(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association is urging Iowa lawmakers to include money for development of vaccines for bird flu and foot-and-mouth disease in next year’s state budget. Kelli Klink is director of government relations for the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association.

“If we want affordable beef on our grocery store shelves, we must do everything we can do to protect our livestock,” Klink said. Foot-and-mouth disease is a fast-spreading viral disease that primarily affects cows and other animals with split hooves, like pigs and sheep. Foot-and-mouth disease has been eradicated from North America, but livestock producers are concerned it could arrive in the U-S in a shipment of livestock from another country.

Since 2024, bird flu has been detected in 13 dairy herds in Iowa. Joel Harris is C-E-O of Genvax Technologies in Ames, which received a state 250-thousand dollar grant last year to support its research into a bird flu vaccine. He says the virus has been the most significant animal disease event in U.S. history. “In Iowa alone, millions of chickens and turkeys have been depopulated to stop the spread, costing farmers, straining rural communities and impacting food prices,” Harris said.

“Investing in foreign animal disease preparedness, especially vaccine development, is one of the most cost-effective tools we have. It helps protect Iowa farmers, reduces the need for mass depopulations, strengthens biosecurity and keeps our food supply stable and affordable.” Harris made his comments during a recent online forum with Governor Kim Reynolds. The governor says she gets a monthly update from the U-S-D-A about bird flu.

“It is critical we figure out how to get in front of this,” Reynolds said. Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are part of a bipartisan group of senators that have called on the U-S-D-A to speed up its review of the agency’s avian flu vaccine strategy for poultry. Last February, U-S Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a billion dollar plan to address the ongoing outbreak of bird flu — and it included 100 million dollars for research into a bird flu vaccine and other potential treatments.

(Radio Iowa) – Missouri and Big Sioux River paddlefish license and tags are now on sale now through January 7th. Southwest Iowa D-N-R fisheries biologist John Lorenzen says most people come away happy.”I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me, but it is fairly successful, especially you know in the Missouri River, there’s going to be pockets of deeper water where people are going to find these fish,” he says. “They’re not going to be evenly distributed across the whole river.”

There’s going to be pockets of deeper water where the fish are going to congregate. “With modern electronics, you know, it’s going to be easier for people to find fish nowadays than what it was in the past. And so it there’s certainly catchable. It’s not like a, you know, a golden ticket that you’re going to buy, and probably, you know, not cash in on it. If you buy a tag, you do have a really good chance of catching one,” he says.

He says you should seek out someone who has go after paddlefish before. “Like anything in the outdoors, people with more experience are typically the more, you know, successful ones. So if you’re new to it and you want to give it a try. If you head out with somebody who’s already done it in the past, has all the right equipment, you’re probably going to be more successful than just going out on your own for the first time,” Lorenzen says.

The license sales run through January 7th and if there are leftover licenses, you will get a chance to buy another one.

Cass County: Corn $4.17 Beans $10.19
Adair County: Corn $4.14 Beans $10.22
Adams County: Corn $4.14 Beans $10.18
Audubon County: Corn $4.16 Beans $10.21
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $4.20 Beans $10.19
Guthrie County: Corn $4.19 Beans $10.23
Montgomery County: Corn $4.19 Beans $10.21
Shelby County: Corn $4.20 Beans $10.19

Oats: $2.60 (same in all counties)

(Prices are per bushel; information is from the area Farm Service Agency [FSA] offices)

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University Extension is going to hold its home gardening webinar series again in January. Alicia Herzog leads the Master Gardener Program and the webinar series. “I really want it to be open to anyone who is interested in gardening, so I try my best to make it that way. Try to make it very accessible. I allow people to join on zoom or on Facebook live,” she says. Herzog says there are 10 different topics and she normally likes themes. ” This year was a little bit harder because I do look at past participant data about what topics people are wanting to see in the upcoming year and they didn’t fit as nicely into little theme boxes as I would normally like them to,” she says. Herzog says she likes the variety they will present.

