(Malvern, Iowa) – Local women landowners and farmers wanting to learn more about ways to improve the health of their soil can attend a workshop on September 13^th at 6:00 p.m. in Malvern. The event, co-hosted by Soil Health Partnership and Women, Land & Legacy of Southwest Iowa will focus on the basics of soil science, soil health resources and land management discussion.  This is one of at least nine field days planned by The Partnership throughout the state through September.

Elyssa McFarland, Soil Health Partnership field manager for Iowa, says “Iowa has some of the richest, most productive farmland in the world. By understanding the basics of soil properties and soil health we can gain a better understanding of implementing new practices to prevent nutrient loss and erosion and improve soil structure.”

The soil health workshop will take place at Classic Cafe, located at 317 Main Street in Malvern.  Dinner will be provided by Soil Health Partnership and is limited to the first 25 registrants.  This event is open to anyone, with pre-registration required by Friday, September 9^th at 4:30 p.m.  To register, call Iowa State University Extension & Outreach-Mills County at (712) 527-3316, Fremont County at (712) 374-2351, or Montgomery County at (712) 623-2592.  Special accommodations may be requested by contacting these offices.

WLL events are sponsored through a partnership of Fremont, Mills and Montgomery counties Farm Service Agency, Soil and Water Conservation District, Iowa State University Extension & Outreach, and Women, Land & Legacy of Southwest Iowa.  Women, Land & Legacy is committed to offering learning opportunities for rural women in areas such as business, management, agriculture and family.

About the Soil Health Partnership:
An initiative of the National Corn Growers Association, the SHP works closely with diverse organizations including commodity groups, federal agencies and well-known environmental groups toward common goals. The Partnership is in its third year with 65 partner farms across eight Midwestern states.

The Soil Health Partnership brings together diverse partner organizations including commodity groups, federal agencies, universities and environmental groups to work toward the common goal of improving soil health. Over a period of at least 10 years, the SHP will identify, test and measure farm management practices that improve soil health and benefit farmers. We believe the results of this farmer-led project will provide a platform for sharing peer-to-peer information, and lend resources to benefit agricultural sustainability and profitability. An initiative of the National Corn Growers Association, we provide the spark for greater understanding and implementation of agricultural best practices to protect resources for future generations. For more, visit soilhealthpartnership.org.

Do you have a love for gardening, a desire to learn more about the world of gardening, and a commitment to being a positive part of your community? If so, the Master Gardener program may be right for you! Master Gardeners are members of the local community who take an active interest in any type of gardening and have a desire to share their knowledge through education and community involvement. Cass County Extension will be hosting a Master Gardener training course for the fall session in 2016, but the deadline for registration is September 1!

Master Gardener trainees attend 40 hours of classes taught by Iowa State University Extension & Outreach staff and specialists on topics including lawn care, flower and vegetable gardening, ornamental trees and shrubs, fruit crops, and houseplants, insect, disease, and weed control, soil and plant nutrition, and pesticide safety. No previous gardening experience or expertise is necessary to become a Master Gardener, just a willingness to learn and give back. In 2015, 30 Master Gardeners reported over 1250 hours of volunteer service in and around Cass County!

In exchange for training, participants are asked to volunteer 40 hours of service to their local communities. The service opportunities are wide-ranging. Master Gardeners speak to local groups, teach youth about gardening, plant/maintain community gardens, staff plant clinics or displays, and provide horticulture therapy activities for the elderly, to name a few. Cass County has an active Master Gardener group that meets regularly to coordinate volunteer and educational opportunities for members. Membership in this group is optional, but open to anyone who has completed the training.

Classes will be held at the Cass County Extension office, located at 805 West 10th Street in Atlantic, Tuesday evenings, from September 20 through November 15.  There will also be three Thursday evening sessions held locally, and one Saturday in October spent on the ISU campus for hands-on training in the horticulture department.  The cost for the entire program, including reference materials and all training, is $195 per person. Registration deadline to ensure consideration for the class is this Thursday, September 1^st.

Persons interested in becoming a trained Master Gardener in Cass County are encouraged to contact the Cass County Extension office at 712-243-1132, or stop in the office for information on signing up for the fall certification classes, or to learn more about Iowa Master Gardeners. A printable application form can also be found on the Cass County Extension website at www.extension.iastate.edu/cass.  Applications can also be completed online by visiting http://mastergardenerhours.hort.iastate.edu/application-form.php to fill out an online application that will be immediately submitted for consideration. For more information about the application process and classes you can also visit www.extension.iastate.edu/mastergardener/become-master-gardener.

Police in Creston report a Central Iowa man was arrested Tuesday evening for allegedly Failing to Comply with the State’s Sex Offender Registry. 30-year old James Clark, of Pleasant Hill, was also charged with Theft in the 5th Degree. Clark was being held in the Union County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

Three other men were arrested Tuesday, in Creston: 23-year old Michael Cox, of Creston, was arrested at his home on a Union County Warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Public Intoxication, and a new charge of Theft in the 5th Degree. Cox was later released on a Promise to Appear in court; 18-year old Kendrick Davis, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on a Union County warrant for Probation Violation. Davis was later released on $2,000 bond. And, 23-year old Tyler McKay, of Creston, was arrested late Tuesday night for Public Intoxication/1st offense. McKay was being held in the Union County Jail on $300 bond.

