An Ankeny couple is making two major gifts to support projects in their hometown. Dennis and Susan Albaugh are giving a million dollars to help the Des Moines Area Community College expand its Culinary Institute in Ankeny. Dennis Albaugh, who is considered to be the richest person in Iowa, says he has a long history with the community college dating back to his school days.  “I don’t know if I was one of the first classes, but it was called Area 11 and then it became DMACC and I have watched that grow,” Albaugh says. “I was in the first building out there and now it’s an unbelievable complex.”

Albaugh, a DMACC grad and long-time supporter of the school, says the idea to direct his gift to DMACC’s  Culinary Institute came from DMACC president Rob Denson. “I swear, when you give DMACC a dollar, they get $1.25 in value out of it, so I didn’t specifically say which project,” Albaugh says. “Rob and I met for coffee one morning and he said, “Well I’ve got a project and this would make it happen.” The school expects to break ground on the project in April. The total cost of expanding the Culinary Institute is five-point-six million dollars. The Albaughs are also giving a million dollars to the Ankeny School District for renovation of Ankeny Stadium.

Albaugh got into the fertilizer and seed business after graduating from DMACC and eventually started his own fertilizer company that made and sold the primary ingredient in Round-Up. He sold his company in 2010 for one-point-three billion dollars. At the time of the sale, Albaugh employed over three-thousand workers at 30 herbicide production plants in Mexico and Argentina, along with one plant in Missouri.

(Radio Iowa)

Senator Chuck Grassley has nominated 37 outstanding Iowa students for consideration for appointments to the U.S. service academies. Grassley says “Young Iowans who want to enter the academies and serve our country are remarkable for their accomplishments and leadership. These candidates are an impressive reflection on our state and signal continued excellence in the U.S. armed forces.”

Grassley’s area nominees for the 2015-2016 school year include:
U.S. Air Force Academy
Adrianna Hines, Missouri Valley
U.S. Military Academy at West Point
Alexander Jones, Council Bluffs
Tobey Yates, Underwood
U.S. Naval Academy
Dane Livengood, Treynor

Grassley said he will make announcements as appointments to the academies are offered to Iowans. Each year, the Senator has the opportunity as a U.S. senator to nominate either current or future Iowa high school graduates for a select few service academy placements. Grassley said he encourages Iowa students to consider applying to more than one service academy due to the highly competitive nature of admissions.
Students interested in academy appointments should begin the application process in the spring of their junior year of high school. The academies select students based on the number of vacancies available for the next school year. Iowa Representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives also make nominations in addition to both of Iowa’s U.S. Senators. Traditionally, the high quality of Iowa nominees results in several Iowa students being selected to attend each of the service academies.

A box truck struck a cow Monday evening about 5-miles southeast of Creston, but the driver of the vehicle wasn’t injured. Union County Sheriff’s officials say 24-year old Jacob Cave, of Redfield, was traveling east in the 1700 block of 230th Street at around 6:50-p.m., when the 2007 Freightliner box truck he was driving hit a black cow on the road. The semi sustained $1,000 damage. The cow, owned by David Travis, of Creston, was valued at $3,000.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A report from the Iowa Department of Public Safety says lawmakers should take a wait-and-see approach toward regulating unmanned aerial vehicles because of their huge potential to help business and government. The report, requested by lawmakers in May, says a consensus has developed that drones will greatly benefit agriculture and other industries, police work and government services.

Many lawmakers are also concerned about their privacy implications. The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa is proposing legislation banning the use of weaponized drones, requiring oversight of how police agencies acquire the technology, and directing agencies to delete surveillance information that isn’t necessary for an investigation.

The report cautions against broad regulation, saying problems could be narrowly addressed later when lawmakers “have the full picture” as to the benefits that drones produce.