Police in Creston arrested a man from Polk County, for Violation of a No Contact/Protective Order. 24-year-old Aristides Esau Perodomo was taken into custody at the Union County Courthouse. He later posted a $300 bond, and was released.

Police in Red Oak, early this (Friday) morning, arrested a woman on a drug charge. Authorities say 18-year-old Lanee Joe Harmsen, of Clarinda, was arrested at around 3:54-a.m. in the 1600 block of Broadway Street, in Red Oak. She was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance (PCS)/1st offense, a Serious Misdemeanor. Harmsen was being held in the Montgomery County Jail, where her bond was set at $1,000.

(Radio Iowa) – August saw below-normal rainfall — but drought conditions did improve in some parts of the state. The D-N-R’s Tim Hall says some areas didn’t get the rain from thunderstorms. “You sort of have to look at it regionally. And some parts of Southeast Iowa were accepted exceptionally dry in the month of August,” Hall says. August was the fifth straight month with below-normal precipitation, and Hall says the state needs a rainfall rally.”To get out of a drought that’s been sort of lingering and brewing for a couple of years, it’s going to take month over month over month of above normal rainfall,” he says.

“We haven’t seen but one month this year, where we’ve had above normal rainfall statewide. We haven’t seen the conditions that we’d like to see that’ll start to dig us out of this long-term condition.” Rivers and streams are running low in some of the drought areas — which can lead to more problems.”There’s water quality issues that come along with decreased streamflow and groundwater. There’s some communities battling nitrate issues. So in northwest Iowa, it’s not very good. And if you look at the streamflow in southeast Iowa, it is also trending downward,” according to Hall.

The fall months are not normally the wettest of the year in Iowa — but Hall says there is some positive recent history. “Going back to 2016 — a really wet September, 2017 a really wet October, 2018 a really wet September, 2019 a really wet September, and last year a really wet October. So we’ve seen the emergence of the trend I think that shows September and or October being above normal for precipitation,” Hall says. He says the timing of the rains are key to rebuilding subsoil moisture. “There is there’s ample opportunity to get some much needed rainfall going into the winter. Depends how much we get and how much gets locked into the soil moisture before the ground freezes,” Hall says.

The latest drought monitor showed just a slight increase in the percentage of the state that doesn’t have any type of drought.

(Montgomery County, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report a man from Elliott was arrested Thursday (Sept. 8th), for Felony, possession of a stolen vehicle. 38-year-old Cory Ross Smith was being held on a $5,000 bond in the Montgomery County Jail. Additional information is not available.

(Radio Iowa) – The dean of Iowa State University’s history department says he experienced a surprising sweep of sadness at the news Queen Elizabeth had died. Simon Cordery was born outside of London and his family moved to the U.S. when Cordery was 15. “She’s the only head of state, like most Britons, I’ve ever known and her presence was always a source of stability,” he says. “It lent a sense of permanence to an ever changing world.”

Cordery. who has dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom, says the queen was an incredible ambassador for all things British — even for people like him who aren’t necessarily in total support of the idea of a monarchy. “Depending on what happens to the monarchy in the next 50 years, and as a historian I wouldn’t dare to even begin to speculate, I can imagine she that will be perceived and interpreted as a person who saved the monarchy at a time of incredible trial and uncertainty,” Cordery says.

Simon Cordery. (ISU photo)

Her uncle abdicated from the throne to marry a twice divorced American and Elizabeth’s father became king until his death in 1952. Elizabeth ascended to the throne at the age of 25. “Her ability to become in many ways a voice of the British people surprised and delighted a lot of English and Scottish and Irish and Welsh people who didn’t really know what to expect from this admittedly very young princess,” Cordery says. Elizabeth’s eldest son is now King Charles the third and Cordery suspects he’s in for a bit of a rough ride.

“He’s got a tough act to follow. I don’t envy him and he’s had a lot of bad press, of course — some of it his own making and some of it just because of who he is,” Cordery says. “…I can’t imagine that he will make any major missteps. The question is how strong of an advocate will he be for maintaining the commonwealth, how much of his time will he be able to devote to making sure that the infrastructure that his mother has so carefully nurtured will remain in place.”

