(Radio Iowa) – Incumbent Republican Joni Ernst has been campaigning in northwest Iowa today (Friday) as part of her final push to win a second term in the U.S. Senate. During a stop in Sioux City, Ernst criticized her Democratic opponent Theresa Greenfield for not visiting each of Iowa’s 99 counties. “Can you believe that?” Ernst said and the crowd booed. “The Iowa people expect their elected representatives to show up and do their job.”

Ernst brought along a team of supporters, including two of her fellow senators. Texas Senator Ted Cruz told the crowd jammed into Woodbury County G-O-P headquarters that Ernst’s race will determine whether Republicans retain majority control of the U.S. Senate. “There are no moderate Democrats,” Cruz says. “Now, Theresa Greenfield — she may try to talk like she doesn’t believe any of this craziness, but a vote for her is a vote for Chuck Schumer, a vote for her is a vote for AOC and a vote for her is a vote to destroy the economy and the rights of millions of Iowans.”

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley held up a bottle of hand sanitizer and told the crowd packed into Woodbury County’s Republican Headquarters he was there to clean up some lies, like the claim in an ad that Ernst had voted four times to give herself a pay raise. “Senators have not had a pay raise since 2009 or 2010, whenever it was the last time,” Grassley says.

Ernst took office in 2014. Cruz, the winner of Iowa’s presidential caucuses in 2016, told the crowd Iowa is playing a pivotal role in the national election this year. “If the Democrats win Iowa, they’re going to raise your taxes — massively,” Cruz said. “If the Democrats win Iowa, they’re going to continue to shut down the economy and destroy small businesses across this county. If the Democrats win Iowa, they are going to jam through a Green New Deal that will destroy energy in the United States.”

Governor Kim Reynolds, who is also on the tour, joked that Cruz “would be in trouble” once she got coffee after the first bus tour stop. Cruz opposes the federal ethanol production mandate, but none of the other Republicans at the event brought that up.

(Radio Iowa) Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was in Des Moines earlier this (Friday) afternoon to deliver his closing pitch to Iowans at a drive-in rally on the state fairgrounds. “It’s time for us to stand up, take back our democracy,” Biden said, as car horns blasted in response. “We can do this. We’re so much better than we’ve been.”

Biden accused the Trump Administration of a “weak and chaotic” China trade policy that has dealt set-backs to Iowa farmers and the biofuels industry. “Ethanol margins have tanked and Iowa’s manufacturing facilities are idle and even closing,” Biden said. Biden also brought up the 28 BILLION dollars in trade disruption payments the Trump Administration has provided farmers. “He says because of quote — his bailouts, our farmers do better now than when they actually had to farm,'” Biden said. “…Where’s this guy from? Who does he think he is?”

Biden said if elected, he’ll mobilize an international effort to address China’s trade abuses that have hit the nation’s farmers as well as U.S. manufacturers.  “I’m going to hold China, which he hasn’t from the pandemic on,” Biden said.  Biden brought his Trump’s critique of wind energy — and Trump’s claim wind turbines cause cancer —  “This is also a guy you may recall, the stable genius, who said the problem with the Revolutionary War was that we didn’t have enough airports,” Biden said. “And he talks about mental acuity? Whoa.”

The Biden campaign says 200 vehicles were parked around the state and another 125 were in a holding area nearby. This was Biden’s first visit to Iowa since his 4th place finish in the Iowa Caucuses. The Trump campaign announced the president will hold a rally in Dubuque on Sunday afternoon.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest predictions show a La Nina weather system has developed in the Pacific Ocean and it’s expected to linger into spring — which may bring Iowa a colder winter and could influence the state’s weather well into 2021. Matt Rosencrans, a meteorologist at the Climate Prediction Center, says they plan to update the forecast monthly.

“The La Nina forecast goes out about eight months, so if we were doing a forecast back in July, it wouldn’t have extended too far into next year anyway, so that’s one aspect of it,” Rosencrans says. “The other aspect is that you just have more certainty.”

A La Nina system occurs when sea surface temperatures average below-normal. Historically, La Ninas have caused below-normal temperatures across much of the Northern Plains states during the winter. Rosencrans says the center’s predictions are largely based on past observations.

“There’s kind of a new unpredictability die-off in this skill of La Nina at about six months, some seasons, it’s six to seven, in the springtime, it’s only about two to three months,” he says. “We really don’t have a lot of lead time on there.”

Rosencrans says they are confident of the impacts at least through February, while beyond that, there’s still some uncertainty.

One person was transported to the Shenandoah Memorial Hospital following a motorcycle versus deer collision, Friday morning, about four-miles southeast of Shenandoah. The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports 61-year-old David Henry Jackson, of rural Shenandoah, was riding a 2006 Harley Davidson motorcycle northbound in the 2500 block of C Avenue at around 5:33-a.m., when a deer ran onto the road in front of him.

After the cycle hit the deer, the machine slid into the east ditch/shoulder area of C Avenue. Jackson suffered undisclosed injuries and was transported to the hospital by Shenandoah Ambulance. His motorcycle sustained an estimated $6,500 in damage.

