(Radio Iowa) — An event designed to “perk” up the spirits of coffee lovers in northwest Iowa is planned for this weekend. The Siouxland Coffee Festival allows coffee drinkers to sample a host of hot and iced varieties of the beverage from all over the country. Ryan Martinez is organizing the second annual event in Sioux City. “We partnered with over 30 organizations from over 10 different states to bring you the second iteration of this event,” Martinez says. “There’s going to be everything from coffee samples to live music. You can roast with a coffee roaster and do other things like learning about coffee origins, different home brew methods.”

Martinez says the event is a fundraiser with proceeds supporting dozens of local programs. “Tickets are $12.50 but all of that money goes back to Volunteer Siouxland, which is Siouxland’s online volunteer center,” he says. “We started it about two years ago and we currently serve 150 different nonprofit organizations in our community.”

Some vendors are Iowa-based while others are coming from as far away as both coasts, including Florida, California and Washington. The event will be held Saturday at the Sioux City Convention Center.

Atlantic Trick-or-Treating will be held today from 5:30-7:30 pm. Costume Contest registration begins at 3:45 pm at the Atlantic City Park, judging begins at 4:10 pm, winner announced at 4:30 pm. Downtown Trick-or-Treating is from 3:30-5:00 pm. Allen Place Trick-or-Treating 3:30-5:00 pm. Heritage House Trick-or-Treating 3:30-5:00 pm. Atlantic city wide Trick-or-Treating 5:30-7:30 pm.

Exira Trick-or-Treating will be held from 5-7 pm.

Anita Town & Country is sponsoring a pumpkin carving contest and costume contest today. Bring your decorate pumpkin to the fire station from 4-5 pm to be judged. There will be 4 age categories: 0-4, 5-7, 8-10 and 11 and above and a family category. Winners will be announced at the beginning of the costume contest.

Trick-or-Treating at Caring Acres in Anita is from 4-5 pm.

Griswold Optimist Beggar’s Night will be held from 5-7 pm at the Griswold City Park. Hot dogs and hot chocolate for all trick-or-treaters. Sponsored by the Griswold Optimist Club.

Central Church of Christ in Griswold Trunk or Treat will be held from 5:30-7:00 pm.

Casey Trick-or-Treating will be held from 5-7 pm.

Adair Trick-or-Treating will be held from 6-8 pm.

Adair Fire & Rescue Halloween Party will be held from 4:30-8:30 pm at the Adair Fire Station. They will be serving pancakes, sausage, cinnamon rolls, games and prizes.

Adair Chamber’s Trunk or Treat will be held from 5:15-6:00 pm. Businesses and citizens are welcome to have a trunk. Adair Chamber will give out goody bags. Methodist Church will serve hot dogs, Adair Fire Station will have pancakes and sausage.

Audubon Beggars Night will be held from 5:30-7:30 pm.

The Audubon Women’s Association Annual Fall Fun Fest will be held at the Memorial Building from 3:45-5:00.  They will walk the trick or treaters from the Memorial building to the Courthouse, down to the Newspaper office and around the south side of the square before hitting the main street starting at approximately 4:00. They will end at the Library and Trunk or Treating area that will be blocked off on the north side of the square. They will have games for the kids inside and also be serving pizza, chips, bars, and a drink for $5 to help get those little tummies full before they get into all that candy! This is sponsored by the Audubon Women’s Association.

Greenfield Spook the Loop & Trunk or Treat will be held from 4:30-6:00 pm on Main Street in Greenfield. Enjoy hot dogs, cookies and treats at the Greenfield Fire Station from 5-7 pm.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Some Iowa State students are pressuring the university administration to take action against people who’ve scrawled anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi slogans on campus.
Dozens of protesters gathered Wednesday afternoon at university President Wendy Wintersteen’s office to push their goal of a zero tolerance university policy toward racism and anti-Semitism.

Protest organizers say “Heil Hitler,” ”no trans rights” and anti-Semitic slogans were written in chalk at various places on the Ames campus last week. The Des Moines Register reports that posters and stickers advocating white nationalist viewpoints have been found on campus since 2016. Wintersteen spoke to a couple of the protest organizers and later emailed a statement that said she was proud of the students “for standing up against bigotry and racism.”

