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Day 2 of RAGBRAI has bicyclists heading from Red Oak to Atlantic

News

July 22nd, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Bicyclists on RAGBRAI leave Red Oak today (Monday) on their slightly more than 40-mile trip to Atlantic as their next stop-over community. The ride features an elevation of 1,702-feet, 3.7-miles of gravel road options, and a concert tonight in Atlantic, from “The Pork Tornadoes.”

As they make their way from Red Oak on Day 2 of the excursion to across Iowa, RAGBRAI riders will pass through the towns of Elliott, Griswold – which serves as a meeting town – and Lewis, where they might want to check out the Hitchcock House, a national landmark known for its role in the Underground Railroad as a safe house for enslaved people traveling to Canada for freedom.

In Atlantic, they’ll come to know the Coca-Cola Capital of Iowa, the city that hosts the second-largest Coca-Cola Convention in the U.S. every fall, second-only to Atlanta, GA. Atlantic once had a Coca-Cola museum, but that closed during Covid, in the Spring of 2021.

On Tuesday, the RAGBRAI riders will make their way 82-miles to their next stop-over town: Winterset. Along the way they will pass through Wiota, Cumberland, Massena, Fontanelle, Greenfield – Meeting Town, Orient  and Macksburg.

Skyscan Forecast for Atlantic & the Nishna Valley: Monday, July 22, 2024 – RAGBRAI Day 2

Weather

July 22nd, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Today: Patchy fog through about 9-a.m., otherwise partly sunny, w/a 20% chance of afternoon showers & thunderstorms. The main hazard will be from lighting during any thunderstorms. High near 82. Light and variable wind.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61.
Tomorrow: Mostly sunny w/a 20% chance of showers & thunderstorms. High near 84. W/SW winds 5-10 mph. (At this time it appears lightning will be the primary hazard during any thunderstorms)
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 84.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 85.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 86.

Sunday’s High in Atlantic was 83. Our Low this morning, 56. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 87 & the Low was 56. The All-time Record High here, on July 22nd, was 109 in 1901, & the Record Low was 45, in 1956. Sunrise: 6:04. Sunset: 8:47.

Iowans react to Biden’s decision to end his reelection campaign

News

July 22nd, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Nearly 50 Iowans who’re Democratic National Convention delegates will soon be called upon to pick a new nominee after President Biden’s exit from the 2024 race. Iowa Democratic Party Rita Hart says she’s sad Biden has stepped aside. “But I recognize that this action means Joe is telling us it’s up to us to finish the job,” Hart said. Hart said it’s unclear when the party will pick a nominee. “I think this is kind of uncharted territory,” Hart told reporters. “…We don’t know what the process will be.”

A panel of national Democrats will meet Friday and is expected to set the guidelines. Scott Brennan, a former Iowa Democratic Party chairman, is one of Iowa’s representatives on the Democratic National Committee. He says it’s unlikely the party would pick someone other than Vice President Kamala Harris.”I think it’s probably at least an 80% chance she will be our nominee,” Brennan says. “…Mechanically I don’t know how else it works, particularly this late in the process.”

Brennan says there’s a huge campaign finance issue that presents itself if Harris isn’t the nominee. “A presidential campaign is like a big ship and so now we’re going to turn a giant ship from having President Biden be on the top of the ticket to likely Vice President Harris, although who knows?” Brennan said. “I’m surprised we are where we are right now.”

Connie Gronstal of Council Bluffs is one of the delegates who’ll be asked to make the decision. She and her husband Mike Gronstal, the former Iowa Senate Majority Leader, hosted an event for Biden in 2007 and she was planning to back Biden in 2024. She says it’s now time to rally behind Vice President Kamala Harris. “She has my full support,” Gronstal said. “Hopefully all this drama is over with now.”

Then-candidate Joe Biden spoke to Radio Iowa on January 25, 2020 before the Iowa Caucuses. (RI file photo)

The Iowa Democratic Party’s chairwoman says she needs to talk with Iowa’s national convention delegates before making any public statement about having Harris as the party’s nominee. “President Biden’s endorsement really matters…She has the experience and he would not endorse her otherwise,” Hart says. “…Our delegates will respond, but it’s so early.” Derek Muller is a national election law expert who left the University of Iowa a year ago to join the law school faculty at Notre Dame.

Muller says because of a ballot deadline in Ohio, Democrats had already been planning for an electronic roll call of delegates to nominate Biden in early August and Muller says the most likely outcome now is a virtual nomination of Harris in the next couple of weeks. “She’ll have to announce a vice presidential nominee by then, I suppose, and then they’ll move forward in business as usual,” Muller says, “except trying to fundraiser and introduce your candidate to the nation in a much shorter time frame.”

Shortly after Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection, several Iowa Republicans in state and federal office said Biden is unfit to continue serving as president. The chairman of the Iowa G-O-P said it was dangerous for Biden to remain in office. Senator Grassley said voters won’t be fooled by Democrats changing horses in midstream, but he did not call on Biden to resign.

Collins Aerospace, largest employer in Cedar Rapids, has new president

News

July 22nd, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The largest employer in Cedar Rapids has a new leader. Troy Brunk has been named president of Collins Aerospace. Brunk has led three of the six business units at Collins in Cedar Rapids. He will report directly to the C-E-O of R-T-X — formerly known as Raytheon.

