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Battle of the Burgers pits Iowa against New York

Ag/Outdoor, News

May 26th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

And you thought this year’s Best Burger Contest was over! The Iowa Beef Industry Council (IBIC) and New York Beef Council (NYBC) are putting their state’s best burgers to the test in a battle for bragging rights of the ultimate best burger. The IBIC says consumers have a chance to cast their vote for either Iowa’s Bino Burger or New York’s Hot & Smokey Candied Bacon Burger. The voting is open now through 11:59-p.m. May 30, 2021. The 2021 Iowa’s Best Burger was recently awarded May 3rd, to Bambino’s in Ossian.

The Bino Burger has been referenced as “the burger-lovers burger”, featuring a juicy, all-beef burger patty topped with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion. Customers can customize their burger from that foundation with bacon, eggs, onion rings, hash browns, and more. Selection of Iowa’s Best Burger was obtained through a phase of public voting. For a month, burger lovers went online and voted for their favorite Iowa burger joint. At the end of the month, the ten restaurants with the most votes were declared the “Top 10”. From there, three anonymous judges visited each of the restaurants, scoring the burger patties based on taste, doneness, and presentation.

On the Northeastern side of the country, Ale ‘n’ Angus Pub was named the Best New York Burger on May 10. The downtown Syracuse eatery earned the honor with their Hot & Smokey Candied Bacon Burger featuring an 8-ounce Angus beef patty with jack cheese, candied bacon, house-made onion spread, chipotle mayonnaise, and honey. Selection of New York’s final four were obtained through public nominations and online voting, with a team of judges choosing the overall winner following a cookoff.

Compared to Iowa, New York represents a dense population center that is further removed from how cattle are raised. In an effort to help bridge the gap between beef production in the Midwest and Northeastern consumers, the Best New York Burger Contest is made possible with funding from IBIC. Iowa’s Best Burger Contest is sponsored by IBIC through the Iowa State Beef Checkoff and the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association. Restaurants are an important and valuable partner of the beef industry.

Iowans to cast their vote for Bambino’s Bino Burger using the online nomination form on the IBIC website, or the Iowa Beef Council Facebook page. Remember, the nomination period will close at 11:59 p.m. on May 30, 2021. Officials say COVID-19 restrictions are changing and now is the time to go out and support your local restaurants. Many restaurants in the state have dine-in and carry-out options to meet your needs. After a challenging year for many restaurants around the country, we encourage consumers to rally their support behind restaurant owners and Iowa’s beef farmers by choosing to order a real-beef burger on May 28 to celebrate National Beef Burger Day!

Cass County Extension Report 5-26-2021

Ag/Outdoor, Podcasts

May 26th, 2021 by admin

w/Kate Olson.

Play

Lack of biofuels bill remains glaring hole in accomplishments of 2021 session

Ag/Outdoor, News

May 26th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation says the state legislative session that ended last week was a great one for agriculture, with one exception. Craig Hill praised the move by lawmakers to shift the burden of paying for the state’s mental health program away from county property taxpayers, since farmers own a significant portion of the state’s land. “There’s only a couple other states that actually pay for mental health service with a property tax,” Hill says. “Shifting, dollar for dollar, costs of mental health services away from property tax to the general fund was a goal that we’ve had.”

Hill says another legislative win this session included more funding for Iowa’s water quality programs. “Those dollars that were appropriated a few years ago to address water quality with our nutrient reduction strategy, we extended those,” Hill says. “We had some new opportunities for beginning farmer tax credits, some expansion there.” Hill says there was a big legislative disappointment in the 2021 session, one that would have benefited corn and soybean growers. “The one that we made progress on but we didn’t complete and that was to expand the use of biofuels, both ethanol and biodiesel,” Hill says. “We’ll be back next session, working away at that one.”

Overall, Hill says Iowa lawmakers did a good job in approving a budget that leaves the state sitting in a good position following the pandemic.

