(Radio Iowa) – Deere & Company, Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer, reports its first quarter income was down, but there’s optimism for the year ahead. Deere reports net income was 656 million in the first quarter compared with to 869 million dollars in the first quarter last year. Worldwide net sales and revenues increased 13 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

Deere C-E-O John May says in a statement that the global large agriculture industry continues to experience challenges, but they’re encouraged by the ongoing recovery in demand for construction and small agriculture. May says the positive developments reinforce their belief that 2026 represents the bottom of the current cycle and provides a strong foundation for accelerated growth going forward.

(Glenwood, IA) – Two people were arrested in Glenwood on separate “Failure To Appear” (in court) charges. The Glenwood Police Department reports 43-year-old Jared Daniel Newman, and 44-year-old Nathan Francis Styles, both of Glenwood, were arrested Wednesday afternoon and early Thursday morning, respectively. Their bonds were set at $1,000, each.

(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters say a winter storm system will move across Iowa this (Thursday) afternoon, tonight and early tomorrow, dropping up to six inches of snow. For now, National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Lee says it’s thought the heaviest snow will run in a corridor roughly from Council Bluffs to Des Moines to Dubuque. “The most likely areas to receive higher amounts are generally from western through central or north central into northeastern Iowa,” Lee says, “however, what we’re looking at is a situation where there will be a relatively narrow band of heavier snow, and it’s not yet certain exactly where that’s going to fall, so the forecast amounts are somewhat variable.” Lee is urging all Iowans to keep a close eye on the changing forecast, as travel could become hazardous later today and tonight.

“Within the heaviest band of snow, amounts of two to five inches will be common, and there may even be a narrow strip of six inches or more,” Lee says. “Again, that would be over a relatively small area, but it is quite possible. So we are going to look at some travel impacts here later today into the night that may linger into the Friday morning commute.” The winter weather comes after record warmth earlier in the week where many parts of the state saw high temperatures in the 50s, 60s and even low 70s. Lee says this shift back to more seasonal weather means this snow will likely stick around.

“The next several days from Friday through Monday, we’ll struggle to get above freezing during the day, which is actually only a little bit below normal, but it’ll feel much worse because we’ve been so spoiled,” Lee says. “However, toward the middle of next week, it does look like we’ll get a relative warm-up again. Maybe not what we’ve just seen, but 50s are definitely in play for the middle of next week.”

Over the past week or so, he notes Des Moines had six days in a row of temperatures in the 60s, an exceptionally warm stretch for February in Iowa.

(Guthrie Center, IA) – The Guthrie County Roads Department reports Horn Avenue – between 160th and 170th Streets – will be closed for bridge repairs beginning today (Thursday) at 10-a.m.. It is expected to be closed for approximately 30 days (March 20th, by 5-p.m.).

(Creston, IA) – The Creston Police Department reports a man was arrested Tuesday evening on a charge of Attempted Burglary in the 3rd Degree. Authorities say 26-year-old Noah Alexander Young (No known address) was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Young was taken to the Union County Jail and held on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa’s Museum of Natural History will be a featured waypoint next month on a historic cross-country journey celebrating the American bison. Jessica Smith, spokeswoman for the U-I’s Pentacrest Museums, says it’ll be the only Iowa stop for a unique shipment celebrating our national mammal. “The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History has commissioned three, larger-than-life bronze bison sculptures,” Smith says, “and they are going to be picked up on a truck with an open bed in Colorado and begin a great American bison road trip from Colorado all the way to the National Mall in D.C., where they will be installed permanently.” Bison are being recognized in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and Iowa City was picked as one of the rest stops, given the many connections with the wooly beasts.

“Here at the University of Iowa and in the state of Iowa, we have some of the most impressive research and archaeological dig sites that really help us to understand the history of the bison and their connection with Iowa’s first peoples,” Smith says. “And in the galleries themselves, we have a few spots that are dedicated to bison.” The truck and the sculptures will be parked beside the museum on Sunday, March 15th, offering a rare opportunity to see the bronze bison up close before they continue their trek to Washington D-C and the National Mall. “At 3 o’clock sharp, that truck is going to pull away off of Clinton Street, they’ll be parked right out in front of the Museum of Natural History,” Smith says. “There is a national PR team that’s documenting this trip and so they are trying to collect footage of each of the major stops of folks waving the truck goodbye, so we’d really like to give them a solid Iowa send off.”

