragedy in the state, but it still happens far too often, according to Laura Dunn, a highway safety specialist with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Unfortunately, seven children have died from heatstroke in Iowa since 1988,” Dunn says, “and the national per capita death rate is about 16.3, and Iowa falls kind of in the mid range at 11.8.” Iowa may not get as hot as Arizona during the summer, but the danger is still significant here. While the risk of hot car deaths is highest when temperatures are hottest, heatstroke can be fatal at any time of year — and at outside temperatures as low as 60 degrees.

“In just about 10 minutes, a car can heat up by about 20 degrees, and that keeps increasing exponentially as time goes on,” Dunn says. “Cracking a window, parking in the shade, it really does very little to help. It’s kind of like what you would call a greenhouse effect.” An average of 37 children die in hot vehicles nationwide every year, and during the summer months, Dunn says it’s roughly two each week.

“We’re launching a new campaign with the Ad Council to remind parents when they park to ‘Stop. Look. Lock.’ and with that, we are hoping to prevent one of the primary ways that hot car deaths happen,” she says, “from a parent or caregiver forgetting their child in a vehicle.” Forgotten children make up about 53-percent of hot car deaths, while some 26-percent of the deaths are from a child getting into a car but they can’t get out. About 20-percent of hot car deaths come from a parent intentionally leaving a child in the car without realizing how quickly it will heat up. Studies show a child’s body temperature rises three-to-five times faster than an adult’s, and when a child’s body temperature reaches 107 degrees or higher, it can lead to death.

“When you park, look in the backseat before locking and leaving the car,” Dunn says. “When you’re driving with your child, make sure that your child’s been dropped off where they’re supposed to be at school or childcare. Keep an item in your vehicle, like a child’s toy, and put that toy up front with you when your child’s in the car seat.” She also suggests leaving something you need during the day — like your phone, a purse or a briefcase — in the back seat with the child.

The NHTSA says heatstroke from hot cars is the leading cause of non-crash, vehicle-related death for kids 14 and younger.

(Radio Iowa)- Researchers on the Mississippi River say two years of work to try and deter invasive carp using sound has yielded some promising results. Christa Woodley with the Army Corps of Engineers says four types of invasive carp were intentionally brought here in the late 60s and early 70s, but they led to problems that include reducing water quality that leads to increased dredging and bank destabilization. “When you’re thinking about something like the Mississippi River where we already have quite a bit of flood risk and flood elements, the fish can actually increase those impacts,” she says.

Woodley and Marybeth Brey with the Geological Survey designed a 16-speaker soundbar and installed it at Lock 19 to try to deter invasive carp while minimizing impacts on native species. The soundbar plays sounds specifically at the frequencies the carp can hear. Woodley says the sounds should be irritating to the carp, so they don’t come near. “In some cases it should stop them from wanting to cross, sometimes it will actually cause them to turn around,” Woodley says. The soundbar can be controlled both on site and remotely. It is on for three days and eight hours, then off for three days and eight hours. The scientists can then compare how many fish cross the lock when the system is active and how many cross when it is inactive. Brey and Woodley’s team puts transmitters in 700 to 800 fish a year to track their movements.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, Missouri Department of Conservation, and the Iowa and Illinois Departments of Natural Resources are all involved in the fish tagging. Brey says the data from 2022 shows a 50 percent decrease in silver carp specifically. “So, for every two fish that pass upstream when it’s off, one would pass when it’s on,” Brey says. Most native species in the Mississippi do not hear at the same frequencies as the carp. So far, the system seems not to bother them. Bigmouth buffalo are crossing the lock at similar rates when the system is off and on, but they have not seen significant impacts on the freshwater drum, the paddlefish, or the white bass. “But all things considered on the fish side, it’s looking definitely better than not having it there,” Brey says.