It’s the company that acquired Collins Aerospace in a merger back in 2020. Brunk replaces Stephen Timm, who is retiring after a 28 year career with Collins. About seven-thousand people work at Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids.

Abortion is still legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks

News

July 22nd, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – There’s an unresolved legal challenge to the law that would ban most abortions in Iowa — and Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa will continue to provide abortions up to the 20th week of a pregnancy until further action from the courts.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled on June 28th that a six-week abortion ban is legal under Iowa’s constitution, but the A-C-L-U of Iowa has filed a petition asking the justices to rehear the case. The district court judge who would lift the injunction that’s blocked the law from taking effect cannot act until that matter is resolved. Ruth Richardson is the president and C-E-O of Planned Parenthood of North Central States.

She says the situation is temporary relief and once the nearly total ban on abortions in Iowa goes into effect, Planned Parenthood has developed plans to help patients get out of state abortions if their pregnancy is beyond that early window. Francesca Turner is an OB-GYN in Des Moines and a member of Iowans for Health Liberty. She says there are many complications during pregnancy and they might not be considered life threatening under the law’s exception for life of the mother.

“It’s not our jobs as physicians to tell women what to do,” she said, “but we need to give them the options and allow them to take the risks that they choose for themselves and their family.”

The law has other exceptions for fetal abnormalities and for victims of rape and incest who quickly report the assaults to police.

A high-tech approach to studying Iowa’s future soil health

Ag/Outdoor, News

July 22nd, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Iowa News Service) – Farmers in Iowa are studying interactions between crops, water usage, carbon and nitrogen storage, and how those factors combine to affect longterm soil biodiversity. It’s part of a seven-state project in the Midwest. Researchers are looking at the effects of crop combinations on soil and moisture across the Corn Belt.

Iowa State University Agronomy Professor Sotirious Archontoulis is running one research site in the five-year, $16 million project. He’s monitoring how crop management, carbon and nitrogen content affect soil moisture – and will try to predict the impact on the viability of future crops. “We have the same setup in many different environments to capture different organic matter, soil hydrology conditions,” said Archontoulis, “so we get a better understanding of the complexities in the agronomic system.”

Archontoulis said scientists can also study greenhouse gas emissions from the soil. He said these ultimately affect its health and can have an impact on large ag operation waste runoff, which is known to pollute nearby ground and surface water. The research is gearing up now.

Based on the computer model’s findings, Archontoulis said researchers can make recommendations to farmers based on – for example – how much nitrogen the soil is losing in certain places, and how they can adjust planting schedules as a result.

“We can say, ‘This cropping system with this management practice typically loses that amount of nitrogen,'” said Archontoulis. “‘However, the other combination of cropping system could reduce nitrogen loss and improve productivity by X%, so this is a better strategy to move forward.'”

Archontoulis said the research begins across the Midwest this summer.

Red Oak man arrested Sunday afternoon on an Assault charge

News

July 21st, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report a Red Oak man who was arrested late Friday night on an OWI charge, was arrested again this (Sunday) afternoon, on an Assault charge. Authorities say 34-year-old Kristopher Carl Friesenhahn was taken into custody at around 2:35-p.m. on the simple misdemeanor offense. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

1A state baseball quarterfinals in Carroll on Monday

Sports

July 21st, 2024 by Ric Hanson

The quarterfinals of the state high school baseball tournament are Monday in Carroll. In the opener top ranked Akron-Westfield takes on Bedford. For Akron-Westfield its the first trip to the state tournament since 2017.

That’s Akron-Westfield coach Gordy Johnson who says it was at the end of last season he thought this one could be special.

Bedford enters the state tournament with a record of 20-10.

Defending champion Remsen St. Mary’s is fourth ranked and opens against North Linn. It is the Hawks’ ninth straight appearance in the state tournament.

That’s Remsen St. Mary’s coach Dean Harpenau. North Linn enters the tournament with 24-8 and Harpenau says the top three hitters for the Lynx set the table.

Harpenau says North Linn always features speed on the base paths and this one is no different.

QB Brendan Sullivan on his transfer to Iowa

Sports

July 21st, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Iowa quarterback Brendan Sullivan says the Hawkeye program was the right fit for him. Sullivan transferred to Iowa after spending three seasons and starting eight games at Northwestern.

New Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester recruited Sullivan when he was the head coach at Western Michigan.

Sullivan joins a quarterback room that includes starter Cade McNamara and Marco Lainez.

Sullivan feels the experience he gained at Northwestern is a plus.

The Hawkeyes open the season on August 31st against Illinois State.

Cass County Supervisors have a brief, Special Meeting Tuesday morning

News

July 21st, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors will meet in a brief, Special Session beginning at 9-a.m. on Tuesday, July 23rd, in the Cass County Courthouse Board Room. The only action item on their agenda, is approval of a Special Class-C Retail Alcohol License.

The Board’s next Regular meeting is on August 6th.

Join the meeting electronically at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2899195216?pwd=R0hSa2FOOTh0NUdra1ZSdVhVW
HpMUT09
Meeting ID: 289 919 5216
Passcode: 012064
Call In 312-626-6799, press *9 to indicate you wish to speak.