Creston Police said also, a person with the United Methodist Church in Creston, reported Tuesday that sometime Tuesday afternoon, someone fired a BB gun at the north windows of the Early Childhood Building. Damage was estimated at $300.

(7-a.m. News)

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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The State Historical Museum in Des Moines is taking its show on the road. Museum spokesperson Jeff Morgan says an exhibit called “Iowa History 101” will be touring the state. “It’s going to be housed in a 38 foot long Winnebago RV that’s going to visit all 99 Iowa counties beginning next spring,” Morgan says. The traveling exhibit will also feature artifacts from each of Iowa’s 99 counties. Morgan identified a couple of the items.

“A 1917 prototype of Iowa’s state flag that was designed by Dixie Cornell Gebhardt of Knoxville,” Morgan said. Another feature will be a 1928 record of the song “Sugar” featuring jazz musician and Davenport-native Bix Beiderbecke. Mike Wolfe, star of the television show “American Pickers,” took part in an event Tuesday to announce the new exhibit at Antique Archaeology in Le Claire.

“Mike Wolfe is our exhibit partner and will be providing the voice and video talent for the multimedia components of the exhibit,” Morgan said. The Iowa Historical Museum RV will start touring in the spring and admission will be free. EMC Insurance Group is the exhibit’s presenting sponsor.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The board that oversees Iowa’s three public universities says it wants to use a new two-year budget system that would include some tuition increases. The Iowa Board of Regents announced Tuesday it wants the Legislature to support a plan that would increase state funding to the universities by two percent each year for the budget years that end in 2018 and 2019. Additional money would go to the University of Northern Iowa in the first year.

The plan would also increase tuition rates by two percent each year for in-state undergraduate students. The board will vote in September on a $12.7 million request in new dollars for the first year. That includes $4.6 million for the University of Iowa, $3.7 million for Iowa State University and $4.4 million for UNI.

Firefighters from Marne and Atlantic were called early this (Wed.) morning to report of two semi-tractors on fire at the exit 51 off-ramp of Interstate 80 eastbound. The call came in at around 4:50-a.m.   One of the semi’s was pulling another. Both were said to have been fully engulfed in flames and were a total loss. No one was in either cab when crews were dispatched. Flames were visible at least one-mile away, by law enforcement and fire fighters responding to the scene.

Images from the Marne Fire and Rescue Facebook page

In a separate incident, Griswold Fire was called to the scene of an overturned fuel truck at around 5-a.m. today (Wednesday). The accident happened near 650th and Wichita Road. No injuries were reported. Some diesel fuel was leaking from the vehicle after the crash. No other details are available.

A traffic stop in Red Oak Tuesday afternoon resulted in a man being arrested on OWI and other charges. Red Oak Police say 47-year old Michael Sean Colebank, of Red Oak, faces a felony OWI/3rd offense, charge, as well as Driving while revoked. He was also cited for having no insurance and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. Colebank was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $5,000 cash bond.

With school back in session, a new round of scams is surfacing that are targeting college students. Jim Hegarty, president of the Better Business Bureau in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says scammers are using social media to offer tempting deals on student loans.  “We’ve been warning for a few weeks about a scam that’s popped up on Facebook offering education grants,” Hegarty says. “We need our young people need to understand that they’re vulnerable and that they are being targeted just like seniors are and they need to be cautious.”

The first scam makes it sound very easy to get thousands of dollars in education grant money. “Kids are taking the bait on that, thinking they’re going to get access to some great college education money,” Hegarty says. “Of course, it involves processing fees, they’ve gotta’ get Green Dot money pack cards and send off some money in advance.” Any money they do send off in advance is usually lost.

Other scams offer students free trials on all sorts of programs which end up charging a monthly fee. The bureau is also warning students who may still be looking for a place to live near campus to watch where they click. Con artists are offering great apartments for rent and excellent prices, but the apartments either don’t exist or they’re not really owned by the advertiser. “It’s either individuals that are claiming that they’re looking for a roommate and they won’t be in the area for a few weeks,” he says, “or it’s scammers who have lifted legitimate properties that are on the market and they’ve just created their own ads on Craigs List.”

Hegarty warns that if a deal sounds like it is too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.

(Radio Iowa)

President Barack Obama has commuted the sentences of 111 people who’re doing time in federal prison for drug crimes, including two Iowans and four other people who were sentenced for crimes committed in Iowa. Mark Francis Glidden, of Clear Lake, was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison back in 2003 for making and selling meth. Kenneth Russell McCoy, of Council Bluffs, has been in a federal prison since 2007 after a meth-related conviction.

President Obama’s order sets August 30th of NEXT year as the end of the prison sentences for both men. But the president’s commutations come with the condition that both men enter a residential substance abuse treatment program as soon as they are released.

Duane Clasen of Evansville, Wisconsin; Jevon Gayden of Chicago; Emmanuel Herron of Stella, Missouri, and Raeanna Mae Paxton of Casper, Wyoming, were all convicted of federal drugs crimes that occured in Iowa and sentenced to lengthy prison time. The president commuted their sentences yesterday (Tuesday), as well.

(Radio Iowa)