(Radio Iowa) –Propane prices are creeping slightly higher in Iowa as farmers prepare for the harvest and drying their grain. Paul Ovrum, an ag marketing specialist with the Iowa Department of Agriculture, says the corn harvest will likely begin earlier in parts of southern Iowa this fall due to continued drought. He says those early birds could impact propane prices for the good. “As they start harvesting earlier, that may relieve some of the pressure that happens typically later in the fall when everybody’s harvesting at once,” Ovrum says. “If it’s spread out a little more, that may lessen demand on supplies in Iowa.”

Lesser demand typically means lower prices. Still, foreign markets are helping to drive up propane costs, according to Ovrum. “We have seen, since late 2016, a steady increase in demand for propane overseas from U.S. supplies,” Ovrum says. “So, as the U.S. manufactures propane, a lot of that, more and more, is going overseas and that has increased prices here.”  Propane is averaging $1.26 a gallon in Iowa, up about 13-cents a gallon from a year ago. It’s estimated 67-percent of Iowans use natural gas to heat their homes, 15-percent use electricity and 14-percent use liquid propane.

(Radio Iowa) — With the 2018 Iowa State Fair now behind them, the foundation that oversees the upkeep of the fairgrounds is working on plans for improvements. Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation executive director, Peter Cownie, says a recently announced record donation of 10 million dollars will help them with that task. “Six of which will go towards renovation of the 4-H Building on the fairgrounds, which will commence after the 2019 Iowa State Fair,” Cownie says. “So we will develop the planning and the budget for that in the next year.”

The donation comes from the Richard O. Jacobson Foundation and the remaining four million dollars will go to the foundation’s endowment and help with the upkeep of the other buildings which benefited from donation from the late businessman. While they will spend the next year putting together a plan for the 4-H Building renovation — Cownie says they have a wish list they’ll look at. “We want to build some new classroom space for it, we want to update the kitchen, the restrooms, we want to update all the lighting, all the flooring, it will be a top down renovation,” Cownie explains. “That facility was built during 1939 and the Great Depressions and it’s obviously the backbone of the fair.”

Cownie says the updates will increase the flexibility and use of the building after the annual fair run. “The primary purpose of the Iowa State Fair is those 11 days every August,” he says, “but we are also renting those facilities out during the interim. It’s rented out in the interim now and it certainly will be in the future. Name it, they can host events in there for that. It can be rented out for that. It can be rented out for a thrift show, a craft show.” Once the renovations is completed after next year’s fair, the 4-H Building will have a dedicated memorial in honor of Jacobson and the 15 million dollars total he donated to the organization. The fair grandstand got a facelift before this year’s fair and Cownie says they have plans for work leading up to next year’s event.“In between now and next year’s fair we’re going to develop a new gate and new road to the west of the grandstand. And on top of that — within the next two years we are going to develop a new, smaller grandstand,” Cownie says.

The mini grandstand will hold fewer people for events.He says it will have about five-thousand seats and allow them to hold their tractor pull there.

The Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation is a non-profit organization created in 1993 to fix up the building on the fairgrounds. The foundation has raised more than 150 million dollars from individual contributions, state appropriations, in-kind services, and corporate, federal and state grants since it began.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Police in Red Oak, Sunday night, arrested a man and a woman in the 200 block of E. Hammond Street. 58-year old Dennis Edward Elliott, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10:25-p.m. for Public Intoxication/3rd or subsequent offense, and Breach of Peace. And, 53-year old Valerie Zamora, of Red Oak, was arrested for Public Intoxication. Her bond was set at $300, while the bond for Elliott was set at $2,000.

Sheriff’s Deputies in Montgomery County arrested a Clarinda woman Sunday evening. 19-year old Sydney Nicole Sanders was arrested in Villisca at around 5:45-p.m., on a charge of Providing False Information. Sanders was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

The Cass County Democratic Party Headquarters is again open at 511 Chestnut in Atlantic. Party Chair Sherry Toelle says a Grand Opening to which all Democratic candidates on the Cass County ballot have been invited, is a Meet & Greet as well as a chance to discuss their candidacy and their views on the issues. The event will begin at 6-p.m. Monday, September 10th, with a light supper will be provided.

