(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resource’s annual report on air emissions shows Iowa air quality has improved dramatically. Acting Air Quality Bureau Chief, Marnie Stein (stine), says the report for 2020, shows emissions of sulfur dioxide dropped more than 90 percent since 2002. And nitrogen dioxide emissions have fallen 70 percent. “The largest source of pollutants back in 2002 was electricity generating facilities and manufacturing facilities that burned coal. A lot of those have either shut down, converted to natural gas, or are relying on renewable energy now,” Stein says.

The annual report tracking six major air pollutants, is based on numbers provided by the 300 largest emission sources such as A-D-M, 3-M, Cargill, and food and ethanol producers. Smaller businesses are required to report every three years.  “For the larger facilities, we look at ones that have a big change from the previous year, either up or down in emissions. And then we select a certain number every year to do a complete, comprehensive review of,” she says.

Iowa began collecting data from large sources in 1992, and from smaller sources in 2000. Additional information on air quality in Iowa and across the country is available from the U-S E-P-A, Iowa D-N-R, and American Lung Association.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Police Department reports an Atlantic man was arrested Friday (May 20th), in connection with a fatal accident that occurred during the early morning hours of Oct. 25, 2021, in Cass County. Authorities say 27-year-old Bryce Baker was taken into custody on Cass County warrants for: Homicide by vehicle – Operating under the influence (A Class-B Felony); Driving While License denied, suspended, cancelled or revoked; and Driving on the Wrong side of a two-way highway. As previously reported, the Iowa State Patrol said a 2001 Lincoln LS driven by Bryce Baker was traveling south on 620th/Olive Street at around 5:30-a.m., Oct. 25th, when the car crossed the center line of the road and struck a northbound 2010 Chevy pickup, head-on, just south of Dallas Road. A passenger in Baker’s vehicle, 29-year-old Griffin Ferguson, of Humboldt, died at the scene. Baker, and the driver of the pickup, 64-year-old Bernard Sullivan, of Atlantic, were injured. Baker was being held without bond in the Cass County Jail. His preliminary hearing is set for 9-a.m., May 31st.

Also arrested May 20th in Atlantic, was 39-year-old Wainy Ruben, of Atlantic. Ruben was taken into custody for OWI. The A-PD says 21-year-old Josh James, of Atlantic, was arrested May 14th, for Burglary in the 2nd Degree, and Theft in the 2nd. On the 19th, 43-year-old Tina Binkley, of Des Moines, and 57-year-old Joline Reyes, of Ft. Dodge, were arrested for Theft in the 4th Degree (Shoplifting).

38-year-old Amy Jo Cameron, of Atlantic, was cited into court on May 14th, for Simple Assault. On May 23rd, 36-year-old Eric Mark, of Atlantic, was arrested for consumption of alcohol in a public place/1st offense, and disorderly conduct. And, 20-year-old Gage Mundorf, of Atlantic, was arrested on Cass County warrants for Criminal Mischief in the 4th and 5th Degrees.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department report 26-year-old Ashley Kay Heston, of Clearfield, was arrested Monday night at Greater Regional Health, in Creston. Heston was charged with Driving While Barred. She was transported to the Union County Jail and later transferred to the Adams County Jail, where her cash/surety bond was set at $2,000.

Authorities said also, a woman residing in the 100 block of W. Ringgold Street in Creston, reported to Police Monday night, that someone had entered her vehicle parked outside her residence. An envelope of receipt was reported missing. There was no immediate dollar loss estimate available.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop by Red Oak Police today (Tuesday) at around 1:36-a.m., resulted in the arrest of a man on warrants out of Missouri. Red Oak Police took 45-year-old Jason Richard Berendes, of Red Oak, into custody at Highway 48 and 222nd Street, on warrants out of Dallas County, MO., for: Domestic Assault-2nd degree/2nd offense-domestic assault-2nd degree/3rd offense; harassment – 1st degree/4th offense-4th degree-1st of 2nd offense/5th offense-domestic assault-4th degree-1st or 2nd offense.

Berendes was being held in the Montgomery County Jail while awaiting extradition to Missouri.

