Despite a few hot days and some heavy downpours in parts of Iowa, state climatologist Harry Hillaker says the state overall ended the month of May with both near-normal warmth and rainfall. Hillaker says, “For the statewide average, very close to normal both for temperatures and precipitation, although certainly the last week of the month we were much warmer than usual and also much wetter than usual at the tail end of the month.”

The warmest day in Iowa for the month was May 6th when it reached 90 degrees in Cedar Rapids and Hawarden. The lowest temperature was set on May 15th with 27 degrees in Cresco, Decorah and Elkader. While most of eastern Iowa was drier than normal, much of Iowa’s western third got a drenching during May, wrapping up the month much wetter than normal.

“The largest rain totals that I’ve seen, Atlantic in southwest Iowa had 10.75 inches of rain there,” Hillaker says. “That was helped a lot by about 6 inches during the last week of the month, locally very heavy rains.” One of the driest places in the state was the Des Moines area, with just 2.6 inches of rain during May. The forecast for the month of June calls for slightly cooler-than-normal temperatures and near-normal rainfall.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa DNR said Wednesday that a Union County maintenance crew accidentally nicked a hose used to transport manure Tuesday afternoon, while they were mowing. The incident happened in a right-of-way about one-mile north of Thayer. Officials said while the hose was not in use, about 800 to 900 gallons of residual manure leaked from a small hole. An unknown amount of manure reached an unnamed tributary of Four Mile Creek.

Iowa Select representatives reported the spill as they responded, quickly placing small dams in the unnamed creek to collect manure and pumping it out to land apply it. DNR staff checked the unnamed creek Tuesday. Field tests showed low ammonia levels. They found no dead fish.

Wednesday morning, DNR was on site and concluded most of the released manure probably remained in the right of way or on the shoulders of the gravel road. Iowa Select continues to clean up, scraping and gathering manure along the road edges. The DNR will consider appropriate enforcement action.

Police in Red Oak say no injuries were reported following a collision this (Wednesday) morning at the intersection of Valley and N. 1st Streets. Officials say 18-year old Autumn Leibert, of Red Oak, was cited for Failure to Yield to the vehicle on the right, after the 2015 Dodge Dart she was driving hit the left rear side of a 2007 Saturn, driven by 73-year old Carole Ann Golla, of Delhi, NY.

The accident happened as Golla was traveling west on Valley Street at around 8:30-a.m., and Leibert was traveling north on N. 1st Street. After her vehicle hit Golla’s car, the Saturn spun 180 degrees  and came to rest facing east on Valley Street.

Damage from the crash amounted to $8,500.

Expansion in the country’s beef cattle herd is bringing cheaper meat prices to the grocery store. Lower costs for feed and other incentives over the past three years sparked the nation’s beef producers to bring more cattle to market. Iowa State University economist Lee Schulz says lower retail prices arrived a bit quicker than expected.

Schulz says, “What many of us thought would be a much longer, prolonged process to get to this new price level, really occurred in the last 3 months of 2015.” Schulz says a new report from the U-S Department of Agriculture shows ground beef is about 30 cents a pound cheaper now than it was a year ago.

Schulz says, “We’ve seen increases in beef production really started in late 2015 and into 2016, so from the year-over-year standpoint, that increase in production will lead to lower prices.” As the approaching summer heats up, he says other meats that are popular on the grill, like steaks and ribs, should also have lower prices than last year.

(Radio Iowa)

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported following an accident late Tuesday night. At around11:08-p.m., deputies responded to a report of a pickup- versus- cow accident at Independence Road and 570th Street. 18-year old Aaron Thomas Suhr, of Waukee, was driving a 2007 Nissan Frontier pickup southbound on 570th Street, when the vehicle came upon several cows in the roadway, striking one of them. Damage to the pickup was estimated at $5,000.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City lawyer has pleaded not guilty to a hit-and-run charge. The Sioux City Journal reports 31-year-old Thomas Farrens entered a written plea Tuesday in Woodbury County District Court. Court documents say Farrens didn’t stop after his car struck two pedestrians and sideswiped another vehicle on April 4. His car was found abandoned in Grandview Park.

The pedestrians were taken to a hospital for treatment. Police Sgt. Jeremy McClure says that after Farrens was found at home later that evening, his blood tested out above the legal limit for alcohol. Prosecutors say the use of alcohol is still being investigated.

Creston Police say seven people were arrested early this (Wednesday) morning, on drug charges. Taken into custody at around 3:30-a.m. at 702 S. Poplar Street, in Creston, were the following individuals:

• 23-year old Tyler McKay
• 21-year old Kami Hilton
• 25-year old Brittony Miller
• 26-year old T’Lee Jones
• 24-year old Casey Welcher
• and 17-year old Monica Johnston

Each of those persons were charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance. Miller’s charge was a second offense. All were later released from the Union County Jail on $1,000 bond, each, with the exception of Johnston, who was released to a guardian. Also arrested at the same residence on the same Possession charge, was 18-year old Megan Wilker, of Orient. She was also released on $1,000 bond.

In other news from the Creston P-D, 66-year old Jame Kneedler, of Creston, was arrested Tuesday on a 5th degree Theft charge. He was released from custody on a promise to appear later, in court. 30-year old Shane White, of Clearfield, was arrested Tuesday at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on a Union County Warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of OWI 2nd offense. He was released from the Union County Jail on a $2000 bond.

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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An Iowa native who’s teaching history in a Nebraska high school is starting out today (Wednesday) in eastern Nebraska, planning to walk 500 miles through Iowa and on to Chicago to call attention to modern-day slavery. His trek begins at 7-a.m. Along the way, he’ll make stops in Tabor, Hastings, Red Oak and Elliott. He’ll be at the Hitchcock House in Lewis, at around 2-p.m. Sunday. His next stops include Cumberland, Greenfield and Winterset, in the KJAN listening area.

Barry Jurgensen

According to Barry Jurgensen, “What I’d really like to do is help people become aware of this social injustice by using history of how we resisted slavery, so I’ll be following the Underground Railroad from Nebraska City to Chicago.” Jurgensen and his high school students in Arlington, Nebraska, were inspired by the story of two female slaves who escaped 158 years ago. Their path to freedom began in Nebraska City, Nebraska.

The following tentative schedule indicates where Jurgensen plans to spend each night while in southwest Iowa…. June 1: Tabor; June 2: Hastings; June 3: Red Oak; June 4: Elliott; June 5: Lewis; June 6: Cumberland; June 7: Greenfield; June 8: Winterset.

“Those two young women were just extremely inspirational to me because as I continue to research slavery, I realize that their story closely parallels the story of young boys and girls that are being enslaved today,” Jurgensen says. Jurgensen says Eliza Grayson and a woman history remembers only as Celia were slaves to a Virginia family that moved to Nebraska City, but the women were able to escape with help from people involved in the Underground Railroad. Jurgensen, who grew up in Denison, says he hopes his walk inspires people to do what they can today to help those who trapped in the sex trade or in forced labor.

“It’s difficult for young boys and girls to escape their enslavement because they’ve been almost brainwashed into depending on the people that have enslaved them,” Jurgensen says. Jurgensen calls his project “Walk Forever Free” and he’ll be joined along the way by many of his high school students. Jurgensen is hoping to raise 50-dollars for every mile he walks. He’s raised seven-thousand dollars so far. The donations will go to the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives. It’s an international non-profit that fights modern-day slavery and human trafficking.

The “Global Slavery Index” released yesterday (Tuesday) by an Australian group called the “Walk Free Foundation” concludes 46 million people around the world are living as slaves today. On Saturday, June 11th, Jurgensen will be about a third of the way through his walk and he’ll speak about his experiences during an event at the State Historical Building in Des Moines. You can follow him on Facebook at Walk Forever Free.