(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Adair County held their regular weekly meeting Wednesday (Sept. 17), during which they passed a Transfer Resolution, after receiving a brief explanation from Auditor Mandy Berg.

They also approved three appointments to the Adair County Tourism Council. Once again, here’s Mandy Berg…

The Board acknowledged receipt of two Manure Management Plan updates, and then continued last week’s discussion with regard to the Greenfield Swimming Pool project. During their meeting Sept. 10th, the Supervisors in Adair County heard from Renee Schwartz with the Greenfield Pool Steering Committee. She mentioned the Greenfield City Council approved having a one-million dollar Pool bond referendum on the Nov. 4th General Election ballot, with the intention of replacing the current pool which was built 1942 and is in bad shape. Schwartz said it had one-to two-years of life expectancy remaining. If approved by the voters, a new, zero entry-style pool would be built that improves accessibility for persons of all ages and provides a comfortable space for sunbathing or relaxing in the shallow water. The current pool only offers entry by ladders A new pool would cost about five-to six-million dollars.

During today’s meeting (Wednesday) Supervisor Board Chair Nathan Baier had an update on where the county stands legally on the matter.

Mandy Berg discussed the Urban Renewal aspect of the project.

She said there would need to be a joint agreement with the City of Greenfield. The process would take about three-to four months to get it into an amended and adopted Urban Renewal Plan.Afterward, the County could bond for its part of the project, but the earliest would be next Spring or Summer.

She said the cost to the County to petition for a bond would be at least four-to six thousand dollars. Another option is the use of Local Option Sales Tax revenue, but Berg suggested that’s not “really a good option.” No action was taken.

In other business, the Adair County Supervisors approved a Longevity raise for Lee Stewart, who has 25 years with the Secondary Roads Department. They also passed a Resolution awarding the FY26 Crack Sealing Project to Manatt’s, Inc., in the amount of $102,624.

(Radio Iowa) – Some blind Iowans are speaking out against changes to a state program that prepares blind people to live independently, and about two dozen people marched outside of the Iowa Department for the Blind in Des Moines on Tuesday. The agency recently ended the requirement for blind Iowans to use sleep shades — which block all vision and light — while learning to navigate. Helen Mejia, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa, says training with sleep shades helped her learn how to use her other senses and a cane to get around. “We’re all for choice. The problem is…we talked about the person who’s just losing their vision, and they’re scared,” Mejia says. “They don’t know enough to be able to make that choice yet.”

Mejia says Iowa’s program has been successful, and she says the department’s new director should take more time to learn about it before making changes. Jonathan Ice of Cedar Rapids says he’s trained with sleep shades. He says requiring them ensures people are truly learning to use blindness techniques and are building their confidence. “The tendency is to think I can’t do it without that little vision I had,” Ice says. “With the sleep shade requirement, I learned that I could get out, get around all over Minneapolis, all over Des Moines, with my cane without seeing a thing.”

Iowa Department for the Blind Director Stacy Cervenka, who took office in July, says making the sleep shades optional will help more Iowans receive intensive training so they can work and live independently.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken, Tuesday morning, provided an update to the Board of Supervisors, with regard to Secondary Roads Department maintenance and activities. Wolken talked about bridge projects, including the one south of the Cass County Landfill (Bridge #269), which he said was expected to open soon.

He said the big project right now, is paving on N-28 south.

Wolken said a pilot car will guide traffic during the day, while crews are at work, and open when the wrap-up their daily work. Wolken said by the time all is said and done, 17-miles of road resurfacing work will have been completed in Cass County.Motorists just need to be patient. The plan is for the N-28 project to be completed by the end of October.

He said also, crews accomplished some highway crack sealing earlier this week on M-56 (the road to Cold Springs Park)

(Iowa DNR News) – – Off-highway vehicle owners can now renew their registrations for all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), off-road utility vehicles (ORVs), off-road motorcycles (ORM), and snowmobiles. The registration window opened Sept. 1 and closes Dec. 31, 2025. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says to renew a registration, visit any County Recorder’s office, or go to the Iowa DNR’s online licensing site: gooutdoorsiowa.com. Allow 5-10 business days for online registrations to arrive in the mail.

Fees for OHV and snowmobile registrations support grant programs to develop and maintain off-highway vehicle parks and snowmobile trails in Iowa.

Owners with new machines, or who have not yet registered their vehicles, need to go the County Recorder’s office in their county of residence to begin the registration process.

For information on OHV registration, renewals and nonresident permits visit: iowadnr.gov/things-do/highway-vehicles/registration-fees

For snowmobile registration, renewals and nonresident permit information, visit: iowadnr.gov/snowmobiles

(Iowa City, Iowa) – The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports National Institutes of Health grant terminations hit the University of Iowa the hardest, out of the dozens of universities housed in the state this summer. The Dispatch says that’s according to a national project working to compile grant dollars that have been frozen or canceled entirely as President Donald Trump and his administration seek to end federal funding for certain research. There are eight National Institutes of Health grants identified by Grant Witness to have seen termination in Iowa, with only one seeing possible reinstatement. They run the gamut of research — from cancer to cochlear implants, Alzheimer’s to vaccine messaging, genomes to access to research careers.

