(Radio Iowa & Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The U-S-D-A crop report says warm weather helped crops mature and the early harvest is running ahead of last year. The report says 15 percent of the corn is harvested statewide — four days ahead of last year and three ahead of five-year average. The southeast district leads with 32 percent of the corn harvested, followed by 23 in the southwest and 21 in the central district. The northeast and west-central districts are the only ones not in double digits. The statewide soybean harvest is at 17 percent, three days ahead of last year and two ahead of average. The northwest district has the most beans in the bin at 25 percent, with the central and west central next at 19. All districts are in double digit percentages for beans.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said farmers should continue “making harvest headway” this week with nice weather in the forecast, though “conditions may be a bit dusty.”  “Combines are rolling all across Iowa,” Naig said in a statement. Temperatures for the reporting period were 8.1 degrees above the climatological normal, which according to the report, “quickly advanced crop maturity.”

Despite a below-normal weekly precipitation average of just 0.41 inch, soil moisture conditions remain mostly adequate. Sixty-five percent of topsoil moisture and 70% of subsoil moisture conditions were adequate for the reporting period. Southern regions of the state were slightly drier than the state average, while central and northern regions were slightly wetter.  In southeast Iowa, according to the report, just 33% of topsoil had adequate moisture, while the majority, 66% of topsoil was short or very short of moisture.

According to the seven-day precipitation forecast posted Monday by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa is projected to receive less than half an inch of rain for the week.

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – The arrest of the Des Moines public school superintendent, National Guard troops patrolling city streets, and President Donald Trump pressing law enforcement to punish his political opponents is pushing one man to walk hundreds of miles across Iowa. With just a walking stick and a satchel, longtime activist and former Iowa State politician Ed Fallon plans to walk nearly 300 miles across Southwest Iowa, calling it the Save America March.

He hopes to have a conversation with Iowans on all political sides about what he calls preserving America’s democracy. His wife joined him in Des Moines on his first day. Fallon said the heightened political environment across the U.S. as inspiration for the march.

He says he hopes to bring Iowans from all sides of the political spectrum together on this issue and others. Fallon says he will walk ten to fifteen miles a day over the next five weeks, heading west.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa – The case of a 30-year-old Pottawattamie County man accused of enticing a minor after a 12-year-old girl went missing in Omaha last month will go to trial in Iowa. According to KETV in Omaha, Devon Miller, of Council Bluffs, pleaded not guilty to second-degree sexual abuse and enticing a minor under 13. He is scheduled to go to trial on Nov. 4.

The 12-year-old girl was found safe. Police said the investigation led them to Miller’s house. Court documents say Miller admitted to sending messages to the girl on Snapchat, a platform that advocates say is often used by predators.

According to police, Miller had arrest warrants from Story County, Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – The superintendent arrested in Des Moines by federal immigration agents on Friday is no longer being paid and the district may begin the process of firing him later today (Tuesday). Ian Roberts was hired to be superintendent of the state’s largest school district in July of 2023. The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked his administrator’s license two days after his arrest and last (Monday) night the Des Moines School Board voted to retroactively cut off his pay at the beginning of this week. Board President Jackie Norris says Roberts, through his attorney, has until noon today (Tuesday) to clarify his citizenship or face termination.

“As a board, our job is to protect the 35,000 students and staff that walk through our doors daily, serve as good stewards of our taxpayer dollars and comply with all federal and state laws,” Norris said. Federal officials say Roberts is a citizen of Guyana who entered the U.S. on a student visa in 1999 and is not authorized to work in the U.S. Norris says Roberts indicated he was a citizen of the United States when he was hired, provided a driver’s license and a Social Security card — and the Des Moines law firm that reviewed the paperwork did not raise concerns about Roberts’ eligibility to work.

“There was nothing in the information that was given to us to allude to any question about his citizenship,” Norris said. Norris says it was jarring to hear authorities found a loaded gun, a lot of cash and a hunting knife in the Des Moines Public Schools vehicle Roberts abandoned when he ran from officers. “We all found out with everybody else, from the news,” Norris said. “And so, for us, our responsibility is to do what is right and in the best interest of the district.” Norris says the situation is very difficult for many students and staff to process.

“Our kids are watching this closely and they are scared and concerned. Our community has students from all across the world and this is personal,” Norris said. “Our teachers and staff are here to support them. We would appreciate it if the hateful rhetoric directed at our district and staff please stop so we can ensure as minimal of a disruption as possible.”

Des Moines school district officials say they learned after Roberts’ arrest that a federal judge had issued a deportation order for Roberts in May of last year. Roberts had worked at schools in Maryland, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. before he was hired to lead the public schools in Des Moines.

(Madison and Jones County, Iowa) – Two people died and one person was injured, during separate accidents Monday in Iowa. According to the Iowa State Patrol, an accident in eastern Iowa’s Jones County claimed the life of one of the crash victims, while another was injured. As of this (Tuesday) morning, no names had been released. The Patrol says the accident happened at around 8:10-a.m. at Highway 151 and South Circle Drive, in Anamosa.

Authorities say the driver of a car failed to yield the right-of-way to a pickup truck, as the car entered into the traveled portion of Highway 151 southbound from Circle Drive. The car was hit on the driver’s side by the pickup. One of the victims died at the scene. The other was transported by Anamosa Ambulance to the Jones Regional Medical Center. Both crash victims were wearing their seat belts.

The second crash, a single-vehicle accident, happened at around 5:30-p.m., Monday, in the 4400 block of SW Grand Prairie Parkway, in West Des Moines (Madison County). The Patrol says a Mini Cooper driven by 25-year-old Nicholas James Henry, of Truro, was traveling south at a high rate of speed (according to witness statements), and failed to maintain control. The car struck a curb  and rolled multiple times before coming to an uncontrolled resting position on the east side of the road. The State Patrol says Nicholas Henry was ejected from the car. He was not wearing a seat belt. The man died from his injuries at the hospital.

