DES MOINES, May 15, 2025 – The Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) has revealed the Top 8 finalists in the 2025 Coolest Thing Made in Iowa contest. Over 31,000 votes were cast over the last week, and the top eight products will now compete in another round of head-to-head matchups to determine the top four finalists. One of the products – The Moose Fireplace Grill – is made in Red Oak.

Voting is now open and will conclude at midnight on Wednesday, May 21.

Manufacturers, consumers, and the public are invited to vote daily in each of the matchups at www.coolestthingia.com. The winner will be crowned at ABI’s Taking Care of Business Conference, June 10– 12 in Council Bluffs.

The Moose Fireplace Grill

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – After nine years as president of Iowa State University, Wendy Wintersteen will be retiring in January 2026. Wintersteen, the first woman and second ISU alum to hold the position of university president at the Ames school, made the announcement on Friday. “I am fortunate to have served Iowa State University in many roles over the past 46 years, and it’s been a fascinating journey,” Wintersteen said. “I am truly proud of Iowa State’s extraordinary faculty and staff for their remarkable performance these past years. Perhaps most of all, I will miss the amazing energy, talent and potential of our Iowa State students.”

During Wintersteen’s tenure, ISU established new and newly renovated facilities across the campus, and the university expanded its ISU Research Park. Wintersteen is credited with advancing support for research at Iowa State, which now ranks in the top 3% for research out of nearly 500 universities without a human medical school. Over the past eight years, ISU received more than $4.2 billion in external funding, including three consecutive years of record-setting research funding. According to the university, ISU’s first-year student retention rate has climbed to 87.6%, which is 10.5 points higher than the national average for four-year public institutions, and ISU students are graduating faster than ever before. The average time to degree has decreased from 4.4 years in 2018 to a historic low of 4.12 years in 2024.

ISU President Wendy Wintersteen. (Photo courtesy Iowa State University)

Wintersteen is also credited with fundraising success and for helping to secure more than $275 million for new or revitalized facilities, including the Student Innovation Center and the Therkildsen Industrial Engineering Building. The ISU Research Park also experienced significant growth, with a 150-acre expansion and nearly 50 new tenants. Wintersteen began her career at Iowa State as an extension field specialist in integrated pest management. After completing her doctorate in entomology, she became a professor and held several leadership roles before being named president in 2017 — including an 11-year stint as the inaugural endowed dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

(Radio Iowa) – The first Afrikaner refugees from South Africa arrived in Iowa this week. President Trump claims they were victims of racial discrimination and faced “genocide,” but the South African government says that’s not true. Many are white descendants of Dutch colonizers. Renee Hardman, president and C-E-O of Lutheran Services in Iowa, says the organization helped one of two Afrikaner families who now call Iowa home. “While there is lots of dismay about who’s coming over, why they’re coming over, how they came over, we get that,” Hardman says, “but the nonprofits that are resettlement agencies don’t get to pick and choose refugee status. That is a decision that’s made at the federal level.”

Hardman says some people have reached out, concerned L-S-I helped a group of people who didn’t need the help. She says the Afrikaners will require minimal assistance since they will live with other relatives who are already in Iowa. Her focus is on helping other refugees with housing, jobs, and English-language skills.  “Our mission at LSI as a resettlement agency is to be there for refugees that are assigned to our agency,” Hardman says. “We don’t make the call on who’s a refugee. We don’t do that.”

She’s concerned about refugees from other countries who had been screened and vetted but had travel plans canceled when President Trump took office, including those from Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

(Radio Iowa) – Organization that represent 9-1-1 systems in Iowa are urging Governor Reynolds to reject a proposed fee for distributing calls. The fee is included in a bill that passed the legislature just before it adjourned for the year. Representative Eric Gjerde, a Cedar Rapids policeman, says the proposed fee would be paid to the state by the boards that oversee the 110 public safety answering points in Iowa that answer 9-1-1 calls. “I think it’s ridiculous,” Gjerde said.

Gjerde says 9-1-1 systems do have money in their operating accounts to cover the new fee, but that money is for large projects that cost millions of dollars. “It might be a radio tower that needs to go up in a different part of the county to ensure that first responders can communicate with dispatchers,” Gjerde said. “…It might be the computer aided dispatching systems that give the first responders directions to your location and to your house when you are calling in an emergency to make sure that they can get there quickly.”

Gjerde was one of three House members who voted against the bill, which included a variety of other proposals. The Iowa Chapters of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials and the National Emergency Number Association have issued a joint statement calling on the governor to use her item veto authority and cancel the proposed fee.

The bill gives the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management authority to request 9-1-1 systems pay a reimbursement fee — but does not specify the amount. The bill requires payment of the fee within 30 days.

ADEL, IA – Organizers of the 11th annual, June 14th “Bacoon Ride,” that winds through several central Iowa towns along the Raccoon River Valley Trail, have announced a detour for the route, that would normally cross a key bridge east of Adel. The Iowa Bicycle Coalition says the Raccoon River Valley Trail (RRVT) was impacted by a fire during the early morning hours of Monday, May 12th. As reported, the fire was allegedly caused by  three 19-year-old’s from Adel, who had built an uncontrolled fire that spread to the bridge. All three suspects were arrested and charged in connection with the incident.

Dallas County Conservation Director Curt Cable, said due to extensive damages, the bridge is currently unusable. The bridge was along a portion of the trail previously closed for a construction project. The Iowa Bicycle Coalition, the host organization for the ride, wants to assure riders and community members that the ride will still be taking place as planned, and has been coordinating with Dallas County Conservation, the City of Adel, Adel Police Department, the Iowa State Patrol, and Iowa DOT to create a safe detour for riders to get out of Adel and back on the RRVT. The detour will stretch from S. 6th  St. in Adel to Prospect Ave., where cyclists would then rejoin the RRVT as they head east toward Waukee.