The Cass County Democratic Part HQ actually opened on August 27th, according to Toelle, and provides campaign literature, signs, and other campaign materials on all the Democratic candidates. A waiting list for campaign yard signs is being prepared. Open Monday thru Friday from 11-a.m. to 4-p.m., Saturdays from 10-a.m. to 1-p.m., and Sundays from noon to 4-p.m., the HQ also provides voter registration and absentee ballot/early voting information and forms. The HQ phone number is 712-243-8683.

Toelle said that the HQ has been in the same location for years. The public is welcome to attend the Grand Opening and to stop by during the hours of operation to review the information available.

Police in Council Bluffs say a 9-year old boy suffered only minor injuries after he rode a bicycle between two-parked vehicles, into the path of moving vehicle. The accident happened at around 6:19-p.m. Sunday, in the 2600 block of Avenue G.

An investigation determined the boy had attempted to cross Avenue G, when the driver of a vehicle traveling in the westbound traffic lane, who was unable to see the boy until it was too late,  struck him. The child was not wearing a helmet, and suffered a laceration to his head. He was transported to Nebraska Medicine by CBFD for treatment of his injuries.

The Traffic Unit fully investigated this crash and no citations will be issued. Avenue G traffic was closed for approximately thirty minutes during this incident. Council Bluffs Police remind cyclists to check for oncoming traffic before entering a roadway and to wear a bicycle helmet.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:10 a.m. CDT

BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — The father of slain Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts says his daughter’s death should not be used to promote political agendas. A Mexican farmworker suspected of being in the U.S. illegally has been charged in Tibbetts’ death. Rob Tibbetts in an opinion piece in The Des Moines Register spoke out against using “Mollie’s soul in advancing views she believed were profoundly racist.”

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Supporters of a mentally challenged woman convicted in two states in the 1994 kidnapping and killing of two elderly women say she was actually a victim of the men involved in the crime and are pushing for her release. They’ve persuaded Missouri to grant Angel Stewart parole. But things are more complicated in Iowa, where Stewart is serving a life-in-prison sentence that does not include the option for parole.

BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Department of Transportation officials are giving tours of the new $322 million bridge being built to connect Bettendorf to Moline, Illinois. Danielle Alvarez is the project manager of the new Interstate 74 bridge. Alvarez tells the Quad-City Times that she recently led a tour aboard a ferryboat on the Mississippi River for residents interested in the bridge construction. Alvarez covered the planning, design and ongoing buildout of the bridge featuring two four-lane spans.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A popular, elderly sea lion known has died at the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. The Des Moines Register reports that Pupper died Thursday. She was 29. Preliminary results of a necropsy show she suffered a chronic health condition. The zoo says in a statement that Pupper received care related to her age, but did not display any symptoms of pain.

The driver of a vehicle in Fremont County that left the road and struck several mailboxes before leaving the scene with a 10-foot long, 1-x-4 board penetrating his windshield, is believed to have suffered from a medical condition that caused the accident Saturday evening. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office says 63-year old Michael Dillon, of Bartlett, was transported to the hospital in Hamburg for treatment of an unknown medical condition.

Photo’s Courtesy Fremont County Sheriff’s Office

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Department says Deputies located the vehicle at a residence in the 2200 block of Waubonsie Ave. The board that penetrated the windshield became lodged just a few inches from the front seat passenger. Two minor children, including one seated in the front passenger seat escaped injury.

The Tabor Police Department, Tabor Rescue and Thurman Fire Departments assisted the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office with the call.

SABULA, Iowa (AP) — Motorists can again get across the Mississippi River at Sabula.
The Telegraph Herald reports that a short bridge just outside the Sabula city limits reopened Friday, restoring access to the U.S. 52/Illinois 64 bridge that spans the river.

The February closure of the bridge at Sabula for safety concerns stopped access to the bigger bridge over the river to Savanna, Illinois. Drivers had to instead make a 36-mile detour or taking a free ferry.

The $8.5 million replacement bridge was originally set to be opened by Labor Day, but officials this summer said it would likely open several weeks later because of high river levels. Officials say now that it has reopened on schedule, the ferry service will close down.