(Radio Iowa) [UPDATED 9-a.m. 6/2/23] – The boil order WAS lifted today (Friday) for residents of five counties in southwest Iowa. The order was rescinded after tests came back negative for any issues in the water system. Avoca Regional Water Plant general manager, Tom Kallman, says they had been waiting on the third and final water test. He said previously he was “cautiously optimistic” that they were going to be able to go ahead and lift the boil alert. Kallum said “We’re still going to be in a water shortage — but at least now folks are not going to have to boil their water to be able to consume it.”

The problem started on May 25th when the seven water towers were drained down, leading to a negative pressure in the system. “The towers are now full enough that I don’t have any pressure issues anywhere in terms of getting the water out to folks when they turn on their tap. They should have no problem with the water they’ve got,” Kallman says. “But we will end up having to go back into a boil advisory if I lose pressure again from more demand than I can push water into my system.”

The drought brought down the levels of water they use to fill the tanks at a time when they set records for demand. Kallman says residents will have to continue conserving water to avoid a repeat. “If it happens a second time, our board of directors will then review whether or not we need to elevate our water posture to a water rationing state. And then that’s all based on your previous years usage,” Kallman says. He says they have sent out suggestions for reducing water use and he is optimistic those will pay off.

“What we find a lot of times in these kind of circumstances, we have these helpful hints on folks to tell them conserved things that they can be looking at. And I don’t think there’s been a situation go by where some of it and say you know, I never thought about it and whipped the water deal I went and did that little test is that you recommend for the toilet and lo and behold, my toilet was leaking and I didn’t realize that it was. It ends up being a substantial amount of water.”

Kallman says they did get some rain Thursday, but they will need much more. “We’re about three feet lower in our wells now the first of June of this year than we were at the same time last year. “Kallman says. “That’s three foot less water in the wells to pump out of the wells and turn it into fresh drinking water.”

The Rural Water System supplies residents in Shelby, Audubon, Cass, Harrison, and northern Pottawattamie County. Kallman says they will notify residents once the boil order is lifted.

(Radio Iowa) – Former President Donald Trump says there’s no way he could lose Iowa in 2024. “We’re going to win,” Trump said. “We’re going to win big. We’re going to win bigger than ever before.” Trump made a campaign swing through the state Thursday. It included a stop in Grimes at a training session for campaign volunteers. Trump suggested there’s a correlation between his popularity and his legal woes.

“Every time I go high I get further attacked by the DOJ, the FBI. I’ve got to keep my poll numbers down, they’ll leave us alone,” Trump said. “If we were ever losing, they’d leave us alone. It’s called election interference. They do it at a level that we’ve never seen anything like it in this country. It’s a disgrace.” Trump took questions from the crowds at events on Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon, a contrast with the events challenger Ron DeSantis had in Iowa this week.

“It is nice to come here and speak without notes, without anything, just come up and speak from the heart and from the brain,” Trump said, to cheers, “and from the brain.” Trump’s appearance comes as the G-O-P presidential field is expanding. North Dakota’s governor, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Trump’s own vice president Mike Pence are set to enter the race next week.

“People coming into the race. You know they’re polling at 1%, 2%. I don’t know what they’re doing. They must know something…but I know actually some of them are pretty stupid,” Trump said. “…They’re running for VP and cabinet. Maybe they are, but some of them won’t happen, I can tell you.” A woman in the crowd asked Trump what he’d do differently if another virus emerges — and she told Trump people had died because he supported “the jab.” That’s a reference the COVID vaccine, which Trump says everybody wanted back at the start of the pandemic in 2020.

“A big portion of the country thinks that was a great thing, you understand that,” Trump said, “(but) not a lot of the people in this room.” Trump, seeking a rematch against President Joe Biden in 2024, was told by someone in the crowd that Biden fell on stage at the Air Force Academy yesterday (Thursday). The 76 year old Trump said he hoped the 80 year old president wasn’t hurt, then Trump ridiculed the media for focusing on his own gingerly walk down what he described as a slick ramp at West Point rather than the speech he gave that day.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s two U.S. Senators have joined their fellow Republicans in the U.S. House in voting for the bipartisan deal to avert a first-ever federal government default. The Treasury Secretary had warned the federal government would run out of money to pay its bills next week if congress didn’t raise the borrowing limit, or so-called debt ceiling. Republican Senator Joni Ernst said the entire Iowa delegation agrees the deal, while imperfect, will ensure the federal government spends less and reclaims billions of unspent COVID funds.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley also voted for the bill last (Thursday) night, which now goes to the president for his signature.

The four Iowa Republicans who serve in the U.S. House voted for the bill earlier this week. The timing of last (Thursday) night’s vote in the U.S. Senate means Ernst will be able to return to Iowa in time to host eight G-O-P presidential candidates at her annual fundraiser on Saturday.

(UPDATED/Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has completed her review of the bills that passed the Republican led 2023 Iowa legislature — and signed all of them into law. Reynolds approved 67 bills Thursday. One requires both of Iowa’s major political parties to conduct their Caucuses in person, although some Democrats have said there may be a legal challenge of the law. Democrats have been planning to cast their presidential preferences by mail rather than on Caucus Night. The Iowa Democratic Party’s chairwoman says the party is committed to holding the most inclusive caucus in history, no matter what.

Another state law that takes effect July 1st makes Iowa households with 15-thousand dollars worth of assets that can quickly be converted into cash ineligible for food stamps. The asset test for SNAP benefits does not include the value of a home or a vehicle.

Reynolds also approved bills outlining the state’s eight-and-a-half BILLION dollar budget, with two item vetoes.