The Cass County Sheriff’s Office, today (Friday), released a report on arrests and accidents. On Thursday, July 22nd, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Jason Richard Tasto, of Marne, for OWI/1^st offense, and interference with official acts.  Tasto was being held in the Cass County Jail. And, on Tuesday, July 20th, 18-year-old Chance Eldon Kline, of Shenandoah, was arrested for public intoxication.  Kline was transported to Cass County Jail, later plead guilty, and was released.

There were two accidents in Cass County this past week. On Monday (July 19), at approximately 2:42 p.m., Cass County Deputies responded to an accident on 620^th St. and Lansing Road, near Atlantic.  Mauro De Avila, of Des Moines, was traveling north bound on 620^th St., driving a 2007 Volvo Dump-Truck, when he met a south bound 2011 Chevrolet Silverado Pick-up driven by Michael Louis Leeper, of Atlantic.  The vehicles met at the crest of a hill, sideswiped with the pick-up coming to rest in the ditch. No injuries were reported.

And, as we’ve previously reported, one person was seriously injured during a motorcycle accident that occurred on July 17th. Authorities say Cass County Deputies responded to the accident scene on the Lewis Road, between 580^th and Quincy Rd.  Officials say Andrew Jensen, of Atlantic, was riding a 2011 Harley Davidson motorcycle northbound at around 5:21-p.m., when he failed to negotiate a curve and lost control.  Jensen was thrown from the motorcycle and landed in the ditch.  He was transported by EMS ground to Lewis, and then transported by EMS air to Des Moines Methodist Hospital.

(Radio Iowa) – An Ankeny woman who is president of the National Pork Producers Council is urging members of the U.S. Senate to reform the visa system so immigrants working as farm hands or in meat packing plants can stay permanently.  “Our foreign born workforce is an essential part of our supply chain and we need visa reform to reflect our year-round needs.”  Jen Sorenson is also the communications for Iowa Select Farms, the largest pork producer in Iowa and the 8th largest in the United States. “Unfortunately the U.S. is suffering from a serious labor shortage negatively impacting our farms and our processing plants,” Sorenson says. “As any pork producer will tell you, there is no pork season. It requires a full time, hard working and dedicated workforce on our farms and in our processing plants.”

The current H-two-A (H-2A) visa program allows agribusinesses to fill temporary positions with foreign-born workers. Sorenson says that’s designed for seasonal agriculture, like vegetable and fruit farms, not for livestock operations which need a workforce all year long. “If the labor shortage is not addressed, it could lead to farms and packing plants shutting down,” Sorenson says. “As a result, pork production would be constrained, leading to higher food prices for consumers and the United States becoming an unreliable trading partner for the many countries around the world that rely on our pork.”

In March, the U.S. House passed a bill to make changes in the visa program for temporary farm workers. Sorenson says the bill is an excellent solution — if the bill’s cap on the number of visas in the bill is eliminated, so an unlimited number of visas for farm workers is available. “We would not want to find ourselves in situation where we are competing against our fellow livestock farmers for a specific number of workers,” Sorenson says, “and that is why we ask for an uncapped H-2A program and also a year-round H-2A program.” Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley invited Sorenson to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee this week. Grassley also invited Leon Sequeira, an assistant U.S. Labor Secretary in President Bush’s Administration and the former legal counsel to the Senate’s Republican leader.

“The worker shortage on our farms continues to get worse with each passing year and it is threatening the future viability of labor-intensive agriculture in America,” he said. “Farm work is honest, honorable and necessary work, but there are simply not enough U.S. workers willing to do it.” The National Pork Producers Council president told senators the labor shortage in the pork industry is exacerbates by continued population decline in rural areas of the country, where most pork production and processing is located.

(Radio Iowa) -What the locals call “Old Highway 20” across northern Iowa, is now a designated route through Delaware County as part of an effort to revive the roadway nationwide, and to help small towns and small businesses in the process. Brian Farr, with the Historic Route 20 Association, explains the goals. “This isn’t the four-lane Highway 20, this is the old highway that ran through the downtown areas,” Farr says. “Some of that has been removed for 30, 40 years. Our mission was to bring 20 back as a historic highway into the towns.”

There are now more than 180 road signs across the state guiding people along the original Highway 20 – including in Manchester, Earlville and Dyersville. “We want to draw people back into the small towns,” Farr says. “I really feel that when you’re traveling the four-lane, it’s there for a reason, to get from A to B in a hurry, but there’s not a lot to see. We want people to support your small businesses, your mom-and-pop shops, or to just see something unique and historical.”

via historicus20.com

Farr says he’s learned about Old 20 in Iowa and it’s a rich history. “This was an Iowa project but we formed the organization to be a nationwide project,” he says. “We want people to travel from Massachusetts, where Highway 20 begins, all the way to Oregon, but to take the original alignments because you definitely see a lot more.” Farr lives on Highway 20, too – in Massachusetts – and he says even though it’s a thousand miles away, when he’s in Iowa, he knows Old 20 will get him home.

