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DES MOINES, Iowa —  Eastern Iowa Democrat Representative Ras Smith, Tuesday (today), officially announced his bid to become Governor. He becomes the first person to announce they will challenge Governor Kim Reynolds in advance of the the 2022 mid-term elections. Smith currently represents Iowa House District 62 at the statehouse, which covers the northern part of Waterloo. He’s held that position since 2017 and has run unopposed since the 2016 elections.

Iowa Dem. Rep. Ras Smith, from Waterloo,

State Rep. Smith is expected to make a formal announcement Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

The Creston Police Department reports two separate arrests took place, Monday. At around 10:30 am, 34-year-old Jeffrey Drake, of Afton, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on a Union County Warrant for Failure to Appear on the original charge of Driving While Barred. Drake was being held in the Adams County Jail while awaiting bond hearing. And, at around 12:39-p.m., Monday, 41-year-old Sheri Watters, of Creston, was arrested on a Union County Warrant for Failure to Appear on the original charge of Assault Causing Bodily Injury. She was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

The 7:06-a.m. Newscast w/News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) – After last year’s pandemic-related cancellations, all of Iowa’s 100 county fairs are a go in 2021 and five will be held this month. “Not to beat a dead horse about last year, but it was tough. This year, everybody’s back,” says Tom Barnes, executive director of the Association of Iowa Fairs. “…We’re hearing a lot of positive talk about people wanting to get back involved, be at the fair, help with the fair.” Barnes says the “curve ball” of last year’s pandemic prompted fair managers to improvise. For example, many staged competitions for the livestock 4-H and FFA members raised last year. “I believe the count was 85 or 86 fairs in Iowa did not happen at all, but did some sort of youth show-and-go type of event,” Barnes says. “…Early fairs in June was basically the guinea pigs of trying to make that happen and our later fairs learned by what the early fairs did correctly and did not do correctly.”

Barnes is also secretary of the Howard County Fair, which starts next week. Barnes says after years of emphasizing concerns about the spread of diseases among livestock, county fairs are being proactive about the human side as well. “We still have the sprayers and the hand sanitizers and all that. We’ll be utilizing that kind of stuff here during our fair, spacing things out as best as we possibility can, but what’s really helped the fairs be able to kick off this year is the vaccination,” Barnes says. “…There were skeptics three or four months ago. Whether you believe in the vaccination or not, it did change the public’s perception of getting back into a norm.”

The Wapello and Worth County fairs start this Wednesday, June 16. The Linn, Jefferson and Howard County Fairs begin on June 23. There are 99 counties in Iowa, but 100 counties fairs since Pottawattamie County holds two — one in Council Bluffs and the other in Avoca.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University Extension crop specialist, Joel DeJong, says northwest Iowa crops are showing signs of stress from the dry conditions. He says they need around 25 inches of moisture during the crop development stage. “We still need to have about 12 to 15 inches of rainfall during this season. You know, if we have slightly about average we’re probably going to reach that — otherwise, we are going to put some stress on our yield potential through the year,” DeJong says.

DeJong says stress is already showing up in the corn leaves.”If you take a look at the cornfields recently, you’ll see that almost every day we have a lot of cornfields rolling,” according to DeJong. “And it is an indicator that the root systems of those corn plants — even if there is water in that soil — the root systems right now aren’t deep enough to keep up with daily demand with low humidity and high temperature.” He says the rolling has been evident the last week in the afternoons and some mornings during the mid-90 degree days. DeJong says the humidity that we try to avoid is a good thing out in the field.

“It’s kind of unique to have 20 to 25 percent humidity and 90-some degree temperatures. That makes it seem a little more cooler for humans — but that is the opposite of what we want to see for a crop,” Dejong explains. “We want to see high humidity to go with those temperatures if they are going to be that high, because high humidity means less water demand in those plants.” The crops specialist says if the issue continues, farmers may see a drastic yield loss. The corn ear now is starting to fill in rows. “All this stress is probably reducing some of the rows we are going to have in some of those ears — might only be a few rows less, maybe it’s a few more. We still have the potential to continue to form the length of that ear all the way to the length of that corn. We’re still in that process,” he says.

DeJong says the next thirty days will be critical to the corn development as the corn begins to pollinate. He says soybeans are also showing some signs of stress, but soybeans have a way to delay the need for moisture until later in the year.

(Radio Iowa) – House Democrats have elected a new leader and she is the first woman to serve in the post. The 41 Democrats who serve in the Iowa House met last (Monday) night and elected Representative Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights as House Minority Leader. Konfrst replaces Representative Todd Prichard of Charles City, who announced on June 2nd that he was stepping down after serving in the position for three legislative sessions.

IA House Rep. Jennifer Konfrst

Konfrst was first elected to the House in 2018, reelected in 2020 and she was the second-ranking Democrat in the Iowa House this past session. Konfrst has been a full time professor at Drake University since 2013, teaching course in political communication and public relations.  Konfrst released a written statement Monday night and will hold an online news conference later this (Tuesday) morning.

Sheriff’s Deputies in Montgomery County, early Tuesday morning (Today), arrested 43-year-old Justin Smith, of Villisca.  Smith was taken into custody at around 12:45-a.m. on a Fremont County warrant, following a brief incident in the 100 block of 4th Street, in Villisca. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held for two counts of Ongoing Criminal Conduct/Unlawful Activity. Bond was set at $50,000.

Montgomery County Deputies were assisted by Red Oak Police, Deputies with the Adams and Cass County Sheriff’s Departments, along with Red Oak Fire and Rescue personnel.

Police in Red Oak arrested a man wanted on a drug-related warrant following a brief standoff, Monday night. Authorities report at around 10:40-p.m., Officers were searching for a wanted subject. They found 21-year-old Jacob David Berggren, of Red Oak, at a residence in the 500 block of E. Prospect Street. After a short standoff with law enforcement, Berggren gave up without further incident.

Berggren

He was taken into custody on a warrant for Failure to Appear on a Possession of a Controlled Substance/Methamphetamine. Berggren was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on the warrant, along with an Interference with Official Acts, charge. His bond was set at $2,000. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies assisted during the incident.

At around 8:23-p.m., Monday, Red Oak Police arrested 29-year-old Kyle Lee Foster, Sr., of Red Oak, on two counts of Child Endangerment. He was being held on a $2,000 bond, also.

Des Moines Water Works officials are asking customers to reduce lawn watering by 25%. KCCI reports Des Moines Water Works officials said Monday that drought-induced low river levels and record-breaking demand for water have forced the implementation of stage one of its water shortage plan. Des Moines Water Works officials said a 90% demand in production capacity triggered the stage 1 plan. On Friday, Des Moines Water Works delivered nearly 90 million gallons of water to its 500,000 customers.

Officials say the Raccoon River is so low, that you can walk across it, and they’re asking everyone to hold off using excess water on all Mondays, especially with regard to the watering of lawns. Even-numbered addresses are asked to water on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday. Odd-numbered addresses on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

As the Des Moines area continues into another week of high temperatures, Des Moines Water Works cautions that water usage guidelines could change on a daily basis. Customers should visit the utility’s website: www.dmww.com.

The following communities and agencies are served in whole or in part by Des Moines Water Works: Alleman, Ankeny, Berwick, Bondurant, Clive, Cumming, Des Moines, Johnston, Norwalk, Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Runnells, unincorporated Polk County, Urbandale, Waukee, West Des Moines, Windsor Heights, and rural water districts such as a Warren Water and Xenia Rural Water districts.