(Radio Iowa) – Anyone who’s ever entertained a cat with a laser pointer will understand the premise behind the latest research at Iowa State University involving lasers and young chickens. I-S-U animal science professor Liz Bobeck found a way to motivate chickens to move around using specially-designed lasers. They project a red dot onto the floor of the pens to stimulate the birds’ predatory instincts, encouraging them to be more active.

“It gives them something else to do in their day-to-day tasks,” Bobeck says. “It gives them a choice to have an option to play, which I think is something that is kind of neat. From a performance and welfare benefit, they are up and moving. They are able to grow faster, better, stronger bones. They have better feed conversion.” That’s especially important because as the chickens approach market weight, they often become more sedentary, but the lasers keep them hopping.

“Our initial work was for four minutes, four times a day,” Bobeck says, “and we move the lasers in kind of a random pattern so the birds feel like they’re chasing something that would be moving at the speed of a bug or an insect that they might like to chase anyway.” An initial concern was that if the birds exercised more, they’d lose weight, but Bobeck says they’re finding the opposite, that the broilers saw improved weight gain and bone density.

“When the birds get up and play with the laser, they actually go to the feeder and to the water, so they spend more time eating and drinking and walking, and then actually growing,” Bobeck says, “and this is translating to really cool benefits as far as meat quality goes.” Laser pointers always carry warnings about how dangerous it can be to gaze into the high-intensity light, but Bobeck says none of the test chickens have wound up visually impaired.

“We haven’t found yet that the birds can figure out where the lasers are coming from since they’re moving,” Bobeck says. “But we also have not seen any issues with birds looking into the laser and becoming blind, and it’s also the safest wavelength for humans. So, our goal is to also not harm any person that will be working in the barn.” I-S-U is working with a livestock lighting company to eventually take this concept to market.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – A woman from Nebraska was arrested following a report of an attempted bank robbery today (Tuesday), in Council Bluffs. According to Bluffs Police, Officers were called at around 12:03-p.m. to the First National Bank at 2421 West Broadway, for a possible robbery in progress.

While enroute officers received information that a female suspect had pulled into the business drive thru lane outside of the bank and passed a note to the teller demanding cash. As officers arrived on scene the suspect attempted to leave the area. She was stopped and taken into custody as she drove onto West Broadway.

Lisa M. Stenberg

After being interviewed, the suspect, 51-year-old Lisa M. Stenberg, of Omaha, was transported to Pottawattamie County Corrections and charged with Robbery 2nd and Theft 2nd. No weapons were found and there were no injuries reported during this incident.

(Radio Iowa) – The annual Iowa State University survey released today (Tuesday) finds the average price of an acre of farmland set a record again at 11-thousand-411 dollars. I-S-U’s Wendong Zhang oversees the survey. “This represents a 17 percent growth over the past year, and this is really phenomenal because that when you’re thinking about over the past few years — last year 2021 Iowa will farmland values rose 29 percent — and so this is a ramp up that is that we haven’t seen since the 1980s, essentially,” Zhang says.

Zhang says the inflation adjusted farmland value was a nearly nine percent increase — which is also a record. He says it is the first time since they since they started collecting information in the 1940s that both the regular and inflation adjust values have set records. He says overall medium quality ground rose the most at 17-point-seven percent, the high quality ground rose about 17 percent, and the low quality ground rose 15 percent. Each county saw an increase. “All 99 counties rose 10 percent or more — so it all rose between 10 percent to about 22 percent,” he says.

Zhang says landowners are happy to see an increase in their land value — but do wonder how long it will last. “There are more growing concerns about the sustainability of the land market growth, and also the elevated entry barriers for beginning farmers and less resource to farmers to enter the market because of the higher prices,” he says. Zhang says commodity prices are the number one reason those in the survey say prices have increased — as everyone was thinking four-dollar a bushel corn would be good — and nobody was expecting corn to get to six and seven dollars. He says there are several reasons for that rise — including the conflict in Ukraine.

Wendong Zhang

“The Russia Ukraine war, the geopolitical uncertainty essentially further pushed up the commodity prices,” he says. “And the strengths and the stability in the U-S market, and the consistency and the quantity of the U-S agricultural markets sort of benefited from that.” He says corn and beans aren’t the only commodities seeing the impact. “This is happening for soybeans and for hay as well. But also this time, we are also seeing tremendous growth in terms of the livestock prices as well. And when you are thinking about especially cattle prices,” Zhang says.

He says this has shown up in the increased growth in land values in the northwest part of the state as there’s a significant presence of cattle producers, and to a lesser extent hogs. He says producers need to have land to spread manure on for nutrient management purposes, so they are more aggressive in bidding nearby grounds.

(Radio Iowa) – Dickinson County Attorney Amy Zenor has resigned after being charged with public intoxication last month. The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously today (Tuesday) to accept her resignation and board chairman Bill Leupold wished her well. “Somewhat sad to do this, but it’s understandable and I wish Miss Zeno just the best in the world from now on,” Leupold said. “Hope her future’s bright.”

Zenor, who is 39, was re-elected as Dickinson County Attorney on November 8th. On November 10th, the county sheriff’s office was notified that someone in the courthouse in Spirit Lake was drunk and Zenor was arrested. She is pleading not guilty to a simple misdemeanor charge and is scheduled for a non-jury trial early next year. It’s now up to the board of supervisors to decide how to fill the vacancy. “To my knowledge, we will now have a choice whether to have an election or whether to appoint a county attorney and I believe we will be doing that in the coming weeks,” Leupold says.

The board has put Assistant County Attorney Steve Goodelow in charge of the office until the decision is made. Zenor had been appointed Dickinson County Attorney since January of 2020. She was appointed to the post when the previous county attorney retired after nearly 39 years in office.

