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Grants can help Iowa towns replant trees lost in the 2020 derecho

Ag/Outdoor, News

July 11th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – It’s been almost four years since a powerful derecho blasted across Iowa, causing some 11-billion dollars damage, and the rebuilding of our landscapes is still far from complete. The storm’s winds of up to 140-miles an hour wiped out millions of trees and a grant program is offering funds to help communities recover and replant. Ellie Jones is the Iowa D-N-R’s community disaster recovery coordinator, and she’s partnering with Trees Forever. “We lost a lot more trees than we can replace within a couple of years,” Jones says. “Between urban and non-urban areas, we lost over seven-million trees. We’ve had this grant program going on pretty much since the year after the derecho happened, but unfortunately, with the amount of funds that we have available and the sheer amount of recovery that needs to be done, it’s probably going to – hopefully – continue for the next 10 years as well.”

The Community Forestry Grant Program offers grants of between 500 and 10-thousand dollars to purchase and plant trees suitable to Iowa. “This is a grant that’s for public landowners,” Jones says. “Unfortunately, we’re not able to work with private landowners, especially with this grant, but if you are a public entity or work on behalf of a city, you can apply and you have to be in one of the 27 counties that were in the governor’s proclamation of disaster.” Unlike with previous grants, she says matching funds are -not- required from communities with this effort. Cedar Rapids was one of the worst-hit communities, losing more than half of its tree canopy to the derecho’s winds on August 10th of 2020. Jones says trees help to purify our waterways, and they filter out carbon and other harmful pollutants from the air. Trees also help to offset what’s known as the urban heat island effect.

“In cities, because there’s so little green space, they tend to be a lot hotter. Since we have these really high temperatures in our cities,” Jones says, “people are more prone to heat-borne illnesses and things of that nature. When we lost a lot of these trees in our urban areas, you’re making that problem worse and we’re not getting the benefits that those trees provided.” The deadline to apply is August 26th.

To apply, visit www.iowadnr.gov/urbanforestry

Transportation Commission discusses RISE grants after job goal failure

News

July 11th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The State Transportation Commission discussed then approved a settlement with the city of North Liberty over a road grant that didn’t produce the jobs it promised. The D-O-T’s Deb Arp says the RISE grant was for three million dollars to construct a roadway and roundabout. “And this was contingent on the creation of 307 new jobs at an expanded GEICO national auto insurance claims processing processing facility within three years of project completion,” she says. The roadway opened, but the company did not add any new jobs. “Based on the RISE project settlement policy the city has agreed to a repayment of one-million-77-thousand-368 dollars,” Arp says.

This RISE grant was based on an immediate opportunity to help a business, but the grants can also be based on the potential of the roadway to open up an area for more development. Arp says the potential to help businesses in the future was considered in the North Liberty repayment. “There is still a lot of area that could develop ,so that roadway regardless of whether those jobs were created or not is still there and may assist development in the future,” Arp says. “So that’s why we kind of give them a credit.” Commission chair Sally Stutsman questioned why there weren’t any new jobs created. She says she doesn’t want to see that become something that happens with these grants. “It comes across to me as a way to get a road built to a business with no guarantees that that business is going to produce jobs. It just doesn’t sit well with me, I’m sorry,” Stutsman says.

Arp says each request undergoes a scoring process, but they sometimes do not end up producing the jobs they were expected to produce. “We’re assisting the city and the county who are doing you know I believe their their very best to to work with these local companies. You know sometimes things just don’t materialize. Did the city proceed in good faith? I think in most cases we think they do,” she says. She says the area where the roadway section was built has a lot of future potential to help with business expansion.

The settlement was approved at the Commission meeting Tuesday.

EVERETTE CARROLL, 82, of Avoca (Svcs. 7/13/24)

Obituaries

July 11th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

EVERETTE CARROLL, 82, of Avoca, died Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at home. Funeral services for EVERETTE CARROLL will be held 10:30-a.m. Saturday, July 13, 2024, at the Congregational UCC & United Methodist Mission, in Harlan. Pauley-Jones Funeral Home in Avoca has the arrangements.

The family will greet friends at the funeral home on Friday, July 12th, from 4-until 7-p.m.

