AUDUBON, Iowa [KCCI] — U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said farmers are doing their part to help keep nitrates out of Iowans’ drinking water. His statement came during a visit to TNT Industries in Audubon Thursday afternoon. The Republican Senator from Iowa emphasized that farmers are already taking steps to prevent chemical runoff, which has been linked to high nitrate levels in water sources. Grassley told KCCI that he thinks farmers have done well by being more careful in their use of chemicals and fertilizers.

Grassley noted that Iowa was commended for its plan to protect and clean up its waterways in the last decade. He suggested that encouraging the use of grass waterways and establishing more wetlands could be another part of the solution.

Sen. Grassley visits TNT Industries in Audubon, Aug. 14, 2025. (Photo from Grassley’s Facebook page)

The discussion comes after the metro was under a lawn watering ban for nearly two months because of high nitrate levels in the main water sources. A study by Polk County suggests farm pollution poses a risk to the water supply.

(Radio Iowa) – U-S Energy Secretary Chris Wright toured the Ames National Lab at Iowa State University Thursday. One of the Lab’s core research priorities is developing ways to extract and re-use rare earth elements from electronic waste in everything from smart phones to missiles and jet fighters. Wright says the U-S relies too heavily on other countries to supply and process critical materials. “That’s become a national defense problem for us. It’s become a medical problem for us in times of crisis. Ames laboratory here is a leader in bringing these technologies and these capabilities back to our country,” he says. The Department of Energy has proposed cutting hundreds of millions of dollars for renewable energy programs, but Wright says he supports technologies that contribute to U-S energy.

“But wind, solar and batteries provide three percent of the United States energy, yet the majority of the budget at the Department of Energy. That’s just nonsensical,” Wright says. The think tank Ember Energy reports wind and solar last year provided a combined 17 percent of U-S energy, surpassing coal for the first time. Wright says priorities for the agency include nuclear and next generation geothermal. “We have to stabilize our electricity grid, we need to get away from the nonsense that somehow we’re not going to use fossil fuels in the near future.”

The Department of Energy removed the National Climate Assessments from its website earlier this year. Wright says climate change is a “true physical phenomenon” but not the “world’s greatest problem.” Wright was joined by congresswomen Joni Ernst, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, and representatives of the Conservative Climate Caucus. He’s the fourth cabinet member to visit Iowa this week.

(Radio Iowa) – A race that could be a new staple for runners in eastern Iowa will debut next summer. The city-wide event in Cedar Rapids will feature multiple races, including a free kids’ run, a team relay, and a full marathon. It’s the first time Cedar Rapids will host a marathon since the CRANDIC run between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City shut down three years ago. Laura Jass is with Endurance Sports Marketing, which will produce the weekend-long event.

“With CRANDIC not being here anymore, we feel like there’s a hole, and we know people in eastern Iowa are running, so we’re trying to fill that hole,” Jass says. “Also, we produce the Iowa Trail Run series — it’s nine trails across the state — our two largest are in the eastern Iowa corridor.” The full marathon will be a Boston-qualifier, meaning runners who meet a certain time will qualify for entry into the famed East Coast race. Jass says the Cedar Rapids weekend will have events for runners of all types.

“Most of our runners are a mom who just wants an excuse to get out the door without the kids hanging on them, somebody who maybe lost a lot of weight over the last year and this is a big goal,” she says, “but in the running world, being a Boston qualifier, people are looking at that on the calendar of events to do.” The new race is being planned for a debut in June of 2026. CRANDIC shut down in 2022, after being held virtually for two years during the pandemic.

(Radio Iowa) – A Davenport man has been charged in the murder of an 11-year-old girl who disappeared from Moline, Illinois, in 1996. A grand jury in Henry County, Illinois approved three counts of first-degree murder and one count of concealment of a homicidal death against Jamison Fisher in the death of Trudy Appleby.

Fisher was already being held at the Scott County jail in Davenport on what police say are unrelated charges. Fisher is believed to have been a family friend of a different suspect who died in 2014. Police say they have not yet recovered Appleby’s remains and the investigation is ongoing.