Blakesburg, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety have identified the State Trooper involved in the shooting of a man he was taking into custody. Iowa State Patrol Trooper Jeremy Cole, is a three-year veteran of the Patrol. Per DPS Policy, the Trooper was placed on critical incident leave, following the incident that occurred on December 7th.

On that date, Wapello County law enforcement officers attempted to apprehend 35-year-old Charles Hall, of Ottumwa, who was wanted on a warrant for robbery. Hall fled from officers on multiple occasions and across multiple jurisdictions.

Trooper Cole located Hall near the intersection of 118th Street and Dewberry Avenue in rural Blakesburg. While attempting to arrest Hall, he brandished a weapon. Trooper Cole discharged his duty weapon striking Hall. Law enforcement provided Hall on-scene medical care. He was airlifted to a Des Moines hospital, where he remains in serious condition. Trooper Cole was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital and released.

The Division of Criminal Investigation will forward their investigative findings to the Davis County Attorney for review.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday, approved the re-appointment of several members serving on the Cass County Local Food Policy Council (LFPC). They received a request for the funding for two-years, of a Cass County Tourism Director’s position. Spokesperson Brigham Hoegh said they’re requesting $130,000 from the County’s share of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), split between two full-years.

Hoege said they originally were going to propose a part-time position, but a full-time position would attract a more qualified candidate.

She explained what some of the responsibilities and duties the candidate selected would handle.

Also in attendance at the Supervisor’s meeting advocating for the same topic, was Kenner Baxter, Jennifer McEntaffer and Baily Smith. Hoegh said the group wants first to establish a 501 (c) 6 non-profit, tax exempt organization.

The Board’s consensus was that there aren’t enough steps that have been taken and information gathered, to proceed with the use of ARPA funds at this time. They were also leaning toward favoring the establishment of the position as part-time. At the end of an hour’s long discussion, the Board asked Hoege to put together the specifics needed to make the position happen. Supervisor Steve Green…

In other business, the Supervisors approved appointments to the Cass County Local Food Policy Council Board, and accepted the resignations of: Jennifer Saathoff, from the Compensation Board – effective immediately; Donald D. Edwards, as Trustee of Victoria Township and Linda K. Edwards, Clerk of Victoria Township, both effective Feb. 28. 2023.

(Radio Iowa) – A report from the State Auditor has found the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division wasn’t reviewing payroll journals before forwarding time sheets to the agency that pays state employees. The payroll records were being submitted to a manager, but according to the state auditor’s report no one in the Alcoholic Beverages Division was reviewing the time sheets or signing off on them. The auditor’s report suggests that could let employee errors or dishonesty about their payroll journals slip through. The agency says it has updated and changed its procedures, with the Comptroller of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division downloading the payroll report and the agency’s Chief Operations Officer reviewing and signing it.

As you may recall, State Auditor Rob Sand’s Republican opponent, Todd Halbur, was fired as the Comptroller of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division in 2018. This fall, a jury awarded Halbur a million dollars after he sued for wrongful termination and retaliation after he raised concerns about liquor charges. The State Auditor’s report covered all divisions in the Iowa Department of Commerce. It recommended the Iowa Insurance Division ensure credit card payments were not being approved by a person who had access to the cards — and the agency has made that change.

The Iowa Utilities Board has also made changes to ensure one person isn’t responsible for both collecting and depositing payments to the agency.

(Radio Iowa) – Legislation co-sponsored by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley that targets opioid overdoses, with a focus on rural areas, is headed to President Biden’s desk after winning final Congressional approval last week. Grassley, a Republican, says the bill is the result of bipartisan cooperation in both chambers to tackle a national problem. Grassley says, “The bill will ensure rural communities with high levels of opioid overdoses have resources that they need to respond to this social problem.” Counterfeit prescription pills laced with deadly fentanyl are contributing to historic drug overdose deaths in the U-S, Grassley says, including here in Iowa.  Grassley says, “According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, over 80% of the overdose deaths in Iowa last year were fentanyl-related.”

A state report shows 470 lives were lost to drug overdoses in Iowa last year, while among Iowans age 25 and younger, overdose deaths have surged 120-percent in recent years. Grassley says President Biden will, “without a doubt,” sign the Rural Opioid Abuse Prevention Act into law, but he says another key bill is mired by partisan bickering. “Fentanyl coming into the country is a criminal act. Congress needs to extend the authority designating fentanyl-related substances as a Schedule One drug,” Grassley says. “I tried to extend this authority in March but Democrats blocked it.”

He blames Democrats for the “open southern border” and allowing a “flood” of dangerous drugs into the U-S. That second bill would permanently schedule all fentanyl knock-offs, preventing criminals from tweaking the formula slightly to skirt the law.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three arrests from the past few days. On Monday (and as reportedly separately), 50-year-old Floyd Raymond Henry II, of Red Oak, was arrested at the Montgomery County Jail, on a warrant for Failure to Appear. His bond was set at $10,000. And, there were two separate arrests on Saturday: 35-year-old Nicole Katherine Spracklin, of Plattsmouth, NE, was arrested on I-29 at Highway 34, for Driving Under Suspension. Bond was set at $300; 47-year-old Bryan James Jirkovsky, of Omaha, was arrested Saturday on Highway 34 in Mills County, on charges that include a Controlled Substance Violation, Used or Expired Drug Tax Stamp, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $100,000.

The Sheriff’s Office reports also, 23-year-old Mariah Glynn, of Plattsmouth, NE., was driving a 2016 Subaru west on Highway 34 near 295th Street, at around 4:20-p.m. Saturday, when her vehicle struck a stationary, mobile traffic light placed in the area, because of a lane closure on a bridge at that location. The light was pushed into the ditch and ended-up facing an unintended direction. No citations were issued.