(Radio Iowa) – Long-term plans are for portions of Interstate-80 in Iowa to expand to six lanes. Stu Anderson is the director of the Transportation Development Division at the Iowa D-O-T. He says in some areas, freight — hauled by semis — accounts for 40 percent of the traffic on I-80. “There some areas that will require six lane improvements, primarily in eastern Iowa initially,” he says.

“The Commission has programmed some funding to do some of that work east of Iowa City, continuing all the way to Davenport and the Illinois River we’ll be looking at making those improvements eventually and probably working its way to Des Moines. Western Iowa the traffic is a little lower, so that will take some time, but definitely I-80 and even I-35 in some stretches will need some major improvement.”

I-80 rest stop near Grinnell. (DOT photo)

You may notice some new bridge decks in eastern Iowa have been widened. Anderson says bridges have a very long life span, so bridge work on I-80 is being done with the future in mind. Anderson says transportation planners are also tracking how automated vehicles that drive themselves may impact the interstates that run through Iowa.  “That could alleviate some of those capacity needs as you have vehicles that can drive closer together, maybe have narrower lanes,” he says, “so that might really have some influence in the next 20 years as well.”

But to deal with current capacity issues, drivers in eastern Iowa are noticing the ongoing project to rehabilitate and widen the interstate that feeds into I-80 near Coralville. “The Interstate-380 corridor between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City has been a real priority corridor because of the huge demand from the commuting traffic and safety issues,” Anderson says. Anderson says that interchange is being built to handle future projects that would add lanes to I-80 in that area. “The I-80/380 interchange is a really good example of an important project because of the freight movement on that corridor,” Anderson says.

“The existing interchange just had challenges with weaving movements that caused problems for semi trucks.” About 45-hundred bridges in Iowa are rated in poor condition — in need of repairs and upgrades. Anderson says state officials have been using part of the money from the state gas tax increase that took effect in early 2015 to fix bridges. “We now just have 32 poor condition bridges on the state system,” Anderson says. Anderson says bridges rated in poor condition are still safe for traffic, but have issues that need to be addressed.

The D-O-T does an in-depth review of the state’s transportation system every five years and will submit that report to the governor and legislators later this year. Anderson made his comments during a recent appearance on Iowa P-B-S.

(Mondamin, Iowa) – Three people were injured during a collision on Interstate 29 just south of the Mondamin exit in Harrison County, Saturday evening. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2013 Chrysler driven by 35-year-old Junior Belleh Solo, of Des Moines, was southbound on I-29 at around 7:50-p.m. near mile marker 89, when the car drove onto the west shoulder and struck the rear of a 2019 Toyota Camry, that was parked on the shoulder with a flat tire.

Following the impact, the Chrysler went across both lanes of traffic and came to rest on the east shoulder of the road against the cable guard rail. Solo suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported to the Missouri Valley Hospital by Mondamin EMS. The driver of the Toyota, 35-year-old Abhijit Bahl, of Omaha, also suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported to the hospital in Mondamin by Missouri Valley EMS.

A front seat passenger in the Toyota, 28-year-old Kanika Dhawan, of Omaha, was flown from the scene by Life Flight to the UNMC in Omaha. All three of the injured were wearing their seat belts. The accident remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department.

(Radio Iowa) – Third district Congresswoman Cindy Axne is co-chair of the new Rural Reinvestment Task Force formed by the New Democrat Coalition in the U.S. House. Axne says she’ll be recruiting other House Democrats who can articulate a policy agenda that supports rural communities. “I see it as an opportunity for us to have a greater voice of a concerned group of legislators who can raise these issues up,” Axne says. “…There is a big misunderstanding of what rural America does contribute.”

Last Thursday Axne heard from representatives of farm groups, the biofuels industry and farmers growing organic crops at a forum on the Dallas County Fairgrounds. She expects other House Democrats to hold similar forums around the country. “We want to make sure we’ve got it from the north to the south, from the east to the west,” Axne says. Axne says the New Democrat Coalition represents 95 of the 224 Democrats in the U.S. House and the group will lobby to direct more federal resources to support rural areas, focusing on things like broadband access, housing and biofuels policy. Axne is a member of the U.S. House Ag Committee.

Democratic Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, the other co-chair of the Rural Reinvestment Task Force, is also a member of the House Ag Committee. Bustos, who represents a district in northwest Illinois that includes Moline and Peoria, is not seeking reelection in 2022.

(Radio Iowa) – Vaping among Iowa teens is at epidemic levels and officials with the American Lung Association are launching an effort to provide kids better access to cessation programs, support and education. Beth Turner of Urbandale, director of health promotions for the association’s Iowa chapter, says schools can apply now to become a part of the proven intervention programs.

“Our Vape-Free Schools initiative provides school administrators and educators training to be able to offer an alternative suspension approach for students that are caught vaping, smoking or chewing on school property,” Turner says. “This also includes a voluntary vaping and tobacco cessation program for youth who are wanting to quit.” Now more than ever, Turner says schools need support in helping students to quit tobacco products.

“We’re seeking to raise funds to give schools across the country access to these programs,” Turner says. “There’s a cost of $400 per training seat, so our goal is to raise $400,000 to serve 1,000 schools in need by the end of 2021.” While the number of adult smokers in Iowa has remained steady or fallen slightly in recent years, the number of young people vaping and using other tobacco products is quickly rising.

