(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has issued its weekly Swimming Advisory for state beaches/lakes. This week 12 public beaches have advisories for E.coli readings above the acceptable limit for swimming. In southwest Iowa, swimming is not recommended at Lake Manawa Beach in Pottawattamie County, and at the Lake of Three Fires State Park, in Bedford.

Swimming advisories have also been posted for the following:

• Backbone Beach
• Beeds Lake Beach
• Black Hawk Beach
• Blue Lake Beach
• Lake Ahquabi Beach
• Lake Darling Beach
• Nine Eagles Beach
• Pine Lake South Beach
• Pleasant Creek Beach
• Union Grove Beach

(Elk Horn, Iowa) – Officials with the City of Elk Horn, Thursday, announced they are slightly easing water restrictions in the community. In a social media post, the City said levels in the water tower had been fully restored, and that they’re “ready to ease back into normal usage, “ but they “kindly ask that you continue to use water with moderation as we transition.” The City notes also, watering of plants and vegetation should be done between 8 PM and 8 AM, as water usage is higher during the daytime hours (business operations). Abiding by that provision, the City says, should help to balance usage. City officials thank residents and business owners for their “patience, understanding, and positive support during this time!”

Crews were able to locate a major water leak that was preventing the water tower from filling completely. The source of the issue, accoerding to the City, was traced to a residential property service line. The line had a severe leak 4–6 feet underground. Water from the leak was traveling along a water main line underground and under a nearby road, eventually going into a near by sewer manhole. After investigating multiple locations in the area and carefully following the mains, the source was finally located and repaired.

The water was tested for bacteria, and came back clean.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday evening, passed a resolution approving the contracts and bonds for the City’s 2025 Concrete Street Improvement Projects. Prior to passing the resolution, the Council awarded a contract for the projects to Bluffs Paving and Utility Company, Inc., of Crescent, for slightly more than $1.2-million dollars ($1,203,074.50). City Engineer Dave Sturm said a pre-construction meeting with the contractor will take place next week. He addressed the Council’s concerns about how businesses would be affected by the construction work.

The project will begin no later than August 4^th, and will be fully completed within 60 days, according to the contract, which also stipulates failure to complete the work will subject the construction company to a fee of $1,000 per day for each day the work remains incomplete. Councilman Gerald Brink said despite concerns, the projects will end up benefiting the City in the long run.

Bluffs Paving and Utility Company crew at work (File photo from their Facebook page)

The Portland Cement Concrete project covers the following heavily traveled streets in Atlantic:

• State Street from Locust Street to Chestnut Street
• Commerce Street from Chestnut to east of Linn Street
• Chestnut Street from Commerce north to the Schildberg parking lot
• Hickory Street from 6th to 7^th, and
• Laurel Street from 10th to the dead end.

It also includes minor drainage improvements and miscellaneous, associated work.

(Radio Iowa) – Three southwest Iowa teenagers will compete this weekend in the National High School Finals Rodeo in Rock Springs, Wyoming. Myler Maher, a junior at Sidney High School, says she’s been preparing diligently for months for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “I ride my horse every single day to keep her in shape,” Maher says. “Most of the time it’s just exercising, but about twice a week we’ll go and practice to make sure she still knows how to get the job done.” Nash Moreland, a freshman at Fremont-Mills, will compete in bull riding. When asked what makes him successful in such a physically demanding event, Moreland keeps it simple. “I have a lot of try,” Moreland says. “I like to really grit my teeth and just try until my head hits the ground.”

Joining Moreland in the bull riding event is his training partner Cade Smith of Sidney. Smith has been riding bulls most of his life and will be making his third appearance at the national event. “I’ve been riding bulls since I was five years old,” Smith said. “I started in junior high rodeo in sixth grade, and I’ve worked my way up to high school rodeo now. I’m a senior this year, so I’ve been riding bulls about 14 years.” Smith says he’s excited not just for the competition, but also for the connections.  “The biggest thing I think I’m excited for is getting to meet all the new people,” Smith says. “I’m really good at talking to new people, learning where they’re from. So I think getting to build new friendships and getting to meet people is probably my biggest thing.”

