(Radio Iowa) – The annual Pella Tulip Festival gets underway today (Thursday) as the community celebrates its Dutch heritage. Pella Historical Museum executive director, Jessi Galligan  says they’ve survived the recent warmer and wetter. “It’s been wonderful weather mixed with some not so wonderful weather but the weather can’t stop the fun,” she says. Some of the tulips did mature and bloom earlier than normal, but there’s still plenty of color for the event. “We plant early mid and late blooming varieties to extend that,” she says. “of course Mother Nature has the last word on how things actually end up. So we had tulips blooming already in February, but we still have tulips blooming today, so it was an extraordinarily long blooming season,” Galligan says. You’ll see a lot of different tulips around the town.

“Our early bloomers are for sure done. Our mid bloomers are looking a little rough, they’re on their way out, but our late bloomers are still just perfect,” she says. The recent storms and rains haven’t dampened the enthusiasm of organizers. “Yeah, tulips are a hearty flower so the rain obviously is good for them and their growth period. If the rain is too heavy and the tulips are on their way out then perhaps that will hasten their to their their petals falling,” she says. “But you know, we’ve gotten a decent mount of rain, nowhere near what some other communities in Iowa have gotten. But it really hasn’t hurt him too bad the ones that are still looking good or are still looking good.” The Tulip Festival will also have the old favorite foods, parades and other events, along with some new things.

“We are excited to have a brand new mural set up between the Vermeer Windmill and the entrance to the gift shop. Welcome to Tulip Time, so make sure you get your picture there. And I know a couple other new murals have popped up around the community sponsored by other organizations in town so make sure you check out all the murals in town. And I believe with this new one there will be for around the community to check out,” Galligan says.

The events run through Saturday. You can find the complete schedule at pellahistorical.org.

WASHINGTON – Following reports that the Biden administration is planning to welcome Gazan refugees into the United States, Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) led 34 of her colleagues in demanding the president stop his plan, citing concerns of potential terrorist ties, and instead focus his efforts on returning Americans held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

“Your administration’s reported plan to accept Gazan refugees poses a national security risk to the United States. With more than a third of Gazans supporting the Hamas militants, we are not confident that your administration can adequately vet this high-risk population for terrorist ties and sympathies before admitting them into the United States…We are also frustrated that your administration is pushing ahead with a plan to evacuate Gazans from the Strip when there are still American citizens held hostage by Hamas. We demand that your administration cease planning for accepting Gazan refugees until you adequately answer our concerns and focus your attention instead on securing the release of U.S. hostages held by Hamas,” the senators wrote.

Ernst’s office says a recent poll found that over 70% of Gazans viewed Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel as the “correct” decision.

 They pointed out that, “We must ensure Gazans with terrorist ties or sympathies are denied admission into the United States—no easy feat, given the fact that the Gazans were the ones who voted Hamas into power in 2006. Without thorough vetting, your administration may inadvertently accept terrorists posing as refugees into the interior. This is especially the case as Hamas terrorists have a long track record of co-mingling with civilian populations in Gaza.”

The lawmakers added,  “Unfortunately, the risk of terrorists entering our homeland is no hypothetical matter. Border officials have arrested 169 people on the FBI terror watch lists in Fiscal Year 2023, a record-setting number that exceeds the total of the last six fiscal years combined. Apprehended terrorists include a Hezbollah fighter who intended “to make a bomb” and was headed for New York. Given your administration’s abject failure at countering the flow of potential terrorists at our border, how can Congress trust your administration to adequately vet the refugees crossing the Egypt-Gaza border, located nearly 6,000 miles away from Washington, D.C.?”

To prevent bringing a national security threat into our homeland at the taxpayer’s expense, the senators requested President Biden answer how many refugees his administration is planning to accept, what screening will be in place to prevent terrorist sympathizers from reaching our homeland, the cost to the taxpayer, whether the administration has consulted with partners in the region, and the locations for refugee housing.

Read the full letter here.

Johnston, IA – The National Guard’s Region IV Best Warrior Competition is a rigorous event where soldiers from various states demonstrate their skills in fitness, marksmanship, and combat readiness, competing to earn the prestigious title of “Best Warrior”. Soldiers from seven states have won their respective state’s competition and will gather to compete for the right to move on to the national competition. This is the first time is seven years that the regional competition has been hosted in Iowa.

The competition is scheduled to take place from May 3rd to May 5th, 2024, at Camp Dodge, and for the first time ever, other locations within the Johnston community. The competition will culminate with a community-focused town party and awards presentation at the Johnston Town Center.

