DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI-TV] — One person is in custody after they “entered the stage area during event activities” Thursday afternoon during the National Speech and Debate Tournament at the EMC Expo Center in Des Moines. According to a news release from the Des Moines Police Department, the male’s “behavior prompted safety concerns and the immediate area was evacuated.”

Authorities say it happened just before 3 p.m. and officers working the event took the person into custody. “No weapons were seen or have been recovered at this time,” according to DMPD. “No injuries have been reported at this time.”  The area was safely cleared and participants were allowed back into the events center before 4 p.m. and the schedule resumed at 5:15 p.m.

It’s the 100th anniversary of the National Speech and Debate Tournament. Organizers expected more than 10,000 people from schools across the United States and around the world to attend the five-day event, which opened Monday and ends Friday.

Shelby Young with the National Speech and Debate Association provided the following statement:

This afternoon, an unidentified attendee entered the stage during the Humorous Interpretation Finals, interrupting the round. The individual has been subdued and removed from the premises. There were no weapons involved, and no threats were made. The hall was evacuated and there are no reported injuries. The rest of the venue has been swept for any potential threats by members of law enforcement. We understand the concerns people have, and we want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident. 

(Grinnell, Iowa) – (updated/edited)  The driver of a pickup truck died and one other person was injured, during a collision this (Thursday) morning on Interstate near Grinnell. According to the Iowa State Patrol a semi carrying an oversized load blew a tire near mile marker 185 on eastbound I-80, at around 7:15-a.m.

The semi pulled-over and parked on the shoulder of the interstate. A Ford F-350 pickup serving as a pilot vehicle, was parked behind the semi on the shoulder. The driver of the pickup, 55-year-old Brenton Fregia, of Troutman, NC, was outside of the vehicle attending to the semi with a flat tire.

An eastbound semi struck the rear of the pickup and the disabled semi. Brenton Fregia was critically injured and later died at the hospital in Grinnell. A woman who was injured in the crash was also transported by Grinnell EMS to Unity Point Hospital in Grinnell.

(Creston, Iowa) – A collision early this (Thursday) afternoon in Creston between a car and a motorcycle caused a total of $5,500 damage, but no one was hurt. The Creston Police Department reports that at around 12:30-p.m., a Honda Accord driven by 33-year-old Stacia Mongar, of Creston, was stopped at the intersection of Prairie and Sumner Streets, when Mongar realized she forgot something at home.

She was in the process of backing her car up to a driveway to turn around, when her vehicle struck a 2019 Honda motorcycle, operated by 20-year-old Gannon Greenwalt, of Creston, was he was stopped behind the car. The car backed over the motorcycle, but Greenwalt was able to jump-off and avoid injury.

The report did not mention any citations being issued.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office today (Thursday), released a report on arrests from the past week. Most recently…

On Thursday, June 19th: 64-year-old Marlene Sue Rush, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI-1st offense. Rush was transported to the Cass County Jail where she was booked and later released on her own recognizance; and, 42-year-old Joseph Lee Reynolds, of Atlantic, was arrested on charges that include 2 counts of theft in the 5th degree (< $300), 4 counts of theft in the 2nd degree (> $1,500 < $10,00), 8 counts of theft in the 3rd degree (> $750 < $1,500), and 2 counts of theft in the 4th degree (> $300 < $750). Reynolds was transported to the Cass Country Jail where he was booked and held.

On Tuesday, June 17th, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 31-year-old Edward Arnold Parrott, Jr, of Council Bluffs, for felony Forgery and Theft in the 5th Degree against an older individual. Parrott was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and later released on his own recognizance.

Last Sunday (June 15th), 22-year-old William Aleczander Freimark, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. He was later released on his Own Recognizance.

On June 12th, Cass County Deputies arrested 24-year-old Jeg Charles Updike, of Greenfield, for OWI/1st offense. He was later released on his Own Recognizance.

And, there were two arrests in Cass County on June 11th: 62-year-old Louie Mitchell Hahn, of Atlantic, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance. Hahn was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and later released on his own recognizance; and, 64-year-old Gary Joe Buboltz,  of Lewis, was arrested for driving under suspension. Buboltz was transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked and later released on bond.

(Radio Iowa) – A new report ranks Iowa’s health system 18th out of the 50 states. The report by the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund finds Iowa has low rates of drug overdose deaths and adults who go without care because of the cost, but it shows Iowa also has some of the nation’s highest obesity rates.

The fund’s Sara Collins says current federal proposals to add work requirements to Medicaid could cause Iowa’s uninsured rate to rise, as most people on Medicaid already work. “The reporting requirements will be the thing that really does lead to people dis-enrolling and becoming uninsured,” Collins says. “People really have no other options.”

While Iowa placed 18th overall, the report ranked the state 11th for access and affordability. The report found Iowa’s uninsured rate dropped from more than 12-percent in 2013 to about seven-percent a decade later. Collins says proposed cuts to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid at the federal level could reverse that trend. “As we make it harder for people to access both of those, we’re likely to see people just becoming uninsured because the reality is, they still don’t have access to employer-based coverage,” she says.

Republican lawmakers proposed cuts to federal health programs to offset revenue loss from large tax cuts proposed under the budget reconciliation bill. Iowa lawmakers also passed Medicaid work requirements at the state level last session and are waiting on federal approval to implement them.