The broadcast News at 8:07, from Ric Hanson.

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The broadcast News at 7:05-a.m. from Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) –  The Kossuth County Speedway in Algona says it will no longer use a substitute track announcer after a video containing racially insensitive comments at the track last week went viral. In the video clip streamed by FloRacing, the announcer can be heard telling the crowd to stand for the national anthem before making comments about NFL players kneeling in protest. The announcer tells those listening to “Get the hell out of dodge” if they don’t want to stand for the National Anthem. He goes on to say that persons of a “darker toned skin color” want the NFL to play a different national anthem before games, something he does not agree with.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, officials with Kossuth County Speedway stated that they do not condone the comments made last week and will “not tolerate discrimination at our racing events and welcome fans of all color, gender, religion and creed to join our racing family.” Officials say the individual will no longer be considered for employment as a fill in announcer, and they look forward to proving to everyone they can and will do better.

A statement released Thursday afternoon by FloRacing, the platform where the event was broadcast online, states that the comments made last week at the Kossuth County Speedway “do not reflect our core values or have a place on our platform.” The statement also says the broadcast has been removed from their archive.

7:00 am – till gone Farm Bureau Breakfast – Courtyard
8:00 am 4-H/FFA Horse Show – Horse Arena
Supreme Showman Contest – Horse – Horse Arena
9:00 am Market Lamb Feeder Pen, Market and Bottle Lamb, Breeding Sheep Show
– Mid American Arena
10 am – 5 pm Quilt Show – Varied Industries Building
11:00 am Dog Agility – East side of Fair Shop Building
11:30 am Meat Goat Show – Mid American Arena
11:45 am Announce results On-Site Garden Contest – 4-H/FFA Center
12:00 pm Bucket/Bottle Calf Exhibitor Interviews begin – location to TBD.
Pride of Iowa Contest – 4-H/FFA Center
1 pm – 7 pm Mobile Glass Studios (glass blowing creations), location TBD
2 pm – 8 pm Toby KID Strolling Entertainment
4:00 pm Bucket/Bottle Calf Show – Mid American Arena
4:45 pm Ag Olympics – Courtyard
5 pm – 6 pm Discover the Fair Scavenger Hunt, Courtyard
6 pm – 10 pm Mechanical Bull Rides – Midway
8:00 pm Demolition Derby – Grandstand

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-O-T’s driver’s license center in Waterloo is closed today (Friday) and will reopen Tuesday in a new location. Darcy Doty, director of customer service for the Iowa D-O-T, says the new location is near the now-closed site inside Waterloo’s Crossroads Mall. “Being in the mall, we are required to follow the mall standard hours of operation,” Doty says, “so this gives us a little bit more flexibility in offering hours that are convenient for our customers.”

Doty says if the mall closed for any reason, the old driver’s license center had to close, too. The Iowa D-O-T operates 18 service centers in Iowa for driver’s license renewals, including Council Bluffs and Sioux City. “A lot of our moves are due to the lease in our current locations have ended and we’ve had an opportunity to look at some different locations that we feel are great for customer service and customer access,” Doty says, “good customer parking, that we have control over the opening of customer entrances, so that we can control those hours of operation.”

Late last month, the driver’s license center in Fort Dodge reopened in a new space. “Last year we were able to open a new facility in Mason City, just move from one location to the other with a new layout, look and feel,” Doty says. “…We are moving when it makes sense and also looking at our budget because we want to make sure that we are budget conscious as we look for new locations.”

Doty says 52 percent of Iowa driver’s license renewals are handled by an Iowa D-O-T service center. Iowans may renew their driver’s licenses at many county treasurer’s offices or at one of the D-O-T service centers. And some Iowans are able to renew online and those are processed by the D-O-T.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is set to receive up to 170 million dollars from a lawsuit settlement with four companies accused of contributing to the nation’s opioid addiction and overdose crisis. The state’s share comes as part of a 26 billion dollar deal involving drug-maker Johnson and Johnson and three opioid distributors who admit no liability as part of the agreement. Attorney General Tom Miller says the money will be spent primarily on treatment and education. “One of the things I want to do is use the money if the most effective way to treat people but also make sure that the benefits, the treatment, are throughout the whole state,” Miller says.

Opioid-related deaths in Iowa increased more than 30 percent last year to 213. “It’s not going to be enough money to solve the whole problem. We’re not going to have money to throw around,” according to Miller. “But we think there’s going to be enough money, if we spend it wisely, to make a real dent in this problem and to really help.”

Miller says the money will be paid over a period of 17 years and the final amount will depend on how many Iowa counties sign on to the settlement. He says around two-thirds have signed up thus far. Iowa is also part of settlements with the consulting firm McKinsey and a pending bankruptcy settlement with Purdue Pharma. All told, the state could receive up to 200 million dollars through opioid litigation.

(By Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)