Cordery is teaching a class in western civilization this semester and he’s looking forward to hearing students’ reactions to Queen Elizabeth’s passing. “I’m curious to know my students’ response to this news,” he says. “I’m curious to know how quickly they learned about it, what their immediate thoughts were, how they feel about it all.”

Several Iowa elected officials issued written statements after the announcement that Queen Elizabeth had died. Senator Chuck Grassley’s staff released a photo of Grassley with the queen after her 1991 address to the U.S. congress. Governor Kim Reynolds has ordered all flags in Iowa to be flown at half staff until after the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth on Monday, September 19th.

(Radio Iowa) – Testimony began today (Thursday) with the playing of a 9-1-1 call in the first-degree murder trial of a Merrill man accused of killing his son. The jury heard from the dispatcher — and heard two 9-1-1 calls made by Thomas Knapp’s wife Darlene on the day of the shooting.

In the second call, Darleen Knapp says her 51-year-old son Kevin Juzek, is trying to defend himself against his father who has a shotgun.

Plymouth County Deputy Rick Singer testified that they found Knapp walking with his hands in his coat and he had trouble understanding them.

Knapp is hard of hearing and during testimony sat in a wheelchair wearing a pair of headphones. The trial will resume Friday at the courthouse in Le Mars.

(Radio Iowa) – An author from Lake City is publishing a book later this year on Iowa’s connection to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Darcy Maulsby says she first became fascinated with the story of the doomed ship when it was discovered in the mid 1980s at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean. In recent years, she heard another author give a lecture that included the mention of some Swedish immigrants who were onboard and headed for Iowa — who survived the disaster.

“I had known that there were maybe one or two people with ties to Iowa and the Titanic but I ended up doing a blog post and then I kept researching,” Maulsby says. “I found out that there’s roughly about 20 people with ties in one form or another to Iowa and the Titanic.” She says her upcoming book, “Iowa’s Lost History from the Titanic,” will focus on Iowa’s many connections to the luxury liner from all over the state.

“Some were folks that were actually coming from Europe to settle in America,” Maulsby says. “Some had grown up in places like Cedar Rapids and had actually moved on but still had family in the area, so they all have their own different stories.” Maulsby will present a program on her findings at 1 P-M Saturday at the Mulberry Center Church in Webster City.

https://www.darcymaulsby.com/blog/iowas-lost-history-from-the-titanic/

(Cass County, Iowa) – The operator of a crane suffered lacerations to his face and neck after a bridge collapsed Thursday afternoon and the crane went into a ditch in Cass County. According to dispatch reports, the accident happened one-quarter of a mile east of 765th and Pella Road, northeast of Massena, at around 3-p.m.

The crane operator was able to get out of the machine and was walking around following the accident. Cumberland-Massena Fire and Rescue, Cass EMS, and Sheriff’s Deputies were heading to the scene. Cumberland and Cass EMS were told to “disregard” at 3:15-p.m., as Massena had incident command.

Cass County Secondary Roads was notified as well.

No other details are currently available.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest financial report shows the State of Iowa has a sizeable surplus, but sales tax payments slowed significantly this summer. Jeff Robinson is a senior analyst for the Legislative Services Agency. He says some transactions from the last state fiscal year are still being processed, but the state treasury will wind up with hundreds of millions more in tax payments than state officials had predicted in March.  “At the June 30 conclusion of the cash year, gross General Fund revenue was $435 million above projections,” Robinson says. “Individual income tax produced almost 70% of the excess.”

Robinson says since July 1st, state income tax payments from individuals AND corporations have remained strong. However, sales and use tax payments to the state were down four percent. From July 1st through September 2nd, total state tax revenue increased 13 million dollars. That’s a less than one percent increase compared to the same period last year. The tax CUTS that lawmakers approved this spring will start going into effect January 1st.

(Radio Iowa) – Fall enrollment at the University of Iowa is up slightly, while Iowa State University saw another drop. I-S-U reports a decrease of 739 students for the fall semester, putting overall enrollment just below 30-thousand. It is the sixth straight year fall enrollment has dropped in Ames since enrollment peaked in 2016 at 36-thousand-291 students.

The University of Iowa reports an increase of 106 students to put fall enrollment at 30-thousand-15. It is the first time fall enrollment has increased in Iowa City since 2016. Both schools report an increase in first-year students.