(Radio Iowa) – The countdown clock is again ticking toward a weekend launch for Iowa native astronaut Peggy Whitson and her record-setting fifth space mission. First set for liftoff June 8th, there’ve been multiple delays due to bad weather at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and mechanical issues on both the Falcon 9 rocket and the docking area on the International Space Station. The launch of Ax-4 is now scheduled for early Sunday morning at 2:42/Central time.

Whitson is commander of the Axiom Space mission along with three crewmates from India, Hungary, and Poland. Whitson, who grew up on a farm near Beaconsfield, has spent 675 days in orbit, so far. She holds the record for the longest cumulative time in space by an American astronaut.

Ax-4 Crew (Axiom Space image)

The crew is scheduled to spend two weeks at the space station, conducting a series of some 60 experiments in biology, material and physical sciences, as well as technology.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is the nation’s top corn-producing state and Iowa farmers harvested over two-point-six BILLION bushels of corn last year — the second largest crop ever. Iowa State University ag economist Chad Hart says despite tariff challenges, U-S corn exports for the first five months of the year hit a three year high.

“The only big market where U.S. corn really isn’t moving is the Chinese market,” Hart says. “Almost everywhere else we’ve seen fairly sizable gains in sales and that holds when we look at soybeans as well.” The U-S-D-A has predicted a slight drop in soybean sales this year, but not as much as feared due to the lack of sales to China. Reports indicate corn exports remained well above average through early June.

“When you talk to farmers, there is some cautious optimism out there because they are seeing these additional sales,” Hart says. Hart says in June, it’s typically Brazil and Argentina that dominate global sales of feed grains. Iowa typically accounts for about eight to nine percent of all U-S agricultural exports. California’s the only state that exports more agricultural products.

(Central Poweshiek County) – A collision Thursday morning between two cars south of Brooklyn, in eastern Iowa’s Poweshiek County left one of the drivers dead. The Iowa State Patrol reports a Pontiac Bonneville driven by 70-year-old James John Jacobi, of Belle Plaine, was southbound on Highway V-18 just north of 460th Avenue, when a northbound Hyundai Sonata driven by 37-year-old Joshua Allen Klein, of Brooklyn, crossed the center line of the road, into the southbound lane.

James Jacobi tried to maneuver his car onto the shoulder to avoid the collision, but Klein’s car continued towards the Pontiac. The cars struck in an offset manner, driver’s side to driver’s side. Both vehicles came to rest in opposite ditches. The accident happened at around 7:40-a.m.

Jacobi – who was wearing his seat belt – died from his injuries at the scene.

(Radio Iowa) – A group of residents from three mobile home parks in Johnson County says the rent for their lots has increased dramatically and the out-of-state company that owns the parks has not addressed health and safety issues. Nicole Platz is a resident at Modern Manor, one of the manufactured home parks Utah-based Havenpark Communities bought in 2019. “We need change. We need to ensure safe drinking water, stop excessive rent increases,” Platz said. “…The residents of Modern Manor deserve better.” Platz and other residents are calling for a two-year moratorium on rent increases for the lots.

Jessica Andino is the executive director of the Johnson County Affordable Housing Coalition. “They own their home as much as any other individual in the county, they just don’t own that land underneath…They rent it,” she said. “That means they are uniquely vulnerable to predatory practices of these out of state agencies.” A spokesperson from Havenpark Communities says the company has invested more than two MILLION dollars in upgrades at the parks it owns in Iowa and is committed to keeping them safe.

Havenpark owns 80 manufactured home communities in the United States. Bills to set some rules for mobile home parks, like a 90 day notice requirement for rent increases, have recently been introduced, but have never passed the Iowa legislature.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend says the state unemployment rate increased again slightly in May as more people starting looking for a job. “More people are rejoining the workforce, which if they’re not employed when they rejoin, then that’s going to, you know, slightly increase your unemployment rate. But that’s fine. I will take a tenth of a point increase in unemployment rate to get 39-hundred Iowans back in the workforce any day of the week,” Townsend says. The unemployment rate was three-point- six percent in May. There have been continued layoffs in manufacturing, which is down 84-hundred jobs this year and in the professional and business service, and financial industries. Townsend says the Iowa economy is still doing well.

“We still have 18-thousand more workers in the workforce than we did a year ago, so that’s a positive sign. It’s also a good indication that even the folks that are getting laid off are finding new jobs,” she says. “Our average duration is up a little bit, it’s closer to ten weeks than nine weeks, but that’s still really low and it it’s a good indication that people can find that next job relatively quickly.” Townsend says those coming back into the job market recently have been women. “Primarily older women reentering the workforce. So you know, we saw a lot of women, older women leave the workforce during the pandemic to take care of children or parents as the case may be,” Townsend says. She says the labor market can handle people coming back to work, and those who have lost a job.

“We still have you know 49-thousand open jobs. So there’s jobs to be had for those who want to come back, so they’re encouraged to come back because there are jobs available. It would be a much worse situation if people were in the workforce, but we just didn’t have the jobs, you know, to give them,” she says. Townsend says Iowa has a labor participation rate that’s five points higher than the national rate, and also higher than some of the other states which have a lover unemployment rates.