The town party, set for Sunday, May 5th, between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., is free and open to the public. The event will feature live music by the 34th Army Band’s Rock Group 42R, food trucks, and activities perfect for all ages. An awards ceremony will be conducted at 1:00 p.m. to recognize the achievements of the soldiers participating in the competition.

Prior to the town party, members of the public are welcome to view select portions of the competition, which include physical fitness tests, obstacle courses, and water survival tasks. The public can observe the final leg of the ruck march at Crown Point and Terra Park from 8:00 a.m. to 8:40 a.m., and cheer on soldiers as they complete the competition at Johnston City Hall from 8:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Iowa National Guard soldiers, Sergeant Lucas Peterson, a 68W Combat Medic from Boone, and Private First Class Shawn Halverson, an 11B Infantryman from Ames, will be representing Iowa in the competition.

For more information on the Best Warrior Competition and the town party, attendees are encouraged to visit the Iowa National Guard’s Facebook event page.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Conservation Interpretive Naturalist Lora Kanning say the Conservation Department’s 30th Pioneer Skills Festival takes place this Saturday afternoon (May 4th). Kanning says they still need help in the barn, so if you’re interested in volunteering by leading a pioneer station, email Lora Kanning at lkanning@casscoia.us. They would love to have help from 12:30-until 4 pm, as the festival runs from 1-4pm.

Kanning said also, the Cass County portion of the T-bone trail is CLOSED. DO NOT go around any barriers, please turn around. The Construction contractor is repairing bridge approaches in Cass county. The project is taking longer due to the weather. This weekend there may be sections of the trail open and others may have barriers. Kanning says they hope to be finished with the project next week!

On Thursday May 9th , the Cass County Conservation Department will host a 5th grade field trip and conservation day. They are asking for volunteers to help the 5th graders fish at Cold Springs park from 9am-2pm. If you are available that day to help, email Lora Kanning. That email again is lkanning@casscoia.us .

Lastly, Kanning reports summer camps still have a couple open spots. Fliers went out in the Department’s last newsletter! It can also be found on the Conservation Department’s website https://www.casscountyia.gov/county-departments/conservation-office/

Details on upcoming events and projects happening from May into June will be released in the next few weeks.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officers with the Creston Police Department, Wednesday night, arrested 35-year-old Bryan Michael Vannausdle, of Creston. Vannausdle was taken into custody at his residence in the 500 block of S. Vine Street at around 8-p.m., on charges that include: Sexual Exploitation of a Minor; Receipt of Child Pornography; Possession of Child Pornography, and Transfer of Obscene Material of a Minor.

Vannausdle was being held without bond in the Union County Jail.

DES MOINES, Iowa [WHO-TV] — Newly obtained emails between investigators within the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations are shedding more light into why and how agents gathered evidence against student athletes at Iowa and Iowa State Universities in the online sports betting case. WHO-TV reports agents used geo-fence technology already employed by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to track all cell phone activity on both campuses. The evidence led to criminal charges and/or NCAA suspensions for 26 students; most pled guilty to underage gambling as part of plea deals. In March, the state dropped all charges against the five remaining defendants who pleaded not guilty; all 26 individuals are now suing the state.

According to internal emails provided by the Sandy Law Firm, Van Plumb and Matthew Boles who are representing the plaintiffs, DCI agents believed state code permitted them to use the software program Kibana, which is used by the Racing and Gaming Commission to track online sports betting, to cast a broad net to identify who was placing wagers.

An email exchange on September 15, 2022 from Story County prosecutor Tyler Grimm to DCI special agent Chris Swigart details Grimm explaining the need to obtain a warrant to obtain certain information they were after. No warrant was issued and the geo-fences were initiated. But communications also show agents knew their methods would be questioned.

Emails were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and provided to WHO 13 by the attorneys representing the 26 plaintiffs from the Sandy Law Firm, attorney Van Plumb, and attorney Matthew Boles. GeoComply has publicly stated the way DCI agents used their software, Kibana, in this case was inappropriate.

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission stated last August that the investigation did not reveal evidence of point shaving.

URBANDALE, Iowa (KCCI) – A trucker was watching Netflix when he crashed into a car, killing a couple from Urbandale, prosecutors said. KCCI reports Matthew and Cimberly Hansen, of Urbandale, died in the crash in southern Minnesota in August 2023.

Prosecutors said the truck driver, Billy Grimes, was watching a show on his phone while going nearly 70 mph when he approached a construction zone. Grimes, who has denied using his phone while driving, is facing two counts of vehicular homicide

(Radio Iowa) – State Climatologist Justin Glisan says April brought the showers the state needs. “We’re actually about eight-tenths of an inch above average and particularly wet across southeastern Iowa and northwestern Iowa, where we’ve seen drought removal and drought improvement,” Glisan says. April was also warmer than normal. “Two degrees above the normal average that we would expect for April,” he says. The April average temperature is around 48 degrees. Glisan says the storms that brought the rain also gave us some severe weather. “Almost 40 tornadoes reported across the state and that’s approaching the April record,” he says.

Glisan says the immediate outlook for this month shows the same trends as April. “We’re trending towards warmer to near normal temperatures, but we’re also seeing a wetter signal for the first two weeks of May,” Glisan says. “And May being the second wettest month of the year for Iowa climatologically, we could expect a lot of thunderstorm potential, and a lot of rainfall potential across the state.” Glisan says the rain is welcome to combat the drought, but farmers also need a little dry time to plant. “We do need to get planted, we do need to get that field work completed, and we’ve been wet over the last two weeks,” he says.

Corn and soybean planting were slightly ahead of schedule heading into this week.

(Radio Iowa) – As driverless cars become more popular on our roads, researchers at the University of Iowa are studying ways to make those cars transmit simple messages to pedestrians that it’s safe to cross in front of them. U-I Professor Jodie Plumert says they’re testing out one potential signal so computerized cars can let those on foot know they’re being “seen” by its cameras. “It had a light on the top, like a little dome light, and it was red,” Plumert says, “and then as it approached the intersection, it either turned green when the car began to decelerate, or it turned green just after the car came to a stop in front of the pedestrian.” The concept is being tested in a virtual reality lab at the U-I using projections of vehicles on giant screens that surround real kids, about a hundred of them so far, all between the ages of eight and 12. Plumert, a professor of psychological and brain sciences, says the results so far are revealing.

“When the cars were decelerating gradually and the green light came on early, children did enter the road before the car came to a complete stop,” Plumert says. “But when the green light came on, just after the car came to a stop, the children waited for that light to come on before they entered the road. So they were sort of treating it like it was a crosswalk signal and if it came on early, it was like, ‘Okay, I can go,’ and if it came on late, they waited for it to come on.” Autonomous vehicles need to be able to relay key information to pedestrians, she says, before even more of them enter the flow of traffic.

“This issue of — even if it were a car with a driver — if cars are decelerating gradually, seeing kids being willing to start crossing before that car came to a complete stop was another aspect of the study that was interesting — and also concerning about children’s traffic behavior.” Driverless vehicles are quickly gaining in numbers and Plumert sees them being used in big cities like Los Angeles already as a taxi service, as well as for making deliveries of shipments large and small. “This is kind of a whole new world,” Plumert says, “because here these these vehicles might be driving around and there’s no driver in there to communicate with you, like wave to you or make eye contact to say, ‘Yep, I see you and I’m gonna wait until you cross the road here.'”

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety projects there will be three-and-a-half million vehicles with self-driving functionality on American roads by next year, and four-and-a-half million by 2030.

(Radio Iowa) – State officials may now offer far larger tax incentives for up to two businesses that plan to spend at least a BILLION dollars on a new facility. Yesterday (Wednesday), Governor Kim Reynolds approved up to 93 MILLION dollars in tax incentives for the so-called “MEGA” program.

“This legislation presents a tremendous opportunity for Iowa,” Reynolds said. To qualify as a “MEGA” or “Major Economic Growth Attraction,” the business would have to be engaged in research, advanced manufacturing or bioscience. Reynolds says there are seven “certified” development sites in Iowa that would qualify as a location since a business has to build on at least 250 acres to qualify for the MEGA program.

“There’s also a component that helps some of our rural communities that helps some of our rural communities really try to participate in the process,” Reynolds says. The new law provides some state money to help 88 Iowa counties that are outside of urban areas improve tracts of land, so it’s immediately ready for business development.

Reynolds says there “possibly” may be a business that’s ready to spend over a BILLION dollars in capital on a MEGA site in Iowa.  “We want those big investments, those capital investments in our state,” Reynolds says, “and we need to be competitive for that as well.” Reynolds signed the MEGA incentive program into law yesterday (Wednesday). She also signed legislation that will cut Iowa’s personal income taxes by a billion dollars next year.

“As far as we’ve come, I’m also confident that we’re not done yet,” Reynolds says. “…It increases our competitiveness and sends an unmistakable message to the rest of the country.” Reynolds has said she wants to eliminate the state income tax by the end of 2026.