The Missouri River is now completely open to all traffic.

The US Army Corp of Engineers opened all stretches of the river earlier this week.

The Missouri River had been closed to all traffic when flooding began this spring and summer.

The river had been gradually opening recently until the final stretch that was given the all-clear.

Barge and recreational boaters will now be allowed on the river.

Officials had to evacuate a Council Bluffs neighborhood because of a natural gas leak that was started by a copper thief.

About a dozen houses were evacuated before dawn Thursday morning while officials searched for the source of the gas leak. Residents were allowed to return home around 6:30 a.m.

Council Bluffs police say the gas leak came from a vacant homewhere someone had been trying to steal copper pipe. Officials believe the thief cut the home’s natural gas line and water line while trying to steal the copper.

Police arrested a teen suspect in the theft and recovered the stolen copper.

The affected neighborhood is a couple blocks east of Interstate 29 on the west side of Council Bluffs near 36th and B streets.

–AP

Proceeds from the Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund and the T-Fred Golf Tournament are continuing to be distributed throughout western Iowa.

One of the donations made possible by the fund was the donation of an enclosed trailer to the East Side Christian Church in Council Bluffs.

Trevor’s mother Melanie Petty says she and Trevor’s father learned that the Council Bluffs church was looking for a trailer to keep supplies so they could be ready on a moment’s to help the community with any disasters. The church has made a pledge to log 10,000 hours of community service in 2011.

Including the trailer, the Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund has made over $20,000 in donations to date. Some of those many donations include: books and magazine subscriptions to the Atlantic High School and Atlantic Public Libraries, $500 annually toward coaching expenses and t-shirts for all participants of the Trevor Frederickson Baseball and Softball Clinics , $1000 annual contributions to the Nishna Valley Family YMCA’s Partnership With Youth campaign, and $750 annual scholarships to two Atlantic High School graduates and a Southwestern Community College student.

In 2009, a Council Bluffs apartment fire took the life of 21 year old Trevor Frederickson. He was a graduate of Atlantic High School.

Iowa has widened its lead over North Carolina as the nation’s top hog producer.

The Des Moines Register reported Thursday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture lists Iowa’s herd total at 19.6 million, an increase from last year’s 18.9 million.

The hog inventory in No. 2 North Carolina dropped by 7 percent to 8.5 million. Producers blamed the decline in North Carolina on the high cost of corn, which is shipped to the state to feed the hogs.

The USDA says the nation’s total hog inventory was 66.6 million. Producers have been seeing strong prices.

Shane Ellis of Iowa State University Extension says per-head profits were $21.33 in August. He expects those profits to drop into the single digits in September.

–AP

Officials have evacuated a Council Bluffs neighborhood because of a natural gas leak.

About a dozen houses were evacuated before dawn Thursday morning.

The area was being evacuated as a precaution while officials searched for the source of the gas leak.

The affected neighborhood is a couple blocks east of Interstate 29 on the west side of Council Bluffs near 36th and B streets.

–AP

Winterset residents are being asked to conserve water as the level of the lake that supplies the city’s water continues to drop.

The level of Cedar Lake is at its lowest since 2006 and KCCI reported the 65-acre lake’s level gets lower each day.

The city’s water utilities manager says there hasn’t been any significant rain since July and with little rain in the forecast, the city is taking steps to keep more water in the lake by asking residents to voluntarily conserve water.

Officials say if the lake falls another 2 1/2 feet, the city will have to buy water from the Southern Iowa Rural Water Association. Residents are being asked to not wash cars, water their yards or run water when they brush their teeth.

–AP