“So they’re going to be a few sessions where we talk about gardening for wildlife, using native plants, pollinator gardens kind of in that realm, more of that conservation and gardening, meeting that realm. Then we’ll also have some that are very specific about vegetables and edibles,” Herzog says. She says one will focus on recommended vegetable cultivars for Iowa, specifically about growing garlic. She says they also will cover issues of what you plant in and where. “Soil health monitoring and testing, growing specialty cut flowers. And then we always do a few that are about design and kind of helping people be creative with how they design their spaces,” she says. Herzog says you can pick and chose topics.

“People don’t have to sign up for all of them, if there are only certain ones that are of interest to them, that’s fine,” she says. “If they’re interested in all of them, that’s fine as well. We would love to have people join us for all ten sessions, but it’s not required,” Herzog says. The Home Gardening Webinars will be Thursday evenings from 6–7 p-m central time from January 8th through March 12 th. Go to the Iowa State University Extension website to register.

Here’s the full webinar schedule:

• January 8: Gardening for Wildlife
• January 15: Recommended Vegetable Cultivars for Iowa
• January 22: Growing Great Garlic
• January 29: Right Perennial, Right Place
• February 5: Green Roofs for Home Gardeners
• February 12: Do-it-Yourself Soil Health Monitoring for Your Garden
• February 19: Why Choose Native Trees and Shrubs?
• February 26: Growing Specialty Cut Flowers in Iowa
• March 5: From Sight to Scent – Selecting Species for Sensory Spaces
• March 12: A Place for Pollinators

POLK COUNTY, Iowa (IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – The Iowa Utilities Commission will have to decide whether Summit Carbon Solutions can change the ending destination for its carbon sequestration pipeline before a case against the company’s permit can proceed, an Iowa court ruled. The Iowa District Court for Polk County ruled in favor of Summit’s motion to pause the case that landowners, counties and the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter filed in 2024.

Opponents of the proposed carbon capture pipeline sued over the IUC decision to issue a conditional permit to Summit in June 2024. The permit allowed the company to use eminent domain to build a pipeline that would connect to biorefineries across the state and transport carbon dioxide to North Dakota for underground storage. Per the IUC permit decision, Summit was required to obtain permission for its pipeline in North Dakota and South Dakota before it could begin construction in Iowa.

Since the permit was issued, however, South Dakota enacted a law prohibiting the use of eminent domain for CO2 pipelines, which complicated Summit’s plans to transport the captured CO2 to an underground storage site in North Dakota. Eminent domain forces unwilling property owners to accept easements on their land for projects considered in the public interest, for payment determined by a county commission.

In light of these developments along with ongoing legal battles in North Dakota, Summit filed for an amendment to its permit with the IUC in September 2025 to remove the requirement that the company receive approval from the Dakotas. Instead of specifying a state, Summit asked for the permit to prohibit construction until the company has “secured access to one or more sequestration sites and permits or agreements to allow it to reach such storage.”

Summit also requested the court stop proceedings on the lawsuit pertaining to the original permit until the IUC rules on the newly filed amendment. Polk County District Court Judge Scott Beattie sided with the company and remanded the case back to the IUC. In the decision Beattie, wrote that the South Dakota ban is “influential” to the decision.

During oral arguments, opponents said Summit’s requested permit amendment did not change the basis of their argument that Summit did not meet the definition of a common carrier and should not be granted eminent domain capabilities. The groups also argued, as described in Beattie’s decision, that it was unfair to pause judicial review based on “the mere possibility that a permit might be amended.”

Beattie wrote, however, that a pause in judicial proceedings while the permit amendment is evaluated is “warranted” as the court would otherwise be evaluating “outdated” facts. Emma Schmit, an organizing director with the pipeline fighter group Bold Alliance, said in a statement the ruling did “not come as a surprise.” “After years of working to protect property rights from hazardous carbon pipelines, we know not every judge, regulator, or legislator will stand by us the first time around,” Schmit said in the statement. “But, we know the people of Iowa stand with us. So, we’ll continue to explore property rights protections through every possible avenue, including through the courts, the Iowa Utilities Commission, and the legislature.”