“In Iowa, we see our high school tobacco use rates at an alarming 22.7%,” Turner says. “This is higher than our adult rates for smoking and we see on a national basis nearly one in five teens are vaping and close to one in four teens are using at least one tobacco product.” One of the Lung Association’s teen smoking/vaping cessation programs is called NOT, for Not On Tobacco. The 10-session program offers teens the tools, information and support to end their addiction. Learn more at lung.org.

(Radio Iowa) – A delegation of 60 Iowans will be traveling to our sister nation of Kosovo in southeastern Europe later this month. Among those chosen for the trip is Joe Nelson, the superintendent of the Clarion Goldfield Dows Community School District or C-G-D in Wright County.  Nelson says, “Our goal with the country of Kosovo is to start that international partnership and international learning so that we get some students from Kosovo to come over and embrace everything that we love about CGD.”

Agriculture is an important industry both in Iowa and Kosovo and Nelson says the students in his district will be great ambassadors for Iowa. “One in six kids in our high school are involved in FFA and the roots of ag run deep in Clarion, 4H started here,” Nelson says. “We’ve had some highly successful kids who have graduated from here and gone on to great careers in ag, so why not open that up to the world.” The city administrator of Fort Dodge and the mayors of several Iowa cities will also be a part of the delegation.

“General Orr from the National Guard is leading the delegation,” Nelson says. “We’ll be going over to the country of Kosovo for about a week. The clay is still wet on this project but what an exciting project to be a part of and what a cool partnership opportunity for our students.” The trip is scheduled for September 23rd through October 2nd. Iowa has had a sister state relationship with Kosovo since 2013 when then-Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed an agreement with that country’s president.

(Radio Iowa) – World War Two veterans from Iowa and across the nation are being honored by participating on a flight aboard a biplane. It is all part of what is known as “Dream Flight”. Darryl Fisher says it started when he helped his dad fly his refurbished biplane from Mississippi to Oregon in 2011. “So I thought we’ve got to make 15 gas stops, so why see if there is a World War Two veteran at a local facility on our gas stop and we’ll just give them a quick flight and see what happens. And it was amazing. So we gave our first Dream Flight on March 29, 2011. We gave 25 dream flights on the way back,” he says. He says they have now given 46-hundred flights in 10 years.

“Our mission is to give back to those who gave. This generation gave us our freedom, this generation gave us our freedom. We can’t thank them enough for that,” Fisher says. Fisher says the biplane used for the “Dream Flights” helped prepare those we were going to war. “This biplane had one mission. They were built between 1940 and 1945 and they were designed to teach pilots to fly in World War Two, that was it,” he says. He says they decided to change things up this fall in honor of the end of World War Two, which came in August.

“In 1945 they signed the surrender agreement with Japan. So we said hey, let’s start flying August 1, we’ll finish flying on September 30, and we’ll call it Operation September Freedom. We’ll take our six airplanes and barnstorm across the country and fly as many World War Two veterans as we can in 60 days,” according to Fisher. Each flight is about 20 minutes. Upon completion of the flight, the World War II veterans are presented with a cap, thanked for their service to their country, and are asked to sign their name on the tail of the airplane.

Dream Flight flew veterans in Le Mars and Sioux City last week, and they are scheduled to honor other World War II veterans at Vinton and Ottumwa today (Monday) and Moline, Illinois on Tuesday.

(Hampton, Iowa) – Officials with the Hampton Police Department report an arrest was made Sunday, following an investigation into the death in August, 2020, of a 23-month old boy. Authorities say Jhonny Junior Salvatore Suarez Rivera was arrested Sunday, Sept. 5th, 2021, and charged with 1st Degree Murder, as well as Child Endangerment Resulting in Death. He was being held in the Franklin County Jail.

Jhonny Junior Salvatore Suarez Rivera

On Saturday, Aug. 1st, 2020, at around 3:45-p.m., the child was taken by private vehicle to the Franklin General Hospital, in Hampton. Life-saving measures were taken, bu the child died a little over an hour later. An autopsy conducted August 3rd, 2020, determined the child’s cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Rivera was identified as a caretaker of the child and suspect in the death through an investigation conducted by the Hampton Police Department with assistance from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

The broadcast News at 8:05-a.m., with Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Here’s a reminder from Healthy Cass County: There will be a Food Bank for the Heartland drive through mobile food pantry at the Cass County Community Center in Atlantic, on Wednesday, September 8th from 4-6 PM. People from surrounding communities are welcome. The event runs from 4-until 6-p.m., or as supplies last. Traffic at the Cass County Community Center will be directed by volunteers.

A mobile pantry is a traveling food pantry that delivers food directly to families in need for a one-day distribution. The mobile pantry is available free of charge. Visitors are asked stay in their vehicles with the trunk open. Each household will receive 1 shelf stable mobile community box, 1 loaf of bread, and one produce box. Each vehicle can take food for two households. If food is needed for multiple households, contact County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh at 712-249-5870.

Anyone in need is welcome. No documentation needed. People from surrounding towns and communities are welcome. Food distribution and delivery is made possible with volunteers. Volunteering requires repeatedly lifting up to 20 pounds, but some less-strenuous positions are available. To volunteer contact Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh at 712-249-5870. Thank you!

The broadcast News at 7:07-a.m., with Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS