HAMBURG, Iowa (AP) — Motorists in southwestern Iowa are back to traveling a maze of detours as a new round of flooding closes portions of Interstate 29 and other highways and roads.
Those thoroughfares had only reopened in recent weeks following devastating flooding along the Missouri River in March. On Wednesday, the Iowa Department of Transportation said that I-29 is closed from St. Joseph, Missouri, to the Iowa state line at Hamburg. From Hamburg north to Pacific Junction, the interstate sees intermittent lane closures due to new flooding, significantly slowing the flow of traffic.

Highway 2 — which connects the interstate to Nebraska City, Nebraska, over the Missouri River — is again closed for flooding. New flooding has also closed Highway 34 between the Nebraska state line and I-29 near Pacific Junction. Detour routes can be found online at https://www.511ia.org/ .

(Radio Iowa) — A proposed cross-country network of recreational trails called the Great American Rail Trail would follow a 465-mile path through Iowa. Existing trails cover about half that distance, according to the Rail Trail Conservancy which created the route. Lisa Hein, of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, says to finish the job, local and state groups need to step up efforts to connect trail systems. Hein says, “We have enough funding to do maybe three to ten miles a year and if we have 150 miles of connections that we need to still make to complete the Great American Rail Trail across Iowa, it’s going to take a few years.”

On average, Hein says building one mile of trail costs 300- to 400-thousand dollars. Some 53-percent of the Iowa route is made up of existing trails like the Lake Manawa Trail and the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, but there are still hundreds of miles of gaps in between. Mike Wallace, executive director of the Dallas County Conservation Board, says they plan to finish one of them — a nine-mile stretch between the High Trestle Trail and the Raccoon River Trail northwest of Des Moines.  “We know we can do at least another mile, but that will be done in 2020,” Wallace says. “One piece of the puzzle at a time, I guess.”

The Great American Rail Trail for hiking and cycling would travel from Council Bluffs in western Iowa to Davenport in the east. Nationwide, it would stretch 37-hundred miles from Washington, D-C to Washington state.

(Thanks to Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds has declared this “End Distracted Driving” week — and Sgt. Nathan Ludwig, a spokesman for the Iowa State Patrol, says a smart phone is the main distraction troopers see on Iowa roads. “People know it’s wrong, but they’re still doing it.”  Ludwig says he sees too many drivers texting while he’s on patrol AND when he’s out on the road in his personal vehicle. The state patrol has written about 100 fewer citations so far this year for texting while driving. “We hope that people are getting the message, but the bad news is that…the majority of the accidents are attributed to distracted driving,” Ludwig says. “So just because we’re not stopping the cars and writing the citations for doing it doesn’t mean people have stopped doing it, because crashes are going up.”

There 17 categories of “distracted driving” on the D-O-T’s accident form and Ludwig says drivers using a phone is the “number one” distraction. Troopers have issued 331 tickets for distracted driving since January 1st. Ludwig says the biggest misconception among motorists is a driver can read their email and text while they’re at a stoplight. “You have to be off the travel portion of the road and be at a complete stop before you can engage in any internet or texting activity,” Ludwig says.

The fine for texting or surfing the internet while driving is 100 dollars. Iowa lawmakers considered a “hands free” law for drivers this past year. Sergeant Ludwig says that would be easier to enforce.  “But that’s up to the legislature and I think it may come down the road, but you don’t need a law to tell you common sense,” Ludwig says. “We just want people to get the phone out of their hand.”

Eighteen states have laws which bar drivers from handling a smart phone while they’re driving. Governor Reynolds says that “seems like the next natural step” for the state to take, especially when considering the statistics about traffic accidents.

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s willing to work with lawmakers to adjust Iowa’s medical marijuana law — but Reynolds says she made it clear to legislators she had concerns about a bill that could have boosted the potency of the cannabis products sold at state-licensed outlets.  “I do not support recreational marijuana and I just felt that was too much of a jump,” Reynolds said.  The governor vetoed that bill late Friday. “It wasn’t a surprise,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds says she could have accepted all the other aspects of the bill, but allowing an Iowan to buy cannabis products with up to 25 grams of the chemical T-H-C over a 90 day period was the stumbling block. “For example, if you take a gummie that you can get in Colorado that has THC in it, that typically has anywhere from five to 20 milligrams and the bill that passed was 25 grams, which would equate to 277 grams per day,” Reynolds said.

Supporters of the bill say the limited number of Iowans who’ve gotten a doctor’s recommendation to use cannabis pills, oils and creams need higher dosages to deal with pain and other medical issues. Two Democrats in the Iowa Senate plan to hold a news conference tomorrow (Wednesday) asking their fellow legislators to reconvene in a special session to override the governor’s veto. The bill passed the House and Senate by overwhelming margins, but some House Republicans who voted for it expressed concerns after learning a state advisory board did not support the potency recommendation in the legislation. “I have to balance the health and safety of all Iowans with a program that’s providing some alternatives to individuals that feel that it is making a difference,” Reynolds says.