Burial is in the Graceland Cemetery at Avoca, beginning at 1:30-p.m., Saturday.

EVERETTE CARROLL is survived by:

His wife – Sandra Carroll, of Avoca.

His sons – John Carroll, of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, & Patrick Carroll (Phillip Terronez), of Des Moines.

His sister – Wilma “Jeanie” Klindt, of Atlantic.

and 3 grandchildren.

Skyscan Forecast for Atlantic & the area: Thursday, July 11, 2024

Weather

July 11th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Today: Sunny, with a high near 83. E/NE winds around 5 mph.
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 63.
Tomorrow: Mostly sunny, with a high near 86. South southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 92.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 95.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 94.

Wednesday’s High in Atlantic was 84. We received .02″ rain yesterday afternoon. Our Low this morning was 58. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 90 and the Low was 67. The All-Time Record High in Atlantic on July 11th, was 104 in 1936. The Record Low was 43 in 1895. Sunrise: 5:55; Sunset: 8:54.

Health care professionals urge caution in Iowa heat

News, Weather

July 11th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Iowa News Service) – Health care experts are reminding Iowans to be careful in the summertime sun. From sunburns and bike safety to water accidents and sports injuries, they remind people sometimes virtual care is available and reduces the time to see a provider.

Dr. Donna O’Shea, chief medical Officer of population health for UnitedHealthcare, said the company provides various tips to staying safe in the sun but reminds Iowans it is important to pay close attention to danger signs when outside for an extended period of time in Iowa’s sometimes sweltering summertime heat and high humidity.

“There is such a condition as overheating and heatstroke,” O’Shea pointed out. “It’s important to recognize those signs early. The signs of overheating do include headaches, nausea or dizziness. And it can be especially important to watch children because their internal cooling systems aren’t fully developed yet.”

Iowa has escaped the deadly heat which had more than 36 million Americans under a warning in recent days, but temperatures are expected to reach into the mid-90s next week with higher humidity. O’Shea reminded people medical assessment for a variety of injuries is also available virtually, 24/7.

She noted virtual care can be crucial in the state’s rural areas where people often can’t make it quickly to an urgent care facility or for helping decide if they need care for less serious conditions. And it’s available 24/7. “If it’s related to hydration or heat stroke, if you’re able to keep fluids down, virtual care can help you determine how much, how long to wait before you go to the emergency room,” O’Shea explained. “Same thing even for sunburns or bike safety. Do I need to go in? Do you think I need stitches? We don’t think about that.”

O’Shea also reminded people to watch kids around water since drowning is the number one cause of death for children between the ages of one and four. The state health department said it is the leading cause of death by unintentional injury of young children in Iowa.

High School Baseball Scores from Wednesday

Sports

July 10th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

Hawkeye Ten 

Lewis Central 10, LeMars 2
Harlan Community 3, Council Bluffs Lincoln 0

Raccoon River Conference

Boone 11, Nevada 8

Other Scores

Valley 6, Dowling Catholic 2

High School Softball Regional Scores from Wednesday

Sports

July 10th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

Class 1A

Region 3 

Collins-Maxwell 12, Glidden-Ralston 0
Ankeny Christian 9, Coon Rapids-Bayard 8
Earlham 15, CAM 1
Riverside 2, Woodbine 1

Region 4 

Martensdale-St Marys 10, Lenox 0
Orient-Macksburg 11, Stanton 1
Griswold 6, St. Albert 0
Essex 13, Fremont-Mills 11

Class 2A

Region 2

Audubon 9, East Sac County 0
Emmetsburg 13, Sioux Central 10
MVAOCOU 12, Pocahontas Area 4

Region 3

Van Meter 11, ACGC 0
Logan-Magnolia 9, AHSTW 1
Treynor 10, Underwood 0
Missouri Valley 4, Shenandoah 0

Region 4

Regina Catholic 12, Woodward-Granger 0
Ogden 6, Madrid 3
Kuemper Catholic 4, Manson-NW Webster 2

Region 5

Cardinal 3, Grand View Christian 0
Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 12, Van Buren County 1
Interstate-35  8, Southwest Valley 0
Pleasantville 10, Nodaway Valley 0

