(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn says a bill he’s co-sponsored would impose new sanctions on Russia as it continues attacking Ukraine. “To send a clear message to Russia: the world is watching and we will not stand by,” Nunn says. The bill would give the U-S Treasury Department authority to block foreign banks from having access to U.S. financial institutions if they’re doing business with Russian energy companies or any individual linked to Russia’s leader.

“Every delay empowers Putin. Every loophole prolongs this war,” Nunn said. “Every life that is lost in Ukraine today is a potential threat to Europe and the United States’ national security tomorrow.” Nunn says the bill targets the financial pipeline that’s fueling Putin’s war. “We must act with urgency and strength,” Nunn says, “reinforcing the message that access to the U.S. financial system should not be used by any enablers of Moscow’s aggression.”

Nunn says Russia’s largest aerial attack of the war happened on July 9th after President Trump said European allies could buy U-S made Patriot missiles for Ukraine. “As President Trump continues to ask for peace in the region, pleading directly to Moscow itself…this escalation requires a strategic, immediate and forceful response,” Nunn says.

Nunn, a Republican from Bondurant, is co-sponsoring the bill with a Democratic congressman from New Jersey and the House Financial Services Committee approved the measure this week on a 53-to-one vote. It’s eligible for debate in the full House when lawmakers return in September from their summer recess.

Coralville, IA – Southwest Iowa Transit Agency (SWITA), operated by Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) has once again been named the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Regional Transit System of the Year. The award was announced during the Iowa Public Transit Association Annual Awards at the Hyatt Regency in Coralville on Thursday, July 17^th. This is a 3-peat for SWITA winning this award, the first time an agency has been so honored.

The Iowa DOT Award is based on several factors meant to represent ridership and efficiency. SWITA has earned this award again due to strong ridership numbers while being the most cost-efficient system in the state.

SWITA Transit Director Mark Lander said, “This award represents all the hard work that our dedicated team puts in each day to ger the people of Southwest Iowa where they need to go. This takes everyone from the staff, the drivers, the shop, the board, and other supporters. We are honored to stand out amongst such remarkable peers.”

Iowa DOT Regional Transit System of the Year 2025 (L-R): Iowa DOT Public Transit Director Kristin Haar, SWITA Transit Director Mark Lander, SWITA Transit Coordinator Kristen Templeton, Iowa DOT Transit Programs Administrator Laura Lutz-Zimmerman, Iowa Transit Programs Administrator Matt Oetker, Iowa DOT Administrative Support Amy Colwell, Iowa DOT Compliance and Training Specialist Jamie Wingert

SWITA transportation is accessible to everyone in the eight-county region, including the disabled and elderly. SWITA offers several transportation options including work routes, medical trips, student transportation, taxi service in six communities, and special trips. SWITA vehicles are equipped with wheelchair accessibility and one personal attendant rides free.

SWIPCO Executive Director John McCurdy said, “Iowa is a model across the nation for rural public transportation. Not every state has public transit in every county like Iowa does, so to be recognized as Iowa public rural transit system of the year is amazing. SWITA is always pushing hard to provide the best service to the most people, and everyone in the region benefits from that.”

SWITA Driver of the Year Mike Ames was also honored at the IPTA Driver Awards Dinner on Friday, July 18^th at Walker Homestead Farm and Winery in Iowa City. Mike was able to attend a dinner with other top drivers from across the state and be recognized for his great work by his peers.

Mike Ames – Driver of the Year 2025 (L-R): SWITA Transit Director Mark Lander, SWITA Driver of the Year Mike Ames

AMES, Iowa – July 24, 2025 – The Iowa Transportation Commission is beginning the process to update the State Transportation Plan for Iowa. This plan provides a framework for how future investments should be made to Iowa’s multimodal transportation system, including all modes such as aviation, public transit, rail, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, highways, and water transportation.

As part of the update, we’re inviting Iowans to offer input on Iowa’s multimodal transportation system. We’ve created a short survey to collect feedback on the current system and gather ideas for the future of transportation in Iowa. The survey takes approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. Input from this initial survey will be used to help shape the State Transportation Plan objectives and strategies.

The survey is available at: https://iowadot.gov/FutureTravel and will remain open until August 31, 2025.

For additional information on the current State Transportation Plan, please visit https://iowadot.gov/transportation-development/systems-planning/areas-planning/transportation-plans/state-transportation-plan.

For questions, please contact the Iowa Department of Transportation, Systems Planning Bureau, 800 Lincoln Way, Ames, IA 50010, call 515-233-7950, or email iowa.motion@iowadot.us.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University’s long-running art rental program is ending after five decades. It allowed hundreds of students, faculty, staff and even local Ames residents to rent artwork from the university’s Memorial Union for a fraction of their original cost. Letitia Kenemer, the Memorial Union arts coordinator, says demand has fallen since the program was launched in the mid-1970s. “We still have renters, we still have people that come in,” she says, “but we just don’t have as much as we used to.”

ISU photo

The collection once offered nearly 300 works of art for people to keep for up to two years at a time, but the numbers have dwindled in recent years. “It was no longer actually making any income and the rentals had gone down,” Kenemer says, “and we tried some different things, but it just hasn’t been as robust as it used to be.”

More than 200 framed prints and posters from the collection will be available for purchase at I-S-U Surplus during the first week of August, with prices starting at just $10.

(Radio Iowa) – Today’s (Thursday) updated Drought Monitor report shows Iowa is close to being drought free. The U-S Drought Monitor map shows only about four percent of the state now has drought conditions. Most of Wappello County still has moderate drought, with some across the county line into Monroe and Davis County in southeast Iowa. There’s also some abnormally dry conditions in those counties. A sliver of moderate drought is hanging on in southwest Iowa, along the western edge of Mills County.

