(Radio Iowa) – The new U-S Drought Monitor map shows 90 percent of Iowa is experiencing some type of dryness or drought. The Iowa D-N-R’s Tim Hall says only one section of the state has not water worries. “Southeastern Iowa way down in the corner — they’re not showing any dryness or drought — but virtually the rest of the state is,” Hall says. The area of concern in northwest Iowa has grown a little bit. So, certainly the conditions are not trending in the direction we’d like to see them.

The map shows 32 percent of the state rated as abnormally dry, 47 percent rated as in moderate drought and 10 percent rated as severe drought. Hall says streamflow conditions across approximately half of the state are now classified as “below normal.” He says the dry conditions in the north are now impacting things downstream. “As that lack of runoff works its way down through the system, we are seeing that reflected in the watersheds that run through central Iowa,” according to Hall. “So even though we may not be a dry here as in some parts of the state. The parts that feed those river systems have been exceptionally dry, so we are starting to see very low stream levels in parts of the state.”

Hall says the dry weather is worse this year because there wasn’t much moisture in the reserve. “Last year we entered 2000, we entered the growing season with a significant supply of groundwater and soil moisture leftover from 2018 and ’19, which were really wet years. He says. “This year — 2021 — we came into the year with almost no excess soil moisture and groundwater. So, it’s as if we started with an empty tank.” Hall says the weather data for June, July and August show there is a chance to run things around. “Over that three-month period statewide we average right at about an inch per week of rainfall. And that’s a pretty hefty chunk of moisture,” Hall says. “If we were able to get normal rainfall for the next three months — I think we would be in pretty good shape. The challenge is, every week that goes by without rain puts us another inch behind.”

He says you always have to wait and see with the weather. “We’re not panicking yet. But we’d really like to see some rain here in the month of June to start to replenish some of the soil moisture and start to get us back on track,” Hall says.  Some cities are asking residents to be smart about their water use as the dry conditions continue. Hall says those measures may be ramped up more if the lack of rainfall continues.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 70-year-old James Pontow, of Randolph, was arrested Thursday. He was taken into custody on an active Montgomery County warrant for a Class-D Felony charge of Forgery. Pontow was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 cash bond. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the arrest.

A three-vehicle crash in northwest Iowa’s Cherokee County, Thursday morning, resulted in a death and two injuries. The Iowa State Patrol reports a Cherokee County Secondary Roads Department grader was traveling westbound on county road C-63 at around 10:18-a.m., dressing the road shoulder gravel, when a 2018 GMC SUVn driven by 76-year-old Denise Betts, of Alta, rear-ended the grader.

A 2013 Kawasaki motorcycle operated by 74-year-old Everett Paeper, of Aurelia, rear-ended the SUV. A passenger in the SUV, 97-year-old Naomi Benna, of Storm Lake, died from her injuries, at the Cherokee Regional Medical Center. Betts and Paeper were injured in the crash, and transported to the same hospital. The Patrol says Paeper was wearing a helmet. Benna and Betts were wearing their seat belts.

The driver of the grader, 46-year-old Kelly Ebel, of Cherokee, was not injured. The accident remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – A Republican state senator from Sioux City who’s running for the U-S Senate says if there’s a cyberattack against the nation’s energy supply, the U-S Department of Justice and F-B-I should take over immediately. Jim Carlin says letting a private company negotiate and pay a ransom puts the company’s profits ahead of national security. Carlin’s comments come after the C-E-O of an east coast pipeline revealed the company paid hackers five MILLION dollars after a ransomware attack shut the pipeline down.

Carlin campaigned in Carroll, Crawford, Shelby, Cass and Audubon Counties earlier this week.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra says a tax change President Biden has proposed is effectively the death tax with a new coat of paint. The proposal would treat the transfer of inherited property like a sale, so capital gains taxes would be collected.  “This dramatically affects our farming community,” he says. Feenstra, who represents Iowa’s fourth congressional district, says Biden’s proposed million dollar exemption for individuals and two million dollar exemption for couples who inherit property isn’t enough.

“When you start selling land or you start selling a small business, that’s not very much,” Feenstra says, “especially when you’re into agriculture and all the equipment and all this other stuff that you’re trying to pass on to the next generation.” Feenstra says with inflation rising, Biden’s proposed budget – and the proposed taxes to finance it – should be scaled back.

“Each year we take in about $3.25 trillion of revenue,” Feenstra says, “so when you create a budget of $6 trillion, that should raise everybody’s eyebrows.” Feenstra says if Biden’s budget is adopted, it will devalue the dollar and make consumer goods more expensive.

