United Group Insurance

POSTED COUNTY GRAIN PRICES 7-29-16

Ag/Outdoor

July 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Cass County: Corn $2.95, Beans $9.48
Adair County: Corn $2.92, Beans $9.51
Adams County: Corn $2.92, Beans $9.47
Audubon County: Corn $2.94, Beans $9.50
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $2.98, Beans $9.48
Guthrie County: Corn $2.97, Beans $9.52
Montgomery County: Corn $2.97, Beans $9.50
Shelby County: Corn $2.98, Beans $9.48

Oats $2.17 (always the same in all counties)

(Information from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency offices)

3 arrests in Red Oak, Thursday

News

July 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Red Oak Police report three arrests took place, Thursday. At around 11:35-p.m., officers with the Red Oak P-D arrested 52-year old Robert Wade Abraham, of Red Oak, for Interference with Official Acts. Abraham was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond.

And, at around 3:45-p.m., Red Oak Police arrested 20-year old Ridge Allen Casteel, of Creston, and 20-year old Ashley Kate Lewis, of Red Oak. Casteel was charged with Assault and Trespass, while Lewis faces a Domestic Abuse Assault, charge. Both were transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where Casteel was being held on $300 bond, and Lewis was being held without bond until appearing before a magistrate.

National Balloon Classic set to lift off in Indianola

Ag/Outdoor, News

July 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Dozens of hot air balloons will be flying over south-central Iowa over the next 9 days and nights. Indianola has hosted the National Balloon Classic, billed as “one of the largest and longest hot air balloon events in the Midwest,” for over 40 years. Jim Fromm, who serves on the National Balloon Classic board, says spectators will watch nearly 100 balloons decorate the sky.

“We had 86 registered pilots, so around 90 or so balloons will be here,” Fromm said.Natl Balloon Classic This year’s event launches tonight (Friday) and runs through August 6. There are evening flights combined with live music each night beginning at 6 p.m. The morning launches are scheduled each day at 6:30 a.m., but balloons will also fill the sky even earlier in the morning on both Saturdays and next Wednesday morning.

“There’s ‘Dawn Patrol,’ which is an unusual happening with balloons. Typically, we don’t fly with any aircraft lights on, but for (dawn patrol) we do hang lights on…and launch before sunrise, in the dark,” Fromm said. “We launch and fly for an hour or two, until the sun comes up. Everytime we hit the burner, the whole balloon lights up and that is very impressive.”

Similarly, “Nite Glow” events are scheduled after sunset this Sunday, next Wednesday (8/3), and next Friday (8/5). Learn more at: nationalballoonclassic.com.

(Radio Iowa)

State Baseball Tournament: Semifinals Schedule for today (7/29)

Sports

July 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

CLASS 3A STATE TOURNAMENT

11 a.m. — Carlisle (32-6) vs. Pella (31-8)
1:30 p.m. — Harlan (28-5) vs. Solon (22-20)

CLASS 4A STATE TOURNAMENT

5 p.m. — Waukee (31-11) vs. Cedar Rapids Prairie (36-6)
7:30 p.m. — Iowa City West (34-6) vs. Des Moines Roosevelt (33-10)

Semifinals winners will play for the State Championship Title in both classes on Saturday, at Principal Park, in Des Moines.

Diaz’s homer helps Cardinals beat Marlins and Fernandez, 5-4

Sports

July 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

MIAMI (AP) — Aledmys Diaz homered, doubled and drove in three runs against childhood pal Jose Fernandez, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Miami Marlins 5-4 Thursday. Fernandez gave up five runs in five innings and fell to 26-2 at Marlins Park. Miami’s Dee Gordon, the 2015 NL batting and stolen bases champion, returned from an 80-game suspension for failing a drug test and went 0 for 4. Ichiro Suzuki doubled as a pinch hitter in the seventh for Miami and needs two hits for 3,000.

Diaz and Matt Holliday homered in the third inning against Fernandez (12-5), who had never previously given up more than one homer in a home game. His only other loss at Marlins Park came on opening day this year against Detroit. Michael Wacha (6-7) allowed three runs in six innings, and three relievers completed an eight-hitter. Seung Hwan Oh pitched around a one-out single in the ninth for his seventh save.

NWS forecast for Cass & surrounding Counties in IA: 7/29/16

Weather

July 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

337 AM CDT FRI JUL 29 2016

EARLY THIS MORNING…MOSTLY CLOUDY. NORTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH.

TODAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 70S. NORTH WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

TONIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY THEN BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY AFTER MIDNIGHT THEN BECOMING MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOW AROUND 60. NORTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

SATURDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH AROUND 80. EAST WIND NEAR 5 MPH.

SATURDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE MID 60S. SOUTHEAST WIND NEAR 5 MPH.

SUNDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH IN THE MID 80S. SOUTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

SUNDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW AROUND 70.

MONDAY…PARTLY SUNNY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH IN THE UPPER 80S.

