(Report from the Iowa Capital Dispatch; Eddyville, IA) – Iowa grown corn will soon end up in apparel like Spanx, and other products typically made with petroleum-based components, following the opening of a new processing facility. Qore, the joint venture between Minnesota-based Cargill and Germany-based HELM AG, celebrated the opening of the $300 million facility Tuesday in Eddyville, and future growth it represents. The facility will take sustainably grown corn from within the area, then grind it and process it into QIRA, which the company said is an “identical replacement” of 1,4-butanediol, a chemical component used to manufacture various polymers.

Officials with Qore and the partnering companies said the venture is a response to consumer demand for more sustainably produced products, but will also stoke the Iowa corn market and local economy, and pave the way for future partnerships to for bio-based alternatives to petroleum-derived products. Jon Veldhouse, CEO of Qore, said Tuesday the project “connects” a “global challenge” with the natural process of corn absorbing CO2 and turning light into plant energy. Qore has already partnered with a number of brands, the first of which was Lycra, the original makers of Spandex materials. Gary Smith, Lycra Company’s CEO, said with QIRA, he can provide a high level of product credibility and show consumers exactly where the corn in their yoga pants was grown. Smith said he hopes this is “the first step” in a future with many QIRA facilities around the world.

The Qore facility in Eddyville will create a bio-based alternative to petrochemical components used in clothing and other products. Executives held a ribbon cutting at the plant Tuesday July 22, 2025. From left are Allie Buckvold, Axel Viering, Bruce Leslie, Jon Veldhouse, Anita Heinemann. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

At full capacity, the Eddyville plant will have an annual demand of 100 million bushels of corn. Steve Kuiper, an Iowa corn farmer growing for the facility, said that capacity would take all of his corn “plus a whole lot of other folks.’” Plus, that corn would be sold at a premium since QIRA needs to be made with corn grown under regenerative farming practices, like cover cropping and reduced tillage. Corn farmers have had low market prices the past several years and are looking for new markets that will give them a higher price per bushel, or to grow the market through things like Sustainable Aviation Fuel.  Kuiper said the QIRA market doesn’t fill the same gap as something like sustainable aviation fuel would, but he said “biochemistry is on everybody’s minds” and he said farmers, and consumers, need to advocate for more biochemical solutions.

The plant in Eddyville, which opened 40-years ago, is poised to produce 66,000 metric tons of QIRA annually, but the partners said they all hope demand for the product expands and more facilities will be needed. Once the products hit the shelves, customers will see QIRA branding to identify it in stores.

(Creston, Iowa) – A man and a woman from Creston were arrested on separate Domestic Abuse Assault charges, Tuesday. According to Creston Police, 42-year-old Tiffany Katina Warren was arrested at around 2:15-p.m. at her home. She was seen by a Magistrate and released on her Own Recognizance. And, at around 6:20-p.m. Tuesday, Creston Police arrested 35-year-old Alex Richard Cunningham at his residence.

In addition to being arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault, Cunningham was charged with Assault Causing Bodily Injury, and Assault. Cunningham was being held without bond in the Union County Jail, until seen by a Judge.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch report) – Two of Iowa’s higher education institutions are working with the Eastern Iowa Airport to launch a new training program and fill gaps in the aviation industry. Coe College announced in a news release Monday both the private university and Kirkwood Community College will offer educational resources for the new Aviation Workforce Development Campus, a space spanning two hangars in the airport for students to learn and train in their aviation programs. Airport Director Mary Lenss said in the release, “We recognized the need to take a leadership role in addressing aviation workforce challenges. By establishing this Aviation Workforce Development Campus, we’re not only preparing students for positions throughout aviation to sustain industry operations locally and worldwide, but we’re also positioning CID as a regional hub for aviation education. These students will be entering professions that have already seen significant growth and are primed for more.”

(Photo by David Kosling/USDA)

The Eastern Iowa Airport has an existing relationship with Coe College, having partnered with the Cedar Rapids university to create a Coe College flight school and aviation management program, operated by the college and Revv Aviation. The Coe programs are being operated out of the development campus, according to the release, alongside Kirkwood’s aviation maintenance technology program. Flight training under the purview of flight training company ATD Flight Systems will begin at the development campus this fall, the release stated.

Kirkwood Community College President Kristie Fisher said in the release the launch of the airport campus “represents a serious response to workforce needs and a terrific opportunity for our students to be part of the airport’s leadership in aligning education and training with national demand.” Coe College President David Hayes said in the news release, “The Eastern Iowa Airport’s vision for this campus creates a special opportunity to help fill a need for both the Corridor and a larger industry that’s crucial to economic growth on a local to global scale. I’m most excited for the students who, because of this dynamic arrangement at CID, are going to enter the workforce prepared to thrive.”