AMC Rapid Care will close at 6 pm tonight, October 30 and will resume normal hours of operation tomorrow, October 31 10 am to 6pm.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office says no one was injured early Friday morning, when a semi struck a cow on Highway 71. The collision happened at around 12:38-a.m., about five-miles north of Clarinda. Authorities says a 2020 Volvo semi driven by 50-year-old Steven Alan Telkamp, of Slayton, MN was traveling north on Highway 7, when the rig struck a black cow on the road that was valued at $2,500. The animal belongs to McCoy Farms.

After the semi hit the cow, the animal landed in the southbound lane, where it was struck by a 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser. The driver of that vehicle was identified as 36-year-old Kurtis Hollon, of Clarinda.

The semi sustained an estimated $10,000 damage, but it was still driven from the scene. Hollon’s vehicle sustained about $1,500 damage, and had to be towed from the scene. There were no charges or citations resulting from the incident.

Officials with Mills County Public Health say “As we prepare to celebrate holidays and other large gatherings such as local and state athletic events…” they want to remind all, that “COVID-19 is still widely circulating in our county and state.” They encourage all students and adults to continue to take precautions to protect the health of themselves and their families. Remember that the more people an individual interacts with at a gathering and the longer that interaction lasts, the higher the potential risk of becoming infected and accelerating the spread of COVID-19.

MCPH asks you to ‘lease keep the following key points in mind:
• Carefully consider whether certain social or recreational activities are worth putting yourself and others at risk.
• Stay home if you are sick or feeling unwell.
• Wear a face mask and maintain social distance when in public. This includes when you are in a vehicle with others that do not live with you.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use hand sanitizers frequently.
• If you are positive or a close contact of a positive, take it seriously. Isolate yourself and stay home for the full quarantine period.

Officials say “These proven public health mitigation strategies will contain the spread of COVID-19. We want to protect our health and keep our positivity rate well below the 15% threshold. Kids need to be in school as long as safely possible. Please put this guidance into practice and encourage those around you to do the same.”

For up-to-date information on COVID-19, visit the Iowa Coronavirus webpage at https://coronavirus.iowa.gov

(Atlantic) – Resuming her RV campaign tour, Democrat US Senate candidate Theresa Greenfield visited Rolling Acres Farm, north of Atlantic, Thursday afternoon. The organic farm is operated by husband & wife team Larry Harris and Denise O’Brien. Due to the COVID-19 threat, the event brought out a small crowd of supporters who toured the farm with Greenfield and O’Brien. Greenfield spoke positively about her campaign and her chances of winning the seat currently held by her Republican opponent.

(Information & photo courtesy Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle)

The Cass County Board of Supervisors held their end-of-the-month meeting Friday (today), in Atlantic, during which they received an Annual Report and FY 2022 Funding Request from the Cass County Library Association. The representative noted that with the advent of the pandemic, all the of libraries have to adjust how books and materials are made available. They also had to make accommodations for extra cleaning by the directors and staff at those libraries that don’t have a dedicated cleaning person. Their request of $13,000 matches the same request they made last year, and includes: $5,000 for the Atlantic Public Library; $2,500 each for the Anita and Griswold Public Libraries, and $1,000 each for the Massena and Cumberland Public Libraries. Their request will be taken under consideration during the Budget deliberations.

The Supervisors also received a report on maintenance and activities from County Engineer Trent Wolken. He mentioned Henningsen Construction is handling patch- and overlay-work on Glendale Road (County Road G-27/the Canby Road). Wolken presented to the a Board a contract with the Iowa DOT for County Bridge Federal Aid SWAP Funding, for a 3-ton box culvert instead of a bridge on Indian Creek Road, .4 of a mile north of White Pole Road. The approximate cost is $600,000.

The Board passed a Resolution authorizing Board Chair Steve Baier to sign the agreement. The Supervisors also passed a Resolution pertaining to the awarding of a contract for a joint bridge bundle project with Guthrie County.

Cass County’s project is a bridge on Boston Road. The low bid for both projects was $1.43-million. Cass County’s share is $647,329, which will come out of the County’s Bridge Fund. The engineer’s estimated was around $600,000. The project is paid for through 55% federal funds and 45% from the Highway Bridge Program.

In other business, the Board voted to establish of a speed limit of 40-mph on Memphis Road (620th to Highway 71). The speed limit on 620th has been set at 40-mph. They also adopted a Resolution setting the Posted/Embargoed Weight limits on County Bridges, as recommended by the County Engineer.

And with regard to the proposed closing of 570th Street at the Interstate 80 underpass, Trent Wolken his request for further information from the DOT has not yet been addressed by the State. No decision will be made on the road closing until the Board has additional information they have requested.

(Radio Iowa) – Just over 885-thousand Iowans have already voted in Iowa. That’s about 56 percent of the total turnout in Iowa for the last presidential election in 2016, so Iowa has obviously set a record for early voting. There are about 100-thousand outstanding absentee ballots that have been requested, but not cast. Both political parties are encouraging those voters to either deliver their ballots in person at a drop box or to the County Auditor’s office by Monday at noon OR show up at a polling site on Election Day with that ballot.

Iowa voters can turn over their absentee ballot and get a new one to vote in person on Election Day. If an Iowan asked for an absentee ballot, but cannot find it, they may cast what’s called a provisional ballot on Election Day.