Many of the projects were multiple years into their work before facing termination, having already received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of grant funds.The longest-running project to see its funding terminated has received federal funding since 2013, according to USAspending, an open data source tracking federal spending. The study was set to run through a portion of 2028 and receive a total of $5.7 million, but funding was canceled in May and the project reportedly ended in July.

Researchers at the University of Iowa saw federal funding for their research cut this year, in medical and other areas. (Photo courtesy of University of Iowa)

According to the project summary reported by NIH, the canceled study was looking into using different materials on the surfaces of cochlear implants — a surgically implanted device to aid people with severe hearing impairment — in order to reduce bacteria and lower the risk of infection and other issues. A UI program aimed at increasing research accessibility also saw its federal grant terminated this year. Other canceled medical research included one study diving into potential therapies for people with early Alzheimer’s disease and another studying new therapies for those dealing with triple-negative breast cancer, which the project summary stated is the only type of breast cancer with no targeted therapy. University of Iowa researchers were also studying responses to a certain therapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Two of the terminated grants provided funding to studies diving into topics the Trump administration has spoken about previously, namely vaccines and rural health care.

The only grant to have been possibly reinstated, deals with differences in polygenic scores based on sex. Research into polygenic scores has traditionally left out groups like gender minorities, according to the description, and the study seeks to close the gap by developing a new method for study of sex-related differences for both genomic and general research. Its end date is slated in the award summary for July 31, 2026, with $1.4 million of the $1.6 million obligated amount processed.

The grant was ruled to be reinstated this summer according to Grant Witness’s data, but the organization states on its website grants under this category are being listed as “possibly reinstated” because its members do not know what the reinstatement process will look like or how long it will take

(Radio Iowa) – Four Iowa communities are hosting fundraising walks this month that are designed to support efforts to prevent suicide. Dan Lehmann, of Le Mars, says he’ll be taking part in the Sioux City walk this Saturday in remembrance of his son, who took his own life. The events are called Out of the Darkness Walks. “This weekend, I had a total stranger come up and say, ‘I’ll join you in that walk. Here’s $20 towards the fundraising,'” Lehmann says. “I’d never met him. I knew of his kid because his kid went to the same school as mine. He goes, ‘Can I be on your team?’ and I said, ‘Absolutely, you can be on my team that walks.'”

More than 49-thousand Americans died by suicide in 2023, and more than half used a firearm. The walks are being organized by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Lehmann is hoping to have a good showing from Le Mars at this weekend’s event. “My son that passed away, his former employer will have several of his former coworkers come and join,” he says, “so I’m hoping to have 20 or 30 people come.”

The Out of the Darkness Walks are being held in some 300 communities over the next few weeks. In addition to Sioux City, Manning is also hosting a walk on Saturday, with another in Ankeny on Sunday, and the Quad Cities’ walk is in Bettendorf on September 27th.

https://afspwalks.donordrive.com/OOTDWalks

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club and some landowners called Tuesday for the Iowa Utilities Commission to reject Summit Carbon Solutions’ petition to amend its pipeline permit. (Read the petition: For Immediate Release_ Summit Amendment Request ).

The Iowa Capital Dispatch says the petition, filed Monday, requests changes to the initially proposed route and pipe size for the carbon sequestration pipeline project, which had been approved by the IUC in 2024. That approval came with requirements that Summit could not begin construction until it received route permission from North Dakota and South Dakota, and storage permission in North Dakota. 

Since the IUC’s initial approval, South Dakota has enacted a law preventing the use of eminent domain in CO2 pipeline projects, and has denied two of Summit’s permit requests. In North Dakota, Summit’s permits were approved, but are facing legal challenges.

In light of these actions in other states, Summit has requested to amend the permit in Iowa, changing language to reflect that “additional options for storage and pathways to storage are developing and may provide a better solution.” The request would remove language referencing North Dakota and South Dakota, changing the petition to state construction cannot begin until it has “secured access to one or more sequestration sites and permits or agreements to allow it to reach such storage.”

Landowners and advocates who oppose the pipeline project or the use of eminent domain in gaining land easements necessary to complete the route, released statements Tuesday calling for the IUC to reject the proposed language change.

Though Summit said in its petition that the move away from state-specific language would not diminish “protections against a ‘pipeline to nowhere’” in the permit, people opposed to the project said the shift is too substantial of a change to be approved as an amendment, while criticizing the business for not providing further details on a new route or storage options.

“This isn’t an amendment, this is a last-ditch effort and half-baked proposal for an entirely new project because South Dakota said no,” Wally Taylor, attorney for the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter, said in a statement. “Summit needs to realize that Iowa is saying no, too.”

(Red Oak, Iowa) – An issue with farm equipment was the apparent cause of a field fire in Montgomery County early Tuesday afternoon. Firefighters from Red Oak, Elliott, Stanton and Essex were called to the scene located in the area of 250th Street and I Avenue, a little after 12:50-p.m.

According to Red Oak Fire Chief John Bruce, a combine at that location experienced a minor mechanical failure, which caused a small fire in the corn field. Farm equipment operators, Bruce said, extinguished the fire before it spread into standing corn.

Red Oak FD Facebook page photo (9-16-25)

He thanked the equipment operators for their assistance, as well as farmers who responded with their disc implements, in case the firewere to spread.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, Montgomery County Emergency Management and Montgomery County Communications assisted in handling the incident.