The top two Republican leaders in the Iowa Senate say expanding Iowa’s medical marijuana law will be a priority for them in the 2020 legislative session. Reynolds says she’ll work with lawmakers to ensure the expansion is “narrow and cautious.”

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — After several quiet years, tornadoes have erupted in the United States over the last two weeks as a volatile mix of warm, moist air from the Southeast and persistent cold from the Rockies clashed and stalled over the Midwest. On Monday, the U.S. tied its current record of 11 consecutive days with at least eight tornadoes confirmed on each of those days, said Patrick Marsh, warning coordination meteorologist for the federal Storm Prediction Center. The previous 11-day stretch of at least eight tornadoes per day ended on June 7, 1980. “We’re getting big counts on a lot of these days and that is certainly unusual,” Marsh said.

The National Weather Service had already received at least 27 more reports of tornadoes Tuesday, suggesting that the record for consecutive days would be broken once the official totals are in. The weather service has received 934 tornado reports so far this year, up from the yearly average of 743 observed tornadoes. More than 500 of those reports came in the last 30 days. The actual number is likely lower, however, because some of the reports probably come from different witnesses who spot the same twister.

The U.S. has experienced a lull in the number of tornadoes since 2012, with tornado counts tracking at or below average each year and meteorologists still working to figure out why. “A lot of people are trying to answer that, but there’s no definitive answer,” Marsh said. The recent surge in tornado activity over the past two weeks was driven by high pressure over the Southeast and an unusually cold trough over the Rockies that forced warm, moist air into the central U.S., sparking repeated severe thunderstorms and periodic tornadoes. “Neither one of these large systems —the high over the Southeast or the trough over the Rockies— are showing signs of moving,” Marsh said. “It’s a little unusual for them to be so entrenched this late in the season.”

Those conditions are ripe for the kind of tornadoes that have swept across the Midwest in the last two weeks, said Cathy Zapotocny, a meteorologist for the weather service in Valley, Nebraska. Zapotocny said the unstable atmosphere helped fuel many of the severe winter storms and subsequent flooding that ravaged Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri earlier this year.
“We’ve been stuck in this pattern since February,” she said. Zapotocny said the number of tornadoes this year was “basically normal” until the surge this week. May is typically the month with the highest incidence of tornadoes, usually in the Plains and Midwestern states collectively known as Tornado Alley, where most of this year’s twisters have hit.

Most of the confirmed tornadoes were rated as less-intense EF0, EF1 and EF2s on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. But 23 were classified as EF3 tornadoes, with wind speeds of 136-165 mph. The strongest confirmed tornado this year was the EF4 tornado that killed 23 people in Alabama in March. So far this year, 38 people have died in 10 tornadoes in the United States, including a combined seven within the last week in Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma and Ohio. The relative quiet in recent years followed the massive tornado that killed 161 people and injured more than 1,100 in Joplin, Missouri, in 2011. The EF5 storm packed winds in excess of 200 mph and was on the ground for more than 22 miles.

Scientists also say climate change is responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme weather such as storms, droughts, floods and fires, but without extensive study they cannot directly link a single weather event to the changing climate. Monday’s outbreak was unusual because it occurred over a particularly wide geographic area. Eight states were affected by two regional outbreaks, in the high Plains and the Ohio River Valley. Tornadoes strafed the Kansas City metropolitan area straddling Kansas and Missouri Tuesday night, barely a week after a massive tornado ripped through the Missouri state capital of Jefferson City.

(Radio Iowa) — The U-S-D-A crop report showed just one day suitable for fieldwork last week and corn progress is 10 days behind and soybeans are two weeks behind last year. Iowa corn growers now have 76 percent of the expected crop planted, with is two weeks behind the five-year average. This is the smallest amount of corn planted by May 26 since 1995 when 75 percent of the expected crop had been planted. Forty-two percent of the crop has emerged — nine days behind last year and 10 days behind average. Less than one-third of the expected soybean crop has been planted. This is the smallest percent of soybeans planted by May 26 since 1993 when just 23 percent of the expected crop had been planted. Eight percent of the crop has emerged, 12 days behind last year and 8 days behind average. Farmers saw one sunny day this weekend, but say it was not enough to make a difference.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa farmers who’ve been unable to plant corn yet this year face a deadline this week. Corn planted by May 31st is covered by crop insurance. If that corn fails to sprout because of cold and soggy conditions, insurance will help farmers RE-plant their fields in June. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says there’s been an “historically slow pace” to planting corn AND soybeans this season. “It’s been a great challenge,” Naig says. “However, we know that if we can get a few days strung together where the weather will cooperate that our farmers can move very quickly and get that crop in the ground quickly. The other piece that we look at is what’s happening to our neighbors…as bad as it is in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana in particular have significant delays.”

