(Radio Iowa) – A retired Iowa State University sociology professor has combined his love of woodworking and music to help out young musicians. Paul Lasley played the upright bass for years in a local group, but took up the violin after retiring four years ago. It was smaller and easier to handle, and a nod to his great-grandfather who played what he calls the fiddle. One of his favorite old fiddles broke and he decided to try to bring it back to life.

He began looking for fiddles to fix at thrift stores and through relatives.

Lasley says he likes the challenge of getting the violins to sing again. Lasley decided to donate the revamped instruments, remembering his start in elementary school band in Queen City, Missouri.

Paul Lasley and one of the violins he’s working on. (ISU photo by Christopher Gannon)

His parents couldn’t afford a new instrument, so the school gave him a beat up metal clarinet that stood out among the newer clarinets other kids played. Lasley says it gives the beginners an instrument that looks good that they can start on.

Lasley so far has donated 18 to the Iowa State Center’s Stephens Auditorium instrument drive, which are loaned out to local school districts.

If you have a violin or parts to one that you’d like to donate, you can email Lasley at lasley@iastate.edu.
You can also donate other musical instruments to local band and orchestra programs or drop them off in the cart in the Stephens Auditorium ticket office lobby in Ames.

(Radio Iowa) – Until this week, Jeff Chelesvig held the title of president and C-E-O of Des Moines Performing Arts — which includes the Des Moines Civic Center and the Temple Theater a few blocks away. Chelesvig also expanded the organization’s reach over the past decade with educational programs, camps and stage shows for a million school kids from around the state. Chelesvig (CHELLS-vihg)  says it all fits with the organization’s mission — to bring world class entertainment, education and cultural activities to the Midwest.

Retired Des Moines Performing Arts CEO Jeff Chelesvig on the “Iowa Press” set at Iowa PBS. (Iowa PBS photo)

“We feel like we have this jewel of a 2700-seat venue downtown. We have all the things you need with parking and restaurants and hotels nearby,” Chelesvig said. Chelesvig was born in Eagle Grove, but his family moved and he went to high school in Belmond. During his senior year, he was cast as “Henry Higgins” in a production of “My Fair Lady.” Chelsvig went to college in Minnesota for a couple of years before enrolling at Iowa State.

Chelesvig moved to jobs in Minnesota and Florida before returning to Iowa and the Des Moines Civic Center job in January of 1995.

When he arrived, the organization was basically renting the Civic Center to a booking agency that picked which shows would be staged in Des Moines. In 1997, Chelesvig started what has turned out to be a very profitable season ticket series, featuring eight Broadway shows. Nearly 25 years ago, the Civic Center began investing in shows debuting on Broadway. It’s a move that has made the Civic Center among the first stops when a Broadway hit starts touring the country.

The organization’s chief financial officer is interim C-E-O until Monica Holt takes over in January. She was an executive at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. for 16 years.

(Creston, Iowa) –  Authorities in Union County have released information with regard to a single-vehicle rollover accident with injuries that took place Monday night, northwest of Kent. According to the Union County Sheriff’s Office, a 2004 Ford F-150 pickup driven by 22-year-old Sophia Marie Short, of Kent, was traveling west on Highway 34 east of Beechwood Avenue, when the vehicle went into the north ditch, striking the ditch and rolling over several times before coming to rest on its top. The accident happened at around 9:40-p.m.

Short told deputies she did not remember what happened. She mentioned she was not feeling good before she left from work. She was injured in the crash and transported by ambulance to the Greater Regional Medical Center, in Creston. The pickup sustained an estimated $20,000 damage, according to the sheriff’s report.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowan who’s a pilot has completed two missions to raise worldwide awareness of Rotary’s push to end polio. This fall, Peter Teahen of Cedar Rapids and a pilot from New Jersey took a 37 day journey across the Atlantic and raised a million dollars for the Rotary Foundation.

Teahen flew a single-engine plane around the world in 2023 and raised over two MILLION dollars for the effort. Teahen notes each shot of polio vaccine costs just two dollars — and the Gates Foundation is matching the donations.

Teahen’s co-pilot and fellow Rotarian on that 2023 mission was John Ockenfels of Swisher. There are fewer than 270 pilots alive today who’ve flown around the globe and Ockenfels says they intentionally took the Rotary logo off their plane — just in case.

Ockenfels and Teahen travel to Rotary clubs around the country to talk about their journeys and Rotary’s global effort to eradicate polio. Over the past 40 years, the organization has helped immunize more than two-and-a-half BILLION children against polio in 122 counties. Polio remains endemic in just two countries — Afghanistan and Pakistan.