2025 Bacoon Ride detour route

The name “Bacoon Ride” is a play on words that combines “bacon” (a beloved food in Iowa) and “Raccoon” (the trail’s namesake). During the ride, cyclists stop at each town to indulge in bacon-themed food and drinks, making for a delicious and enjoyable experience. Additionally, the event supports local charities, making it both fun and philanthropic.

Iowa Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Luke Hoffman says, “Our hearts go out to the City of Adel as well as to Dallas County Conservation, who are showing tremendous leadership in this dramatic moment. We want both our registered riders, residents of the area, and the general public to understand that the Bacoon Ride will continue to support Dallas County Conservation with a portion of proceeds from ticket sales going directly to the county based on the number of registered riders. We are pleased to announce that, in cooperation with the Iowa State Patrol, The City of Adel, Adel Police Department, and the Iowa Department of Transportation, that the ride will go on for its 11th year with an approved detour using Highway 6 in place that will be protected by the State Patrol and Coalition volunteers.”

Individuals can support Dallas County Conservation’s efforts to rebuild the bridge by donating directly to the organization, or by registering for the Bacoon Ride. A portion of the proceeds will go back to Dallas County Conservation.

• Bacoon Ride is the largest single day bike ride in Iowa

• Bacoon Ride has had participants from over 23 states in the country

• Bacoon Ride generates more than $500,000 in economic impact each year for the communities along the route, which include: Waukee, Dallas Center, Jamaica, Yale, Herndon, Panora, Linden, Redfield, and Adel.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports his office received at least five calls, Thursday, concerning a phone scam. In the scam, someone who claims to represent the Adair County Sheriff’s Office – possibly a deputy – states that the recipient of the call had failed to appear for a court date, a subpoena or maybe even jury duty (there have been different reports). The issuance of an arrest warrant and bond money were eventually mentioned. One complainant Sheriff Vandewater spoke with, told him the caller they knew their address, and when asked, after a pause, was able to provide the Sheriff’s name.

Vandewater says “There are times when [he] may actually call someone about a warrant, a subpoena or a civil paper to be served. However, it would NEVER involve sending money online or over the phone.” The Sheriff says Adair County residents should never hesitate to call his office at (641)743-2148, to verify information, or, to stop by. He said also, any bonds are “normally only posted in person at the Sheriffs Office/Jail or the Clerk of Court’s office at the Courthouse.”

“If there’s any doubt” Vandewater said, “give [the sheriff’s office] a call.

(Radio Iowa) – A bale fire at the POET Bioprocessing plant in northwest Iowa has been burning since Monday night. It’s about a mile from the town of Emmetsburg where Patrick Degen is the mayor. “They’ve got it under control. I don’t think there’s any risk of that fire spreading anywhere. But I just want people to know that we’re going to work with POET to make sure that does not happen again,” he says. The bales are corn stover that is turned into ethanol. Degen says he recognizes the stress and inconvenience that the smoke has had on residents.

“It’s still smoldering, the bales are. I know our neighbors at POET have been working diligently to move as many of the unburned bales away from the bales that are burning to take some of the fuel away from the fire and hopefully get it to go out sooner,” Degan says.

This is the second fire at the plant this year. Another bale fire broke out in February. POET officials did not respond to inquiries about the fire.

(Radio Iowa) – Traffic from planes, trains and automobiles has returned to pre-pandemic levels in Iowa, but there’s one area that hasn’t fully recovered. The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Stuart Anderson says ridership on public transportation still lags. “Of all modes of transportation, this is the one that has not recovered fully from the pandemic and the impacts,” he says. Public transit ridership in 2019 was 23-point-eight million, and then it dropped to around 10 million in 2021. The ridership includes buses and some ride-share systems. Anderson says public transit ridership has been up in each of the last three years, but is still not all the way back.

“We’re still in fiscal year ’24 at about four and a half million less rides per year than we had in the year before the pandemic,” Anderson says. He says the number of miles where people pay to ride public transit hasn’t increased in the last three years. “Basically what that means is the routes are basically flat, but we are seeing more density, more rides served on those routes. So we’ve seen growth, ridership growth, but not growth in the system of public transit service that’s out there,” he says.

Anderson says they don’t know exactly why public transit ridership hasn’t rebounded, but one of the reasons could be that more people are working from home since the pandemic.

(Radio Iowa) – A federal program that helps college students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Iowa and nationwide may soon be eliminated. Since the 1960s, TRIO programs have served first-generation and low-income students, as well as students with disabilities. Morgan Bear, a member of the Meskwaki Nation, says TRIO helped her become the first in her family to graduate from college. She’s now pursuing a doctorate in education at the University of Iowa. Bear says, “It really gives students a reason to feel that they belong at the college that they’re attending, and that they can really see through that degree.” Last fiscal year, TRIO programs received nearly one-point-two billion dollars in funding and served more than 880-thousand students. Bear says without TRIO, she wouldn’t be pursuing her doctorate.

“It would be really impactful across the nation,” Bear says. “TRIO is not just charity. It’s an investment in talent in our country that we can’t afford to waste.” Bear says TRIO is helping students like herself to achieve their academic goals. “Congress has to speak up and fight for us,” Bear says, “and say, ‘We support these programs.'”

A preliminary budget proposal from the Trump administration would cut the program from the U.S. Department of Education. It claims access to college is not as much of an obstacle as it once was. The change would have to go through Congress first.