(Radio Iowa) — The bobcat comeback in Iowa continues and that’s led the Iowa D-N-R to raise the trapping limit in the area where they are most prevalent in the state. D-N-R wildlife biologist Vince Evelsizer says the limit was raised “Up from one bobcat up to three across the southern three tiers of counties in southern Iowa. While other counties — it’s a one bobcat bag limit.”  Forty-six of Iowa’s 99 counties are still closed to any bobcat trapping — stretching from the counties next to the western border across central Iowa to the eastern side of the state. Evelsizer says some of those close counties are starting to see more animals. “The bobcat population continues to do well — it’s still in expansion mode — so, we are happy to see bobcats still expanding into more areas of Iowa from a south to north direction,” Evelsizer says. “Right now, kind of the front line for that is northeast Iowa. There’s starting to be more bobcats up there.”

Bobcat

The bobcat range has already expanded from southwest Iowa northward along the western border.”Places like Boone County, Webster County they are doing very well up through there, up through the river corridors. And then in western Iowa they now extend all the way up the South Dakota-Minnesota border in western Iowa. We are seeing them fill in in areas of good habitat throughout the state in a south to north direction,” Evelsizer explained.  He says they have taken a conservative approach to the amount of bobcats that can be taken as they’ve made a comeback. “It’s another case of a wildlife success story that they largely did on their own, where they naturally came back to Iowa. They are originally native to Iowa — and they came back over time,” according to Evelsizer. “In this case all we did was protect them from harvest and any other kind of take from the mid 70’s up until 2007 when there was a closed season on them.”

The bobcat comeback has not gone unnoticed among the human residents of the state. There were many unconfirmed reports of bobcat sightings as their population increased — that in some cases were cats or other animals — and some cases were actually bobcats. Evelsizer says there’s still a lot of talk about them. “It’s really mixed. There’s more folks that have seen bobcats than ever. They tend to show up — especially on trail cameras — and sometimes folks will see them in their backyard walking along the edge and that sort of thing,” Evelsizer says. “In general bobcats are secretive. There’s a few places in some towns where bobcats are getting spotted regularly. But in general bobcats they are a secretive animal that’s mostly nocturnal.”

The bobcat season opens Saturday (November 2nd) and runs through January 31st. The counties where the bobcat bag limit has been raised from one to three (locally) include: Adair, Adams, Cass, Fremont, Madison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Taylor and Union. The counties that stay at a one bobcat limit include: Audubon, Crawford, Dallas, Guthrie, Harrison, Monona, Shelby, Sioux and Woodbury. The overall season limit for bobcats is three.

A collision between a car and two other vehicles early Wednesday morning in southeast Iowa’s Wapello County, resulted in one dead and another person injured. The Iowa State Patrol says a 2011 Chevy Malibu driven by 31-year old Timothy Iowan, of Ottumwa, was traveling south on Highway 63 just south of Mary Street, in Ottumwa, when the vehicle crossed the center of the road and struck a northbound 2008 Chevy pickup and a 2017 Ford Pickup. The Ford pickup came to rest on its top.

The Patrol says Timothy Iowan died at the scene. The driver of the Ford pickup, 28-year old Katelyn M. Weaver, of Bloomfield, was injured and transported by private vehicle to the Ottumwa Regional Hospital. Both drivers were wearing their seat belts. The accident remains under investigation.

A single-vehicle accident at around 11:23-p.m. Wednesday in Dallas County, has claimed the life of a Perry man. The Iowa State Patrol said 48-year old Michael Thomas Sloss was driving a 1994 Ford F-150 pickup on Park Street, in Perry, when the vehicle struck a parked car and went out of control. The pickup entered a residential yard and hit a tree and two parked vehicles. Sloss died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt. The accident remains under investigation.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies were called Wednesday, to 2405 N. Broadway Street in Red Oak, for a reported possible incident of Theft. Upon further investigation, Deputies made contact with 38-year old Jacob Lynn Derby and 22-year old Carley Marie Jean Hunter, both of Red Oak. They were taken into custody for Theft in the 5th Degree, and booked into the Montgomery County Jail, where their cash bonds were set at $300 each.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:37 a.m. CDT

