Girls
Glenwood 5, Creston 0
Denison-Schleswig 5, Carroll 1
Tri-Center 4, Logan-Magnolia 1
Underwood 11, Sergeant Bluff-Luton 1
Boys
Riverside 3 Red Oak 0
Lewis Central 3, Glenwood 0
Thomas Jefferson 4, Atlantic 1
Harlan 4, Carroll 0
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 1, Denison-Schleswig 0 — 2 OT/PKs
Tri-Center 8, Logan-Magnolia 1
Pottawattamie County, Iowa – Officials in Pottawattamie County have announced the postponement of normal outdoor warning siren testing conducted on the first Saturday of each month. The postponement means there will be no siren testing in any community in Pottawattamie County on Saturday, May 4th.
The call to suspend the alert was made with consideration of the frequent use due to recent weather activity, the operation of the first Multi-Agency Resource Center (MARC) this weekend, and other ongoing work in areas impacted by the tornadoes of April 26th.
Testing will be suspended until the third Saturday of the month, on May 18th. The regularly scheduled testing will resume in June. Outdoor warning sirens are tested the first Saturday of each month (a three-minute sounding) and a battery backup test each third Saturday of the month (a one-minute sounding).
For updated and ongoing information regarding the April tornado events, visit pcema-ia.org.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, a Republican of Marion says the anti-Semitic demonstrations on college campuses need to stop. “As a former journalist, I do believe in protecting free speech, including speech I strongly disagree with, but I don’t believe in protecting hate speech,” Hinson says. Hinson voted to support the Antisemitism Awareness Act passed by the House. “This bill requires the Department of Education to adopt the international Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism,” Hinson says. “This will provide a consistent basis for the Department of Education, schools, colleges and universities to police this anti-Semitic discrimination and harassment.”
Hinson says the federal government must also withhold funding from those schools which fail to protect Jewish students on campus. “If these universities don’t feel morally compelled to protect Jewish students from intimidation and discrimination maybe losing some funding will force them to do the right thing,” she says. Hinson also says they should revoke the visas of foreign students who are supporting Hamas, threatening Jewish students, violating school policy, or breaking the law. “Enough is enough there is no gray area here only right or wrong,” Hinson says.
Hinson says the people who pushed back on the bill are the same ones who are pushing antisemitism. She made her comments during her weekly conference call with reporters.
(Radio Iowa) – Sioux City police say seven men were charged in a recent prostitution sting. Sergeant Tom Gill says the Special Police Investigations Unit conducted the sting at a local hotel on two recent nights. Gill says prostitution has changed through the years and it is usually initiated online. “For most of the prostitution we’re seeing now along with the human trafficking and labor trafficking, exploitation of minors, that’s all done through social media and online,” he says. He says it is rare to see the crime start out in public. “I think you’ll still see sometimes some of the what they call the streetwalkers, prostitutes that are out on the street, but most of them are doing it more through social media and online, Gill says.
Gill says those who are charged are processed through the system. “The person is arrested or cited, They then have to appear in court where they’re looking at fine and short jail time,” Gill says. 
The seven who were arrested ranged from a 17-year-old from South Sioux City, to a 59-year-old from Maquoketa. Two of the men were from Sioux City, one from Dakota Dunes, one from Orange City, and one from Dakota City, Nebraska.
(Des Moines, Iowa; via the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Drought conditions in the state continue to retreat amid abundant rainfall, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. A Thursday report shows the biggest moisture gains in western and southern Iowa. Less than half of the state now has drought for the first time since June 2023. That’s down from about 96% of the state in October.
Last week’s statewide precipitation averaged 1.32 inches, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s about 45% more than is normally expected. The highest reported rainfall was 4.72 inches in Little Sioux in far western Iowa, whereas the least was one-tenth of an inch near Guttenberg in far northeast Iowa.
A wide area of severe drought remains in eastern Iowa, although it has been shrinking. Much of that area had previously suffered from extreme drought — the second-to-worst classification issued by the Drought Monitor — but its presence has greatly diminished. About 2% of the state has extreme drought, down from 35% at the start of the year.
Drought conditions might lift from about a quarter of the state in the coming months, according to a recent report by the U.S. Climate Prediction Center. Drought is expected to remain, but improve, in the worst-affected areas. A USDA report on Monday said about 78% of cropland has adequate or surplus soil moisture, which is slightly better than a year ago.
Crop planting has been several days ahead of the five-year average. As of Sunday, about 39% of corn and 25% of soybeans had been planted.
(Ames, Iowa/via Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Dairy cattle infected by avian influenza in recent months have surprisingly large amounts of the virus in their milk but little in other bodily fluids, according to tests by the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. That makes it easy to confirm whether a lactating cow is infected but makes testing more difficult for other cattle as federal agriculture officials attempt to learn the extent of bovine infections across the nation.
In nasal secretions, blood, feces and urine, “we can find an occasional positive, but those positives are at levels that are almost undetectable,” said Dr. Drew Magstadt, a cattle disease researcher at the Ames lab. His comments were part of an online ISU Extension and Outreach discussion about the virus on Wednesday.
Magstadt discovered about six weeks ago that highly pathogenic avian influenza was the source of a mystery illness among dairy cattle in Texas. It had never been known to infect cattle in the United States before. Since then, the virus has been detected in herds in eight other states, most recently in Colorado. That spread has been caused by the movement of dairy cows from infected herds to previously unaffected herds.
Genetic testing revealed that wild birds initially infected cattle with the virus, but the USDA has found evidence that it has since spread from cow to cow and from cattle to poultry. At least one infected dairy cow had no symptoms of illness. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced last week that fragments of the virus have been detected in the nation’s commercial milk supply even though milk from sick cows is barred from distribution. On Wednesday, it said testing has confirmed that pasteurization — a process of heating milk to kill pathogens — inactivates the virus.
