AMES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa State University professor has a plan for saving humanity from a devastating asteroid collision, and he’ll soon meet with officials at NASA to discuss his proposal. Engineering professor Bong Wie says one way to stop an asteroid from hurtling toward earth is to break up the rock with a nuclear device. He will meet Tuesday with NASA officials to talk about his research, which is being hashed out at the Asteroid Deflection Research Center in Ames.

The Des Moines Register says Wie plans to request a five-year, $5 million grant to put the research into action and launch a practice satellite. A NASA spokesman says there’s no grant request scheduled in the Tuesday meeting. Wie says developing the project will take more than a decade.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Copper siding has been stolen from a museum in Council Bluffs.  The Daily Nonpareil says police reported the theft on Wednesday. The siding is valued at $1,000. It apparently was taken early Saturday morning from the Western Historic Trails Center.  The museum is owned by the state of Iowa.

In an update to our story last hour about a reported hoop barn fire near Harlan, Harlan Fire Chief Roger Bissen (Bee’sun) told KJAN News the fire was actually in about a half-dozen bales of corn stored inside the barn, and not so much the structure, contrary to earlier information we received. Tractors were removing the bales from inside the structure, prior to the bales being extinguished. The hoop barn sustained some damage to the canvass-style fabric covering structure.

Several fire departments were dispatched to the scene east of Harlan, including those from Harlan, Irwin, Kimballton, Kirkman and Defiance. The blaze occurred at a farm near the intersection of Highway 44 and Shelby County Road M-47, just before 6-a.m.

No injuries have been reported. Bissen said crews would remain on the scene for another couple of hours.

Several fire departments have been dispatched to a fire east of Harlan this (Friday) morning. Firefighters from Harlan, Irwin, Kimballton, Kirkman and Defiance were called to the scene of the blaze near the intersection of Highway 44 and Shelby County Road M-47, just before 6-a.m.

A Shelby County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher said a hoop barn was on fire at that location, but no other details are currently available.