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa sheriff says one of his deputies has been charged with assault after an off-duty confrontation with a fellow patron at a bar. Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner says that he finds the allegations against deputy Robert Amos “extremely concerning” and that he has placed him on paid leave pending an internal investigation. Gardner says Amos was arrested late Tuesday after a disturbance at a bar in Lisbon called Beau Dylan’s.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police in Cedar Rapids saying a man is fighting for his life after being shot in a gas station lot, and officers are now searching for a suspect. Cedar Rapids police say in a news release that the shooting happened just before 8 a.m. Wednesday at a Kum & Go gas station. A man in his 20s was found with critical injuries and rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. Investigators believe the man was targeted.

MORAVIA, Iowa (AP) — Law enforcement officials in southern Iowa say a woman has died following an explosion involving an oxygen tank. The Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release that firefighters and medics were called to a home in Morovia shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday. A woman was found on the kitchen floor and pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators say she had been using an oxygen machine for medical purposes when an unknown ignition source caused an explosion and fire.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State officials say they’re still investigating the fall of a man onto other football fans below at Jack Trice Stadium. The university says the fan tumbled from the second level on the stadium’s east side during the first half Saturday of the game against Oklahoma State, which the Cowboys won, 34-27. University spokeswoman Angie Hunt said Wednesday that she couldn’t yet clarify how many people were injured or say whether the fan who fell remained hospitalized. Names haven’t been released.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Sen. Kamala Harris is increasing the Iowa stakes for her sagging Democratic presidential campaign, with her campaign laying off several dozen staff members and transferring others from early states Nevada and New Hampshire to the lead-off caucus state.

“Plenty of winning primary campaigns, like John Kerry’s in 2004 and John McCain’s in 2008, have had to make tough choices on their way to the nomination, and this is no different,” her campaign manager, Juan Rodriguez, wrote in a memo to staff that was shared by the campaign Wednesday.

Harris had already pledged to go all-in on Iowa, joking she was moving there, and earlier Wednesday her campaign touted the 15 days she spent in the state this month as the “October Hustle.” It was more than any of her competitors spent there in October, but she’s still polling behind competitors such as Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.

Harris is the most prominent Democratic candidate so far to announce a major campaign restructuring less than 100 days out from the Iowa caucus. The changes come a full month after Rodriguez visited Iowa to evaluate the campaign’s organization and on the eve of an important Iowa Democratic fundraiser. The campaign, which has not yet run any television advertising, hopes to spend at least $1 million on a media campaign in the weeks before the Feb. 3 caucus, the memo said.

Harris plans to spend significant time in Iowa again in November, including over Thanksgiving, her campaign said. She’s in Iowa through this weekend and has announced a trip to New Hampshire next week. Her campaign hasn’t released her schedule beyond that.

A man from Nebraska faces Robbery and other charges following an incident this (Wednesday) morning, in Pottawattamie County. Council Bluffs Police say officers were dispatched at around 10:50-a.m. to 350 34th Ave., US Bank, in Council Bluffs, for a bank robbery that had just occurred. Bank employees were able to provide a description of the suspect and the vehicle that the suspect fled the area in.

Brandon N. Bird

As officers were arriving at the scene, a call came in that a subject and vehicle that matched this description were now at an address in the 5100 Block of Gifford Road in Council Bluffs, attempting to break into the residence and garage, in an attempt to steal a vehicle parked there. A short time later officers arrived in that area and observed the vehicle leaving that scene. Officers used stop sticks on the vehicle, causing the tires to go flat.

A short time later the suspect, later identified as 40-year old Brandon N. Bird, of Hastings, NE., lost control of the vehicle, which went off the road into a ditch. Bird was taken into custody at the scene. At this time, Council Bluffs Police along with the FBI are investigating all crimes that took place during the incident. Bird was set to be booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail on charges of Robbery 2nd, Burglary 1st, Theft 1st and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.