There’s some abnormally dry conditions in nearby Fremont and Page counties. The year started with 94 percent of the state with some type of drought condition.

(Radio Iowa) – There are now four Republicans campaigning for Iowa’s fourth district congressional seat. Ryan Rhodes of Ames worked for President Trump during Trump’s first administration and served as C-E-O of the conservative social media platform Parler for the past year. Rhodes says he’s committed to conservative values, is strongly pro-life, and plans to run on a “Make America Iowa” platform. “It’s going to be a strong message. We are not going to have any pale pastels or anything like that,” Rhodes says. “We are going to be really full-throated talking about fixing this country. It’s going to start here, in Iowa, so that we can take that strong voice out there.”

Rhodes says America’s political system is broken and he’ll ask voters to send him to D.C. to drain and set fire to the swamp. “We can be strong on protecting rural Iowa, strong on agriculture, and also have the ability to still get out there and fight and lead on the cultural issues,” Rhodes says. The other Republicans who’ve announced campaigns in the fourth congressional district are Siouxland Chamber of Commerce president Chris McGowan of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, Iowa House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley and Kyle Larson, a farmer from Humboldt. Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra is pursuing a run for Governor next year.

Democrats Stephanie Steiner of Sutherland and Ashley WolfTornabane from Storm Lake recently launched campaigns in the 4th district. Both are stay-at-home moms.

(Radio Iowa) – Plans are being unveiled that may mean faster delivery of packages for online shoppers in north-central Iowa. Officials with Amazon announced this week that the online retail giant has purchased property in Fort Dodge with plans to build a delivery station. There was no information as to when the delivery station will be built. An official with Amazon said there were no details as to the size of the building and how many will be employed.

File photo of an Amazon Delivery Station (From Wikimedia Commons)

The Amazon facility is to be built in Fort Dodge’s Decker Development Park, which is also home to Mid-American Energy, FORCE America, and Moeller Furnace and Air.

(Radio Iowa) – Two satellites built by researchers at the University of Iowa were launched into orbit Wednesday in a partnership with NASA and SpaceX. The satellites will help researchers answer questions about how solar wind impacts the Earth’s magnetic field, which can impact everything from phone calls to G-P-S maps. A crowd at a viewing party hosted by the university erupted into cheers when the rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The U-I received 115-million dollars from NASA for the TRACERS mission, which stands for Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites. The twin satellites were carried into low-Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Over the next few weeks, researchers at the university will slowly begin turning on the satellite sensors and start collecting data. U-I physics and astronomy professor Allison Jaynes says it was a relief to see the launch.  “It’s always this big adrenaline rush after you’ve been working on something for years of your life and you’ve seen it from concept all the way through to design to build and then to launch,” Jaynes says. “And to know that it could all come down to this one moment, whether it’s successful or not.”

The project was pioneered by Iowa physics professor Craig Kletzing, who died in 2023. Two of his guitar picks were sent into orbit with the rocket, one aboard each satellite.

NASA illustration of TRACERS

(An Iowa News Service report) – State officials in Iowa are recruiting local businesses to report suspected cases of human trafficking. It is an ongoing effort but highlighted this year as part of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Iowa reported 166 cases of human trafficking to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in the 2024 data, the most recent. Paul Pate, Secretary of State, said the state’s rural setting often belies the notion human trafficking only happens in states with bigger cities and added it is a serious issue in the Hawkeye State.

“We do have trafficking in Iowa,” Pate pointed out. “As a former mayor of Cedar Rapids, I like to think our communities and our state is one of the best, and it’s a great place to live. But until it’s great for everybody, our work isn’t done and, yes, there is trafficking and it’s right here in River City, as they say.” Pate noted the Iowa Businesses Against Trafficking initiative has grown to more than 850 members across nearly all 99 counties and more than 350,000 employees are encouraged to report tips if they suspect they see human trafficking happening.

Beyond businesses reporting suspected cases of human trafficking, Pate pointed out residents of local communities are just as important in seeing the signs and stepping in if they suspect it. “Whether you’re in Polk County, Scott County or Allamakee County, it’s everywhere,” Pate emphasized. “The only way we’re going to beat this is, we need to have everybody be more aware of what it is, help the eyes and ears, almost like a neighborhood watch program, making sure we’re looking for some of the symptoms.”

World Day Against Trafficking in Persons was established by the United Nations in 2013 to raise awareness and promote action against human trafficking of all kinds. The event takes place this year, on July 30th.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa’s annual pheasant survey begins Aug. 1, and with all the weather indicators pointing in a positive direction, hunters are eager to see the results. The statewide survey is conducted by Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) staff between Aug. 1-15, who drive 225, 30-mile routes on gravel roads at dawn on mornings with heavy dew. Hen pheasants will move their broods to the edge of the gravel road to dry off before they begin feeding, which makes them easier to count.

In June the DNR issued its annual prediction for the roadside counts, which uses a weather model based on the snowfall, rainfall and temperatures from the past winter and spring. The model provides a best guess at what the counts might look like, and it is predicting numbers to be likely higher than last year. “Our 100th season of pheasant hunting could be a very good year,” said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife biologist with the Iowa DNR. But the best indicator for the fall season is the August roadside survey that counts actual pheasants seen along more than 6,000 miles of rural, gravel roads.

The August roadside survey has been conducted over the same routes since 1962. In addition to pheasants and quail, the survey collects data on partridge, cottontails and jackrabbits. Results will be posted online at www.iowadnr.gov/pheasantsurvey in early September. Iowa’s pheasant season begins Oct. 25.