(Audubon, Iowa) – The Audubon County Fair is underway through Sunday. Here’s the schedule for today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday)…

THURSDAY, JULY 14
8:00- 9:00 AM 4-H/FFA Sheep & Goat check in
9:00-10:00 AM 4-H/FFA Beef check in
9:00 AM-6:00 PM Commercial Exhibit set-up
9:30AM-11:00 AM 4-H/FFA/Open Class Rabbit/Poultry check in
11:00 AM 4-H/FFA Horses must be stalled
11:30 AM Farm Bureau Meal – Hoop
Agriland Ice Cream
1:00 PM 4-H/FFA Exhibitor Meeting
6:00 PM Open Class static must be entered
6:30 PM 4-H Style Show followed by Queen Contest-Grandstand
8:00 PM Open Class exhibits must be in place
FRIDAY, JULY 15
7:30 AM Clover Kids Swine Show
4-H/FFA Swine Show
9:00 AM Judging Open Class Static & Antiques Entries
10:00 AM 4-H/FFA Horse Show
2:30 PM Livestock Judging Contest Sign up
3:00 PM Livestock Judging Contest
4:00 PM-9:00 PM Inflatable Attractions
5:00 PM Clover Kids Rabbit Show
4-H/FFA & Open Rabbit Show
5:00 PM Pork Feed – Hoop
7:30 PM Figure Eight Races

(Radio Iowa) – Separate search efforts are underway this (Thursday) morning on waterways in central and eastern Iowa for girls who went missing on Wednesday. Des Moines police say the search is back underway on the Raccoon River for an 11-year-old girl. She’s presumed drowned after rafting with friends on the river last night (Wed. night). Police say the girl got off the raft, went underwater and didn’t surface.

Another girl is believed to have met the same fate at Palisades-Kepler State Park in Linn County. Witnesses say the girl was struggling in the water mid-afternoon and vanished in the Cedar River. A helicopter and drones were being used in that search.

WASHINGTON – As historic numbers at the U.S.-Mexico border continue to rise, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) will join a delegation of her Senate Republican colleagues led by John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on a trip today (Thursday) and Friday to the Rio Grande Valley to survey the current state of the Southern border. The senators will be briefed by the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS), Texas National Guard, local law enforcement, landowners, and others.

In a statement issued Thursday morning, Ernst said “Month after month we continue to see complete chaos at the Southern border under this administration. With our Border Patrol agents more overwhelmed than ever, we need serious action to restore law and order at the border. I’m looking forward to meeting with the men and women on the frontlines of this crisis and bringing back potential solutions to my colleagues in the Senate.”

During the trip, the delegation will:

Participate in a night border tour with law enforcement.
Partake in a CBP aerial border tour.
Meet with local landowners to discuss the impact of the open border on Texas communities.
Receive briefings from the NBPC and CBP about the challenges these agencies face.
Receive a briefing from the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety about state efforts to secure the border, known as Operation Lone Star.
Hold a press conference to discuss the state of the U.S.-Mexico border.

(Pottawattamie County, Iowa) – Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department today (Thursday), said “Since our last Speed Enforcement Project on 4-29-2022 we have received several more complaints of speeding and red light traffic violations, in the area of I-29 and 9th Ave. The efforts to make motorists conform to the posted speed limit began Nov. 8, 2021, when the Iowa D.O.T. closed Northbound Interstate 29 between 9th Avenue and Avenue G and then opened the Northbound Frontage Road to accommodate that Interstate traffic. This section of road includes four separate traffic lights and a posted speed limit of 35mph. In addition to speeding there have been several accidents and complaints of semis using engine brakes.” On Wednesday, July 13th, Traffic Officers conducted another Speed Enforcement Project in the same area. The project involved six officers in fully marked cruisers; two of the six officers were on motorcycles.

Authorities say Officers began the project at 8:00 AM and concluded at 11:00 AM. They focused on excessive speed, which on Wednesday ranged from 61-to 81-mph in a 35-mph speed zone, “It means these people are traveling at least 30mph over the posted speed limit,” Police said. Included in the excessive speeds were two separate semis clocked traveling at more than 70mph. Police say 70 citations were issued including for no insurance and no registration. Authorities warned, “After [Wednesday’s] project results we will be stepping up our daily enforcement.”

On Wednesday, Traffic Officers focused their Special Traffic Enforcement on vehicles traveling 20-mph or more over the posted speed limit of 35mph. The top speed was checked at 80mph.  Council Bluffs Police say they “will continue to step up speed enforcement in this area. Always be aware of your speed.”

The Red Oak Police Department today (Thursday) said Thomas Oscar Anderson, age 62, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 4-p.m. Wednesday. Anderson was wanted on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance/2nd offense. He was being held for Mills County on a $25,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The Nature Conservancy in Iowa is offering home and business owners in the state a crash course in solar power. Patrick Snell, the organization’s climate and external affairs associate, says the Grow Solar program is in its fourth year of helping Iowans navigate a course toward finding an affordable source of renewable energy. “It’s hard to know what to look for in solar, how to work with your utility, how to work with your municipality and figuring out all the right questions to ask,” Snell says. “What this program does is really put all that in front of them in a 30-minute educational series to get all those questions answered.”

Grow Solar is underway this summer in Polk County, after successful runs in Dallas, Warren, Linn, Jackson and Johnson counties. There’s also a longer program, the Solar Power Hour, where people can learn the basics of solar energy, along with some of the financial aspects. “The program is a limited group buy purchasing program, so anybody that wants to participate in the program, we basically do a bulk purchasing of individual solar systems,” Snell says. “We usually see about a 10% reduction in the price of solar for those individual homes or businesses.” The program aims to connect Iowa home and business owners with local, reputable installers, while warning them about the predatory tactics of some out-of-state solar companies.

“Good solar companies have a headquarters or an operation in the state, that’s a big one for us,” Snell says. “One other thing we look at is the number of installations they’ve done. There’s a lot of companies that will come in to just try it out, and you’ll end up paying for a lot of headaches both for that resident, as well as their local utilities.” Just because you see something on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true, and this applies to the solar industry as well. Snell says people may want to steer clear of some companies that advertise on social media about the benefits of solar power.

“It’s something that can be good for someone’s pocketbook and good for their heart, and unfortunately from that altruistic side, we do see a lot of actors have misleading ads,” Snell says. “I would say there’s a lot of good players, there’s a lot of not-so-good players in the industry, so yes, there’s some ads to be wary of.” The Solar Power Hours are being held virtually and in-person to help equip Iowans with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions. Learn more at: https://www.growsolar.org/polk-county/

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University analysis shows rural households are being disproportionately impacted by rising inflation. The study finds disposable income for rural residents is down 38 percent — compared to 17 percent in cities. I-S-U researcher Dave Peters says that means rural communities have less of a safety net for unexpected costs. “A healthcare issue that costs extra money, you get a reduction in your hours. Big home repair that you didn’t plan for. So, any kind of these unexpected expenses, that’s only six-thousand dollars to cover that,” Peters says. He says rural households are using more gasoline to travel and fuel to heat their homes – – which are both surging in price.

And Peters says wages in small towns are growing more slowly than in other places. Peters says he’s most concerned with how long these communities can withstand inflationary costs. “If they’re for the long term, then this becomes a big crisis for rural households, you know, that disposable income cushion makes them really vulnerable to debt and bankruptcy,” he says. Peters says low-income and older residents are at even greater risk of being impacted.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with Cass Health reports AMC Rapid Care will be closed this (Thursday) morning (July 14), but they will re-open at noon, after staff move into their temporary home in Atlantic Medical Center. AMC Rapid Care personnel they will work out of the AMC until their space is fully renovated, the process for which is expected to be completed in early 2023.

(Radio Iowa) – A wind farm proposed for the southwest corner of Iowa has cleared one major hurdle. The Fremont County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved Invenergy’s application for its Shenandoah Hills project. The site south of Shenandoah extends into Page County as well. Officials in Page County are still reviewing the company’s application. Mark Crowl, a development manager with Invenergy, says the turbines would generate 27 million dollars in property taxes for Fremont County — and property owners in the county will get one-and-half million dollars in annual payments for easements.

“Those dollars for the project stay here in the county,” he said. “This is a project that allows some of our participating landowners that have agricultural operations to add to that, and to have a project that allows them to kind of ride out the ups and downs and stay here in Fremont County.” The Fremont County board’s approval came after a two-hour-long public hearing Wednesday. Brian Langner of Farragut told the supervisors the only winner in the project is Invenergy.

“The energy’s going to go into the grid. It is not going to help our energy costs one bit,” he said. “It’s going to continue to tear apart our communities.” Supporters like Penny Bredensteiner of Northboro say the turbines will boost the county’s economy. “This will help the tax base, I think, a great deal,” she said. “It will bring money into our county which has no industry, no major industry, coming into it.”

Brandon Van Scyoc, of Sidney, questions the project’s impact on wildlife and on farmland enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. “They don’t care about us,” he said. “They don’t care about any of us. It’s all for the dollar.” Others raised concerns about noise from the turbines and told the board many homes located near to the proposed turbines were not included in the project map.

A Fremont County supervisor said the project fits within the county’s wind power ordinance and had been reviewed by the county’s engineer and attorney. A Page County supervisor says there are several unanswered questions about the project, including the impact the turbines might have on the signal for K-Y-F-R, an A-M radio station in Shenandoah.

The Shenandoah Hills Wind Energy Center would be located near the Missouri border, in southwestern Page and southeastern Fremont Counties, between the communities of Riverton and Coin.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest survey shows gas prices have fallen again. Triple-A says the average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline dropped 12 cents to four dollars, 46 cents. That is down 30 cents a gallon from one month ago. The current Iowa average is 17 cents below the national average. It is still one dollar, 48 cents higher than one year ago.

Diesel prices dropped nine cents this week to five dollars, 27 cents. It’s still well above the three dollars, 11 cents a gallon for diesel one year ago.