Twice each year, with the arrival of spring and fall, Iowa motorists need to be particularly careful when driving at sunrise and sunset. Gail Weinholzer with Triple-A-Iowa, notes today (Thursday) is the day of the autumnal equinox and the sun could be blinding during the morning and afternoon commutes for the next few weeks. “The days are getting shorter, the darkness is getting longer,” Weinholzer says. “It can definitely affect people as they drive, especially to and from work.”

There are no statistics kept in Iowa as to how many crashes occur related to drivers affected by the sun’s blazing light, right in our line of sight. Fall officially arrived at 9:21 this morning.

Sun glare

“The glare of dawn and dusk can be difficult for some drivers to adjust to and it’s important that they do that,” Weinholzer says. “Because the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer, it can also have an impact on making us feel more drowsy and we should be aware of that as well.”

While the autumnal equinox marks the first day of fall in Iowa and all across the northern hemisphere, on the other half of the world south of the equator, this is the first day of spring.

(Radio Iowa)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – It’s a soggy start to fall for several Midwestern states, where heavy rain has flooded homes, closed major highways and stranded motorists.  In Minnesota, where as much as 8 to 10 inches of rain fell in the Twin Cities area Wednesday night, the Department of Transportation fired up its snowplows to move standing water off major thoroughfares. About 75 miles to the south, several homes were evacuated in Waseca where nearly 14 inches of rain fell over two days.

In western Wisconsin, a portion of Highway 35 was closed because of a number of mudslides. Several school districts canceled classes Thursday because of travel difficulties. In Iowa, the National Weather Service says at least three tornadoes knocked down trees and destroyed a couple of sheds in Floyd and Butler counties.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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One of Donald Trump’s daughters-in-law was in Iowa yesterday (Wednesday) and a member of the Kennedy clan was here to campaign for Hillary Clinton. Campaign veterans say having a “surrogate” stand-in to campaign for the candidate can be a tricky. David Kochel of Des Moines was a key insider on campaigns for Republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney. He says unless the campaign “surrogate” has the same last name as the presidential candidate, it’s difficult to draw much of a crowd or the desired media attention. “In general, it can eat up a lot of staff resources and time with marginal benefit,” he says. Kochel says good surrogates “underscore” the campaign’s core message to voters.

“It is a motivation for supporters who are doing a lot of the work and the volunteering,” Kochel says. “It’s also a way to recruit volunteers and bring them in the door, but the message is the main thing.” John Norris of Des Moines was a key insider on campaigns for Democratic presidential candidates Jesse Jackson and John Kerry. Norris says there’s a fine line between asset and liability when it comes to campaign surrogates.

“First of all, you want surrogates who are low maintenance, surrogates who can attract people for whatever the purpose is — for message, for fundraising,” Norris says,”and in Iowa there’s probably a higher threshold than in other states because Iowans are so used to having presidential candidates here.” Kochel agrees. “It’s always been tougher in Iowa to draw people who aren’t he candidates because we see so much of the candidates throughout the caucus process,” Kochel says.

And Norris points out the presidential campaigns in Iowa are focused on early voting right now, since Iowans can start casting ballots next week. “If the surrogate event is about getting the vote out and they’re an attractice surrogate, they can be helpful,” Norris says. “But if you spend a whole lot of time for a surrogate who doesn’t have much draw or electoral value, then you are probably directing your resources in a non-productive way.”

Patrick Kennedy, son of the late Ted Kennedy, hosted a roundtable discussion in Des Moines yesterday to call attention to Clinton’s ideas for addressing gaps in the mental health care system. At nearly the same time, there was a “Women for Trump” event featuring Trump’s daughter-in-law and a long-time aide to three of Trump’s adult children. Lynne Patton is also an executive for Eric Trump’s charity.

During an interview with The Des Moines Register, Patton defended Donald Trump’s record of charitable donations. She told the newspaper Trump often asks groups to write a check to his charity rather than pay him directly for giving a speech. A Washington Post analysis concluded the candidate has not personally donated to his own charity since 2007.

(O.Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

LAWTON, Iowa (AP) – A former city clerk in northwest Iowa has been convicted after making a plea deal in a Nebraska child sex case. Court records say 61-year-old Douglas Furlich, of Lawton, Wednesday entered a plea of no contest to an amended count of attempted sexual assault by use of an electronic communication device. Sentencing has been set for Nov. 9th. The Lawton City Council in Iowa fired Furlich after his arrest.

The Nebraska State Patrol says Furlich posted an ad online saying he was “looking for a younger guy.” Officials say an undercover officer responded, pretending to be a 15-year-old boy. Court documents say Furlich went to a South Sioux City, Nebraska, park in June to meet the boy. