[12-p.m. News] (Anita, Iowa) – A collision early this (Monday) morning between a semi and an SUV in Adair County, claimed the life of a man from California. The Iowa State Patrol reports a Freightliner semi driven by 27-year-old Jasvir Sood, of Fresno, CA, was traveling west on I-80 near mile marker 70, when the tractor-trailer struck the rear of a westbound 2008 Honda Pilot driven by 36-year-old Milinganyo Bwami, of Omaha. The accident happened at around 12:20-a.m.

The Patrol says following the collision, the SUV came to rest upright in the north ditch. When the semi entered the north ditch and rolled onto the driver’s side, Sood, who was not wearing a seat belt, was partially ejected from the cab and died at the scene. Bwami, and his passengers: 45-year-old Wabiwa Yungu, and two juveniles, aged 12- and 15, all from Omaha, were injured. The four occupants of the SUV were wearing their seat belts.

They were transported by Adair EMS to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines.

Republicans in the legislature have released their state spending plans for the budgeting year that begins July1st. House Republicans propose a one-point-eight percent overall increase in general state spending. House Appropriations Committee chairman Gary Mohr of Bettendorf says it includes a 31 million dollar increase in spending at the state supported universities and community colleges. “We want to cut taxes, but yet we want to provide services to the people of Iowa, but we want to do it in an ongoing, sustainable way,” Mohr says, “and this is doable.”

House Speaker Pat Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, says the House G-O-P budget plan also includes 19 million extra for public schools to hire bus drivers, cooks and other staff. “We’re doing some other things within the budget with other investments on worker training, other things like that to make sure that we’re trying to address this workforce shortage that we’re seeing across the state,” Grassley says.

Republicans in the Senate are proposing a state spending increase of a little less than one percent. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver of Ankeny says overall budget negotiations are starting far earlier than usual — alongside debates on tax policy and last week’s decision that set the level of state spending on public K-through-12 schools. “It’s a budget that does what I’ve said for a long time which is allow us enough room to continue to invest in priorities, while continuing to work on the tax reforms that we’ve been doing.” Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls says these spending levels are inadequate.  “They’ve been really clear that they want to do this huge tax cut that’s primarily going to benefit the wealthy,” Wahls says, “and they’re willing to cut or underfund state services to pay for it.”

Wahls says increased state spending on higher education is critical and he points to the waiting lists at Kirkwood Community College for health-care related training.

(Radio Iowa) – Investigators in Cedar Rapids are trying to determine what sparked a fire at a high-rise apartment building there early Sunday morning. Fire Chief Greg Smith told K-C-R-G T-V a fire like this is unusual. “It’s probably the most impactful high rise fire — actually true high rise residential fire — since I’ve been on the department for 28 years or so,” Smith says.

Crews went door to door from the 7th floor and above to clear out the facility. Cedar Rapids Fire didn’t have an exact number of those evacuated from the Geneva Tower during a news conference on Sunday. Geneva Tower is an income-based housing property. It mainly houses seniors and adults with disabilities. The department said two people suffered serious injuries. At least another seven people were transported to the hospital for observation. Chief Smith says they do train for these circumstances and that helped them respond. He says the crews work their muscles to it is just like football players practicing and he says the crews constantly train for the many elements they have to face.

Geneva-Towers-KCRG

Resident Ethel Brown talked with K-C-R-G T-V about the evacuation. “It was scary after I got back down here. I am on the sixth floor, I am on a walker, thank God the fire department helped me down,” she says. Resident Melissa Long says they had to get out quickly. “All of a sudden here’s the cops banging on doors — you didn’t have time to do nothing — you’ve got to get it and go,” Long says.

Firefighters say the management of the high-rise building is working with contractors to look at the damages and clean the building. Cleaning and repairs will need to meet specific standards before people can move back into their apartments. The fire department says Geneva Tower is a concrete structure, which means it holds the fire in the original apartment. The Fire Department is working with the Salvation Army and Red Cross to help those displaced.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors have a light agenda for their meeting Tuesday, at 9-a.m.  The Board will receive a report from Engineer Trent Wolken with regard to the Secondary Roads Dept. maintenance tasks and activities. They will then formally accept the resignation (effective April 15th), of Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman, and decide the best method of moving forward to fill the vacancy.

Board Chair Steve Baier said last week he thinks they will have interviews wrapped-up in a couple of weeks, with Sunderman’s replacement in-place by mid-March, to work with him until his last day in office. Sunderman announced on Feb. 16th that he is resigning after more than 37-years as an elected county official.

In other business, the Cass County Supervisors will act on approving a Class-C liquor license application for the Griswold Golf and Country Club. And, of applications have been submitted, they’ll act on the appointments of a Brighton and Massena Township Trustee.

(West Des Moines, Iowa) – January’s real estate activity was steady and similar in many ways to last year at this time according to the Housing Trends by the Iowa Association of REALTORS® (IAR). Home sales bumped up less than a one percent in January 2022 when compared to sales in January 2021. Median sales price rose 3.4 percent over January 2021. The IAR says 2,649 homes sold in January 2022 with new properties coming on the market dropping 9.9 percent compared to new listings in January 2021.  The median sales price for January 2022 came in at $185,000 compared to $179,000 in January of last year.

