(Radio Iowa) – A majority of the Iowa corn and soybeans planted have already emerged. The U-S-D-A weekly report shows corn planting is virtually done, and just three percent of the soybeans remain to be planted. That report shows 92 percent of the corn has popped out of the ground, which is two days behind normal.

Southwest Iowa lags is the only district under 90 percent emerged at 81 percent. Eighty-eight percent of the soybeans have emerged statewide, which is four days ahead of average.

North-central Iowa leads with 96 percent of the beans already poking out of the ground.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A regular meeting of the Atlantic School District’s Board of Education is set to take place Wednesday evening at the High School Media Center. The meeting begins at 6:30-p.m., and includes a review and discussion with regard to the District’s Master Facilities Plan. Representatives of SVPA Architects will be on-hand to facilitate the discussion.

In other business, the Board will act on the resignations of:

• Alex Wilson – Special Ed Paraprofessional (retroactive to May 23, 2025)
• Gary Miller – Bus Driver (Retroactive to 5/30/25)
• Dexter Dobson, CTE Teacher (retroactive to 5/30/25)
• Audrey Farrington – Special Ed Paraprofessional (retroactive to 6/2/25)

The Board will also act on the following Recommendations to Hire:

• Kay Schmidt – Summer Para for Voc. Rehab (20 hrs)
• Oran Perkins – Summer School Teacher (60 hrs)
• James Keller – KG Teacher, 25-26 School Year
• Summer Nutrition Hires
• Mark Andersen – HS Musical Director
• 25-26 Club Sponsors
• Elle Bryant – Transfer from WA Elem Custodian to MS Custodian.

The Atlantic School Board will hold a Closed Session for an evaluation of Superintendent Dr. Beth Johnsen, followed by action on approving her contract. And, they will act on approving bids for: Paint; Carpet; The HS roof; Fuel; and a 12-passenger van.  The Board will then act on approving 25-26 Student Fees and Rates.

View the full agenda here:

PUBLIC AGENDA 06112025

(Radio Iowa) – The state has fined a Coralville care facility three-thousand dollars after a brain-injured woman wandered away in January and was later found at a truck stop in suburban Omaha. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the woman had previously been diagnosed with dementia and psychological issues as well as a traumatic brain injury.

A state report indicates the woman walked over two miles through the snow and then hitched a ride with a semi-driver who drove her to Nebraska.

A worker at the home allegedly admitted she failed to check to make sure each resident was present at the beginning of her shift the day the woman went missing.

(Radio Iowa) – The State of Iowa ranks ninth in the annual assessment from a national non-profit focused on child well being. Today’s KIDS Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation mainly compares data from 2022 and 2023. It found no change in the number of Iowa children covered by health insurance. Anne Discher is executive director of Common Good Iowa, the group that releases the KIDS Count report card for Iowa.

“Iowa, over many years, has made many policy choices to really maximize coverage for kids, that’s within our Medicaid program, it’s within our (Children’s Health Insurance Program),” Discher says, “and that’s a reason why we see such a high ranking.” However, there was a significant increase in the number of 4th graders who weren’t proficient readers and among 8th graders who could not do math at a junior high level. Discher says of all the assessments in the report, the education ratings really stick out.

“Every year this report reminds me that in, like, 2004 it was Iowa’s turn to choose an image to put on the back of the state quarter and Iowa chose, of all the things it could have chosen, to put a one room schoolhouse with the words, ‘Foundation in Education,’ on the back of the quarter,” Discher says, “so when I see a 20th rank overall in education, I do wonder about how well we’re living up to that ideal.” The report found a one percent increase in the number of Iowa children living in poverty.

Graphic courtesy of Annie E. Casey Foundation

“It is up in Iowa,” Discher says. “It has decreased a little bit in the U.S. as a whole.” There was a surprising health measure in the report — a slight drop in the number of Iowa kids between the ages of 10 and 17 who are considered obese. Discher notes it was a one percent decline. “What we’ll want to be watching is to see: Does that trend continue,” Discher says. “One of the indicators actually where Iowa tends to definitely not be a leader….so it’s definitely an indicator that it would be great to see some improvement on.”

And Discher is concerned the state’s history of having a large share of children covered by health insurance may dip in the future. “Not to borrow trouble from the future,” Discher says, “but it is one of those that I worry given the conversations at the federal level right now that would make big cuts to Medicaid in particular, but also to the ACA marketplace.”

Tax credits that reduce monthly premiums for people who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace are set to expire on December 31st. The “big beautiful bill” that passed the House does not extend those tax credits.

(Radio Iowa) – Some 500 executives and managers from a wide range of Iowa companies will be in Council Bluffs for this week’s annual conference of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry. ABI President Nicole Crain calls this the flagship event which will convene business and civic leaders from all over Iowa for three days of bold ideas, expert insights, and dynamic networking.

“There’s a lot going on in the Iowa economy and what’s great about these workshops, it covers AI, tax policy and also beyond jobs, how housing and placemaking drive workforce retention,” Crain says, “so really looking at how we can make sure that our communities are thriving along with our businesses and how we all work together.”

The lineup of keynote speakers includes Michael Happe, the president and CEO of Winnebago Industries. “He’s going to be talking about leading a global company through change and acquisitions and what that looks like,” Crain says. “As you know, there’s been a lot that’s happened since the pandemic and since he took over at Winnebago Industries. He’s going to be talking about the breadth of the companies that they have and how they’ve changed the company culture.”

What’s dubbed the “Taking Care of Business Conference” offers a chance for the state’s leaders, from manufacturing to financial services, to learn about each others’ challenges and triumphs.

“It’s not just surface level networking. People dive into the real issues and they get business done,” Crain says. “They know, like, and trust the people that are at this conference, and as they are engaging with each other at different venues, they are able to take things back to their business to help their business, to help their employees, and to help them professionally develop as well.”

The conference runs Tuesday through Thursday at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs. At the conference on Wednesday, the winner will be announced in the “2025 Coolest Thing Made in Iowa” competition, which has generated thousands of votes from across the state.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Three people from Glenwood were arrested Sunday, by Glenwood Police:

• 21-year-old Michael Monson was arrested for Reckless use of a Firearm. (Bond $2,000).
• 45-year-old Billie Jo Manson, and 46-year-old William Jensen, were arrested on charges of Dominion/Control of a Firearm by a Felon. Their bonds were set at $5,000 each.

All three suspects posted bond, and were released from custody.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports five people were arrested over the past week. At around 2:15-a.m. Sunday (June 8th), 38-year-old Brett Michael Ciaccio, of Malvern, was arrested in the vicinity of Highway 34/Levi Road. Ciaccio was charged with OWI/2nd offense, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd or subsequent offense. His bond was set at $3,000.

Saturday night, 38-year-old Michael Andrew Alkire, of Glenwood, was arrested on Interstate 29 near Glenwoood, for OWI/2nd offense. Bond was set at $2,000.

Two people were arrested on separate charges Thursday, in Mills County: 34-year-old Tyler Jason Chambers, of Glenwood, was arrested on two counts of Domestic Assault/Bodily Injury-1st offense, and Child Endangerment. Bond was set at $4,000; and, 40-year-old Denny Gene Reeves, of Hastings, was arrested for Harassment in the 3rd Degree. Bond was set at $300.

And, on June 4th, 49-year-old Kimberly Ruth Katskee, of LaVista, NE, was arrested by Mills County deputies for Violation of Probation. Her bond was set at $7,500.

(Creston, Iowa) – Two people died in separate Union County accidents over the past week. 54-year-old John Leroy Pace, of Clarinda, died June 3rd after the 1983 Honda motorcycle he was riding failed to negotiate a curve on eastbound Highway 34. Sheriff’s officials says the cycle traveled into the ditch on the north side of the highway and came to rest on its side. The accident wasn’t noticed until around 4-a.m., until the driver of a semi tractor trailer noticed the cycle’s headlights coming from the ditch, and turned around to investigate. Pace died at the scene. An investigation into the accident was ongoing.

The other fatal accident happened late Sunday morning, near Thayer. Union County Sheriff’s officials say 43-year-old San Juana Vega, of Osceola, died after the 2015 Chevy Traverse she was driving eastbound, crashed on Highway 34 just north of Highway 169, at around 11:51-a.m. The sheriff’s office received multiple 911 calls about a reckless driver, whose vehicle was all over the road heading east and had just passed Highway 169 north. Citizens manage to get the vehicle stopped on the side of the road near mile marker 102, but when they went to put the vehicle in park, it somehow went into reverse, and Vega lost consciousness.

Her foot left the brake, causing the vehicle to reverse down a hill and into the Grand River, where it became fully immersed in the water. First responders were able to extricate Vega from the vehicle and onto a UTV to transported her to an ambulance waiting on the road. Vega – whom authorities say smelled of alcohol – was transported by Clarke EMS to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, where she was pronounced deceased.

The accident remains under investigation.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Two men were arrested on separate Adair County warrants, last week. Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports 36-year-old Nicholas Allan Newcomb, of Des Moines, was arrested at around 12:10-a.m., Thursday (June 5th) at the Polk County Jail, on an Adair County warrant for Contempt of Court/Violation of a No Contact/Protective Order. Newcomb was held in the Adair County Jail until he served his required sentence and was released later that same day.

At around 12:40-p.m. Thursday, Adair County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 27-year-old Francisco Alberto Salazar Barragan, of West Point, NE., on an Adair County Bench Warrant for Violation of Probation. Salazar-Barragan was being held without bond pending an appearance in Adair County District Court.

(Radio Iowa) – A parade of tractors rolled through Dyersville this weekend as part of the annual Farm Toy celebration. Jerry Klostermann of Bankston was driving his Case I-H 52-50 — a working tractor that’s nearly nine feet tall. “It’s about 110 horsepower tractor…We use it on the mixer mill at home all the time,” Klostermann said. “We just take a power washer and wash it off for taking it on the tractor ride and tomorrow it’ll be back grinding feed again.”

The annual Farm Toy celebration rolls through Dyersville. (Photo by KMCH’s Janelle Tucker)

Eighty-year-old Henry Joosten of Green Bay, Wisconsin, has been coming to Dyersville for the past 22 years to participate in the event, which includes a tractor ride through the countryside. “It’s the only way to see Iowa,” Joosten said. “It’s the only real way to see what God gave us to take care of. You can go on a car, on a motorcycle, but there’s nothing like seeing it on a tractor.”

The National Farm Toy Museum in Dyersville hosts the annual event, which started in 1987. The two-story museum features over 30-thousand toys, scale models and replicas of farm equipment.