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Harvest moved ahead quickly last week

Ag/Outdoor, News

October 29th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

The corn and soybean harvest moved ahead quickly in the last week. The latest U-S-D-A report shows 20-percent of the corn crop was harvested last week and 17 percent of the soybeans. That puts the bean harvest two days ahead of normal — marking the first time all season soybean progress was ahead of the five-year average.

Pam Johnson farms with her husband in north central Iowa ’s Floyd County. She says she’s thankful that the weather has been favorable at the end of the season after the way it started. The spring was cold and wet spring — leading to a very small planting window — and to get the corn in Johnson says they planted both night and day for three days and the beans didn’t go in until June. “It’s been a struggle all the way along, and then of course, mother nature shut the rain off in August,” Johnson says. But Johnson says they’re now really pleased that they’ve had a long growing season. “We were afraid of all the things that could happen, we would have an early frost and we have not, so the weather has been good to us at the back end of the growing season and we’re pleasantly surprised by the yields that are out there despite the weather,” according to Johnson.

Fifty-five percent of the corn has now been harvested, which is five percentage points behind normal. Moisture content of all corn in the field was estimated at 21 percent while moisture content of corn harvested was 19 percent. The soybean harvest is now 87-percent complete.

(Radio Iowa)

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

Ending tax break for “red dye” diesel for farmers under consideration

Ag/Outdoor

October 29th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

Ending a tax break on the diesel fuel farmers and construction companies use in off-road vehicles is among the ideas the Iowa D-O-T’s director has developed for increasing the state budget for road construction and maintenance. Governor Terry Branstad says some of the options are “outside the box.”    “They’re different and we would expect that some of them would be somewhat controversial,” Branstad says. “We are saying, ‘Let’s see how the public feels about it.'” However, the Iowa D-O-T’s director isn’t releasing his list to the public, but instead sharing it first with legislators and interest groups, like the highway construction industry.

“I think this is a good process and I’ve indicated I’m not endorsing any of these options, but my hope is we can look at all these different options and alternatives and see if a consensus can be built that would eventually gain bipartisan support in the legislature, both the House and the Senate, to address the issue of funding fot the Road Use Tax Fund.” Diesel fuel sold with a red dye is to be used in off-road vehicles like tractors and excavators. It is not subject to state taxes, an estimated 38-million dollar annual tax break for farmers and the construction industry.

The D-O-T director’s list suggests that money could be placed in a new account to finance road projects in rural areas of the state. The only other idea on the D-O-T’s list that would bring in more tax money would be increasing the state sales tax on vehicle purchases — meaning car and truck buyers would pay 60-million more dollars in registration fees.

(Radio Iowa)

Posted in Ag/Outdoor |

King urges private negotiations over contentious Farm Bill details

Ag/Outdoor, News

October 29th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

Tomorrow (Wednesday) Republican Congressman Steve King and Democratic Senator Tom Harkin will meet for the first time with the 38 other members of a House-Senate “conference committee” appointed to come up with a Farm Bill compromise.  “I’m glad that we have two Iowans that are conferees,” King says. “We are now and have been for some weeks working to line up those issues that we disagree between the House and the Senate and line them up in order of difficulty.” According to King, the dispute over federal funding for “food stamps” is the most difficult to resolve.

House Republicans have voted to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by 40 billion. The bipartisan Farm Bill that cleared the Democratically-led Senate in June called for four billion in cuts to the food stamp program — 10 times less. King has asked House Republicans leaders to present him some “creative ideas” for bridging that 36-billion dollar divide. “I don’t want to tip any hand on it. I chair the subcommittee that deals with nutrition and so what I say — it might affect the negotiations,” King says. “But I want to get to the end of this thing and I want a bill on the president’s desk I said before the snow flies. I know in part of Iowa I’m already too late on that, but we’re going to try to get this done and I think we get it done by the end of the year.”

There are a variety of other proposals that are unresolved as well, like a so-called “payment cap” that bars farmers with an adjusted gross income above 750-thousand dollars from getting federal subsidies to buy crop insurance. King is urging other members of the conference committee to negotiate the details in private rather than in public. “Let’s sit down and see if we figure out how we can agree before any of us take such a public position that we can’t compromise or back up from it,” King says.

If the Farm Bill doesn’t pass congress by January 1st, farm policies will revert to the 1949 Farm Bill and the first impact consumers would see would be a dramatic increase in milk prices. King made his comments during a weekend appearance on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program.

(Radio Iowa)

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

Shenandoah man arrested over the weekend

News

October 29th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

Police in Shenandoah report one person was arrested following a traffic stop, Sunday.  25-year-old Christopher Still, of Shenandoah, was taken into custody on charges of disorderly conduct and public intoxication. Still was taken to the Fremont County Jail and held on $1,468 bond.