Tests of milk, cottage cheese and sour cream “did not detect any live, infectious virus,” the FDA said. FDA strongly warned against drinking raw milk. Some states, including Iowa, have sought in recent years to expand the unpasteurized milk’s availability for purchase. Also on Wednesday, the USDA said tests of ground beef in states where the virus has been detected showed no evidence of the virus. Dairy cattle are often slaughtered for their meat when their milk production drops.
The ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory tests samples from animals for viruses such as avian influenza. (Photo courtesy of Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory)
Starting this week, the department requires most lactating dairy cattle to test negative for the virus before they can be transported to different states. Iowa will require labs to report all confirmations of the virus regardless of the animal species, said Dr. Jeff Kaisand, the state veterinarian and a bureau chief for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. For now, IDALS will not quarantine dairy farms if their cattle are infected, Kaisand said. Most states have taken a similar approach.
Dr. Yuko Sato, an ISU professor who has researched the virus in poultry, said dairy farmers should take more precautions than what might be required by government officials. She said a bird flu outbreak in 2015 was largely driven by farm-to-farm spread that was the result of insufficient biosecurity measures. About 33 million poultry were culled in Iowa that year. “We waited for the federal government to give us guidance, so we kind of sat on our hands a little bit,” she said. “I encourage the dairy industry to take a proactive stance and try to look at creative solutions, because we’re learning as we speak.”
Highly pathogenic avian influenza is often lethal to poultry — especially chickens — but infected cows usually recover in 10 to 14 days.
(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says unlawful activity will not be tolerated during the three days of pro-Palestinian demonstrations planned on the University of Iowa campus. The group sponsoring the gatherings does not plan an encampment, but is calling for people to gather on the lawn around the Old Capitol Building from noon until 7 p.m. today (Friday) as well as Saturday and Sunday to call for an end to the war in Gaza. Governor Kim Reynolds says people have a first amendment right to protest.
“But they’re going to do it peacefully,” Reynolds said. “We’re not going to allow hate speech. We’re not going to allow destruction. We’re not going to allow what we see happening in some of the universities across this country. It’s ridiculous. It’s putting people at risk.” Reynolds was asked about pro-Palestinian protests in Iowa during a news conference in her statehouse office and she indicated law enforcement is prepared to respond, if needed.
“We’re going to be respectful and as long as they abide by the laws and do it peacefully, then great,” Reynolds said, “but if it crosses that line, we will be ready.” Reynolds cites a law passed in 2021 that increased the penalties for protest-related crimes like rioting, vandalism or blocking a highway. Reynolds says Columbia University officials in New York let the situation there go way too far, putting the entire student body at risk. “There are students that paid tuition that may not even get to participate in a graduation,” Reynolds says, “and, oh by the way, these are the same students who didn’t get to participate in their high school graduation due to COVID.”
Iowa City’s “Students for Justice in Palestine” group is made up of students, faculty, staff and others in the community according to its online mission statement. The group says from sit-ins to educational sessions, it strives to support the liberation of Palestinians and all oppressed people across the world.
Today: Areas of fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 71. SE/S-SE winds @ 10-20.
Tonight: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm developing late. Low around 48. SE @ 10-20.
Tomorrow: Showers & possible thunderstorms; Gradually becoming mostly sunny. High near 64. N @ 15-25.
Tom. Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 41.
Sunday: Mostly sunny w/only a 20% chance of showers after 1pm. High near 69.
Sunday Night: A slight chance of showers & thunderstorms. Low around 52.
Monday: Windy w/a 70% chance of showers & thunderstorms. High near 75.
Thursday’s High temperature in Atlantic was 62. Our Low this morning was 37. We received .04″ rain Thursday (after 7-a.m.), in Atlantic. Last year on this date, the High was 73 and the Low was 29. The Record High set on May 3rd in Atlantic was 87 in 1895, 1949 & 1968. The Record Low was 25 in 1900. Sunrise: 6:14. Sunset: 8:19.
The CAM Cougars boys golf team has a good season so far. The Cougars are coming off a first place finish at their last golf meet at West Central Valley with a low score of 187. CAM junior Chase Jahde was the medalist with a low score of 38.
Coach Wollum had high praises for the way junior golfer Chase Jahde’s has played this year.
CAM junior golfer Coby Venteicher has made some big improvements from last year.
The Cougars golf team knows they have a good shot at qualifying individuals for state.
Coach Wollum commented on what the team can expect at the Class 1A Sectional at Mount Ayr next Wednesday.
The next Cougars boys golf meet will be on Monday May 6th for the Rolling Valley Conference meet at Carroll Country Club. That meet will get underway at 9:00 a.m.
The CAM Cougars girls golf team had a couple of their golf meets impacted by the weather this week. The Cougars most recent meet was last week when they went to West Central Valley. Even though the CAM girls didn’t place in that meet sophomore Kaitlyn Platt was the medalist shooting a low score of 59.
Coach Wollum commented on how well his team did at West Central Valley.
The Cougars golf team has been proving their desire to improve their golf game throughout the rest of the year.
Coach Wollum has been emphasizing in practice to the girls on how to deal with the wind at the golf meets for the rest of the year.
Even though the season is winding down, coach Wollum is looking forward to seeing the improvements of the team for rest of the season.
The next CAM girls golf meet will be Friday May 3rd when they will take on West Central Valley, Des Moines Christian and Southeast Warren in a quadrangular meet in Menlo. That meet will start at 4:00 p.m.
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