Officials say homes sold very quickly in January at an average of 41 days on the market. That is over 21 percent faster than January 2021. The number of homes available for sale continues to be low in many price ranges. Our inventory of homes was 16.5 percent lower than in January 2021 with only 6,896 homes on the market. According to IAR President Byron Menke, “Due to January’s typical winter weather, we saw the seasonal trend of slightly lower overall sales and less homes on the market. Potential sellers can take advantage of less competition on the market and a strong demand from buyers. Mortgage rates are still well below the historical average. We encourage buyers to get pre-approved and speak to a local Realtor® about starting the buying process.”

Statewide Market Report for January

View the Detailed PDF Report on Statewide Statistics

Housing Market Reports by Iowa County

View Reports on Single-Family homes.

View Reports on Townhouse-Condo homes.

The information used to create the IAR January Housing Trends Report was current as of February 15. The information is subject to change due to the dynamic nature of the IAR’s housing statistics system, which is based on data from the local participating MLS (multiple listing service) systems.  The Iowa Association of Realtors® is the state’s largest real estate professional organization representing over 8,000 members and affiliates. The IAR releases a Housing Trends Report each month.

(Radio Iowa) – The only oak species that are native in all of Iowa’s 99 counties is facing some disease issues. The D-N-R’s Tivon Feeley, says they are seeing a lot of Bur Oak Blight. “And that is a fungus that is on the leaf. And it tends to overwinter on the bud scales where the leaf will come out the nest year and infects the tree next spring,” according to Feeley. “The numbers of Bur Oak Blight have been kind of fluctuating. We’ve seen it high, the last couple of years it has been low. But once you have it — if you don’t treat the treat it — the tree will eventually decline. And those numbers are now showing up in our forest inventory data.” He says it’s a concern from two aspects.

“You’ve got the landscaper, you know the person who owns the property that wants the beauty of these big bur oak trees out there. And then you’ve got it from the forestry perspective/. If you are out in western Iowa in the Loess Hills, it’s one of the drought-tolerant oaks that you can grow — and if you want you can harvest,” he says. While there is a treatment — he says it is not the best for a large scale.

He says it is an injectible fungicide that you inject in the spring. “The problem with bur oak blight is it is so common that the treatments are only affordable and can work in small capacities like one or two yard trees. It’s not something you can use to treat a forest worth of bur oaks,” Feeley says. He says if you suspect you have a tree is suffering from Bur Oak Blight, get the problem correctly diagnosed before any management decisions are made. You can send samples to the Iowa State University Plant Diagnostic Clinic for testing.

(Radio Iowa) – A Casey’s convenience store in the town of Maxwell is permanently closing its doors after two recent fires, which officials are labeling as suspicious. The first fire to affect the business occurred on February 3rd with a second fire being reported at the same store on February 6th. On Friday, the company announced it would not replace the store. That means there is no longer a place for the town’s nearly 900 residents to get gas or warm food without leaving town.

Officials say the next closest place to buy gas is in Collins, which is five miles to the east, but that location has only pumps and not a store. The next closest place to purchase both gas and food items is in Huxley, which is nine miles to the west. Community leaders say they’re now working to try to attract another gas station to Maxwell.

The Story County sheriff’s office is continuing its investigation into the cause of the recent fires, which have put the Casey’s convenience store in Maxwell out of business.

(Radio Iowa) An Ames man was stabbed to death early Saturdaym and his roommate is charged with first-degree murder.  Police located the victim, 39-year-old Maccarone DeClements, who they say had been stabbed in the upper torso with a knife by his roommate. Officers also located the suspect, 39-year-old Robert Lon, of Ames, inside the home, and placed him under arrest.

DeClements was transported to an area hospital by air ambulance where he later died. Lyons, the suspect, is now charged with first degree murder, a class a felony. H’s currently being held in the Story County Jail.

At this time, it’s not clear what circumstances may have led to the stabbing.

(Shenandoah, Iowa) — A collision between a moving vehicle and a parked vehicle, Saturday evening, resulted in the arrest of a woman on OWI and other charges. According to Shenandoah Police, the accident happened in the 800 block of 6th Avenue, at around 7:30-p.m., Saturday.

Authorities say after further investigation, 37-year-old Amber Michelle Hughes, of Shenandoah, was arrested for Operating While Intoxicated/1st offense (a serious misdemeanor), and child endangerment resulting in bodily injury (a Class D Felony).

Hughes posted a $6,000 bond and was released with a court date.

(Corning, Iowa) — A traffic stop a bit east of Corning at around 1-a.m., Sunday, resulted in the arrest of a woman from Union County. According to the Adams County Sheriff’s Department, 42-year-old Crystal Mack, of Creston, was arrested on charges that include driving under suspension, failure to have ignition interlock device, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Mack was being held in the Adams County Jail on a little less than $2,100 bond.

Crystal Mack