STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential contenders Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar expressed support Saturday for strengthening antitrust laws and enforcement to break up big agriculture monopolies. “You’ve got these giant corporations that are making bigger and bigger profits … and they’re putting the squeeze on family farms and small farms,” Warren said at the Heartland Forum, which was focused on rural issues.

The U.S. senator from Massachusetts called for breaking up some of the biggest farming corporations “so that they not only do not have that kind of economic power, so that they’re wiping out competition, so they’re taking all the profits for themselves … but also so that they don’t have that kind of political power.”

While supporting an antitrust approach, Klobuchar, a senator and Minnesota Democrat, also proposed putting a fee on corporate mergers to help investigate noncompetitive practices. “If we stifle competition through monopolies, we’re not just going to bring up the prices for consumers, we’re going to stifle entrepreneurship,” she said.

Targeting monopolies was a key part of the agriculture policy Warren rolled out this week, which included a handful of proposals aimed at helping family farmers compete in a market increasingly saturated by major corporations. Klobuchar and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, another White House hopeful who attended the forum, also rolled out rural-focused policies this week.

Klobuchar announced a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that would help expand access to rural broadband and strengthen roads and bridges. Delaney offered a comprehensive rural plan that included proposals to strengthen family farmers and rural infrastructure. Other White House contenders at the forum were former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, who is considering launching a bid.

The attention on agricultural communities and issues is the result of a recognition that Democrats need to do more to win over rural voters, especially in places like Iowa. The state has long been a presidential battleground, but Iowa has trended more solidly Republican over the past two election cycles, a troubling sign for Democrats seeking to oust President Donald Trump.

STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) — Some Democratic presidential candidates expressed support Saturday for the Nevada political candidate who alleged former Vice President Joe Biden kissed her on the back of her head in 2014. But they didn’t say it disqualifies Biden from joining the race.

Speaking to reporters in Iowa, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro said they believed Lucy Flores. She wrote in New York magazine that she felt uncomfortable with her interactions with Biden.
Warren and Castro said it’s up to Biden to decide whether he should join the race.
Biden spokesman Bill Russo said in a statement that Biden doesn’t remember kissing Flores.

The rally’s organizer, Henry R. Munoz III, said in a statement Saturday that he spoke to several key people and staff who attended the rally and that they “do not believe that circumstances support allegations that such an event took place.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — In the wake of disastrous flooding in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa earlier this month, officials have created an on-demand webinar to help people deal with the serious health dangers that remain after major flooding.

The Central States Center of Agricultural Safety and Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health collaborated with the AgriSafe Network to create the webinar.

Major safety concerns include chemicals released from barns, homes and other on-farm sources and businesses; contaminated well water; human and animal communicable diseases; and mold.

More farm and ranch flood-related resources are available on the Central States Center website.

ACKLEY, Iowa (AP) — A central Iowa man accused of abusing and locking his 8-year-old son in a space under the basement stairs will go to trial in September. Television station KCCI reports that Alex Shadlow’s kidnapping trial has been moved to the Dickinson County Courthouse due to pre-trial publicity.

Authorities say the boy was locked up for at least 9 hours a day last summer in a space under the basement stairs at the couple’s Ackley home. Authorities say the couple withheld food from him and made him endure dog bites. He slept on concrete and had no access to a bathroom.

Shadlow’s fiance, 40-year-old Traci Tyler, was tried on similar charges last month. She is still waiting for a verdict.

WILTON, Iowa (AP) — Students and volunteers in a small eastern Iowa city are working together to construct a $90,000 observatory. The Muscatine Journal reports that volunteers in Wilton this week began assembling the observatory’s shell and installing instruments. The project is expected to be completed in May.

Resident Grant Harkness came up with the idea to build the observatory. He says his two young sons have always wanted to learn more about space. The community helped raise the funds for the project after the Wilton Community School District Board approved the plan.

Harkness says the observatory will be available for students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The space will include a command center where students will be able to control the telescope and gather data.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Since the Veterans Affairs moved out of a sprawling campus on the edge of the small Iowa city of Knoxville a decade ago, local leaders have become increasingly anxious about the ghost town that has become a drag on their community.

The VA left behind 39 buildings and Knoxville residents are desperate to work out a plan with state and federal officials for an area that once operated as a separate city. There’s a power plant, fire station, water tower, green houses, laundry and chapel.

Knoxville Mayor Brian Hatch says it once was a beautiful campus but “now the buildings are rotten.” City leaders hope to take control of the site but think up to $10 million could be needed to clear the buildings for future development of housing.

PEOSTA, Iowa (AP) — State environment officials say a fish kill in northeastern Iowa was caused by farm manure runoff. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says in a news release that it is investigating the Dubuque County fish kill near Peosta. Investigators say more than 200 fish were killed by the runoff, which they traced to Lawler Dairy farm in Peosta.

The agency says the farm applied liquid manure to a nearby field, and melting snow and rain caused it to run off into an unnamed creek that leads to the Little Maquoketa River.

Officials say charges are pending against the dairy.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska resident accused of stabbing to death a woman in northwest Iowa has had her trial set for the fall. The trial of Melissa Camargo-Flores, of Dakota City, Nebraska, had been scheduled to begin Feb. 19, but a judge last month granted her attorneys’ request for a delay. The Sioux City Journal reports that on Friday, the judge set the new trial date for Oct. 22.

Camargo-Flores has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the April. 8 killing of 24-year-old Kenia Alvarez-Flores in Sioux City. Court documents say Camargo-Flores admitted stabbing Alvarez-Flores. Camargo-Flores told investigators she’d been involved in a relationship with the victim’s boyfriend.

Authorities say the two women were not related.

w/ Chris Parks

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Red Oak Police Department reports two arrests on Friday night.

At 5:41pm Officers arrested 32-year-old Cody Allen Tunnell of Red Oak in the 200 block of East Grimes Street in Red Oak. He was charged with Simple Assault, a simple misdemeanor. Tunnell was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond.

At 11:25pm Red Oak Police arrested 48-year-old Charles Edward Heim of Colorado Springs, CO at 106 East Valley Street in Red Oak. Heim was charged with Domestic Assault 1st Offense. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on no bond.