(Radio Iowa) – America 250 — the commission created to plan events celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary — has released a few more details about the kick-off event planned on the Iowa State Fairgrounds next week. America 250 says President Donald Trump will speak on Thursday evening, July 3rd at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and provide a glimpse into the grand festivities planned for the country’s 250th anniversary.

There’s a link on the America-250-dot-org website to register to attend Trump’s address. The commission says the speech will be the first in a series of events in every state and U-S territory that will culminate in a monumental celebration on July 4th, 2026. A spokesperson for America 250 says Trump’s speech next week in Des Moines will provide a “vision for a renewed commitment to America’s future.”

President Trump walked down the Grand Concourse during the 2023 Iowa State Fair. (File photo courtesy of Trump’s 2024 campaign)

Trump has visited the Iowa State Fairgrounds several times. Trump walked through the crowds during the 2015 and 2023 Iowa State Fairs and he spoke at campaign rallies on the fairgrounds in December of 2015 and October of 2021. Trump was also the keynote speaker at a fundraiser in August of 2016 for Senator Joni Ernst that was held in the livestock pavilion on the state fairgrounds.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office has issued a report on three recent, separate accidents. Authorities say 22-year-old Sheldon J. Astley, of Bayard, was charged with Failure to Maintain Control, Striking Fixtures upon a highway, use of electronic communication device and OWI/1st offense, after the pickup he was driving crashed a little after 7-p.m. Saturday. Astley was traveling west from Prairie Street and School Street when his 2016 Ford F-150 went out of control and drove into the west ditch before striking a City of Guthrie Center speed sign and light pole. The vehicle came to rest in the ditch. It sustained $7,000 damage and was declared a total loss. Damage to the light pole was estimated at $3,500. No injuries were reported.

An accident Sunday morning caused $5,000 damage to a 2010 Acura driven by 33-year-old David Ortiz-Merino, of Des Moines. The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office says his car was eastbound on White Pole Road at around 5:30-a.m., when it went off the south shoulder and into the ditch, where it collided with two directional signs and the end of a guardrail. The guardrail sustained about $2,500 damage.

And, a collision with a small deer June 16th caused $2,000 damage to a 2013 Toyota Camry. The accident happened at around 9-p.m. on Highway 25 north in Guthrie County. The vehicle was being driven by 28-year-old Morgan Clark, of West Des Moines.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Pottawattamie County Roads Department report 525th Street will be closed to thru traffic from Pioneer Trail (G66) north to Beechnut Road, beginning 7:30-a.m. Wednesday, June 25th, due to work on a crossroad pipe replacement project.

The road is expected to reopen by 5-p.m. on July 2nd, weather permitting. (See the map below)

(Radio Iowa) – Even though it’s summer, advocates are worried about a winter heating program for Iowans. The Trump administration’s proposed budget includes eliminating funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. Jean Logan, with the Community Action Agency of Siouxland in northwest Iowa, says LIHEAP is a very beneficial program that helps many tens of thousands of Iowans pay their utility bills.

“It helps families. It helps seniors. It helps people with disabilities,” Logan says. “I’m really concerned.” Logan says almost $1.4 million was spent to help almost 29,000 households in Woodbury County alone this past winter. Statewide, LIHEAP helped some 96,000 Iowa customers pay their winter heating bills last year.

Logan also oversees a summertime cooling program through LIHEAP that provides window air conditioners and helps people get their utilities turned back on. “I’m hoping that we’ll get an amendment that will be able to help us continue to help families,” she says, “because that’s really important when it’s so hot like this.”

Logan says her non-profit only has about $2,000 left in its coffers to help people through the summer. “LIHEAP is such an important program,” Logan says. “There will be health consequences.”

Congress created LIHEAP in 1981 as a way to counter concerns about skyrocketing energy prices during the 1970s.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) –  An investigation is underway in western Iowa, into the death of a central Iowa man whose body was found Sunday evening in the Missouri River, near Council Bluffs. According to the Council Bluffs Police Department, officers responded a little after 7-p.m., Sunday, to the Missouri River boat ramp, on the south side of Lake Manawa State Park, following a report about a body floating in the river.

Officers with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources were able to bring the body to the shoreline. The deceased individual was identified as 28-year-ol Gony Dual Bijiek, of Waukee.