The event features more than 1,800 contestants from around the world, all vying for prize money, scholarships and the chance to be crowned a world champion. The finals will be streamed online Saturday at www.thecowboychannel.com.

(Radio Iowa) – The continued rains created another improvement in this week’s U-S Drought Monitor report, with 88 percent of the state showing NO drought conditions. The D-N-R Jessica Reese McIntyre keeps track of the numbers and says “There is still about 25 percent of the state that’s abnormally dry and about two percent of the state that’s in moderate drought.” she says. Iowa had broken out of a three-year drought just about this time last year, and then the new year started out dry and never got better. “Going into the spring while we were getting rain, we weren’t getting a whole lot to kind of overcompensate for that and then just the overall deficit that we have still coming out of that drought,” she says. June started the turnaround that continued into July. McIntyre says northwest Iowa has probably seen one of the biggest turnarounds after seeing a big section of severe drought.

“Seeing them completely remove all of the moderate drought designation really is encouraging, especially for that area, because you know, they’ve just kind of been battered with drier weather compared to the rest of the state,” she says. “And southwest Iowa kind of continues in a very similar dry pattern.” McIntyre issued a “drought watch” for that southwest areas. She says things are a lot better as we head into the last half of July compared to where we were in January. “Most of the state I don’t have any concern as far as drought or abnormally dry conditions. But again, I’ll just can’t kind of keep my eye on that southwest corner and even in the southeast portion of the state, there’s a little bit of moderate drought, so I’ll be keeping my eye on those,” McIntyre says.

She says continued wet condition through July could clear the drought all the way out of the state.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested two people on Child Endangerment charges Thursday night. Authorities say 39-year-old Erin Jean Larson, of Red Oak, and 59-year-old Richard James Reynolds, of Elliott, were each charged with four-counts of Child Endangerment. Reynolds was additionally charged with a Controlled Substance Violation, a Class-D Felony. His bond was set at $5,000. Bond for Larson was set at $2,000. Both were being held in the Montgomery County Jail. They were taken into custody between 8:45- and 9-p.m. in the 1400 block of Broadway, in Red Oak.

OMAHA, Neb. — Cedar Rapids Police confirmed a Nebraska man was arrested after a flight from Omaha made an emergency landing in Iowa Thursday night. Authorities say that at around 6:13p.m., Cedar Rapids Police were dispatched to the Eastern Iowa Airport following an in-air disturbance by a single male passenger on a SkyWest flight (#3612) from Omaha to Detroit.

The flight left Omaha at around 5:25-p.m.  CNN reports that a passenger tried to open an emergency exit door and got into a fight with a flight attendant.  The flight diverted to Cedar Rapids where it landed safely and was met by police officers, who took the passenger into custody. (Video posted below is from a passenger, Jonathan Spencer Van der Waarden, who posted the arrest on X)

(Radio Iowa) – Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a possible 2028 presidential candidate, praised the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses during remarks at an Iowa G-O-P fundraiser and he urged Republicans to do everything they can to help President Trump and his administration be successful.

“We have the White House, we have the House of Representatives, we have the Senate,” Youngkin said, “and we’d better go get stuff done.” Youngkin was on stage for about half an hour, in a question and answer format with the Iowa G-O-P’s chairman who asked Youngkin if he likes having the Iowa Caucuses kick off the presidential campaign season.

Iowa GOP chair Jeff Kaufmann, on right, asked questions of Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin at a party fundraiser in Des Moines. (RI photo)

“The beginning of the nomination process starts with incredibly informed voters,” Youngkin said. “The difference in the way that the Caucus system works and the way a normal primary works is it is a moment to fully understand issues, candidates, and what that candidate can do.” Youngkin, a businessman, became the first Republican to win statewide office in 12 years when he was elected governor in 2021. He says the win was fueled by a backlash against pandemic restrictions. Virginia was the 46th state in the nation to re-open schools.

