(Des Moines, Iowa) — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources on Thursday confirmed a residential video security/doorbell system caught a mountain lion across a property on the north side of Des Moines, Sunday morning.

DNR officials say Vince Evelsizer, furbearer biologist for the Iowa DNR, reviewed the video and confirmed that it is a mountain lion. The Iowa DNR said mountain lions are occasional visitors to the state, but there are no breeding populations in Iowa. South Dakota and Nebraska are home to small breeding populations of the big cats.

They said on occasion, young males will get chased from their home territories by older males and make long treks searching for new territory. Information on the DNR’s website says “While Iowa might offer ample food, it lacks the vast expanse of wild country and female mates that these young males seek. So they often continue moving on, which means there are no breeding populations in Iowa. The Iowa DNR has not stocked mountain lions and has no plans to do so.”

(Allison, Iowa) – One person died during a single-vehicle accident Thursday afternoon, in eastern Iowa’s Butler County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 69-year-old Gene Chinander, of Allison, died at the scene of the crash at around 2:45-p.m., Thursday. Authorities say Chinander was traveling south on Highway 14 in a 2019 RAM truck, when he failed to stop at the intersection with Highway 3. His truck left the road and struck a legally parked semi trailer in a parking lot.

The accident remains under investigation. KETV in Omaha reports Gene Chinander, longtime Iowa high school football coach, was the father of Nebraska Huskers Defensive Coordinator Erik Chinander. Erik Chinander was an offensive lineman for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1998 to 2002. He’s been Nebraska Defensive Coordinator since 2018, when he followed Scott Frost to Nebraska from the University of Central Florida.

(Lamoni, Iowa) – One person was injured during an accident that took place during a pursuit early this (Friday) morning, in Decatur County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 22-year-old Bradley D. Phelps, of Grand River, was transported by helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, after the 2010 Chevy Camaro he was driving went out control and into a residential yard before traveling airborne, hitting a tree, and coming to rest on its top. Phelps, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the vehicle. The accident happened at 1:40-a.m., in Lamoni.

The incident began after a Lamoni Police Officer was dispatched to the Kum and Go Store for a possible intoxicated driver traveling westbound on Main Street. When the Officer activated his patrol vehicle’s lights, the Camaro took off and Phelps attempted to elude the officer.

(Radio Iowa) – Ben & Jerry’s is rolling out a new ice cream flavor called “Change is Brewing” that includes a key ingredient from Iowa. Chris Miller, with Ben & Jerry’s, says the flavor is designed to support a public safety bill in the U-S House to increase funding in youth programs and to fight mental health problems and substance abuse.  “It’s part of this sort of campaign and work to reimagine public safety and this work around racial justice,” Miller says. “We put some intentionality behind the flavor.”

The ice cream includes marshmallow swirls, fudge brownies and coffee from a company based in Des Moines. “It has this cold-brew coffee base from a black-owned coffee company in Iowa called Black and Bold,” Miller says. “It also has brownies from a supplier we’ve been working with for many years called the Greyston Bakery based in Yonkers, New York, and it has a policy of open hiring.”

Miller says a portion of the sales will support two grassroots groups working on public safety issues: Mothers Against Police Brutality and Sisters For Justice. Miller says Black and Bold is a “social enterprise” which, like Ben & Jerry’s, is a company with a mission. “Black and Bold is a great addition to our portfolio of what we refer to as values-led suppliers,” he says. “Every dollar we spend purchasing ingredients is an opportunity to engage other companies and suppliers that are values-aligned and Black and Bold is a great example of that approach.”

Miller says the vision for the flavor is to reimagine a new way of creating healthy and safe communities.

(Radio Iowa) – Retired three-star Admiral Michael Franken is making a second run for the Democratic nomination for the U-S Senate. He says his career in the military and public service sets him ahead of the five other Democrats in the field. “The country is in a rather troubled state. The political dysfunction, the animosity of the situation we are between the parties, and the need to get things done. The lack of leadership we see in our elected leaders suggests an individual of an accomplishment and who has done leadership before can do some good,” Franken says.

He says the divide is not just between Republicans and Democrats — but also between members of his own party. “I would say to the extremes on the Democratic party, for the benefit of the whole we need to get to the center and approve as written,” Franken says. “Now if you don’t do that, elections are lost.” Franken addressed the current situation with the shipping crisis in American and ships unable to unload their cargo. “We do something about triple-shifting to move commodities out of the S pods and A pods. We use alternate means of shipping — hopefully more trains because of the efficiencies associated with that,” he says. “I would love to see an enhanced barge traffic on our nation’s inland waterways.”

Franken says the increased barge traffic could Council Bluffs, Davenport, and possibly Sioux City. He says he also supports biofuels. “As we track out the future of electric vehicles and the reducing amount of gas use –there needs to be a window for this — and maybe it’s not corn-based. But I see what the Brazilians have done with G-E manufactured gas turbines to produce electricity with ethanol,” Franken says.

Franken is a Sioux County native who has a residence in Woodbury County. He held a variety of positions in the U-S Navy and was the only one in the decision process to vote against the invasion of Iraq. Franken finished second to Theresa Greenfield in 2020 in a bid to challenge Republican Senator Joni Ernst. He is running this time to try and unseat incumbent Republican Chuck Grassley.