Summit Carbon Solutions did not respond to a request for comment on the decision.

(Iowa DNR Outdoor News) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will release rainbow trout in nine locations across Iowa this winter in areas that would not support them during warmer months. Winter trout stockings are a great place to take kids to catch their first fish. A family-friendly event is paired with some stockings to help anglers have success and fun while fishing. The popular program is supported by the sales of the trout fee. Anglers need a valid fishing license and pay the trout fee to fish for or possess trout. The daily limit is five trout per licensed angler with a possession limit of 10.

Children age 15 or younger can fish for trout with a properly licensed adult, but together, they can only keep one daily limit. Children can pay the trout fee, allowing them to keep their own daily limit.

2026 Winter Community Trout Stocking Schedule

• Jan. 10, Blue Pit, Mason City, at 11 a.m.
• Jan. 22, Bacon Creek Lake, Sioux City, at 1 p.m.
• Jan. 23, Big Lake, Council Bluffs, at 3 p.m.
• Jan. 23, Moorland Pond, Fort Dodge, at Noon
• Feb. 7, Scharnberg Pond, Spencer, at Noon

Ada Hayden Heritage Park Lake (Ames),  Lake Petocka (Bondurant), and Triumph Park West and Triumph Park East (Waukee) will also be stocked this winter. These stocking dates will not be announced until ice conditions are suitable.

Winter trout stocking events are dependent on favorable weather and ice conditions. Check the DNR Trout Fishing website at www.iowadnr.gov/troutstocking for possible changes to the schedule. Trout will be stocked in several other locations later this spring. Dates and locations will be announced in February.

(Iowa DNR Outdoor News) – Iowa’s stretch of unseasonably warm temperatures has deteriorated the quality of ice across much of the state south of Iowa Hwy. 3, to the point where any remaining ice is considered unsafe and ice fishing is discouraged.

“Ice fishing in central and southern Iowa, is not advised,” said Colonel Craig Cutts, chief of law enforcement for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “We will return to more seasonable weather next week and that should put down a fresh layer of ice, but we have to give it some time to freeze.

“It’s better for the quality of ice to restart from open water, than to grow ice thickness over bad ice conditions.”

North of Iowa Hwy. 3, anglers are encouraged to check the ice as they go and to avoid any dark or discolored ice as these are signs of deteriorating conditions. The Iowa DNR recommends a minimum of four inches of quality ice for ice fishing. The weekly Iowa Fishing Report will have the latest information on ice conditions across the state.

(Radio Iowa) – Today (Monday) marks the first full day of winter, though Iowa’s already seen plenty of snowfall in the weeks since Thanksgiving. Aaron Steil, a consumer horticulture specialist at the Iowa State University Extension, says some homeowners may be concerned about their trees and other plants being damaged by the snow, especially if their limbs are sagging.

“Most of the time, plants do a pretty good job of shedding that snow off all on their own,” Steil says, “but if you do have a younger plant, or an evergreen that seems to be very weighed down by snow, you can go out and brush it off using your hand or a broom.” If you want to clear that snow off yourself, he says there is a right way — and a wrong way — to go about the process.

“Just make sure you do it in an upward motion instead of a downward one,” he says, “so that you don’t stress branches that are bending down even more.” Steil says ice can do infinitely more damage to young plants than snow, however, he says you need to resist the urge to try to remove ice from their frozen boughs and limbs. “You’re likely to do more damage than good. If you try to go out and remove ice from shrubs and trees in your landscape, you can go out and maybe prop something up with a board, if you’re really worried about it,” Steil says. “Otherwise, trying to break it off or throwing hot water on it to try to melt it off, all of those always do more damage than help.”

The best thing you can do for an ice-coated tree, he says, is to leave it alone and let the sun warm it up.