Naig says planting soybeans in June rather than corn is an option for some. “It all depends on whether they think they can achieve a decent yield and make that pencil out in terms of profitability,” Naig says. June 15th is the deadline for planting soybeans that can be covered by crop insurance. Farmers debating whether to plant corn or soybeans this week face the dynamic of a soybean market that has been roiled by trade disputes. “The market’s sending a signal. Soybean prices, clearly, have been dramatically reduced. You’re talking a 20 percent reduction in soybean prices this year, a 10 percent reduction in corn and so folks will look at those economics,” Naig says.

But Naig says there are other factors at work, like deciding which corn or soybean hybrids will yield best if planted late. Some farmers may not be able to plant a crop at all this year — and that makes them ineligible for the next round of federal farm payments the U-S-D-A announced last week. Naig says 100-thousand acres of western Iowa farm ground in Pottawattamie, Mills and Fremont Counties was flooded in March — and in some areas there’s still water coming through broken levees. “You’ve got acres that might be dry, but they’ve a tremendous amount of sand and other debris that needs to be removed and those acres may or may not be planted this year,” Naig said. “…For those acres that are planted, you’ll crop insurance. For those that aren’t, you’ll be looking at a prevented planting selection.”

The federal “prevented planting” program provides payments to farmers who cannot plant a crop at all. Naig made his comments during an appearance on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program.

(Radio Iowa) — Le Mars Police have identified the two HyVee employees and the man who shot them in an attempted robbery early Sunday morning at the HyVee convenience store. Assistant Police Chief Justin Daale spoke Tuesday, at a news conference. “The suspect has been identified as 26-year-old Oscar Gutierrez. He displayed a nine millimeter handgun and demanded money from the two clerks,” Daale says. “After he demanded the money he had shot one of the clerks, which was Faith Laskie age 18. She was shot in the abdomen area. Gutierrez then shot clerk Ashley Storesund — age 29 — also in the abdomen area. He attained no money before or after the shooting.”

Daale says they had a license plate number of the car and were able to get a cellphone signal for Gutierrez. The car was found by South Sioux City police not long after the shootings. “They had located our suspect Oscar Gutierrez inside his vehicle with a lethal self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Daale says. “He was located after a broadcast was put out shortly after the incident here in Le Mars on locating the suspect as well as the suspect vehicle.”

The two women are listed in stable condition. Daale says a nurse and another HyVee employee who was an E-M-T gave them immediate aid after the shooting and that was key. “I think with the immediate response that they took…I think that eased the tension I guess in the store. They did exactly what they were supposed to do. I think it helped the victims probably more than anything. They did a fantastic job of taking immediate action,” according to Daale.

Daale says Gutierrez was known by the department for mostly minor run-ins. Police say the results of a toxicology report on the Gutierrez’s body won’t be known for a while. Counseling services are still being made available to the Le Mars HyVee employees. HyVee spokesperson, Tina Potthoff, says Sunday’s shooting and attempted robbery was the first shooting incident involving HyVee employees through out their more than 250 stores located in eight different states. Hy Vee has since re-opened their gas station.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — On Monday, the U.S. tied its current record of 11 consecutive days with at least eight tornadoes confirmed on each of those days. Patrick Marsh of the federal Storm Prediction Center says the previous 11-day stretch of at least eight tornadoes per day ended on June 7, 1980. The National Weather Service had already received at least 27 more reports of tornadoes Tuesday, suggesting that the record for consecutive days would be broken once the official totals are in.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says Iowa could be headed toward a law eliminating the use of cell phones while driving. A hands-free bill didn’t advance this year but could come back again next year, and Reynolds says she supports the idea if lawmakers send it to her. She signed a proclamation Tuesday declaring this “end distracted driving week” in Iowa..

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Flooding along the lower Missouri River will likely worsen in the days ahead because the amount of water being released into the river is increasing because of the recent rain. But officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say the river will remain below the levels it hit in March when flooding caused significant damage in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas.

AMES, Iowa – May 28, 2019 – The Iowa DOT is keeping a close watch on several roadways in western Iowa due to concerns of flooding. Areas of specific concern include:

• Interstate 29 near Honey Creek
• Interstate 680
• Interstate 29 between U.S. 34 and the Missouri border
• U.S. 34

Roadways may be closed on short notice. Before traveling, motorists are encouraged to check 511ia.org, the Iowa 511 mobile apps or call 511 (within Iowa) or 800-288-1047 (nationwide) for up-to-date closure information on state-owned roadways across Iowa. Closures due to flooding can be viewed by turning on the incident layer on the online map and mobile app.

For the latest in flooding information and recovery resources, as well as an image gallery showing the flood damage and recovery efforts go to https://floods2019.iowa.gov/.