(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man Tuesday night on an assault charge. Authorities report 49-year-old Michael Lafollette, of Red Oak, was charged with Domestic Abuse Assault/1^st offense. He was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – Shovels of dirt were turned Tuesday in Sioux City in the groundbreaking for a new Iowa Army National Guard maintenance shop. The Guard’s construction and facilities officer John Perkins says it’s a 25-thousand square foot building the replaces a 72 year old facility that was too small.

The leader of the Iowa National Guard, Major General Stephen Osborn, says the nearly 14 million dollar project is federally funded.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a member of the U-S Senate’s Armed Services Committee, attended the groundbreaking.

Ernst says she is still working on another Sioux City project that will expand the runway at the airport for the 185th Air Guard Refueling Wing.

The new Army building will feature drive-through maintenance bays, energy smart geothermal heating and backup generator systems. The building will support up to 18 mechanics, which its double the current number. It is expected to take 18 months to build.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Transportation has updated the way it gets input on its various projects through its web-based feedback portal. The D-O-T’s Trisha Miller says the new system does a better job of collating the input on each project.

So if there’s a road or bridge project in your area, you can click on the PublicInput.com link and share your opinion. She says they will put the link in when they send out notices on projects.

Miller says it’s part of the information you can review.

She says they get lots of different comments on the projects in the six districts across the state.

The Iowa D-O-T also holds open houses, and public hearings at different stages of project development to get input on everything from detours to right-of-ways.

(Radio Iowa) – The leaders of Iowa’s largest food bank are incensed at the U-S Department of Agriculture’s decision to end a longstanding national hunger survey. Agency officials called the survey “redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous.” Annette Hacker, spokeswoman for the Food Bank of Iowa, says it’s unconscionable that U-S-D-A would eliminate this important gauge of a countrywide crisis.

The final household food security report will be released on October 22nd. Earlier this year, the group Feeding America reported 12% of Iowans and nearly 17% of Iowa children faced food insecurity, a situation that has increased in every one of the state’s 99 counties.

What’s known as the Household Food Security Report offers a yearly snapshot on the lack of access to nutrition for low-income Americans, while acting as a guide to shape policy on how best to fight food insecurity. The Food Bank of Iowa served two-point-four million people at its partner pantries in the past fiscal year, an 11% increase over the previous fiscal year.

The Food Bank of Iowa provides food assistance by partnering with 700 agencies across 55 counties in Iowa to distribute food and meals to those in need, including families, children, seniors, and veterans.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowan nominated by President Trump to serve in the U.S. Department of Education says American universities must be reformed. David Barker, an economist and real estate developer from Iowa City, has been nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education. He’s served on the board that governs the three state universities since May of 2019.

Barker says his personal review also found nearly all the politically-oriented books that were required reading for courses at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I were liberal.

Barker says he helped create centers at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I that will provide ideological balance.

Barker is a member of the Iowa Republican Party’s governing board and made his comments during a speech at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s fall banquet. Barker’s current term on the Board of Regents expires in the spring of 2031 and the U-S Senate has not yet scheduled a hearing on his nomination to serve in the Trump Administration. If confirmed, Barker would oversee federal financial aid programs for students and accreditation of colleges and universities.
Barker, who is 64, graduated from Iowa City West High School and went on to get a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago. Barker was an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and has taught at the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa. His Iowa City-based company owns, manages and develops apartments and other properties.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s optimistic a resolution will be found to avoid a federal government shutdown when the fiscal year ends one week from Tuesday (Sept 23). Grassley, a Republican, says President Trump will meet with top Democrats from the U-S House and Senate on Thursday to seek options and common ground.

A so-called “clean C-R” is an agreement that simply says spending will remain exactly the same for a given period of time, with nothing additional tacked on.

Opposing Republican and Democratic funding proposals were rejected by the Senate last week. The G-O-P plan would have restored funding cuts Democrats opposed, while the Democratic funding bill aimed to extend parts of Obamacare that are scheduled to end in December. Grassley says they need to meet in the middle.

Grassley blames Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer for the shutdown showdown, while Democrats point to Republicans.

(Radio Iowa) – A fourth Republican has entered the race to represent Iowa’s second congressional district in the U.S. House. Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports.

State Representative Shannon Lundgren (R-Peosta) is running for the U.S. House. (Campaign photo)

(Radio Iowa) – A baby was turned over to the state earlier this month under the Safe Haven program. Radio Iowa’s Dar Danielson reports.

(Radio Iowa) – Many Iowa oak trees are producing a bumper crop of acorns this year. Aaron Steil, a horticulture specialist with Iowa State University Extension — says it’s a “mast year” for oaks.

The mast cycle is not unique to oak trees.

Steil says there is a theory of why trees do this and it’s related to the survival of the species.

In years when there’s an abundance of acorns, it’s also easier for humans to find viable seeds to replant.

In 1961, the legislature designated the oak as Iowa’s official state tree. There are a dozen species of oak trees found in Iowa.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak say a woman was arrested at around 8-p.m. Monday, following the execution of a search warrant at a location in the 1600 block of East Summit Street. 42-year-old Katie Lee Wagaman, of Red Oak, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense (A serious misdemeanor), and two-counts of Child Endangerment (both aggravated misdemeanors), after Police and officials with the Department of Human Services executed the warrant.

Wagaman was being held in the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $2,000 bond.