(Radio Iowa) – An 18-month-old died after being found unresponsive in a vehicle in West Des Moines earlier this month, marking the eighth such hot car child death in the state since 1998. Laura Dunn, a safety specialist with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, says a child’s body temperature rises up to five times faster than an adult’s and can quickly reach dangerous levels in a car, even if it’s parked in the shade or the windows are open a crack.

“Parents may think that their children will never be a victim of a hot car, or that they could never forget their child, but it happens, unfortunately, to dozens of families every year,” Dunn says. “We lose on average 37 children each year to hot car deaths. We want to show parents and caregivers how this can happen and how they can also prevent it.” Studies find pediatric heatstroke can happen at temperatures as low as 60 degrees, and a child will die much more quickly if temperatures are in the 80s or 90s.

“About 52% of these cases are when children are forgotten in a hot car, and many times we found that the biggest risk factor for parents is a change in routine,” Dunn says, “so a different parent is dropping that child off for the day, maybe there was a doctor’s appointment, there’s something different happening that day.” Dunn suggests parents make an arrangement with their childcare provider that might help prevent a tragedy. “Have that childcare provider give you a call if your child doesn’t arrive within 10 or 15 minutes of when they’re supposed to be there,” Dunn says. “Just kind of check in and say, ‘Hi, is your child supposed to be there today?’ and then have both parents check with each other and make sure they know exactly where their child is.”

Placing a child’s toy in the front seat with the driver may help to trigger their memory, or better yet, Dunn suggests putting an item you’ll need to have at work in the -back- seat with the child. “Your work bag, your purse, your phone, your badge that you need for work, anything that you need for the day,” Dunn says. “Put it in the back seat, so when you get to where you’re going, you park, you get out, you have to physically open that back door and look in your back seat and retrieve those things that you need for the day. It’s just that extra check that your child is not in the car.”

A national ad campaign aims to reinforce the message: “Stop. Look. Lock.” About a quarter of these hot car deaths are cases where the child gets inside the car themselves and can’t get out. To prevent that situation, Dunn suggests always keeping your vehicle’s doors locked and keep the keys or fob up and out of a child’s reach.

NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (KETV, Omaha)  – A man from southwest Iowa will be sentenced in September, after being found guilty Tuesday  of hitting and killing a child in Nebraska City on July 17th. The Nebraska City Police Department said 59-year-old Vernon Christiansen, of Percival, was driving through an alley at around 5-p.m. on July 17th when his vehicle struck a 6-year-old. Court documents says the child died at the scene. The incident happened during the town’s farmers market.

Officers said they found an open alcohol container in Christiansen’s truck during a search of the vehicle, but Otoe County, Nebraska, Attorney Jennifer Panko-Rahe, said they did not find evidence to charge him with DUI. On Monday, Christiansen pleaded no contest to several charges, including motor vehicle homicide and possess/consume open alcohol container.

A judge set bond at $50,000. Christiansen is scheduled to be sentenced on the charges on Sept. 8. He faces up to a year in jail and/or up to a $1,300 fine.

(Radio Iowa) – Senator Chuck Grassley says the F-B-I cut corners in its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information when she was Secretary of State. The Trump Administration recently fulfilled Grassley’s long-standing request and declassified more documents related to the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server.

“You could say after 10 years, ‘What’s the use?'” Grassley said. “The use is to let people know what the government has done through political weaponization of various branches of government, in this case DOJ and FBI, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Grassley says the newly-released material shows the F-B-I under James Comey’s leadership failed to fully and completely investigate the Clinton matter.

Two weeks ago, Fox News Digital reported Comey is under F-B-I investigation for allegedly mishandling claims of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Grassley says these newly-released documents about the 2016 investigation of Clinton’s emails may lead to an expansion of the F-B-I’s probe. “If there’s going to be prosecution, that’s going to be up to the executive branch,” Grassley said. “All I can do is make the information public and, by inference, expect them to do something about it and if inference isn’t enough, I’ll make it very clear to them.”

Democrats like Senator Cory Booker say Republicans had dozens of congressional hearings about Clinton’s emails years ago, while Republicans haven’t held any public hearings about the country’s top defense official using a group chat with other Trump officials to talk about military strikes in Yemen while a journalist was accidentally included in the text chain.

(Radio Iowa) – An eastern Iowa pastor has launched a campaign for Iowa’s Second Congressional District seat, currently held by Republican Ashley Hinson. Clint Twedt-Ball lives in Cedar Rapids, where he co-founded the housing and food service nonprofit “Matthew 25” nearly two decades ago. He says that experience has given him a firsthand understanding of the affordability issues northeastern Iowans face and the tools needed to solve them.