 

Posted in News |

SW IA teen hurt during rollover accident in Page County, Saturday

News

October 29th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

A southwest Iowa teen suffered non-incapacitating injuries during a rollover accident Saturday morning. According to the Page County Sheriff’s Office, 16-year old Sydney A. Casteel, of New Market, was ejected from the 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix she was driving, after it went out of control and slid into the north ditch towards the east, along the north ditch edge of the road. The vehicle rolled more than once before coming to rest on its wheels in the ditch. Rescue workers found the teen laying next to her car. Casteel was transported by helicopter to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha.

Sheriff’s officials say the accident happened northwest of New Market on 210th Street, near the intersection with Willow Avenue.

Posted in News |

2 injured when cattle truck overturns on I-29 Monday night

News

October 29th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

The driver and passenger of a semi that was hauling cattle were injured Monday night when the vehicle overturned on southbound Interstate 29 in Council Bluffs. The Omaha World-Herald reports a man and woman in the truck were critically injured and transported by ambulance to Creighton University Medical Center, in Omaha. One of the accident victims was reportedly trapped in the vehicle and had to be freed by rescuers. Their names had not been released as of early Tuesday morning.

The accident, which happened just after 11-p.m., left more than a dozen cattle roaming near the Interstate.
Two dogs that had been in the rig apparently were not seriously injured. Police closed north- and southbound I-29 near 35th Street and Avenue G because of the hazard of the loose cattle. Officers requested equipment to remove downed animals. Animal control officers were called in to help.

Posted in News |

Nebraska man convicted of murdering former Mo.Valley woman & her husband

News

October 29th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

NELIGH, Neb. (AP) — A Northeast Nebraska man has been convicted of first-degree murder for killing his ex-girlfriend and her new husband last year. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning says 33-year-old Matthew Hinrichsen was convicted Monday of two counts of murder and two weapons charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 28, and could receive two life sentences. The jury convicted Hinrichsen in the December 2012 deaths of former Missouri Valley city councilperson Victoria Lee and her husband, Alex Vargas.

Their bodies were found in a charred trailer in rural Antelope County, where the newlyweds were living. Prosecutors say Vargas died from three gunshot wounds, and Lee died of blunt force trauma to her head.

During the trial, Hinrichsen’s lawyers didn’t dispute that he killed the couple, but they argued the killings weren’t planned.

Posted in News |

Chiefs remaining humble despite 8-0 start

Sports

October 29th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs cherish every victory. After all, they only had two of them all last season. So while the entire city is abuzz about their 8-0 start, and the fact that they lead the rival Denver Broncos in the suddenly stacked AFC West, the Chiefs remain humble to the point where it was hard to tell in Sunday’s postgame locker room that they had just defeated the Browns.

Safety Eric Berry said the reason for the humility is the fact that last season taught the Chiefs just how difficult it is to win. It’s hard to do in the NFL — just ask Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, which have not won this season.

Posted in Sports |

Lester, Ross lead Red Sox to 3-1 WS Game 5 win

Sports

October 29th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jon Lester smothered St. Louis on four hits into the eighth, David Ross hit a tiebreaking RBI double in a two-run seventh inning off Adam Wainwright and the Boston Red Sox beat the Cardinals 3-1 Monday night to take a 3-2 World Series lead. David Ortiz’s RBI double in the first put the Red Sox ahead until Matt Holliday hit his second home run of the Series in the fourth, ending a 16 1-3 inning Series scoreless streak for Lester dating to 2007.

Lester beat Wainwright for the second time this Series, striking out seven and walking one in 7 2-3 innings, and Koji Uehara finished the four-hitter for his second save. Wainwright allowed all three runs and eight hits in seven innings with 10 strikeouts and a walk. He also gave up Jacoby Ellsbury’s RBI single in the seventh.

Boston can win its third title in a decade on Wednesday night, when the Series resumes at Fenway Park

Posted in Sports |

Iowa early News Headlines: Tue., 10/29/13

News

October 29th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) — Jury selection will continue into a second day in the trial of a former Iowa jail guard charged with first-degree murder in the killing of his pregnant wife. A jury pool of about 100 people was narrowed down Monday in the trial of Seth Techel. Jury selection continues Tuesday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The trial of two people charged in the death of a Des Moines man was set to start in Polk County. Spencer Antowyn Pierce and 27-year-old Deanna Marie Hood are charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in the June death of 35-year-old Steve Allen Harmon.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Police say a man faces charges for allegedly breaking into an Iowa City house and sleeping on a couch inside. Iowa City police say 23-year-old Christopher Reasoner, of North Liberty, has been charged with serious misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree criminal mischief and trespassing.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Police have identified a Sioux City, Iowa, man whose body was found in a roadside ditch in southeastern South Dakota. Sioux City police Lt. Mark Kirkpatrick says 20-year-old Adrian Rojas Hernandez, of Sioux City, was killed by a single gunshot to the head.

Posted in News |