“We found ourselves truly at ‘ground zero’ of the parents’ movement,” Youngkin said, “…and my recognition that there is a fundamental right for parents to make decisions with regards to their child’s upbringing, their care and their education — and we are going to make sure we stand for it.” Youngkin has pushed to provide taxpayer-funded scholarships for low income students to attend private K-through-12 schools, but his plan stalled in Virginia’s General Assembly where Democrats have majority control. Virginia law does not allow governors to seek reelection and his term ends in January.

(This is an article that was researched and written by the Iowa Capital Dispatch. The full link to the story is highlighted below)

(Des Moines, Iowa) – A Cass County nursing home with a history of resident abuse has been fined $9,500 due to new allegations of resident abuse and poor-quality care that may have contributed to a death. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing alleges that the staff of Caring Acres Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Anita failed to adequately respond to a male resident’s change in condition during the day and evening shifts of May 18, 2025.

The resident allegedly developed a fever about 7 p.m., after which a staff member “applied a cold rag to his head,” according to inspectors. No medication was provided to lower the man’s fever and his physician was not notified until 3 a.m. the next morning, inspectors allege. By that time, the man’s vital signs had reportedly worsened considerably and he was vomiting and having trouble breathing.

The resident was taken to a hospital where he was diagnosed with a left hip fracture, according to inspectors. He died at the hospital either five hours later or 17 hours later, with the state inspection report providing conflicting information as to the timing. The immediate cause of death was listed as sepsis as a consequence of aspiration pneumonia.

According to the inspectors’ findings, a certified nursing assistant later told them, “We look out for our residents, we notice the changes,” and said that while she had reported the man’s worsening condition to the nurse on duty, the nurse “was not paying attention.” She reported that after the nurse said he’d check on the man, he instead went outside and attended to other matters.

Caring Acres Nursing and Rehabilitation in Anita. (Photo via Google Earth)

The nurse allegedly told inspectors he was not informed of the man’s changing condition by either the staff or the man’s family. The facility’s director of nursing allegedly told inspectors the “only thing staff should have done that weekend was to contact her when they sent (the resident) out to the hospital.” When informed what staff members had said they observed and reported, she allegedly told the inspectors she “did not know a lot of that information.”

When asked again what should have been done, the director of nursing allegedly indicated the staff should have reached out to her and also used their nursing knowledge, contacted the physician and provided medication.

Caring Acres was fined $9,000 as a result of the death. The home was also fined $500 for abuse involving a different resident.  In 2023, Caring Acres was cited for failing to protect residents from sexual abuse at the hands of a male resident of the home. Last summer, the state proposed fines of $30,250 against Caring Acres due to verbal abuse allegedly committed by a teenage caregiver.

State records indicate Caring Acres is owned by Anew Healthcare Operations of Blue Springs, Mo., although operations are being overseen by a receiver. The for-profit company has operated 12 nursing homes in Iowa, Kansas and Missouri and is headed by Mark Hastings of Missouri who could not be reached for comment Thursday.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Northern Iowa has settled a lawsuit with the former Assistant Vice President and Student Health Director who sued the university for age discrimination. Shelley O’Connell saw her pay cut 50-thousand dollars in 2024 and she was given a new job title. Her lawyer Jill Zwagerman says O’Connell believed the university did wrong her, but wanted to resolve the conflict amicably.

“We’re always open to settlement, because if the parties can agree, that’s just better for both sides, if they can come up with a resolution that they get to control, as opposed to putting it in the hands of a jury, and you don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen,” Zwagerman says. U-N-I has agreed to pay O’Connell more than 133-thousand dollars in lost wages and non-wage payments and O’Connell has agreed to retire.

“She still is very supportive of the university, and she didn’t want her bad experience with the demotion to weigh that down, and so settlement just seemed to be a better option,” she says. O’Connell has worked at U-N-I for more than two decades and says she was in good standing before the pay cut and demotion.