Riley Miller leads Audubon softball to shutout win over East Sac County

Sports

July 10th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

The Audubon Wheeler softball team had another impressive win on the year beating the East Sac County Raiders 9-0 in the Class 2A Region 2 quarterfinal round on Wednesday night. A massive part of the Wheelers success was the steadfast pitching from freshman Riley Miller. The ball game started off hitless in the first inning, but a tough tone was set by Miller early on striking out the first 3 Raiders batters she faced. In the bottom of the second inning Audubon managed to score 2 quick runs from two RBI singles one by Addie Hocker and the other by Anna Larsen. Then with two outs in the bottom of the second, Mattie Nielsen hit a 2-run homer to have Audubon up 4-0. The Wheelers added on to their lead in the bottom of the third with a bunt and dropped catch at home to make the game 5-0.

East Sac County continued to struggle at the plate only managing to get their first hit in the top of the fifth from Kamryn Ross. Up until the fifth inning Miller had collected 9 strikeouts. Ross’s hit could not create a rally and the next Raider hit a line fly towards left for out number three. In the bottom of the sixth inning Audubon produced 4 more runs starting with 3 straight base hits, including a Jordan Porsch 2 RBI single to build a 7-0 score.  The Wheelers wouldn’t stop there as Larsen had another big swing aimed at right field to bring in 2 more runs. Making the score 9-0 for Audubon. The top of the 7th showed some life for East Sac County as they garnered 2 base hits to put 2 runners on, but Miller would put away the final two batters with a strikeout and pop fly.

When looking back on the Wheelers strong win against the Raiders, Head Coach Andrea Schwery acknowledged the effort from her team on the night.

Miller had another impactful evening with 7 innings pitched, no runs, 13 strikeouts, and giving up only 4 hits. Nielsen swung well in the box going 2-4 with 2 RBI’s. Larsen also stuck out with her 2 hits and 3 RBI’s. Coach Schwery believes that her team’s confidence, needs to be a focus in their next round of post season play.

Audubon’s next game will be at home for the third round of regional play against the Ridge View Raptors. Coach Schwery will be preaching to her team to never underestimate an opponent.

East Sac County finishes the year with a record of 10-15.

Utah and K-State favored in Big 12 football race

Sports

July 10th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Big-12 newcomer Utah is the preseason favorite. The Utes finished 8-5 in their final season as a member of the Pac-12 and were without standout quarterback Cam Rising due to a knee injury. He returns for the new season.

That’s Utah coach Kyle Whittingham who feels confident heading into the season.

Whittingham made hs comments at Big-12 Media Days in Las Vegas. Kansas State is picked for second but no Wildcat player made the preseason all-conference team.

That’s K-State coach Chris Klieman (kly-mun) who says preseason polls are meaningless.

Atlantic City Council approves moving ahead with ISU Mayor’s Design Project

News

July 10th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic, Wednesday evening, heard an update from Mayor Grace Garrett, with regard to a visit late last month from a design team from Iowa State University, and a tour they took of the City, along with some City officials, in advance of a project selected by the Mayor. Garrett said she was one of six mayors from across the State chosen in April, and invited to join the “Mayor’s design workshop.”Other mayors include those from Council Bluffs, Marshalltown, Ottumwa, Cedar Falls and Fort Madison.

The workshop will be held July 30-31, 2024, in Ames. The goals of the program are to assist mayors in addressing complex design and planning challengers. They offer design,m financing strategies and implementation ideas.

Councilperson Elaine Otte said the City could choose one of two projects that would make the best improvements to the City. One was Bull Creek, the other was some sort of a safety building at the Schildberg Recreation Area. Councilman Jim Behrens said if the Bull Creek project is chosen, the ISU team will work with the Army Corps of Engineers, to overcome any issues the Corps has with the problematic area, including erosion and storm water run-off.

The Mayor chose to offer a comprehensive plan for Bull Creek.  She will make a presentation to the ISU Design Team on the project, and over the next 18 months, ISU plans to have a follow-up workshops involving the resource team. Studio courses will be developed for students around the project, to include support for preferences to address specific needs for the City of Atlantic, as they pertain to Bull Creek.

There is no charge to the City for input from the ISU Design Team.