LENEXA, KAN. – (DEC. 17, 2021) – BNSF Railway Corporation has agreed to pay $1,513,750 to resolve alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), BNSF released approximately 117,500 gallons of heavy crude oil when one of its freight trains derailed outside of Doon, Iowa, in June 2018, resulting in discharges to the Rock River, Little Rock River, and Burr Oak Creek.

EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister says “Illegal discharges of oil into streams, rivers and wetlands present a significant threat to human health and the environment. EPA is committed to protecting our nation’s waterways and will ensure that Clean Water Act protections are upheld.” The EPA says the derailment occurred during heavy flooding in the area. Impacts from the oil spill included an evacuation order for nearby residents, elevated levels of hazardous substances within the affected site, closure of nearby drinking water wells, destruction of crops, and deaths of at least three animals.

BNSF, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America. Discharges of pollutants, including oil, into federally protected waterways are violations of the Clean Water Act.

(Radio Iowa) – A children’s story about the governor’s mansion in Des Moines will be featured at this Sunday’s “Christmas at Terrace Hill” event. “I was asked to write a Christmas story about the house,” Susan Maupin Schmid, a tour guide at the mansion, told Radio Iowa, “so I suggested that we turn the house into a character. Maupin Schmid, by the way, is also a children’s book author. “I took Terrace Hill and made her the grand old lady of the prairie who loves celebrations and parties and Christmas, but this year she’s all alone. The family’s gone, the house is dark and quiet,” Maupin Schmid said. “To me, the story is about the experience that children in Iowa have been through the last couple of years…The message of the story — without spoiling the plot — is that you’re not forgotten.”

The governor will read the story once Sunday afternoon, at the Carriage House on the property. Animated illustrations created by Ames artist Tara Gartin to go along with the story will be projected on a screen. “That’s really, I think, one of the things that makes this event special and exciting because it’s going to be a one of a kind media presentation,” Maupin Schmid said. “There’ll be the story, but there’ll also be this beautiful artwork. I think kids will really enjoy this.” Maupin Schmid hopes to get the story and illustrations released in book form later. Her first children’s book was published in 2008 and in 2016 she released a trilogy.

“I write fantasy,” Maupin Schmid told Radio Iowa, “and so the books that are currently on the market from Random House are ‘If the Magic Fits’, ‘Ghost of a Chance’ and ‘The Starlight Slippers’ and they’re about a little girl named Darling Dimple who works in the under cellar of the castle.” Maupin Schmid’s fascination with castles and large historic homes like Terrace Hill started when she was in grade school and took a tour of the Dodge House in Council Bluffs, “and the Dodge House had the same architect as Terrace Hill,” Maupin Schmid said.

It seems natural, then, that she wound up giving tours at Terrace Hill, but someone else prodded her to apply. “My daughter and I were touring the home and I had just such a good time talking to the docent who was taking us on the tour and I said: ‘How come I don’t ever meet people who are interested in these things?” And my daughter said: ‘Well, maybe you need to go some place where those people are at!’” Maupin Schmid said. “And it was one of those, like, no-brainer moments.”

More than 300 tickets have been sold for Sunday’s event, which starts at 1 p.m. and ends at 4 p.m. Guests will be able to tour the home’s first and second floors, which have been decorated for the holiday. Maupin Schmid, in tour guide mode, said those with keen eyes will notice important details. “You walk inside and here is a 200 pound walnut door, one of 8000 pounds of doors on that main level — just on the one level of the house, and that door has been hanging on those big hinges for 150 years,” Maupin Schmid said. “And I like to swing that door a little bit for people and ask them what they hear and they always say: ‘I don’t hear anything.’ That’s because of the craftsmanship that went into building that house, which is why it’s still standing.”

She also credits those who’ve maintained the home over the years. “It’s one of the premiere houses in the nation from the time period that’s still standing,” Maupin Schmid said, “that’s in that kind of condition.” Online ticket sales for the event end at midnight Saturday. Tickets must be purchased in advance and are $25 each and $50 for a household. The money goes to a fund for upkeep and improvements at the mansion. A “Christmas at Terrace Hill” event was held in 2019, but nothing was planned for last December due to the pandemic. The event coordinator for Terrace Hill says guests this Sunday are welcome to wear face coverings if they wish, but it won’t be required.

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(Radio Iowa) – The storm that roared across Iowa Wednesday has been categorized as a derecho. National Weather Service Meteorologist, Brook Hagenhoff, says it’s not exactly the same as the 2020 version. “Technically it would be a serial derecho — which is different than what we saw last year with the August 10th derecho — which is more of what we would call a progressive derecho,” she says. “Kind of the main difference is kind of how it formed.” She says the derecho this week had winds in the upper 80s — but was more spread out across the state. “The derecho that we had last summer in August really had kind of that narrow area that had that very strong 100, 100 plus, 120s even as you got out toward Cedar Rapids. So, that’s kind of the main difference between the two — is that really narrow and very intense band last year — compared to this one which was widespread high-end winds,” according to Hagenhoff.