(Red Oak, IA) – Police in Red Oak report a woman was arrested this (Thursday) morning, on an OWI charge. Authorities say 41-year-old Chandra Christine Baggett was arrested in the 700 block of East Oak Street, for OWI/1st offense (A Serious Misdmeanor) and Interference with Official Acts ( Simple Misdemeanor). Baggett was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

(Hospers, Iowa) – Officials with the northwest Iowa city of Hospers, posted to social media earlier this week, asking community members to “Please keep our Hospers Fire & EMS volunteers and families in your thoughts and prayers, following a training exercise” Monday night, during which two Hospers firefighters were injured. Officials were conducting a live burn simulation when the fire flashed over, leading to the injuries.

One of the firefighters – identified in a fundraising post as Phil Zeutenhorst- was reported to be in a burn unit in Lincoln, Nebraska, for treatment of his injuries. The second firefighter suffered minor burns. The number of firefighters who participated in the exercise is unclear.

The social media post from the City of Hospers said “We are all so thankful for these men and women from our town and all area volunteer Fire & EMS departments. Every time their pagers go off, they leave their families and loved ones to go and try to save someone else’s life or home. This Thanksgiving, may we all pray for their safety and recovery—both physical and mental. May we remember to appreciate all that they give.”

The incident is still under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – If it’s been a while since you’ve seen an older relative, Iowans may be noticing certain signs over the Thanksgiving weekend in how they’re acting that might indicate the start of a problem. Megan Benzing, program manager for the Iowa Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, says it’s supposed to be a joyful time of year, but it’s also an opportunity to take note of potential warning signs which may warrant further action.

Some of the most common signs of Alzheimer’s, especially early on, include forgetting recently-learned information, challenges planning or solving problems, and difficulty completing familiar tasks. It can be troublesome to watch a loved one struggle with what should be a simple chore.

She says the association offers a 24-7 helpline at 1-800-272-3900, with a wealth of information at alz.org.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who are up early to start fixing the family feast need to be cautious, as studies show there are more cooking fires on Thanksgiving Day than any other day of the year. Fire prevention expert Amanda Swenson says all Iowans should know how to use a fire extinguisher before there’s a sudden flare-up on the stove. “That’s a scary situation and that’s not the time to learn how to use an extinguisher,” Swenson says, “so be familiar with how to pull out the pin, how to unhook a nozzle if there’s a hose with the nozzle attached.”

According the Iowa Fire Marshal’s Office, 40 lives have been lost in house fires across the state so far this year, which is three more than at this time last year. Whenever you’re cooking on the stove, whether it’s in a pot, saucepan or skillet, Swenson suggests you have a big metal lid nearby that could fit over any of them. “Plan ahead of having a lid close by to the stovetop,” she says, “because the easiest thing to do is if there is a fire on the stovetop, just slide a lid on, turn off the burner and let it sit.”

While Thanksgiving is the worst day of the year for cooking fires, officials with the National Fire Protection Association say Christmas Day and Christmas Eve are a close second and third.

(Radio Iowa) – A few iconic Iowa State Fair items in a Washington, D.C. museum are giving state fair officials some ideas. Iowa State Fair C-E-O Jeremy Parsons says it’s fascinating to see a replica of the Butter Cow inside the Smithsonian Museum, “but professionally displayed in a museum setting. We definitely need to up the bar on how we display things.” Parsons, though, isn’t ready to say what display changes may be in store on the fairgrounds in Des Moines.

The Smithsonian’s year-long exhibit features what are described by the museum’s curator as works of art from state fairs around the country, including some quilts entered in Iowa State Fair competitions. Forbes magazine includes the life-sized butter cow as one of the exhibit’s show-stopping spectacles. Parsons agrees.

By comparison, the Iowa State Fair’s refrigerated display case for the butter cow is along the east wall of the Agriculture Building. People wait in line to look through windows at the butter sculpture of a life-sized dairy cow.

Sculptor Sarah Pratt and one of the butter cows she has created at the Iowa State Fair. (Iowa State Fair photo)

The Smithsonian’s exhibit of State Fair folk art runs through next September and is one of many events to mark America’s 250th anniversary. Parsons says the 2026 State Fair will mark the occasion, too.

And Parsons and his team are making big plans for the 2029 Iowa State Fair.

The center will be built near the north entrance to the fairgrounds and will explain crop development, Iowa soils and farm equipment as well as jobs in agriculture. Parsons says it’s about thinking strategically about the Iowa State Fair’s role in the future, since data suggests the number of Americans who have NO connection to agriculture will continue to grow.

Parsons recently released a study suggesting year-round activities on the Iowa State fairgrounds in 2024 had a 629 MILLION dollar statewide economic impact. Parsons says while the economic impact is massive, the State Fair is still about the people.

Parsons grew up in Leon and was a high school English teacher before he was hired to direct the Missouri State Fair Foundation. Parsons was director of the the Clay County Fair in Spencer for 12 years before he took on the role of Iowa State Fair C-E-O in 2023.