At the museum, visitors are invited to a special bison-focused program featuring short talks and up-close experiences. The day’s events are free and open to the public.

(Radio Iowa) – The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union is condemning Whirlpool Corporation’s latest layoff announcement for the Amana facility. The Union statement says the layoffs on March 9th will impact nearly 400 workers at the facility which produces refrigerators under the Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, and Amana brands. The Union says Whirlpool’s decision continues a pattern of corporate abandonment, after the company laid off 250 workers in Amana last year.

The statement says while Whirlpool cuts jobs in Iowa, it has been aggressively expanding its manufacturing footprint in Mexico. The Union is calling on the Iowa Congressional Delegation to “stand up for the working families of Amana” and push back against this latest round of layoffs.

(Greenfield, IA) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, passed a motion that called for a zero-percent wage increase for the Board of Supervisors, in Fiscal Year 2027. Supervisor Michael Christoffersen requested the item be placed on the agenda because the carryover percentages in the General Basic and Supplemental funds is lower than what the Board is typically comfortable with or where they have been in years past.

In exploring ways to cut costs, Christoffersen say he kept coming back to the matter of wages.

He said he compared Supervisor’s wages in Adair County with other counties of comparable size.

After the Board approved the zero-percent wage increase for FY27, they discussed holding meetings with County departments in order to identify other ways to keep costs under control.

(Radio Iowa) – MidAmerican energy company says it plans to install six more aircraft detection systems to keep the red warning lights at the top of wind turbines off until they are needed. MidAmerican spokesman Geoff Greenwood says they started testing the system in 2023.”It has really gone well. It dramatically reduces the amount of lighting at the wind farms where we have this system installed, and we’ve gotten a lot of public compliments out of it. People notice it. They notice that the lights are off at night,” Greenwood says. They have 38 wind farms in 34 counties. The blinking red lights are required from dusk until dawn by the F-A-A so planes can see the wind turbines at night. Greenwood says the warning system is simple, and they’ve found it keeps the lights off 95 to 98 percent of the time.

“It’s a radar tower that keeps the lights off at night unless there’s an aircraft that approaches the area,” he says. “If the system detects an aircraft in the area, it turns the lights on. And as soon as that aircraft leaves, the lights go back off.” Greenwood says the lights are important in rural areas where there are small airports. “And the lights don’t go on if it’s a commercial aircraft flying over Iowa, you know, 30 to 50-thousand feet, whatever it is. So a commercial aircraft at its regular altitude, its regular cruising altitude, will not set these lights off,” Greenwood says. “What will set the lights off are the general aviation aircraft, the smaller aircraft that you see flying a lot lower.” Greenwood says they have to follow all the regulations for installation, but plan to eventually add the light control systems to all their wind farms.

“This started off as an experimental technology, but it’s really not an experimental technology anymore. It is a system that MidAmerican and other companies are adopting because we know it works and we get positive results from installing these systems and then positive feedback from the communities,” he says. A bill recently passed out of a subcommittee in the legislature would require the systems at new wind farms, and would require existing turbines to be upgraded by the start of 2028.

The first MidAmerican test systems were installed at the Eclipse and Morning Light wind farms in Adair, Audubon, Cass and Guthrie counties. MidAmerican installed systems at its Lundgren wind farm in Webster County and Wellsburg wind farm in Grundy County in mid 2025. MidAmerican plans to add aircraft detection technology to six wind farms this year, the Arbor Hill in Adair County; Diamond Trail in Iowa County; North English in Poweshiek County; Shenandoah Hills in Page and Fremont counties; Vienna in Marshall and Tama counties, and the Walnut wind farm in Pottawattamie County.

MidAmerican plans to add systems in 2027 to its Highland and O’Brien wind farms in O’Brien County.