w/Kate Olson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A citizen activist group and an environmental organization have filed a petition asking the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to improve the state’s livestock farm permit process. Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and Food & Water Watch say the permit system established 15 years ago fails to give local officials enough control over where large hog, cattle and chicken farms locate.

The petition filed Tuesday asks the DNR for several changes to the master matrix system including stricter pollution requirements and increased distance requirements from schools, homes, waterways and wells. County officials say permits they reject are nearly always approved by a state governor-appointed board. DNR records show only 2 percent of applications have been denied.

Iowa has 9,000 large-scale animal farms producing 22 billion gallons of manure a year.

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — An executive for a prominent Iowa seed company is alleging he was wrongly fired by Iowa’s richest man and deprived his right to acquire $80 million worth of corporate stock.

Joseph Saluri filed a lawsuit Tuesday against billionaire Harry H. Stine and Stine Seed Company over his termination after 18 years as general counsel and vice president. It alleges Stine fired Saluri in March as part of a conspiracy to enrich others at Saluri’s expense.

Saluri alleges he was fired after trying to exercise his right to increase his ownership in M.S. Technologies, a Stine company that has agreements with Monsanto for soybean trait technologies. He says Stine officials wanted him to waive his right so the ownership could be acquired by Stine’s former son-in-law, but Saluri blocked the deal.

Union County Emergency Management Coordinator JoAnne Duckworth said today (Monday), that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has identified a microcystin toxin, in Green Valley Lake near Creston, in Union County. Microcystin toxin can make both humans & animals ill.

Persons using the lake should avoid having the water coming into contact with open sores, and the water should not be consumed, either accidentally or intentionally. If swimming in the lake, be sure to shower thoroughly afterward.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An environmental organization is encouraged by the sightings of two endangered snakes in Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports the two rattlesnakes were spotted earlier this year.

The Nature Conservancy says that for the first time in 15 years, the group confirmed a massasauga rattlesnake in the Lower Cedar Valley Preserve in Muscatine. They’re also known as “swamp rattlers.” Conservancy spokeswoman Shelly Hiemer says there have been concerns about the survival of the snakes, because of heavy flooding in the area the past two years.

The other endangered snake sighted this year was a prairie rattlesnake in the Broken Kettle Grassland Preserve near Sioux City. More good news: The conservancy says she was pregnant. To the conservancy, the sightings of the endangered snakes means their habitats are survivable.

w/ KJAN’s Bob Beebensee and DNR Conservation Officer Grant Gelle

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Officials with Golden Hills Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) say a planning meeting has been set for 9-a.m. Wednesday, July 19th, at the Oakland Community Center. The purpose of the meeting is to further discuss the creation of a Watershed Management Plan for the East and West Nishnabotna Watersheds.

Project Coordinator Cara Markey-Morgan, says cities, counties, soil and water conservation district representatives, and all other interested parties are welcome to attend to learn more about participating in this important organization.  

For more information about the East and West Nishnabotna watershed meeting, contact Breanna Shea (breanna-shea@uiowa.edu), Kyle Ament  (Kyle.Ament@dnr.iowa.gov) or Cara Morgan (cara.morgan@goldenhillsrcd.org).

• KJAN, Atlantic  .05″
• Massena  .1″
• Elk Horn  .04″
• Corning  .54″
• Missouri Valley  .38″
• Woodbine  1.38″
• Logan  .34″
• Emerson  .83″
• Villisca  .75″
• Glenwood  .6″
• Clarinda  1.75″

A delegation from China is scheduled to sign an agreement in Iowa today (Thursday) to buy another big batch of American-grown soybeans. Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey says China previously bought a billion bushels of beans from the U.S. “So that’s somewhere north of $10 billion worth of soybeans already this year,” Northey says.

Northey, Governor Reynolds and other commodity group leaders from Iowa will meet the Chinese delegation in downtown Des Moines at 9 a.m. this (Thursday) morning. A midday ceremony is planned to formalize China’s latest purchase of U.S. soybeans. “It’s their way of reminding everybody that they’re going to buy lots of beans and a lot of people don’t even realize it happens,” Northey says.

About half of the soybeans harvested in Iowa LAST year were exported to foreign buyers and Northey says up to 70 percent of those exports went to the Chinese. “Twenty years ago China was either a net exporter or no an importer at all. Now they buy two-thirds of all the soybeans that are traded in the world,” Northey says. “Not just ours, but South American beans as well.”

Northey says the Chinese process soybeans just like we do. The beans are crushed. The oil is taken out and the soybean meal that’s left is incorporated in livestock feed. Northey made his comments during an appearance Wednesday morning at the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale.

(Radio Iowa)

Members of the Atlantic School Board Wednesday evening, held the first regular session that featured new Superintendent Steve Barber and Finance Director Sarah Sheeder. During their session, Sheeder was also officially appointed Board Secretary. Barber, as you may recall was hire to replace former Superintendent Mike Amstein, who has retired, and Sheeder was hired to replace Mary Beth Fast, who accepted a similar position with a central Iowa school district.

Atlantic School Board (From left to right: Kristy Pellett, Jenny Williams, Ali Bruckner, Superintendent Steve Barber, Dr. Keith Swanson and Finance Director/Board Sec. Sarah Sheeder (Josh McLaren on the phone for this meeting)

The Board Wednesday, by a vote of 3-to 2, split a fuel bid recommendation between Pelgas and Olsen Fuel Supply. The original recommendation from Transportation Director Dave Eckles and Superintendent Barber, was to accept the low bid from Olsen’s for the district’s propane, diesel and gasoline needs. Both propane bids were adjusted to reflect a 30-cents per gallon state gas tax, which will be refunded at years’ end. There is also an Alternative Fuels Excise Tax credit available in the amount of 37-cents per gallon.

Olsen’s net bid on propane was lower by about 4.5-cents per gallon over Pelgas, but Board members Josh McLaren and Christy Pellett thought it would be more wise to “share the wealth” so to speak, in providing business to both companies. Last year, the Board went with Olsen’s for all the fuel needs, even though they were higher on the cost of propane. Pelgas does not supply number 1 and number 2 diesal, or unleaded regular/ethanol blends. The Board voted to contract with Pelgas for the propane, and Olsen’s for the other forms of fuel. Dr. Keith Swanson and Alison Bruckner were the two No votes for dividing the services.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board heard from Food Services Director DeeAnn Schreiner, about the summer lunch program, that runs from May 31st through August 4th. Schreiner said Breakfast is averaging 50 kids daily, and lunch 158 students daily. She said also they have been giving away food on a daily basis, with each child able to take home up to four items per day. That includes canned fruits and vegetables, cereal, fruit snacks and individual lunch/dinner items.

The big news, she said was with regard to a Farm to School grant. The grant application was written by Schreiner and Kate Olsen, with Cass County/ISU Extension and submitted on Dec. 8, 2016. The schools included in the joint application were Atlantic, Griswold and CAM. Only two applications out of the hundreds submitted, came from Iowa, and Cass County is the only one to be awarded the $45,000 planning grant from the USDA, with a $15,000 match coming from all three county schools in the form of “In-Kind” donations of time from Schreiner, Olsen and other staff. The USDA funds will be used to hire a Farm-to-school coordinator to work 20-hours per week to see the process through.

Among the goals, is to create a plan for next year for resourcing locally grown, fresh food sources.