Planting slowed by rain, corn emerging

Ag/Outdoor

May 25th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Wet weather slowed planting last week — while the corn and soybeans already in the ground are emerging. The weekly U-S-D-A crop report says there were only two-point-four days suitable for fieldwork during the week. Just three percent of the corn was planted last week and it is now 97 percent complete. That is two weeks ahead of the five-year average. Three-quarters of the corn has now emerged. The report shows 89 percent of the soybean crop has been planted — an increase of six percent during the last week. The overall soybean planting is 15 days ahead of average. More than one half of the soybeans planted have emerged.

DNR fish finder site back up

Ag/Outdoor, News

May 25th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The popular fish finder site run by the D-N-R is back up after being changed over to a new provider. Fisheries Bureau spokesman, Jeff Kopaska, says the site includes information on species and numbers the fisheries staff gather during their surveys on lakes, rivers and streams. “We’ve actually updated our data collection and we are using tablets out in the field and updating all the data electronically while we are out there. We just upload it to the cloud and make that data available to the public,” Kopaska says.

He says it gives you the size and weight of fish by species. “If you are interested in going bluegill fishing and you want to know which lakes we caught the most eight to ten-inch bluegills in last year — you can compare all of the lakes that have fish from that size category,” Kopaska explains. “So, it’s a pretty useful tool for anglers.” He says there’s a lot of interest from anglers in this info. “Since April of 2018 when the site went down I get emails about every week asking when its going to be back up,” according to Kopaska. “We’ve finally got it to a point where we are happy with it and feel that it is good information for the public, and we’ve made it available to them once again.”

Kopaska says it provides good short-term information for anglers looking for fish — but the D-N-R uses the info for longer-term management of the fisheries. “We strive to make data-based decisions and have a solid scientific rationale for what we are doing and why we are doing it,” Kopaska says. “You have to have this data and this information available to make decisions on what we should be stocking, if we should be changing any regulations.” Kopaska says the numbers show the overall health of the fisheries are pretty good. “We have record numbers of fish being Caught. We have high-quality populations in numerous lakes across the state. And the ones that aren’t doing as well — we continue to strive to improve them,” he says. “Our overall goal in D-N-R fisheries is to shorten the time between bites — and to make each one of those bites count.”

You can go to the D-N-R website at www.iowadnr.gov to find the survey information.

Jipsen/Comes win High School, King/Draper win Junior State Fishing at Prairie Rose

Ag/Outdoor, Sports

May 24th, 2021 by admin

Atlantic, IA. – Fifty High School and Junior students anglers from across the state competed in the first TBF/SAF Iowa State Fishing Championship presented Conductix Wamplfer at Prairie Rose State Park on Saturday. Each team consisting of two competitors launched their boats at 7am to bagged their five largest fish on the 173- acre lake. The teams returned at 2:30pm to begin the official weigh-in to see who had hauled in the biggest bag of fish.

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The Atlantic team of Cooper Jipsen and Dylan Comes won the SAF Powerade High School Competition with five fish, totaling 11.07 pounds. In the runner up spot goes to Joaquin Wailes of Wiota and Joey Oathoudt of Corning, IA with a 5 bag limit totaling 10.07 lbs, 3rd place went Carter Frost and Cade Hoover of Cedar Falls with 5 bag limit, weighing 10.03. Comes claimed the AM Corhon Big Bass award with 3.01 lb bass. Cooper Jipsen and Dylan Comes will now compete in a National Tournament in South Carolina.Drey Newell and Braden Smith, the overall points champions, will also advance to the National Fishing Tournament in South Carolina. The two seniors from Atlantic finished sixth in the Tournament.The two teams will also try to qualify for the SAF World Finals which held in conjunction with the National Championship Tournament. Over 3 million dollars worth of scholarships and prizes are on the line for the student anglers.  

Emmett of Panora, IA and AJ Draper of Linden, IA caught a 5 bag limit score the TBF Junior Iowa State Championship in the Fairlife Yup Junior Series with their bag weighing 11.04 pounds. Second place went to Hade and Holden DeVore of Atlantic, IA. as they hauled in 5 bass at 10.11 lbs.and rounding out the field in third place was the team of Jake Wailes of Atlantic, IA and Brentyn Hoover of Anita,IA their total was 5 bass 10.03 lbs. King also earned the AM Cohron & Sons Big Fish of the tournament with his bass weighing in at 2.09 pounds. King and Draper earned their spot at the Junior World Championships where they will be competing against the top teams from the rest of the US (and the Canadian provinces). This competition will be on the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities at the end of July. They will be competing for over $10,000 in scholarships and other prizes.  

