Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is joining several Senate colleagues in asking the U-S Department of Education to determine how much money adversarial foreign governments are donating to American schools, including some in Iowa.

Espionage by foreign actors is a “constant threat,” according to Grassley, which can take on various forms, including trying to inject propaganda into our schools.

Grassley, a Republican, says there’s also evidence the Chinese have pumped money into the University of Iowa through what’s called the Confucius Institute.

He says the U-S must “thwart efforts by authoritarian regimes to peddle propaganda in our schools” as well as other threats to national security. Iowa’s other U-S Senator Joni Ernst is among the 18 senators who signed the letter requesting the nationwide audit.

Deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office report that on Tuesday, September 5th at about 6:00 pm they conducted a traffic stop in the 2500 block of highway 48.  Deputies arrested 42 year old Daniel Charles Thomas of Red Oak for driving while barred, an aggravated misdemeanor.  Was booked at the Montgomery County Jail and held on $2,000 bond.

The owners of the Nelson-Boylan-LeRette Funeral Chapel in Red Oak are determined to continue serving the area as they recover from a devastating fire that destroyed their building on the morning of September first.

State and local fire investigators said faulty wiring in the basement caused the fire that gutted the building’s interior.  The building was deemed a total loss.

Dawn LeRette, who along with her husband, Brian, have owned the funeral home since 2001, say they are currently operating out of another building on their property.

Dawn says the LeRette family plans to continue to build on the more than 100 years of traditions since the business was first established in 1914.  They want to let people in the Montgomery County and surrounding area know that they are ready and able to provide funeral care at this time as they move forward.

Red Oak Police report that on Tuesday, September 5th just after 7:00 pm, officers arrested 40 year old Joseph Aaron Nelson of Red Oak on an active Montgomery County warrant for harrassment in the third degree.  Nelson was booked and held on $300 bond.

A new Iowa State University podcast tries to answer some of the questions about a subject that is vital to some, and stinks for others. Dan Andersen
the creator of the “Talk’in Crap” podcast, says it is an interesting time in the world of manure.

Anderson is an associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at I-S-U. He chose the “Talk’in Crap” title intentionally and says you have to have a sense of humor about the subject, while also talking about the serious side.

Andersen says manure is more than a byproduct of animal production.

Andersen says the water quality perspective is also important and manure’s role in that needs to be discussed as well.

Anderson says the use of new technology has help improved the use of the world’s oldest fertilizer.

He says they don’t want to see any spills that impact water quality, but there are still spills and fish killed every year from manure. Andersen says at least there are signs of progress in the right direction. The smell of manure is probably the thing that most non-farmers. Andersen says work continues to find ways to deal with that too.

Andersen says those covers often don’t fit with the deep pit production model that we tend to have fore manure here in Iowa. You can listen to the “Talk’in Crap” podcast on the Iowa State University Extension website at www.extension.iastate.edu.