Iowa early News Headlines: Friday, 7/29/2016

News

July 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A review of Des Moines Police Department data shows the city has seen an increase in drive-by shootings this year. The Des Moines Register reports that 31 drive-by shootings were reported in the city through the end of June. Police say 22 drive-by shootings were reported during the same time period last year. Sixteen drive-by shootings were reported for the same period in 2014, and 22 were reported the year before. Des Moines police Sgt. Paul Parizek says there isn’t one cause for the shootings.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A judge has rejected conspiracy allegations against Missouri State Highway Patrol commanders named in a federal civil lawsuit over the 2014 drowning of a 20-year-old handcuffed Iowa man at Lake of the Ozarks. U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey said Wednesday lawyers for Brandon Ellingson’s family hadn’t proved that patrol officials conspired to cover up the cause of the death of Brandon Ellingson, who drowned after he fell from a patrol boat.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A 21-year-old Iowa woman who caused a Christmas Day crash that killed a 6-year-old Webster City girl has pleaded guilty to three traffic violations. The Fort Dodge Messenger says Ruth Tomlinson pleaded guilty Wednesday to driving on the wrong side of a highway, failure to maintain control and having no proof of insurance. She was ordered to pay more than $2,300 in fines and court costs.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is suing federal regulators for approving permits for a $3.8 billion pipeline between North Dakota and Illinois that would be the biggest-capacity pipeline carrying oil out of the state’s oil patch. Tribal officials filed the lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The tribe says it opposes the Dakota Access Pipeline because it fears a spill could contaminate drinking water on its reservation, which is home to 8,000 people.

Rules updated for those who produce their own electricity

News

July 28th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

The Iowa Utilities Board recently updated its rules for people who produce their own electricity. I-U-B spokesman Don Tormey says it involves a process known as “net metering.”  “When customers generate their own electricity, any electricity that the customer generates that they do not use is exported to the utility grid. And under net metering, the customer’s extra generation is credited to his or her account and is used to offset the customer’s future electricity use,” Tormey explains. The new rules expand the size of operations that can feed electricity back into the grid.

He says it now allows larger facilities to participate as they increased it from 500 kilowatts to one megawatt. The rules cover the state’s two largest utility companies and it asks them to write new rules for the cost or tariff charged to the customer for hooking up to the grid. He says the board ordered MidAmerican and Alliant Energy’s subsidiary Iowa Power and Light to file new tariffs on or before August 15th, and once the board receive those, they will have to review and approve them. Tormey says there’s not an exact number of people who are creating their own energy with the chance to feed the excess back to the power companies, but it could be around 15-hundred or more.

“There’s even customers who are off the grid that attempt to do that,” Tormey says. “You know people who live in real remote areas that have attempted to do solar panels and storage batteries and things like that.” He expects more people to look at creating their own energy either from wind or solar.

“It would be a mixture of both, but I would anticipate it might be more solar,” Tormey says. Experts in the field says the cost of solar panels has been coming down as technology improves and more people are looking at using them. You can find out more about net metering on the I-U-B’s website or in the link in this story at iub.iowa.gov

(Radio Iowa)

Three Arrested in Fraudulent Claim of Scratch Ticket

News

July 28th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

STORM LAKE, Iowa – The Sioux Rapids Police Department arrested three people in connection with a theft or attempted theft of a lottery scratch ticket. 20-year old Ashley Brianne Bosler, of Sioux Rapids, is charged with Theft of Lottery Ticket or Share, a Class D Felony, and Aiding and Abetting – Theft of a Lottery Ticket or Share, a Class D Felony; 26-year old Johnny Long, Jr., of Sioux Rapids, is charged with Theft of Lottery Ticket or Share, a Class D Felony; and 42-year old Sally Bosler, of Cedar Rapids, is charged with Aiding and Abetting – Theft of a Lottery Ticket or Share, a Class D Felony. The three were arrested July 27th, 2016, and booked in the Buena Vista County Jail.
DCI logo
The winning ticket in one of the lottery’s instant-scratch games was presented at the Regional Lottery Office in Storm Lake on June 17, 2016. The $250,000 prize involved has not been paid. The arrests were the result of a joint investigation by the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the Buena Vista County Attorney’s Office, the Sioux Rapids Police Department and the Iowa Lottery.

Connect-A-Dock Partners with Chamber for AtlanticFest Road Race

News, Sports

July 28th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce reports Connect-a-Dock is the Premier Partner of the AtlanticFest Road Race. The new partnership allows the AtlanticFest Road Race to continue chip timing to all the participants while keeping the cost and fees low to the entire community.  Abby Becker, Road Race chair, said “We are excited to continue chip timing for the AtlanticFest Road Race. Last year’s participants loved having an accurate time and immediate results.”  Becker added, “We are working with a new company this year, True Time Racing.”

The 2016 Road Race will be held on Saturday, August 13th to kick off the 18th Annual AtlanticFest. The race will begin at 8:00 AM at the Atlantic City Park with a 2 or 5 mile run and a 2 mile walk. The route can be found on www.atlanticiowa.com and will be similar to last year; enjoying a route through Schildberg Recreation Area.2016AtlanticFestRoadRaceLogo

Pre-Registration is open now until August 1st. Participants that pre-register for $16 will receive a free performance shirt with the new Road Race logo. Pre-Registration is also available for $10 but does not include a shirt.  Racers that prefer to register closer to the event can register on-line until August 11th or the day of at 7 am at the Atlantic City Park.

Pre-registered racers will receive a performance shirt with new thea Road Race logo sponsored by: First Whitney Bank, Connect- A- Dock, Cass County Health System and several other sponsors. New this year, Southwest Iowa Crystal Clear Southwest Iowa, will be filling re-usable water bottles to be distributed after the race.

For more information about the RoadRace, or additional AtlanticFest information visit www.atlanticiowa.com or call the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce at (712)243-3017.