His cause of death is unknown at this time. Officials say an autopsy has been scheduled and will be conducted by the State of Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office.

This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information regarding Bijiek and the circumstances leading to his death
are encouraged to call Council Bluffs Police Department detectives at 712-328-4728 or to remain anonymous, call
CrimeStoppers at 712-328-STOP (7867).

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report a local man was arrested Sunday on drug charges. 40-year-old Richard Germar, of Glenwood, was arrested on charges that include: Used or expired drug tax stamp; A Controlled Substance Violation; Possession of a Controlled Substance; Gathering/keeping a premises for controlled substance, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $14,300.

And, 51-year-old William Weis, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Sunday in Glenwood. Weis was taken into custody on a Mills County warrant for driving while barred. His cash only bond was set at $5,000.

(Radio Iowa) – An Ohio-based company that makes plastic drainage pipe is closing its facility in Waterloo. Advanced Drainage Systems has notified the State of Iowa that 71 employees in Waterloo will be laid off on August 17th. Employees were told of the closure last week. The company’s pipes are used to drain fields, parking lots and freeways and to hold storm water and control erosion.

The Waterloo facility was one of three A-D-S plants recycling plastic. According to a publication called “Plastics News,” A-D-S is shifting recycling to a facility in southern Georgia.

(Radio Iowa) – A coalition of business groups, labor unions and a major Iowa clinic is seeking to overturn a law that puts restrictions on companies called Pharmacy Benefit Managers that set the price of medications for people with insurance. Supporters of the law say it will ensure pharmacies are properly reimbursed for filling prescriptions and patients aren’t forced to use certain pharmacies. The Iowa Association of Business and Industry is leading a lawsuit that argues the law is unconstitutional because it forbids employers from telling employees how to save money on prescriptions.

The groups also argue the new regulations outlined in the Iowa law are pre-empted by federal law. Iowa Association of Business and Industry president Nicole Crain says the law will raise health care costs for businesses of all sizes by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Backers of the law say a required, nearly 11 dollar dispensing fee to small, independent pharmacies for each prescription filled will stop an avalanche of pharmacy closures. The coalition challenge the law says that fee will drive up costs and the law prevents insurance plans from directing patients to Iowa or online pharmacies that will not be required to charge that fee. The Iowa Bankers Benefit Plan, the Iowa Laborers District Council Health and Welfare Fund, Des Moines Orthopedic Surgeons and Adel-based Iowa Spring Manufacturing are also parties to the lawsuit.

(Treynor, Iowa) – A pursuit at around 3:15-a.m. Sunday in Pottawattamie County ended with the suspect vehicle crashing, and a man from Nebraska suffering fatal injuries. According to the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, a Deputy saw a 2021 Mercedes Benz passenger car crossing the center line of Highway 92 east of Council Bluffs, and initiated a traffic stop, activating his emergency lights and siren. The vehicle continued eastbound until it left the road just east of Treynor and entered the south ditch. The car sustained severe damage in the crash.

Deputies discovered 44-year-old David Hawkins, of Omaha, inside the car. He suffered serious injuries and request emergency medical services (EMS). Treynor Fire and Rescue arrived on the scene and began life saving measures, but Hawkins died from his injuries.

Due to the seriousness of the crash, the Traffic Investigators responded to the scene. The crash and incident remain under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Two West Des Moines companies are expanding with the help of state tax incentives. Iowa Economic Development Authority spokesperson Kannan Kappleman says I-T-A group helps businesses with marketing and other services. “After launching a new, larger headquarters last year, the company plans an additional expansion of just over 15-thousand square foot feet at the same location,” Kappleman says. They were award benefits with the promise of creating new jobs.

“Which is equivalent to approximately 119-thousand dollars in tax benefits. The project is expected to create 33 jobs,” she says. Merchants Bonding Company is planning to spend 22 million dollars and will also receive state job incentives. “They are a property and casualty mutual insurance company providing fidelity surety and other liability coverage. The company plans to expand its location by 34-thousand square feet and they’re going to match its current space with both office and conference spaces. The project is expected to create 34 jobs,” she says.

Kappleman says the company will receive around 800-thousand dollars in tax benefits.