(Radio Iowa) – Ninety-five legislators have voted to put the brakes on a proposed casino in Cedar Rapids and the proposal is headed to Governor Kim Reynolds for her signature. The bill would create an immediate moratorium, to prevent the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission from considering any casino license applications over the next two years. Linn County voters approved a gambling referendum in November. Representative Kirsten Running-Marquardt of Cedar Rapids says that means her community is being singled out.

“This is incredibly unfair,” Running-Marquardt says. “People have been navigating and working with the Gaming Commission and then all of a sudden we see a moratorium pop up.” Representative Shannon Lundgren of Peosta says a moratorium on new state casino licenses is a good idea amid all the gambling activity happening in surrounding states. “It gives us an opportunity to look at what’s happening in our competitive states and then make a decision from there if we want to expand the land based casinos in the state,” Lundgren says.

Lundgren says legislators have a responsibility to ensure new casinos don’t siphon customers away from existing casinos — and she suggests lawmakers may set new limits on gambling regulators’ authority in the future. “I think this moratorium just allows us to step back and take a breather and see how we want to move forward — if we want to make any changes in how and why the commission would act going forward,” Lundgren says.

Representative Steve Hansen of Sioux City says as casino construction starts in Nebraska, a moratorium on new casinos in Iowa is short sighted. “The western Iowa casinos from Sioux City down to Council Bluffs, we will be impacted by Nebraska gambling, as will the whole state of Iowa,” Hansen says, “and I think we are going to end up wanting to increase licenses elsewhere in the state of Iowa to pick up that revenue that we’re going to lose.”

Senators considered and approved the moratorium for the first time Monday morning and the House approved it a few hours later. The bill that includes the moratorium on new casino licenses also would let Iowa casinos simulcast out-of-state horse races like the Kentucky Derby and take bets. An earlier version of the bill would have allowed Iowans to bet on video game competitions, but references to E-sports were removed from the bill.

(Radio Iowa) – A western Iowa legislator cast his final vote in the Iowa House, then announced late last (Monday) night that he was leaving for basic training for the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Jon Jacobsen of Council Bluffs says members of the group are unpaid volunteers. “An enormous amount during my youth was involved in endurance swimming and aquatics lifesaving BSA activities. I was a preverbal fish who was always happiest on water,” Jacobsen says.

Jacobsen, who is 62, says for the past eight months he’s been getting fit and losing weight in order to qualify for basic training. He’s joining about 21-thousand other Americans who are volunteers in the Coast Guard Auxilary. Jacobsen says it will give him a new perspective on protecting Iowa’s waterways and flood prevention.

“Instead of serving my constituents in the House, I will be serving them on the Missouri and the Nishnabotna,” Jacobsen said. Jacobsen is not seeking reelection to the House, but is considering a run for the state senate in 2024. Jacobsen is an attorney and a trust officer in a bank.

(Radio Iowa) – Legislators will return to the state capitol today (Tuesday) to put the finishing touches on state spending plans for the budgeting year that begins July 1st. Republicans who hold majorities in the House and Senate have agreed to provide Iowa’s 15 area community colleges with six-and-a-half million dollars more for the next academic year. Republican Senator Chris Cournoyer of LeClaire says the three state universities will get a five-and-a-half million dollar boost.

“Which brings them up to $575 million in this budget,” Cournoyer says. And Cournoyer says that’s not a trivial amount. Democrats like Representative Cindy Winckler of Davenport say tuition at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa will have to go up, as state support of the universities today is less than it was in 2009.”It is unfortunate that we have such a backward view of our role in funding education in this state,” Winckler said.

Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, says the state universities are being starved. “To continue to bleed resources out of these universities is going to cause long term damage to this state,” Quirmbach says, “long beyond any of us in our tenure here in the Senate.” Representative David Kerr, a Republican from Morning Sun, says he fought with Senators to get as much as he could for scholarships for students planning to be teachers or mental health professionals, but wasn’t able to get as much as he had hoped in his final year as a legislator.

