(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS), Tuesday, announced more than $450,000 in cost share funding was awarded to nine conservation districts for water quality improvement projects, including in Adams and Union Counties. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the Iowa Soil and Water Conservation Districts will use the funding to help private landowners implement practices like cover crops, sediment control basins, grassed waterways and other proven practices that will improve water quality in eight publicly owned lakes.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the water quality improvement efforts go toward “ensuring these lakes remain vibrant and healthy destinations.” “We are fortunate to have some beautiful public lakes in our state that significantly enhance the quality of life for many Iowans and provide valuable recreational opportunities and wildlife habitat,” Naig said in a release.  The announcement is part of the Publicly Owned Lakes program administered by IDALS and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. This round of funding is more than double what was allocated through the program in 2024. The installation of these practices up a watershed can help to keep sediment and nutrients from trickling down into Iowa lakes, which in turn, keeps the lakes cleaner and better protected for Iowans to recreate.

Three Mile Lake is one of several lakes the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has restored through its Lake Restoration Program. (Photo contributed by Iowa DNR)

Three Mile Lake had the highest allocation, of more than $133,000 to be managed by conservation districts in both Union and Adair counties. Three Mile Lake has undergone lake restoration projects for the past several years, though DNR said the restorations are considered near completion. Lake restoration projects at Casey Lake, which was also awarded funding, are also considered nearly completed. The rest of the funding went to conservation districts monitoring the watersheds of Hawthorn Lake, Pleasant Lake, Lake Miami, 12 Mile Lake, Lake Icaria and Lake Geode.

Funding for the program comes from IDALS’s soil conservation cost-share budget, and the watersheds are chosen by the DNR based on priority. Landowners in the selected districts are then eligible for additional cost-share funding for water improvement projects.  Many of the water quality improvement strategies surrounding Iowa lakes are dependent on voluntary participation by private landowners in the watersheds.

DES MOINES, Iowa –A devastating weather event, known as a derecho, struck Iowa on August 10, 2020. A line of severe storms extended more than 770 miles for 14 hours. Sustained winds lasted almost an hour over a large swath of Central and Eastern Iowa, causing catastrophic damage to structures, crops and trees. Communities across Iowa were left with a trail of destruction after the storm. Over the past five years, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Iowa communities have worked towards rebuilding and recovering the tree canopy lost in the destructive storm.

2020 Derecho Counties and FEMA Assistance

DNR’s new “5 Years of Derecho Recovery” interactive map highlights the impact, response and recovery to the August 2020 midwest derecho across Central and Eastern Iowa. Easily browse through stories, maps and videos detailing the severe damage and how Iowa DNR and partnering organizations helped communities recover and replace lost trees.

Explore the interactive map at https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ba98113395d34a03a1b8bd348418bf2c.

(Radio Iowa) – It’s summertime and Iowans are grilling out more hamburgers, hot dogs and brats, but those aren’t always the healthiest choices, according to Clara Williams, a registered dietician at Emplify Health by Gundersen. Williams says a federal panel recently issued a new Dietary Guidelines for Americans Report, along with a series of recommendations. Williams says, “The committee advised people to reduce their intake of saturated fat, red meat, processed meat, refined grains and then any sugar-sweetened food or fluids.” Pursuing more of a Mediterranean diet does -not- mean becoming vegetarian or vegan, but simply introducing more plants into the menu and fewer meats and dairy products.

“It focuses more on things like lean proteins, so boneless, skinless chicken breast, fish, other seafood that’s lower in fat,” Williams says, “and then proteins from things like nuts, seeds, beans, more of a plant-based approach.” Eating healthier can mean losing weight, along with a lower risk of heart disease and various forms of cancer. “Plant-based products are lower in cholesterol. Usually they don’t have any cholesterol at all, which means they’re lower in calories, and sometimes they’re lower in sodium, depending on how processed they are,” Williams says. “It can be cheaper for the average American. I would encourage people to examine the prices of a bag of lentils at their grocery store versus a piece of meat at the deli.”

Mediterranean diet (Image from AARP)

She says even small changes in diet can lead to positive changes in one’s health over time. Williams suggests if a product’s ingredient list includes multiple things you can’t pronounce, don’t eat it. Emplify Health by Gundersen has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.

https://www.gundersenhealth.org/
https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/

(Creston, Iowa) – Firefighters from Creston provided requested mutual aid to the Prescott Fire Department, Tuesday afternoon, with regard to a hay bales being on fire. The call went out at around 1:45-p.m. for round hay bales located at the intersection of 180th St. (H33) and Cromwell Rd, or about one-mile inside the Adams County line. Officials say the fire was caused by a malfunctioning wheel on the trailer that was carrying round hay bales.

Adams and Union County Sheriff’s Deputies shut down the roadway for a while, due to dense smoke and for the safety of the fire crews, working on both sides of the roadway. Creston Fire crews completed their assignment a little after 2:45-p.m.