There were several tornadoes with Wednesday’s storm — and Hagenhoff says the 2020 version also had them. “The one that occurred last August actually did have tornadoes towards the end of the duration of it in the Illinois area. So most of the tornados did not occur in the state of Iowa — they were later on in its lifetime. But, that is something we tend to see in derechos,” she says. Hagenhoff says timing is what makes a storm a derecho when compared to the common thunderstorm. “There’s a requirement for a wind threshold and it has to go for a certain number of miles across the area. Whereas, with a typical thunderstorm that you might have, there’s no requirement for it to last a certain amount of time,” Hagenhoff says.

She says you usually don’t see something like this in December. “This is an extremely rare event — especially for Iowa to have an event of this scale in December,” Hagenhoff says. “We certainly set records as far as temperatures and those temperatures were certainly part of the fuel for the thunderstorms that we had through the evening hours. So, we’re in rare territory with a system like this for sure. The Storm Prediction Center before the event had issued a moderate risk for Iowa — which is a level four out of five. And that was the first time in their history that Iowa had been at a moderate risk.”

(Omaha/Valley, NE.) – Officials with the National Weather Service in Nebraska, late Thursday night, issued a report on their preliminary assessment of damage in Pottawattamie County from Wednesday’s tornado event.

A “narrow but strong tornado” that began at around 4:24-p.m. seven-miles southwest of Underwood, was rated an EF-2. It packed peak winds of 120 mph, was 50 yards wide, and traveled for 2.3 miles before ending five-miles southwest of Underwood.  The twister tracked along L-34 through Sherwood Country Estates before ending near Juniper Road. The maximum damage was sustained to a home in the Sherwood Estates, where a “Narrow tornado removed the majority of homes roof and damaged other nearby homes as well,” according to the Weather Service.

The second tornado was also an EF-2 that began two-miles east of Underwood and last for about five-minutes before ending two-miles north-northeast of Neola. It packed peak winds of 125 mph, was about 75-yards wide, and tracked for 6.7-miles.The narrow twister began producing damage near Mahogany Road and 290th Street at around 4:31-p.m., Wednesday, and tracked north-northeast into the southeast edge of Neola and caused intermittent damage near Railroad Highway, north of Neola.

The most significant damage was to a home along 290th Street, where the roof was removed and walls were blown out. A nearby garage was moved off its foundation, and approximately 10 mature trees and all uprooted behind the home, with substantial damage to hardwood trees in the front yard.

The narrow nature of the tornado, according to the NWS, was evident in the damage in the path, as nearby barns on the east of the track had low end damage, possibly owing to the significant forward speed of the twister. The tornado was seen briefly by the resident before they sought shelter. A business on the southeast side of Neola also had substantial damage to large metal buildings, at least two of which were destroyed.

(Radio Iowa) – The two hospitals in Cedar Rapids have postponed all elective surgeries that had scheduled through Christmas due to a rising number of Covid-19 patients. St. Luke’s and Mercy Hospitals in Cedar Rapids issued a joint statement, saying throughout the last few weeks there’s been a marked increase in patients with Covid who require inpatient care.

According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, the Covid patient count in all Iowa hospitals exceeded 800 this week, a record high for the year. The two Cedar Rapids hospitals say their staff are physically and emotionally exhausted as this fourth wave of Covid infections hits. The hospitals’ joint statement ended by urging people to get vaccinated, wear a mask in public and avoid large gatherings.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 7:20-p.m. Thursday, in Glenwood, resulted in the arrest of a man on drug charges. 65-year-old Damon Lee Carmen, of Omaha, was arrested for three counts possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver, and on two counts of failure to affix a drug tax stamp.

Damon Carmen (Mills County S/O photo)

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports during the traffic stop, the Glenwood Police Department K9 “Zeke” was deployed around the vehicle for a narcotics sniff. Located in the vehicle was methamphetamine, marijuana, Xanax and drug paraphernalia.

Carmen was transported to the Mills County Jail and held on a $42,000 bond.

(Cedar Rapids) – In an update to our earlier report, the Iowa State Patrol late Thursday identified the driver of a semi who died in an eastern Iowa weather-related accident, as being from Pottawattamie County. 58-year-old Brian Jensen, from Council Bluffs, was driving a 2020 Freightliner semi was traveling south on Highway 151 in Benton County at around 8:30-p.m., Wednesday, when the truck/trailer was struck by a strong gust of wind and went out of control.

The vehicle rolled onto its side and came to rest in the east ditch. Jensen – who was not wearing a seat belt – died from his injuries. The accident remains under investigation. The State Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, Norway and Fairfax Fire Departments.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the National Weather Service Thursday evening issued a preliminary assessment of the damage caused by a tornado the struck near Atlantic Wednesday evening. The report says an EF-2 tornado (“Atlantic tornado”) traveled approximately 26.1 miles, beginning from southwest of Atlantic at around 4:50-p.m. and continuing to  Exira before dissipating near Hamlin 5:08-p.m.

Atlantic Tornado data

The twister, which was captured on at least three video recordings, had estimated peak wind gusts of between 115-and 120 miles per hour. No injuries or deaths were attributed to the event. The Weather Service says also, they are investigating five tornadoes in Iowa: 4 were EF-2; 1 was an EF-unknown;2 twisters had paths 26-miles long. Additional tornadoes are likely to be confirmed as the data is analyzed.