(Radio Iowa) – A former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine says Russia is losing right now and Vladimir Putin would likely exploit a cease fire or negotiations to end the war at this point. Marie Vovanovitch spoke in Des Moines last (Thursday) night. “He will just use the time to regroup, rearm and reattack,” she said. Vovanovitch was U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine from 2016 to 2019. She says Putin has talked about rebuilding the Russian empire and his aims endanger U.S. national security.

“Even after all of the troubles the Russian military has had in Ukraine, he has made it clear that his appetite has not been sated,” Vovanovitch said, “…and that he would go further.” Vovanovitch retired in early 2020 after a 33 year career as a diplomat in the Foreign Service. She returned to Ukraine for a visit last month.

“What really struck me was how mobilized everybody in Ukrainian society is,” she said, “…still volunteering for the front lines even though Ukrainians, like Russians, are taking huge casualties.” She says intake centers for new soldiers are still being overwhelmed with volunteers.

Vovanovitch was interviewed by a Drake University alum in front of a crowd in the school’s basketball arena last (Thursday) night. Her appearance was part of an annual lecture series that has featured famous athletes, well-known authors and a former president.

(Radio Iowa) – A 25-year-old Iowa City man caught pretending to be a minor on Instagram has been sentenced to eight years in prison on a child pornography charge.

The case against Tyler Dean Kadolph began last year as police investigated a report that someone was recording women using a locker room at the University of Iowa Field House. The Field House is a recreational facility for students and Kadolph worked there. Authorities got a warrant to search his phone and court records indicate they found child porn on it.

According to prosecutors, Kadolph pretended to be “a minor female” on Instagram and used the fake account to ask for nude photos. In May, he agreed to plead guilty to possession of child pornography. Kadolph was sentenced this week.

(Radio Iowa) – Snow is not in the forecast — but several big orange D-O-T trucks have been out on the highway with their sprayers going. D-O-T winter operations director, Craig Bargfrede says they are spraying plain water, not salt brine. “The purpose of that is to make sure that everything is calibrated, and that we’re putting out exactly the right amount of material and the right amount of liquid. Depending upon which material we’re using,” he says. He says all of the trucks are outfitted with a G-P-S system that is connected to the spreader controllers.

“So part of the reason why we do the calibration is to make sure our accuracy in distributing the material. And then during the winter as we go through the winter season, as the trucks around operating and doing their winter operations, that information of is fed back through the G-P-S modem,” Bargfrede says. “And we capture all that data so that we know exactly how much material by each truck has done has been split out on the highway.”

Bargfrede says most of the treatment they do now is a salt brine. They may sometimes put down some wet salt, but only for certain conditions. Bargfrede says they have developed a guide for the plow drivers for setting the material that is deployed. “You know, depending on the weather conditions, and what type of precipitation we got, dependent upon the temperature, that’s a guide that gives them a range for what kind of treatment strategies that they’re going to use,” Bargfrede says. He says they started earlier this month to get everything ready for when there’s actual winter weather.

“October 15 is the magical date. According to our policy and procedures, we need to have a certain percentage of our equipment and vehicles ready to go. And typically those early season type situations are some type of frost run or something like that depends upon conditions and the weather,” Bargfrede says. Bargfrede says there is some early indication they may be busy.

“Now in talking to our weather service provider, they’re kind of looking at the forecast for the winter season as being a below normal temperatures, meaning colder, and above normal precipitation, meaning we’re going to be wetter,” he says. “Now whether that comes in the form of rain or snow, we can’t really say for sure.” Bargfrede says they will have the equipment ready — whatever Mother Nature throws their way.