(Lenox, Iowa) – Lenox Community School District Superintendent Dave Henrichs, Monday (Sept. 29th), posted a letter to district patrons on social media, with regard to an alleged threat made by one student toward at least one other student. Henrichs said the District was informed about the incident at around 7-p.m. on Sept. 27th. “The administration,” Henrichs said, “Immediately notified the district’s School Resource Officer, consulted with the school attorney, and began an investigation of the alleged threat.” The administration also notified the parents of the student involved.

“The immediate investigation,” Superintendent Henrichs said, “produced conflicting evidence regarding the nature and extent of the threat. However, the district took steps to assure that the student who allegedly made the threat was not present on school grounds, which included attendance at the football game, any homecoming activities or in school until the investigation was concluded.” That investigation was completed Sept. 29th, and it was deemed by law enforcement and the school attorney, that “The threat does not pose a risk to student safety,” according to Henrichs.

The letter went on to say that “The Lenox Community School District does not disclose information regarding the discipline of individual students under any circumstances. However, discipline procedures in [the] student handbook are consistent with the District Board of Education policies….”

View the full letter from the Superintendent below.

(Radio Iowa) – The former owner of the Asian Palace Restaurant in Spirit Lake will spend the rest of his life in a Louisiana prison after being convicted of sex crimes in Louisiana.

Authorities say Choi Van Leo owned an Asian American restaurant in a suburb of Lake Charles, Louisiana, when he fled that state 25 years ago after learning he’d be arrested. Last year, a source told a Louisiana prosecutor Leo was likely living in Iowa and Leo was arrested in Spirit Lake in May of 2024.

Louisiana authorities accused Leo of sexually abusing seven children between the ages of four and 12 over an eight year period. A jury convicted him last month. He’s been sentenced to life in a Louisiana prison without the possibility of parole.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Lottery C-E-O Matt Strawn says sales for the new fiscal year are off to a good start in the first two months of the fiscal year at more than 75 million dollars. “An eight-point-one percent increase from last year, and exceeds projected and budgeted sales by eight-point-five-four percent (8.54%),” Strawn says. Strawn gave a report to the Iowa Lottery Commission and says part of the increase is due to Instaplay sales.

” Year over year Instaplay sales are up sixty-nine-point-seven percent (69.7%) through August, and I know we’ve discussed in previous Commission meetings, but improving the performance of this product category has been part of the Lottery’s strategic portfolio management plan,” Strawn says. The other driver of sales in July and August was the huge Powerball jackpot.

“While the fiscal ’26 sales and proceeds totals that are shared with the Commission today do not include the final week of sales for that one-point-seven-eight billion dollar Powerball jackpot that was won on September 6th, they do reflect an increase in sales as the grand prize jackpot approached that billion dollar figure toward the end of August,” he says. Strawn says that mega jackpot pushed Powerball sales 103 percent higher than August of last year. Strawn says the increase in gross sales led to proceeds sent to the state of more than 14 million dollars.

“This amounts to a twenty-point-four percent increase in lottery proceeds compared to last year at this point, and exceeds budgeted proceeds targets by thirteen-point-oh-eight percent,”he says. Strawn says there’s a little concern in the scratch ticket numbers. He says sales were down more than two percent for the same time period last year, including a nearly six percent drop (5.85%) drop in August sales.

“This trend of softer scratch ticket sales did continue into the month of September and is something that the executive management team is closely monitoring, because the scratch ticket category traditionally and historically is the one that is most affected by external economic factors in overall consumer confidence,” Strawn says.

Iowa Lottery Chief Revenue Officer John Roth says lottery sales nationwide have been down, as have sales for lotteries similar in size to Iowa.

(Glenwood, Iowa) –  Police in Glenwood report the arrest on Monday (9/29) of a man from Nebraska. Xavier Robers Barba, of Omaha, NE was arrested for OWI/1st offense, possession of a controlled substance, and driving under suspension, His total bond was set at $2,300.

(Radio Iowa) – October will arrive on Wednesday which marks the start of flu season in Iowa, and a pharmacist in northeast Iowa is urging people statewide to get vaccinated now. Ashley Brehme, pharmacist and owner of Brehme Drug in Manchester, says this season’s shot was created based on plenty of research. “When the vaccines are developed, the scientists use research to try to predict which strain is going to be prevalent for that flu season,” Brehme says, “so they use the best data that they can to kind of predict.”

The C-D-C says about 300-thousand Iowans get the flu every year, and an average of one-thousand die from it, along with complications from pneumonia. The vaccines do not contain live virus, but cold-like symptoms can develop as the body builds the antibodies needed to ward off influenza. “Pretty much any vaccine that we get takes about two weeks for our body to build up our immunity. So when we’re getting the vaccine, you want to get it at least two weeks prior to when you want it active,” she says.

“A lot of people will come in and get their flu shot around the holidays, around Thanksgiving time. We have people come in that week. It’s really not early enough to have your coverage when you’re getting together with your family and your friends.” State health officials say the flu is generally spread to others when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Flu symptoms include: cough, fever, chills, sore throat, muscle or body aches, runny or stuffy nose, headache, fatigue. Brehme says it’s important to get the vaccine early, and it should last well into next year.

“We do see immunity wean off with the flu vaccine,” she says. “Typically we say we’re covered for six months pretty strong. I usually recommend getting the vaccine around October time, so that kind of carries us over through, sometimes we have the waves of influenza in the spring.”

While most insurance companies cover flu shots, for those without insurance, Brehme says they’re not costly, and they could be a lifesaver.