“What do I know? I’m just going to go home, turn the TV on and say: ‘What they heck did they do again?'” Kerr said. “…Why can’t certain things be done together?” As Radio Iowa reported on Monday, the governor’s plan to provide state scholarships to students in private k-through-12 schools has been tabled.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Local Food Policy Council (CCLFPC) sees farmers markets as playing an important role in
both increasing consumption of nutritious foods and supporting local farms and food businesses. In addition to promoting the farmers markets on the CCLFP Facebook page (@CassCountyLocalFood), and through posters and news releases, this year, the Council is adding new incentive programs with the goal of drawing even more people to Cass County’s farmers markets.

Produce in the Park – New drawings for $350 in produce, weekly farm-fresh eggs, and more Farmers market shoppers will want to mark June 2 on their calendars. The CCLFPC has purchased a 20 weeks of weekly produce box from Bridgewater Farm—a $350 value—to be given away to an attendee of Produce in the Park’s opening market on June 2. Market attendees who are 18 or older can sign up for the drawing at the June 2 farmers market. The winner will receive a weekly box of eight to 12 items of fresh produce grown at Bridgewater Farm for approximately 20 weeks (the length of the Produce in the Park season). Produce in the Park will be held weekly on Thursday evenings from 4:30-6:30 PM from
June 2 to October 15 in the Atlantic City Park (10 W. 7th St. Atlantic, IA 50022).

The CCLFPC is also providing funding for Produce in the Park to offer a free weekly drawing for a dozen farm-fresh eggs from Brun Ko Farm at every farmers market of the season. Market attendees ages 18+ will be eligible to enter the drawing every week of the Produce in the Park season. The CCLFPC purchased the produce boxes and eggs at the request of Produce in the Park to encourage people to visit the market and to draw attention to the range of produce and products—such as farmfresh eggs—available at the market. 

This year, the CCLFPC is also providing funding for Produce in the Park to cover the cost of technology needed to accept SNAP/EBT (also known as food stamps). When a farmers market is certified to accept SNAP/EBT, all SNAP-qualified food products sold at the market can be purchased with a SNAP/EBT card—regardless of vendor. Produce in the Park began accepting SNAP/EBT in 2021.

Lewis Market – Free Produce Drawings, Taste Tests, and Guest Chef Samples
The CCLFPC will be providing funding to the Lewis Farmers Market for free produce giveaways, free taste tests of fresh produce, and free samples of recipes made with fresh produce. The funding makes it possible for the market to compensate vendors for their products while providing customers with the chance to try new fruits and vegetables and recipes.

All Markets – Farmers Market Coupons
For several years, the CCLFPC has sponsored “farmers market produce coupons.” These are redeemable only on produce from vendors at Cass County’s farmers markets. This year, all four farmers markets in Cass County will be accepting these coupons. Partner organizations will assist in distributing the coupons to lower-income people in Cass County.

Cass County Farmers Markets Summer 2022

Anita Farmers Market:
Location: Bandshell Park on Main Street in Anita
Time/Dates: Tuesdays 4:30-6:30 PM, June – August
Highlights: Fresh, locally grown vegetables, honey, farm-fresh eggs, Lion’s club nuts, fresh baked
goodies, popcorn, jellies, sauces, salsa, hand-crafted items, and metal yard art.
$: Some vendors accept Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) Senior vouchers and WIC checks.
Some vendors accept SNAP/EBT (also known as “food stamps”).
Contact: (402)677-2460

Atlantic Farmers Market:
Location: Farm Bureau (1501 East 7th Street, Atlantic, IA 50022)
Time/Dates: Saturdays 9:00 AM- Noon, May 21 – End of August
Highlights: Fresh produce, honey, pollen, popcorn, farm-fresh eggs, jellies, dressings, BBQ sauces, salsa,
baked goods, soaps, lotions & more.
$: Some vendors accept Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) Senior vouchers and WIC checks.
Some vendors accept SNAP/EBT (also known as “food stamps”).
Contact: (402)677-2460

Lewis Farmers Market:
Location: 3HO (201 1st St., Lewis, IA 51544)
Time/Dates: Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:00-6:30 PM, May 31– October 13
Highlights: Fresh produce, baked treats, crafts, and pallet wood creations.
$: Some vendors accept Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) Senior vouchers and WIC checks.
Contact: (712)789)-9455