“I built housing, I understand housing, and I know what it takes to make it more affordable,” he says. “And then, I’ve also run a nonprofit grocery store, right? So I understand how grocery prices can get out of control.” Twedt-Ball says he started considering a run for Congress early this year — around the time President Donald Trump returned to office.

“We have a president that has done this tariff chaos and done other things that have driven prices for housing up, and so we need to pull on those levers,” Twedt-Ball says, “reduce tariffs, make exemptions for wood and steel, so that we can make housing as affordable as possible.” Twedt-Ball, who was born in Harlan and is the son of a pastor, is 54. If elected, Twedt-Ball says he’d work to preserve Medicaid and Social Security and find ways to spur economic development in small towns.

He’s the second Democrat to announce this month they’re running in the second congressional district. Sixty-seven-year-old Kathy Dolter, a retired Army nurse and the former dean of nursing at Kirkwood Community College, changed her voter registration from no-party to Democrat earlier this year and filed the paperwork to start raising money for a campaign.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Auditor’s Office reports there will officially be a race to fill a vacant seat around the table on the Lewis City Council. Today (Tuesday) the Auditor’s Office announced David J. Raymond, a Republican from Lewis, will face-off against fellow Republican Russell Miller, from Lewis. The Special Election takes place August 19th at the Lewis Community Center.

The Council seat in Lewis became vacant when Councilman Chris Jahnke assumed the role of Mayor on April 29th. The winner of the Special Election will serve through the end of 2025. The seat comes up again in the regular election on November 4th. Whomever is elected will begin their full-term in 2026.

Meanwhile, there’s still time for candidates to file their completed nomination papers with the Cass County Auditor’s Office. The deadline is 5-p.m. Friday, July 25th. For more information, contact the Auditor’s Office at 712-243-4570 or visit their website.

(Des Moines) – The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has confirmed a case of measles in an adult resident of Western Iowa and is notifying the public of potential exposure locations.  The individual is fully vaccinated and has no known link to the previous measles cases in Iowa, nor any recent travel outside the state. Iowa has a total of eight confirmed measles cases in 2025. As of July 15, 2025, a total of 1,309 confirmed measles cases have been reported in the United States. Of these, 1,204 (92%) were unvaccinated, and 105 (8%) had received at least one dose of MMR vaccine. Breakthrough cases typically experience milder illness and are less likely to spread the virus to others.

Iowa HHS and local health officials have identified locations visited by the individual while contagious, where the public might have been exposed to measles. Anyone present at the following locations during the listed date and time should monitor for symptoms of measles. Symptoms of measles include fever, cough, red/watery eyes, runny nose, and a rash. If you think you have been exposed to a measles case and have symptoms, call your medical provider or nearest emergency room ahead of time and tell them that you have been exposed to measles and have symptoms before arriving.

Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself, your family, and your community. Measles is a highly contagious viral illness that is spread through the air when an infectious person coughs, sneezes, or breathes.

Due to a locally-acquired case of measles not linked to other known cases, an accelerated MMR vaccination schedule should be considered. While the routine MMR schedule is one dose at 12–15 months and a second dose at 4–6 years, Iowans should consider:

• An early extra dose of MMR between 6 and 11 months of age (“dose 0”); this dose does not count toward the routine series
• The first routine dose (dose 1) can be given after 12 months of age, at least 28 days after dose 0
• The second routine dose (dose 2) can be given at least 28 days after dose 1, instead of waiting until age 4–6 years

For the latest information on measles in Iowa, visit the Iowa HHS Center for Acute Disease Epidemiology disease information page. This page is updated weekly, on Thursdays, with current case counts and public health guidance.  Iowa HHS will issue a press release when there is a confirmed public exposure that may pose a risk to others. When possible, individuals identified as close contacts will also be notified directly by public health officials.

DAVENPORT, Iowa – Two Keokuk men were sentenced to federal prison for Conspiracy to Distribute 50 Grams or More of Methamphetamine.

According to public court documents and evidence presented at trial, between at least April and July 2024, Ronald Dickey Mason, 75, and Ronald Kieth Mason, 43, father and son, conspired to sell large amounts of methamphetamine in Keokuk, Burlington, Riverside, Des Moines, and Cedar Rapids. In July 2024, law enforcement located 28 pounds of methamphetamine in the trunk and a pistol in the center console of Ronald Dickey Mason’s car.

In February of 2025 Ronald Kieth Mason plead guilty as charged and Ronald Dickey Mason plead guilty to conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. In March 2025, a jury convicted Ronald Dickey Mason of carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. On July 22, 2025, the Court sentenced him to 22 years in federal prison, followed by a five-year term of supervised release.

Ronald Keith Mason was sentenced on June 25, 2025, to 20 years in federal prison, followed by a five-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 Lee County Narcotics Task Force, the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Lee County Sheriff’s Office, and the Keokuk Police Department.