Over 200 people attending the official weigh-ins to cheer on the student anglers. 25 teams weighed in an impressive 124 fish totaling 226.58 lbs. which average out to be 1.83 per fish. It is estimated that each student angler team caught caught an average of 20 fish throughout the day looking to improve their size, which a staggering 500 fish caught by the student anglers. All fish were returned to the lake safely and probably happy to see the student anglers leave because everyone one of them fished like a Bassmaster Elite angler on Saturday. This would not have been possible without the generosity of passionate sponsors, individual contributors, local community support, volunteers and parents. Because of you we are creating something very special for our youth, that will stay with them for a lifetime.

Powerade High School Boat Series results from the McDermott & Son Roofing Company SAF SWIFT tournament at Lake Anita on Saturday.
1st– Cooper Jipsen, Atlantic, IA and Dylan Comes, Atlantic, IA, 5 bass, 11.13 lbs., Boat Captain- Dent Petty
2nd- Joey Oathoudt, Corning, IA and Joaquin Wailes, Wiota, IA, 5 bass, 10.07- Boat Captain- Bob Harris
3rd tie- Carter Frost, Cedar Falls, IA and Cade Hoover, Cedar Falls, IA, 5 bass, 10.03- Boat Captain- Mike Frost
3rd tieKorben Brunt, Anita, IA and Owen Hoover, Anita, IA, 5 bass, 10.03 lbs., Boat Captain- Randy Hoover
3rd tie- Owen Wilkinson  , Corning, IA and Daniel Mattox, Corning, IA, 5 bass, 10..03- Boat Captain- Johnathon Locke
6th– Drey Newell, Atlantic, IA and Braden Smith, Atlantic, IA, 5 bass, 10.02 lbs.- Boat Captain- Brady Dickerson
7th Will Neville, Oabcig Falcons and Ways Raasch, Oabcig Falcons 5 bass, 10.00 lbs.
8th Jake Oathoudt, Corning, IA and Dakota Breaud, Corning, IA, 1 bass, 9.15 lbs., Boat Captain- Chuck Elmquist
9th Colton Rudy, Atlantic, IA and Colin Rudy, Atlantic, IA, 5 bass, 9.13 lbs., Boat Captain- Chuck Rudy
10th Caleb Nue-, Johnston, IA. and Mason Pospeshil, Johnston, IA., 5 bass, 9.10 lbs.
11th tie- Cameron Hoden, Tri-Center Trojans, and Addisyn Redinbaugh, Tri-Center Trojans, 5 bass, 9.07 lbs.
11th Tie– Mason McCready, Macedonia, IA and Caden Forristall, Carson, IA, 5 bass, 9.07 lbs., Boat Captain- Eric McCready
13th– Tegan Steinkuehler, Harlan, IA and Tytan Frohlich, Harlan, IA, 5 bass, 9.06 lbs., Boat Captain- Derrick Steinkuehler
14th – Vicente Butcher, Corning, IA., and Conor Britten, Red Oak, IA., 4 bass, 2.10 lbs., Boat Captain- Jim Robinson- Villisca