(Photos from the Creston Fire Department Facebook page)

(Radio Iowa) – Hundreds of workers at a J-B-S plant in Ottumwa were given 90 days to find new work authorizations after the Trump administration revoked their legal statuses. Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice spokesperson Elena Casillas-Hoffman says workers at other plants across the state are facing the same pressures.  “With the limited options that they have, what you’re going to see is that many individuals are going to be pushed to an undocumented status, potentially. So, you know, J-B-S in Ottumwa is one example of many, as more and more statuses are pulled and individuals are trying to find, what are their next steps?,” she says. Casillas-Hoffman says her organization has also heard of status terminations impacting workers in Marshalltown, Storm Lake and Sioux City.

“They’re now potentially going to face the idea that they and their families could become undocumented,” Casillas-Hoffman says. She says they’re trying to find new ways to legally remain in the country. “The increasing terror, the increasing surveillance and the increasing possibilities that come with being an undocumented person in the United States is a very real threat to many,” she says. The move affects Haitian, Venezuelan, Cuban and Nicaraguan immigrants who lived and worked in the United States under a special humanitarian parole program.

Individuals under humanitarian parole work in a variety of different fields, but Casillas-Hoffman says a large number work in meatpacking.

(Radio Iowa) – Long before there was T-V or the internet, Iowans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries would gather during the summer for events called “chautauquas,” to share food and drink, and to hear speakers on topics like history, art, and philosophy. An event later this month aims to recapture the spirit of those gatherings. Nathan Beacom is founder of the Lyceum Movement, which is sponsoring the third annual Des Moines Festival of Ideas. “We have speakers coming from around Iowa, but also around the country, people who are scholars and thinkers and writers and leaders,” Beacom says. “We’re talking about this theme of Trust in America, which I think is really timely right now. And there’s food, we have Australian pies and beer and wine and things like that.”

Polls continue to find public trust is failing in institutions like the media and the government. “We’re going to consider why that is and what it would mean to be trustworthy,” Beacom says. “So, Trust in Media, we have a few well-known journalists who are going to talk about what do they think it would mean for the media to be trustworthy and why have people lost trust? Similarly, we’ve got some figures from local government who are going to share their thoughts on that as well.” Other topics will include trust in religion, trust in technology, and trust in medicine. The two-day festival is designed to inspire those in the audience to discuss the topics and actually talk to one another face to face, Beacom says, with the goal of being conversational, not confrontational.

“We’re not trying to talk about heated topics. In general, we’re talking about the bigger ideas of why does trust matter in a society and what can we do to build trust together,” Beacom says. “We try to keep things on the level of big ideas rather than talking about this or that politician, or this or that law.” The non-partisan event is scheduled for next weekend, August 15th and 16th, in downtown Des Moines.

https://www.lyceummovement.org/tallgrass

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a Mills County man Tuesday evening, on a Montgomery County warrant for Violation of Probation. 32-year-old Matthew Russell Archer, of Glenwood, was arrested at around 5:30-p.m., and transported to the Montgomery County Jail. His cash-only bond was set at $5,000.

(Radio Iowa) – The Algona Municipal Airport’s concrete runway has closed this week for a project to address potential safety issues flagged by the Federal Aviation Administration. An F-A-A Flight Obstruction study identified U-S Highway 18 as an obstruction to planes approaching from the north. Barb Smith, Algona’s Deputy City Administrator, says the south end of the runway is being extended by 240 feet.

“The FAA said we could not have night landings on the concrete runway approaching from the north because it was too close to the highway,” Smith says, “so what we’re doing is we’re displacing that part of the runway and moving it to the south end.” The construction is expected to take four months, but weather could cause delays.  “We’re hoping this is the last stage of this project that’s been going on since, I believe, 2013,” Smith says.

New lighting that helps pilots see the approach path to the concrete runway is being installed. Smith says the Algona airport’s grass runway is still open and can handle all the planes that typically land on the concrete runway. “Some of your jets don’t want to use the grass runway,” Smith says. “They’ll have to divert somewhere else for the time being.”

The Algona Airport is two miles west of the intersection of U.S. Highways 18 and 169 and it can accommodate small and mid-sized jets. According to a 2022 report from the Iowa D-O-T, Algona’s airport has over 25-hundred visitors and generates five MILLION dollars in economic activity each year.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Officials with the Glenwood Police Department, Tuesday evening said the Glenwood Redevelopment Corporation has chosen to invest in additional security at the former Glenwood Resource Center Campus, and has partnered with the Glenwood Police Department and the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, to provide the added security, in light of the increased trespassing, vandalism, and thefts that have been occurring.

Authorities say “Anyone caught in violation of the campus hours or committing crimes will be charged to the full extent of the law.”

Campus hours are from daylight to dusk. After dusk, campus is closed unless present for a lawful purpose with Glen Haven or the Glenwood Community School District. The Glenwood Redevelopment Corporation took ownership of the 250-acre property earlier this year after the state closed the GRC last year.