DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI/WHO-TV]— An American Airlines flight made an emergency landing at Des Moines International Airport on Saturday morning. Airport officials shared that 119 people were on board a flight from Des Moines bound for Chicago but had to turn around because of a mechanical issue.

The plane safely landed around 6:40 a.m.  The passengers safely disembarked and were assigned to other flights.  The aircraft was undergoing an inspection/evaluation. There was no immediate word on what the mechanical issue was.

ORIENT, Iowa [KCCI] — The Orient-Macksburg School District held an all-school reunion Saturday, offering former students and teachers one last chance to walk its halls and bid farewell as the district voted to dissolve due to low enrollment and financial issues. The District will officially dissolve July 1st, 2026. KCCI-TV reports the event drew attendees from across the country, including states as far as Montana and Maryland. Among the participants was Lois Frederick, a beloved teacher in her 90s who began teaching in the district in 1951 and spent 17 years shaping young minds.

For many attendees, memories came flooding back as they reminisced about their school experiences. As the gyms filled with laughter and halls echoed with footsteps, the sentiment was unanimous: The school was more than a building — it was the heart of the community. Highlighting the school’s former glory, alumni of the Orient Macksburg softball team came together on the field that had been their second home. The team had once achieved remarkable success, winning 25 consecutive conference championships, and for many, this reunion was a bittersweet moment.

Team members carried out a final tradition, playing catch on the field where they spent countless summers, cherishing memories of dedication and teamwork. Echoing a sense of resilience, many attendees recalled years of rumors predicting the school’s closure. One individual shared that the school had been rumored to close for nearly 50 years, yet it persevered, demonstrating a testament to community determination.

As they stood together to celebrate its legacy, attendees acknowledged the long journey that brought them to this emotional farewell. Looking forward, those in attendance expressed hope that the school buildings could be repurposed for the benefit of the community.

ANKENY — Iowa Farmers Union members met Saturday with U.S. Federal Trade Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya and explained how consolidation in the agriculture industry has crippled their farming operations and rural communities. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports Bedoya, who visited with Iowa farmers three years prior, said it was important to come back to the places where “the scope of the problems that people are facing just hits you in the face.”

“The key question is: what is the undone work,” Bedoya said to the group gathered in a barn at Griffieon Farms outside of Ankeny. Bedoya is visiting with groups around the country while he is involved in a lawsuit against the Trump administration, which fired him from the FTC in March. During his time at FTC, Bedoya and his team sued over the business merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, sued pesticide companies for alleged anticompetitive practices and sued John Deere for the right to repair equipment.

After listening to farmers share their stories, Bedoya said “the scope of the problem” and the “just how many issues” are facing Iowa farmers is what stood out to him. Sean Dengler, a former farmer in Tama County, said the “monopolization” across the machinery and agricultural sector led him to give it up and end five generations of Dengler farming tradition. Last harvest season, an error code on his combine led to a several-days harvest delay waiting for a licensed technician to come out to the farm, diagnose and come back to repair the rig. “Giving farmers the ability to fix the equipment they bought is their right,” Dengler said.

Federal Trade Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, right, speaks with Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Lehman, center, and Josh Manske, left, at an event with IFU members in Ankeny June 7, 2025. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Part of the problem, for repairs and for nearly every aspect related to farming, is that repair shops, dealers, grain elevators, meat lockers and other commodities are fewer and further between. Farmers gave countless examples Saturday of how this spread has hurt not just their ag operations, but their rural communities as well. Josh Manske, an IFU board member and farmer, said farmers no longer shop around for the best fertilizer price, instead they shop “for transportation.” Jerry Rosman, a farmer and truck driver, said he sees the same issue in the field, but also on the highway. “The dynamics of what it is might be a little different, but it’s just — as things get tighter at the top, at the bottom they just start disappearing,” Rosman said. “Pull through a little town and you can just see the decline.”

Mike Carberry, a board member for Iowa Farmers Union, said agriculture needs the FTC’s work “breaking up the monopolies” of the industry that, he said, have turned Iowa into an “extractive state.” Bedoya, who listened intently to the farmers, said while he’s committed to bringing this type of legal action forward, stopping a merger, as the FTC did with the Kroger and Albertsons case, takes a massive amount of time, people and money. “The amount of time it takes to stop a merger that has not yet happened is massive,” Bedoya said. “To undo a merger that has already happened is gargantuan — it is something that kind of happens once in a legal generation.”

Bedoya said a similar issue of vertical integration in the pharmaceutical industry has been blocked by legislative efforts in several states. Lawmakers in Iowa passed a bill that would put restrictions on pharmacy benefit managers to prevent them from using specific pharmacies to fill prescriptions. The bill has yet to be signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds. Bedoya, speaking on similar legislation passed in Arkansas, said it “opened up” an avenue for going after vertical integration, that could be an option to intervene in some of the consolidation issues in agriculture. “This is going to require both parties, and it’s going to require every level of government or every branch, not just, federal prosecutors, but state prosecutors, state legislators, and also federal legislators if they get their act together and pass some bills,” Bedoya said.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Red Oak faces charges in connection with a burglary investigation in Red Oak. According to Red Oak Police, 57-year-old Richard James Linfor was arrested late Friday evening for 3rd degree burglary. His arrest took place in the 600 block of East Market Street shortly after 8:30 p.m. Linfor was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies Friday night arrested a man from Red Oak on alcohol-related charges, following a traffic stop near Highway 48 and 150^th Street. As a result of the traffic stop and subsequent investigation, 69-year-old Kevin Kay Fish was arrested at around 9:30-p.m., for OWI/1st offense. Fish was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a a $1,000 bond.

(Harrison County, Iowa) – A multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 29 west of Missouri Valley, Saturday afternoon, resulted in injuries to three adults and three juveniles. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the accident happened on northbound I-29 near mile marker 80, at around 4:11-p.m., as vehicles were slowing and merging into the fast lane, due to a previous accident in the east ditch,

When one of the vehicles slowed to a near stop, it was rear-ended by another vehicle before being shoved into a third vehicle. That vehicle was pushed into a fourth vehicle, which then went airborne and came to rest upside down in the median. The rest of the vehicles were also caught-up in rear-end collisions.

The driver of one of the vehicles, a 2012 Lincoln passenger car (22-year-old Jens Walter Marttinen, of Dassel, MN), and a passenger in a 2022 Chevy truck (64-year-old Laurie Ann Stee, of Gary, SD), along with 50-year-old Chad Donald Cantrall, of Altoona (who was driving a 2024 Honda passenger car), along with a one-year and and 9-year old female and a 16-year-old male were also injured in the crash.

The 16-year-old, Chad Cantrall and Laurie Ann Stee, were transported to Missouri Valley Hospital by EMS. Jens Marttinen was flown by helicopter to the UNMC in Omaha, while the two juvenile females were flown by helicopter to Children’s Hospital in Omaha.

The crash brought traffic between the Missouri Valley and Modale Exits to a standstill in both directions for about four-hours. Multiple agencies assisted at the scene, including the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office, Missouri Valley Fire Department, Mondamin Fire and Rescue, the Logan Fire and Rescue Association, Harrison County EMA/Dispatch.

The accident remained under investigation.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – A collision Friday afternoon west of Glenwood left two people dead and four others injured. The collision happened at around 4:20-p.m. at Highway 34 and 195th Street. The Iowa State Patrol reports a School Bus carrying the Council Bluffs/St. Albert Softball team and driven by 63-year-old Jeanette Marie Henderson, of Council Bluffs, was traveling east on Highway 34, when for reasons unknown, a 2024 VW SUV driven by 62-year-old Ralph Edward Schultz, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, entered the road from the stop sign on 195th Street.

The SUV was struck by the 2025 Thomas School Bus, resulting in fatal injuries to Ralph Schultz and his passenger, 66-year-old Perla Manalastas Schutz, also from Ewa Beach, HI. Henderson, and three juvenile females on the bus were injured. Henderson and two of the juveniles were transported by EMS ambulance to Jenny Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs. The other juvenile was transported by their parent to CHI Mercy in Council Bluffs. The Iowa State Patrol said there were 24 people on the bus.

Those on the bus suffered what the Patrol said were suspected minor injuries. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Patrol at the scene. Friday night’s softball games between St. Albert and Fremont-Mills were canceled because of the accident.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – The Guthrie County Roads Department reports Gus Construction will be closing 180th Trail to replace two culverts, beginning at 8-a.m. on Monday, June 9th. The road will be closed for a couple months (weather permitting), to allow for the project to be completed.

(Radio Iowa) – A western Iowa Republican who ran against U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley in 2022 has formed a campaign to against U.S. Senator Joni Ernst in 2026.

Jim Carlin, an attorney from Sergeant Bluff who’s a former state legislator, finished with 26% support from Republicans in his race against Grassley. Carlin will kick off his campaign against Ernst with a rally in Cedar Rapids next Thursday.

Carlin’s campaign website says he’s running because “Iowans deserve a Senator who will tell them the truth, work to improve their lives and put their interests first.” Carlin, an Army veteran, served one term in the Iowa House of Representatives and was elected to two terms in the Iowa Senate. He holds a degree in economics from the University of Massachusetts and earned his law degree from Marquette University. Carlin’s law practice, located in Sioux City, specializes in personal injury law.

Jim Carlin, a Republican from Sergeant Bluff, is running against U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (Carlin campaign photo)

Joshua Smith of Indianola, who ran as a Libertarian for a state senate seat last year, also has said he intends to run against Ernst in the next year’s Republican Primary election. J.D. Scholten of Sioux City and Nathan Sage of Indianola have launched campaigns for the Iowa Democratic Party’s 2026 nomination for the U.S. Senate.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Goldstar Military Museum is hosting its fourth annual Vietnam living history event this weekend at Camp Dodge in Johnston. Museum curator Mike Vogt says they will have re-enactors wearing the uniforms worn during the war.

Vogt says it’s designed to be a learning experience for everyone.

A tank outside the Goldstar Museum. (RI photo)

Vogt says thousands of Iowans were a part of the war.

Vogt says they will have someone to talk about how the reserve forces were called up to go to Vietnam.

Vogt says there will also be people there who can give the Vietnamese view of the war.

Vogt says they’re going to have a howitzer firing during the morning and in the afternoon, and a veteran from the U-S Marine Corps who served with an artillery unit will talk about their missions. The event is free and is 9:00 a-m to 5:00 p-m on Saturday, and Sunday from 9:00 a-m to 1:00 p-m.