(Radio Iowa) – The 2025 Iowa State Fair doesn’t end until Sunday night, giving a few more politicians a chance to engage in what’s turned out to be common exercise for vote-seekers. Dana Wanken of Clarion was manning the state fair grills for the Iowa Pork Producers back in 2007 — the day presidential candidate Mitt Romney dropped a chop.

“Guess what happened? He flipped one high and it bounced on (the ground) and I was standing right behind him and his wife and he goes: ‘Oh, five second rule!’ And he picked it up and threw it back on the grill,” Wanken said. “I stuck my arm between him and his wife and grabbed that hot devil off of there and I said: ‘You can’t do that!'” Wanken has a piece of advice for the politicians volunteering to do a stint of flipping at the grill.

“Wear a glove ’cause it’s hot,” Wanken said, with a laugh. As temperatures soar during the State Fair’s August run, Governor Kim Reynolds says politicians still seem to wind up at the hottest spot on the fairgrounds.  “They all want to do it because it’s iconic. You know, you can’t come here and not go, plus we’re the number one pork producer in the country,” Reynolds said, “so it really is an opportunity for us to get some time around the grill and make our case that we need markets.”

As an example, U-S Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins joined Reynolds at the grill a few days ago and visited with the real grill masters. Pork Producers from around the state come to grill pork loins and flip the chops and pork burgers that are sold to fair-goers. State Auditor Rob Sand grabbed a spatula and joined a group of grillers earlier this week.  “I’m here every year, on Wednesday, with the Lee County guys,” Sand said. “I did that the first time, got to know them and it’s fun to come back and see them again.”

There is only one Wednesday during the State Fair’s annual 11-day run — but there was more than one politician at the Pork Producers’ grill this past Wednesday. Two state senators stopped by to flip and visit about half an hour before Sand arrived.

(An article from the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – According to the release, the UI is starting this work “from a position of financial health” so it can strengthen its current success amid increasing financial uncertainties, decreasing trust in higher education and a looming demographic cliff. “At Iowa, we have an opportunity to lead by being proactive rather than reactive,” said UI Executive Vice President and Provost Kevin Kregel in the release. “Instead of waiting for challenges to dictate our choices, we are creating structures and strategies that position us for continued success.”

(Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Close to 100 UI employees, including faculty, staff and leadership, are being placed into teams with the goals of either developing plans for increasing revenue or identifying administrative efficiencies, the release stated. Each team will focus on a different aspect of campus and university functions, according to the reSPARC website, ranging from academics to financial operations, student enrollment and retention, philanthropy, information technology and more. Teams will bring their ideas to initiative leaders before moving to the university president and provost, who have the final say on if and how plans will be implemented.

The website stated there is are no plans for budget cuts or layoffs included in the reSPARC initiative, as it is being implemented as a proactive plan rather than a response to budget problems.

UI President Barbara Wilson said in the release that collaboration is a strength of the UI community, and this new initiative will allow people across more than 30 departments to generate ideas together to ensure a strong present and thriving future. “Our goal is to create a pipeline of actionable, well-vetted ideas that will have a real impact,” Wilson said in the release. “This is not about quick fixes—it’s about building a foundation for sustained growth and excellence.”

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reports the first West Nile virus (WNV) infection identified in 2025. The individual is a middle-aged adult (41-60 years) from northern Iowa and the infection was confirmed through a test at the State Hygienic Lab.

Warm summer weather means Iowans are spending more time outside which increases the risk of mosquito bites. Bites from infected mosquitos are the primary method in which humans are infected with the virus. Mosquitoes across Iowa are testing positive for WNV, signaling risk statewide.

For the best protection against the virus, Iowans should use an insect repellant with DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol, 2-undecanone, or IR3535. Insect repellent lowers the risk of mosquito bites.

• Always read and follow label directions. Consult with a health care provider if you have questions when using these types of products on children.

• Oil of lemon eucalyptus and para-menthane-diol should not be used on children younger than 3 years, and DEET should not be used on infants younger than 2 months.

• If you are also using sunscreen, apply sunscreen first and insect repellent second.

“We want Iowans to enjoy the outdoors, but also to protect themselves from mosquito bites, which can spread illnesses like West Nile Virus,” said Dr. Robert Kruse, Iowa’s State Medical Director. “To stay safe, we recommend using bug spray and make sure your windows in your home have screens.”

