(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation has raised more than eight million dollars to purchase about two-thousand feet of shoreline on East Lake Okoboji. Joe Jayjack, the foundation’s communications director, says more than 400 donors stepped up so the natural beauty of the lakeshore can be preserved. “It is such a special place that we felt like we had to go for it,” Jayjack says. “We had an $8.2 million goal and the reality is about 90% of that was raised just in the last couple of months and it’s been an amazing effort by folks up at the lakes, showing how much they care about this.”

The property, which covers 50 acres, is next to a state park. It’s the last undeveloped and privately owned tract of shoreline on East Okoboji. The sale should close sometime in December and Jayjack says the Natural Heritage Foundation has begun planning for work at the site. “How we’re going to allow access and public use of it, along with some of the restoration plans that we’ll be doing there, too,” Jayjack says, “just restoring some of the native prairie, oak savanna and the natural shoreline there.”

The eight-point-two million dollar project is the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation’s largest ever fundraiser. The organization had a September 7th deadline to raise the money after making an offer on the property a year ago.

(Radio Iowa) – As the rate of new COVID-19 infections remains high in Iowa, the state’s top health official says they are working on more rapid testing options. Interim Department of Public Health Director Kelly Garcia says testing is widely available across the state — but the department is seeing some issues for those who need rapid testing. “It’s not that there’s supply chain issues. But there do seem to be some kinks in the pipeline in terms of folks being able to access testing quickly when ill and that is most important,” Garcia says.

Since mid-July, the state’s Test Iowa program has offered mail-in testing kits that can be requested online or picked up at certain locations. But the mail-in option creates a longer turnaround time for results for Iowans experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. “So the lab processing is not the constraint at the moment. But the mailing time is and so we’re working to solve for that,” she says.

Kelly Garcia

Garcia says if you need a rapid test you should check options at local pharmacies or urgent care facilities. But you should avoid seeking tests at hospital emergency rooms.

(By Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

Sheriff’s deputies in Page County have arrested a woman on a warrant for Failure to Appear for her Pre-Trial Conference. 49-year-old Shawn Carlene Beard, of Lenox, was arrested today (Thursday), at the Page County Courthouse, in Clarinda. Shewas unable to post the $25,000 bond, and was being held in the Page County Jail pending further court appearances.

Shawn Carlene Beard

With Ric Hanson.

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Griswold Fire and Rescue were dispatched at around 8:03-a.m. to a two vehicle accident at 542nd Street and White Pole Road (The Cass/Pottawattamie County line). The crash involved a rollover. Injuries have been reported, but the number and extent of those injured was not immediately available. A medical helicopter was placed on stand-by.

An accident Wednesday afternoon in Red Oak resulted in the driver of a van being issued a verbal warning for Unsafe Backing, and Failure to Yield while backing onto a highway. Red Oak Police say the accident happened at around 12:32-p.m., in the 100 block of W. Oak Street. A 2018 Ford transit van driven by 37-year-old Trevor Troy McAlpin, of Red Oak, was backing out of the Casey’s parking lot. A 2004 Dodge Stratus driven by 29-year-old Jodi Michelle Booher, of Shenandoah, was eastbound on W. Oak, when McAlpin backed the van onto the road, into the side of the Dodge.

Damage to the Transit van, registered to a Red Oak heating and cooling company, was estimated at $9,000. The Dodge sustained $4,000 damage. No injuries were reported.

A check of some of the latest area news, from Ric Hanson.

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(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston report the arrest at around 1:37-p.m. Wednesday, of 47-year-old Cory Wayne McKinney, of Creston. He was taken into custody in the vicinity of Sheldon and Highway 25, for Driving While Barred. McKinney later posted a $300 bond, and was released.

(Radio Iowa) – There’s a breakfast war heating up now in Iowa to try and capture customers who are once again venturing out of their homes following pandemic shutdowns. Casey’s convenience stores C-E-O Darren Rebelez talked about the competition during an investor call. “What you saw a year ago when lots of businesses were shutting down, offices were shutting down, people were sheltering in place — that had a disproportionate impact on the breakfast daypart. And that hit everybody from the Starbucks of the world to McDonald’s to us,” he explains. Rebelez says the race is on to get the customer’s attention. “I think everybody is optimistic about getting that business back to normal as more schools are in session in person and more people are returning to work than there was a year ago,” he says. “You’ve seen McDonald’s come out with more promotional activity. Wendy’s has certainly been very active in the space. Taco Bell is bringing breakfast back after suspending it.”

He says it is a big segment for Casey’s. “Breakfast is about a third of our prepared foods business. A lot of that come sin our breakfast pizza — but a lot of other things like donuts and baked goods, coffee and sandwiches also play a big role, and that’s where we’ve innovated,” Rebelez says. The innovation he is talking about is a new product that uses their pizza dough to make a calzone-type sandwich. “Which sausage and egg and cheese, or bacon and egg and cheese — but leveraging that dough so in a unique way so it’s handheld and very portable and car-friendly,” Rebelez says.

He says they also changed out all their coffee machines for new ones. “The coffee technology grinds the beans and brews each cup of coffee fresh,” Rebelez says, “so that will enable us to reduce waste, make it easier to execute in the stores from a labor standpoint, and provide fresh coffee 24-7.” Rebelez says they also reviewed and upgrade the ingredients in their other breakfast products, and eliminated some that were not selling well.

Peggy Stover is head of the Marketing Institute at the University of Iowa School of Business. She says convenience stores offering grab-and-go prepared foods may have a couple of advantages over fast food franchises. For one, the fast food industry is having a harder time hiring and keeping workers and convenience stores — where the median age of employees in nearly 37 — may have an advantage. “Also, I think Casey’s — depending on how they’re pricing — could definitely position themselves to be more competitive,” Stover says, “if they’re offering good value at a reasonable price.”

Stover says Casey’s — with locations in small towns as well as urban areas — will be able to reach a whole different set of customers who don’t have the option of going to a fast-food drive through. “It may just be cost prohibitive for a McDonald’s franchise to be there,” she says. “Why not add prepared foods into your product mix and just make it a little bit more convenient for folks who are living in areas that may not have the choices available to them?” Stover has 25 years of experience working in the grocery industry for companies like Kraft, S-C Johnson and Coors.

(Radio Iowa) – A dog trainer in central Iowa says he’s seeing a big boost in clients needing help dealing with separation anxiety in pouting pooches. Jack Fitzjunker, who runs Dog Training Elite of Des Moines, says many Iowans adopted dogs during the worst days of the pandemic, but now the kids are back in school and most adults have returned to in-person workplaces, so the suddenly-lonely canines are acting up. “It’s difficult for them, for sure, especially when you’ve spent the last year, year-and-a-half, spending all of your time with that dog,” Fitzjunker says. “It’s definitely a big change for them and a lot of dogs struggle with that quite a bit because it’s something new, something they’re not used to and a lot of dogs aren’t fully prepared to handle that.”

The separation anxiety is often worse for high-energy, working dogs like German shepherds and border collies, he says, and the warning signs are varied. “They’ll do some howling, barking, they may whine,” Fitzjunker says. “They could have indoor accidents even though they are housebroken. They may chew things up, dig holes, scratch windows and doors. Pacing is something I see a lot or they could just try and escape.”

Dasher the dog (Radio Iowa photo)

You can’t go from spending all of your day around a pet to being gone for eight or nine hours at a time, the trainer says. To begin with, he suggests a combination of physical and mental exercises for the dog. “Before you go to work and leave for the day, taking your dog for a long walk is a good option, taking them to the park and throwing the ball,” Fitzjunker says. “Also, basic obedience type of stuff, getting some of that mental exercise in as well. That’s a great starting point.”

It may also help to take “baby steps” with the separation. Try leaving the dog for five or ten minutes, then returning, and taking progressively longer trips away to help the dog adjust to being alone. He notes, it’s good for dogs to have some alone time as it gives them an opportunity to rest and recharge.