Fairlire Yup Junior Boat Series results from the McDermott & Son Roofing Company SAF SWIFT tournament at Lake Anita on Saturday.
1st- Emmett King, Panora, IA. and AJ Draper, Linden, IA., 5 bass, 11.04 lbs., Boat Captain-Jeremy King
9th- Hade DeVore, Atlantic, IA., and Holden DeVore, Atlantic, IA., 5 bass, 10.11 lbs., Boat Captain- Brad DeVore
4th-Jake Wailes, Wiota, IA and Brentyn Hoover, Anita, IA,5 bass, 10.03 lbs. Boat Captain- Rob Clausen
4th-Tyson Partlow, Menlo, IA and Carey Mitchell, Stuart, IA, 5 bass, 10.01 lbs. Boat Captain- Rob Clausen
5th: Gavin Dougherty, Lewis, IA and Garrett Stetzel, Atlantic, IA, 5 bass, 10.00 lbs., Boat Captain- Koby Stetzel
6th- Hunter Quist, Atlantic, IA., and Aiden Smith, Elliot, IA., 5 bass, 9.09 lbs., Boat Captain-Brian Moore
7th: Grayson Molgaard, Atlantic, IA and Owen Miller, Atlantic, IA, 5 bass, 9.08 lbs., Boat Captain- Peter Molgaard
8th: Letty McSorely, Carson, IA and Colton Krueger, Carson, IA, 2 bass, 9.06 lbs.,- Boat Captain- Adam Krueger
9thCody Swank, Harlan, IA and Braxton Hass, Atlantic, IA, 5 bass, 9.05 lbs.,  Boat Captain- Don Switzer
10th- Colton Anderson, Atlantic, IA and Maddy Anderson, Atlantic, IA., 5 bass, 8.01 lbs., Boat Captain- Kirt Knudsen
11th: Brody Hughes, Red Oak, IA and Bently Hughes, Red Oak, IA, 5 bass, 6.04 lbs., -Boat Captain- Bill Hughes

Get ready to saddle up or walk, during the National Trails Day T-Bone Trail Ride

Ag/Outdoor, News

May 24th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

The Cass County Conservation Board will hold a National Trails Day T-Bone Trail Ride, on June 5th. The program will meet at the I-80/T-Bone Trail Trailhead, North of Atlantic, beginning at 1-p.m.  There is no charges. Bike, walk, strollers…everyone is welcome! Come out and celebrate National Trails Day!  All ages/abilities welcome and Free!

The event will be cancelled if there is inclement weather.

CCCB presents “Nature Tots” Programs

Ag/Outdoor, News

May 24th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

(Lewis) – The Cass County Conservation Board is excited to present “Nature Tots” Program during the months of June and July. The programs are targeted for tots 3-4 years old, with an accompanying adult, to introduce them to the plants and animals of the world. The Nature Tots will get to choose any or all three of our Free Programs. Travel to the savanna to see elephants and zebras with Safari Searchers. Learn about the plants and animals of the rainforest with Rainforest Rangers, and dig into what it takes to grow your own garden with Garden Growers.
The next programs are to be held on Thursdays and Saturdays:

  • June 10th 2-4pm- Garden Growers- Sunnyside Park Camblin’s Shelter
  • June 12th 2-4pm- Garden Growers- Sunnyside Park Camblin’s Shelter
  • June 24th 2-4pm- Rainforest Rangers- Lake Anita Shelter #5
  • June 26th 10am-12pm- Rainforest Rangers- Lake Anita Shelter #5
  • July 15th 2-4pm- Safari Searchers- Outdoor Classroom, Massena
  • July 17th 2-4pm- Safari Searchers- Outdoor Classroom, Massena

The programs FREE, but you are asked to pre-register, by filling out the registration form Here. Or you may email lkanning@casscoia.us or call 712-769-2372. Space is limited and children must be accompanied by an adult.

Sunnyside Pool opening delayed until June 7th

Ag/Outdoor, News

May 21st, 2021 by Ric Hanson

Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Director Bryant Rasmussen, on Friday, said that “With the current weather pattern, heating up of the pool is taking longer. With regards to this the pool will open up on the June 7th as opposed to the 1st to allow for more time to increase the temperature of the water.”

Local 24-Hour Rainfall Totals at 7:00 am on Friday, May 21, 2021

Ag/Outdoor, Weather

May 21st, 2021 by Jim Field

  • KJAN, Atlantic  .29″
  • 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  .32″
  • Massena  .96″
  • Anita  .78″
  • Avoca  .3″
  • Bridgewater  1.5″
  • Villisca  1.45″
  • Corning  1.04″
  • Clarinda  1.13″
  • Shenandoah  .38″
  • Manning  .07″
  • Irwin  .08″
  • Carroll  .16″
  • Creston  .9″