The data from 2023 will be analyzed soon. Though Brey and Woodley provide the results, they don’t decide if the system should be implemented on a broader scale. That decision is left to the states. Besides studying the movement of fish, Brey and Woodley have also been tracking how well their equipment functions over longer periods of time. Woodley says the technology developed for this project can be used for other projects as well. It is already being used by others trying to attract fish towards certain areas, or cover up construction noise. “It’s had a lot of applicability and some really neat science going in to it that we’re able to track and hopefully push out to the people that need it for whatever purpose,” she says. Researchers are studying other deterrent strategies as well.

Carbon dioxide, electricity, and walls of bubbles can all be used to deter the passage of fish. But those methods all deter native fish as well. Brey says some groups are also working on combining removal methods with deterrent methods. “We’re trying to say how can we, if we’re deterring fish, how can we remove them at the same time,” Brey says.

The underwater acoustic deterrent system study is set to continue through the end of the year. It may be extended with different research questions depending on needs of the partner agencies.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Grinnell College has made a “decisive step” forward in the direction of operating without emissions with the completion of a 9,000-panel solar array. College President Anne Harris says one-third of Grinnell College’s campus is now running on renewable energy with the array, the largest private solar installation in the state. As Grinnell College reaches this milestone in its goal of hitting net-zero emissions by 2040, a community-wide solar project could have more than half of the university’s power come from renewable sources.

A third-party developer, Sunlight General Capital LLC, owns the array, and Grinnell College has purchased all of the energy generated from it for the next 20 years, with the possibility of a 10-year extension. The array, which Grinnell College environmental and safety manager Chris Bair said has been in operation for around one month, provides four megawatts of power that flows to almost every building on campus. There are six other smaller solar power stations utilized by the university, he said, which provide energy to buildings off of the main meter like the facilities building and environmental education center.

Each of the panels is double-sided, Bair said, allowing them to gather energy from reflected light like that off snow, and are able to follow the path of the sun from east to west to more efficiently absorb power. Beyond the daily power the solar array provides, a battery connected to the system can store a certain amount of energy for when it’s needed. Bair said this will be most useful when the university’s energy usage is at its highest, like on a hot day in August with all of the air conditioning units on campus running constantly. The battery will help curb the peak, at least a little bit, helping save some money on the energy bill.

The Grinnell College Solar farm, the largest privately owed solar farm in the state of Iowa May 19, 2022.
(Photo by Justin Hayworth/Grinnell College)

Another solar array project spearheaded by Alliant Energy and community partners will provide the university with an additional two megawatts of solar energy, Bair said, ensuring more than half of campus power will come from solar once it is up and running.

Grinnell College is one of many institutions with sustainability plans and practices, Harris said, and all universities should be thinking about solutions like these because they can make a tangible impact on more than just the campus itself, but the community that houses it.

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (KCRG) – A 101-year-old Mount Vernon man who gained a following on social media by telling jokes during the pandemic died over Memorial Day weekend, his daughter confirmed. Fred Lehman posted jokes to Facebook every day for several years to spread joy. It started as a way to make people smile when they were isolated in their homes because of the pandemic.

Lehman was known for his sense of humor. He was considered a community icon in Mount Vernon. When he turned 100-years-old, a special birthday celebration was held, in which Mayor Thomas Wieseler declared January 26, Fred Lehman Day, in 2023.

Lehman served as a marine in 1945 and was a member of the Mount Vernon American Legion for 75 years, and the Lion’s Club for 70 years.

PERRY, Iowa (KCCI) – The Perry Community School District honored its late high school principal during graduation over the weekend. Dan Marburger died while protecting students during a shooting at the high school in January. The district left an empty chair near the podium for Sunday’s ceremony. A coat was draped over the back of it, with red roses on the seat.

Seniors then dropped white flowers into buckets on either side as they crossed the stage to receive their diplomas. During the ceremony, Clark Wicks, the district’s superintendent, thanked Marburger for his efforts in coordinating graduation every year.

The shooting in January also killed sixth grade student, 11-year-old Ahmir Joliff. Six others were also hurt.