(Updated) The Cass County Fair Association has released the line-up for evening events set to take place during the 2021 Cass County Fair, in Atlantic. Fair Board President Curtis Bierbaum says among the FREE activities, is the tractor and truck pull beginning at 6-p.m. on Saturday, July 31st.

The Champion Seed Western and Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League Series pullers will be making a lot of noise as their machines work to pull a sliding load on their way to the finish line, or at least as far as they can go. The event will include:
– 85 Limited Pro Stock Tractors
– Limited Pro Stock Diesel Trucks
– Pro Farm Tractors
– Pro Street Diesel Trucks
– Super Modified 2WD Trucks

Bierbaum says the adult Team Golf Cart Races Sunday night should be a blast to watch.

He says everything is set to go, and they’re crossing their fingers nothing like COVID interferes with your enjoyment of the Fair.

(Radio Iowa) – Heyl Truck Lines is buying Holiday Express, a trucking company based in Estherville. Heyl Truck Lines is based in Akron. Its president, Bruce Koele, says both companies are family-owned. “We felt our companies matched very well with a lot of the same philosophies,” he says. “Heyl has several terminals in Florida, Texas and also northwest Iowa as well as Okotoks, Alberta, Canada.” The Holiday Express terminal in Estherville will be rebranded as a Heyl terminal.

“Our intentions are to create additional jobs,” he says. “…We’re currently looking for mechanics and technicians and to build the infrastructure and build their shop and become an even more significant player in the Estherville area.” Holiday Express, founded in 1969, has specialized in operating refrigerated trucks that carry food to 48 states. Heyl Truck Lines was founded in 1949 and currently has a fleet of over 400 trucks. Heyl also focuses on temperature controlled commodities, but it ships dry goods as well. Heyl’s purchase of Holiday Express will be final on June 14th.

(Radio Iowa) – For the third time in a month, a bicyclist in the Quad Cities has been killed by an S-U-V. Davenport police say a bicyclist was hit and killed by a hit-and-run SUV that ran a red light on Thursday afternoon. Police later caught the driver, 33-year-old Bobby Hunt of Davenport. He faces a list of charges, including homicide by reckless driving, in the death of 40-year-old cyclist Alex Marietta of Geneseo, Illinois.

During May, a 13-year-old boy on a bicycle was hit and killed by a Moline, Illinois, police SUV that was responding to a call, while a 60-year-old man on a bike was also fatally struck and killed by an SUV in Rock Island County.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics will increase rates for its services by six-percent in the coming budget year. The Board of Regents approved the new rates Thursday. U-I-H-C officials say the increase is especially needed now because of losses the health system suffered during the pandemic. Chief Financial Officer Bradley Haws says shutting down surgeries alone was extremely expensive. “My forecast of a million-and-a-half (dollars) a day was low. That was just the surgeries going away,” Haws says. “So when we forecasted a new number with declining admissions, the number came closer to two-and-a-half-million dollars per day.”

Besides the canceled surgeries and falling admissions, Haws says the added costs of handling COVID-19 dealt a blow to the state’s largest hospital. He says raising rates will help recoup some of those losses. “That impact of a rate increase brings in about $12-almost-13 million of increased revenue,” Haws says. “And so we view that as a vital way to offset, as we talked about, the CARES money and to continue our operation.”

Haws says an infusion of millions of dollars from the federal government was key to stabilizing the facility’s finances over the past year.

(reporting by Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)

The Creston Police Department reports the arrest Thursday night, of 36-year-old Steven Marion Bochniak, from Creston. He was taken into custody at his home on charges that include Obstruction of Emergency Communication, and Domestic Abuse/3rd offense. Bochniak was being held without bond in the Union County Jail, pending an appearance before a magistrate.