Produce in the Park:
Location: Atlantic City Park (10 W 7th St., Atlantic, IA 50022)
Time/Dates: Thursdays 4:30-6:30, June 2– October 13
Website: www.produceintheparkatlanticiowa.com
Highlights: Fresh, local produce, baked goods, farm-fresh eggs, honey, local meat, soaps, candles,
additional crafts and art, and weekly food truck. Live music, Guest Chef, free Samples, and activities for
young and old.
$: Some vendors accept Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) Senior vouchers and WIC checks. All
qualifying food vendors at Produce in the Park accept SNAP/EBT (“food stamps”). All produce vendors at
the market both accept and distribute Double Up Food Bucks ($1 coupons for fresh produce provided
for every dollar spent on fresh produce with SNAP/EBT up to $10 per transaction).
Contact: (712) 249-5870

More About Cass County Local Food Policy Council
For more information on local food, farmers markets, and food access, follow the Cass County Local Food Policy Council’s Facebook page @CassCountyLocalFood. To learn more about the Council, contact Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh at bhoegh@iastate.edu or (712) 249-5870. The next Council meeting is July 12 at 2:00 PM at the Cass
County ISU Extension Office (805 W. 10th St. Atlantic, IA 50022). Meetings are open to the public.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Auditor of State Rob Sand today (Monday) warned Iowans about ways fraudulent emails can be designed to give scammers access to your tax dollars or bank account. The warning comes after a scammer attempted to defraud the state and Auditor Sand himself. A Human Resources Associate with the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) contacted Auditor Sand on May 13, 2022 to alert him to an email received by DAS requesting a change in Auditor Sand’s direct deposit. Auditor Sand confirmed the email was fake.

The (redacted) e-mail Sand received.

“I want to thank Marsha Webb from DAS for contacting me and identifying this email as fraudulent,” said Sand. “She did exactly what we advise all governmental entities to do when they receive requests to redirect payments. Her actions saved me and the taxpayers of Iowa money.” To ensure the validity of any instructions to revise bank routing information, Auditor Sand strongly advises representatives of all governmental entities to call any vendors or affected individuals to independently confirm instructions received electronically. Additionally, governmental entities should not respond to the email. Any correspondence should take place through previously held contact information to ensure the appropriate party is reached.

If a representative of a governmental entity learns it received an email improperly instructing them to revise bank routing information for future payments, this information should be reported to the FBI through https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx. In addition, the entity should immediately contact the Office of Auditor of State at 515-281-5834 to report the suspected irregularity as required by section 11.6(7) of the Code of Iowa.

The Office of the Auditor of State offers these tips to prevent email scams.
• Carefully examine the email address and URL. Slight variations in the email address or URL could be a sign of a scam.
• Look for grammatical errors or odd phrases.
• Verify payment and purchase requests in person or by calling the person via previously held contact information to ensure their legitimacy.
• Don’t click on links in unsolicited emails or text messages.
• Don’t download email attachments from people you don’t know or forwarded emails.

(Radio Iowa) – Students at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City are working to restore a large western Iowa prairie to its original ecosystem. Students cut down black locust trees from the Sioux City Prairie. Professor David Hoferer says the trees can cause prairie grass to die and subsequently force out species that nest in the land. Hoferer says the project is a part of a growing movement to “re-wild” Iowa.

“It takes all of us working together to want to do something better for the future,” Hoferer says. “And if we all come together and work better for the future, then this little effort here will help to keep the Sioux City prairie thriving.” The 150-acre property, located next to the university, is one of the nation’s largest urban prairies. Student Zach Allen, a junior at Briar Cliff, led a group of 20 students to cut down the black locust trees, which aren’t native to Iowa. Allen says he wants to see more efforts across the state to preserve natural habitats.

Allen says, “Instead of just looking at the current benefits they can get, year over year, to start looking into the further into the future and make sure that the ecosystems in our environment is going to be sustainable for those future generations.” He says he was inspired to action by what he learned in the classroom. Prairie used to cover around 80 percent of Iowa. Now, it’s down to less than one percent.

(Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)