(DES MOINES, Iowa) – Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) officials have used the state’s safe haven procedure for the 48th time since the law went into effect. A baby boy, born April 23, was released to the custody of DHS. Specific details are withheld in order to protect the identity of the parents and the children. Through Iowa’s Safe Haven law, parents, or their authorized representative, can leave infants age 30 days or younger at a hospital or health care facility without fear of prosecution for abandonment.

“The purpose of this law is to protect the lives of newborns who are in danger of abandonment,” said Janee Harvey, DHS Division Administrator of Adult, Children and Family Services. “We want to ensure Iowans know that Safe Haven is an available option if they cannot care for their newborn safely. We recognize that these decisions are often made in the midst of crisis and the protocols are built accordingly.” Safe Haven prioritizes the health and physical safety of the infant(s), as well as the anonymity of the parent or authorized individual who relinquishes custody of the child.

The Safe Haven law was approved in the wake of a high-profile case in 2001 involving a teen mother in eastern Iowa who killed her home-delivered newborn. Infants who are safe haven babies are placed with currently-approved foster or adoptive families. All states have Safe Haven laws, although provisions differ.

If you are interested in becoming a foster or adoptive parent, please visit
www.iowafosterandadoption.org.

For more information on the Safe Haven procedure: http://dhs.iowa.gov/safe-haven.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s governor is asking for a congressional investigation after unaccompanied migrant children were flown into Iowa without her office being notified. Governor Kim Reynolds and Tennessee’s governor are asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a public hearing about the movement of migrant children into states.

Reynolds says a plane carrying unaccompanied minor children landed overnight at the Des Moines Airport in late April, but her office was not notified and it was 20 days before federal officials confirmed 19 children from Long Beach, California were flown to Des Moines and then transported on buses to unite with relatives or local sponsors.

A similar scenario unfolded in Knoxville, Tennessee last month. Reynolds and Tennessee’s governor say their experience sows seeds of mistrust and intentionally subverts the will of people for a secure border.  Iowa Democratic Party chairman Ross Wilburn says Governor Reynolds is using a fake crisis to divide and distract Iowans from her own record. Third District Democrat Representative Cindy Axne echoed the Governor’s statement, Thursday.

Axne issued the following statement:

“The lack of transparency and accountability from our federal immigration officials regarding the April 22 flight from Long Beach to Des Moines is totally unacceptable. As a mom, I was disturbed to see reports of a flight transporting unaccompanied children, and more than a month ago I sought clarification from HHS and ICE – but received no confirmation of the flight like the one provided to Senator Grassley a few weeks ago. 

As this new administration tries to rebuild trust and fix our broken immigration system, denying the existence of a taxpayer-funded flight carrying migrant children into our community will only undermine the integrity of that mission, and will unfortunately provide fodder to those who would use this episode only to feed the disinformation and conspiracies related to our current immigration policies. 

I join Governor Reynolds in demanding further investigation and disclosure from HHS to determine why this flight was kept secret and why its existence was denied to both the public and to the public officials seeking to learn the whole truth.”

Atlantic Municipal Utilities is asking customers to conserve energy today during this heat wave to help reduce demand on the power grid. This request comes from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which operates the energy market and controls electrical reliability for our region.

MISO issued a Level 2 Energy Emergency from 2-p.m. through 6:00 p.m. today. Please turn up your thermostat, delay the use of large appliances and shut off all unnecessary lights and equipment. Thank you for your cooperation!

(Radio Iowa) – The three Iowa Republicans serving in the U-S House are criticizing the E-P-A’s move to repeal Trump-era water quality rules and write new ones. Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion says the rules that became final during the last year of Trump’s presidency protect farmers from government overreach. “The Navigable Water Protection rules provided some certainty to our farmers and producers here in Iowa and across the US,” Hinson says. “I firmly believe that bureaucrats who’ve never set foot in Iowa should not be able to regulate our ditches and ponds on our farms.”

President Biden’s E-P-A administrator has said the agency intends to write new rules that protect water quality, but don’t overly burden small farmers. Hinson and Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa are co-sponsoring a House Resolution that would prevent the E-P-A from adopting Obama-era water quality rules. “The Waters of the US rule that was so harmful to Iowa’s farmers,” Hinson says.

Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull is also a co-sponsor of that resolution Feenstra says a return to the Obama Administration’s water quality rules would result in unnecessary and costly government regulations for Iowa farmers. Critics of the Trump Administration’s water quality rule say it removed a quarter of U-S waterways and wetlands from federal oversight and endangered public drinking water supplies.