Additional steps Iowans can take to protect themselves include:

• Wear long-sleeved shirts, pants, shoes, and socks outdoors when possible.

• Look for standing water in buckets, cans, pool covers, used tires, pet water dishes, and other areas water may collect.

• Clear standing water from around your home where mosquitos reproduce.

Iowans infected with WNV may not experience any signs or symptoms of the virus. Some people experience minor symptoms like fever and mild headache. Others, however, can develop serious symptoms such as a high fever, headache, disorientation, and muscle weakness.

People who experience mild signs and symptoms of a WNV infection generally recover on their own, but illness that includes a severe headache, disorientation, or sudden weakness require immediate medical attention.

In 2024, 21 Iowans were diagnosed with West Nile virus, with one death.

For more information, visit the West Nile Virus page.

(Radio Iowa) – Many Iowa schools start classes in less than two weeks and what used to be a fall rite of passage — getting kids updated on their shots — is happening less frequently, and is more often the subject of debate. Natoshia Askelson, a professor in the University of Iowa College of Public Health, says the topic of vaccination has become embroiled in partisan politics and misinformation, while new legislation makes it easier for families to skirt requirements.

“In the state of Iowa, we have a religious exemption which is very interesting because there are actually no religions that don’t believe in the power of vaccines,” Askelson says. “This exemption, you can now get without having to have your signature notarized, so it’s really become an exemption of convenience.”

Prof. Natoshia Askelson (UI photo)

Some 3.6% of Iowa children are using that religious exemption now, according to Askelson, which equates to 19,000 unvaccinated students in schools statewide.

The UI recommends all incoming students be vaccinated against a host of ailments. “Meningitis is something that we worry about. We’ve had a meningitis outbreak on our campus before,” Askelson says. “We also want to be thinking about things like the HPV vaccine that maybe they didn’t get because it wasn’t required for school, but it’s going to prevent them from getting six different types of cancer as they grow older.”

She also recommends students be up-to-date on the Tdap shot, for tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis, as well as MMR, for measles, mumps and rubella.

The cause and effect should be simple to understand, Askelson says, stressing that vaccines protect children from short-term and long-term health issues. “That’s really going to insure that kids are going to be healthy. They’re going to make it through four years of college. They’re going to launch into adulthood fully protected,” Askelson says, “and you’re not going to have to come to the University of Iowa and sit beside your child while they’re in the hospital, or bring them back home because they’ve been quarantined because they’re unvaccinated against measles and we have a measles outbreak.”

It’s important for all students — from elementary to high school to college — to get vaccinated, she says, and advises families to contact their healthcare provider to get up to date to protect themselves. “From the top down, we need strong leadership who supports evidence-based science, who understands the difference between hoaxes and people trying to take advantage of vulnerable populations,” Askelson says. “We need everyone to be on board with how science is doing the best it can to keep us safe.”

She says her biggest vax-related fear is a measles outbreak that forces widespread quarantines. Measles can cause serious illness, and in rare cases, death.

(Radio Iowa) – Deere and Company’s worldwide sales fell nine percent during the last three months. Josh Beal, director of Investor Relations for Deere, says an evolving global trade environment and ever-changing interest rate expectations are causing customers to be cautious about big-ticket purchases. Deere C-E-O John May says the company is able to manage its inventory to help production match retail demand.

Nearly two-thousand Deere workers at Iowa plants have been laid of since June of 2024 and the company has cut its North American inventory of large tractors by 45 percent and its combine inventory is down 25 percent.

Deere executives say the company paid 200 MILLION dollars in tariffs over the past three months and expects to pay 600 MILLION during its current fiscal year, which ends October 31st.

DES MOINES, Iowa – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports a Honduran citizen was sentenced on August 8, 2025, to 18 months in federal prison for illegally returning to the United States after being deported.

According to public court documents, Mario Fernando Padilla Barahona, 28, had previously been deported from the United States once in 2020. In September 2024, law enforcement encountered Padilla Barahona when he was arrested for operating while intoxicated after he drove on the wrong side of the road, lost control of his vehicle, and crashed into a utility pole. Prior to his 2020 removal, Padilla Barahona was convicted of online solicitation of a minor in the Texas District Court for Montgomery County.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Padilla Barahona will be required to serve a two-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations.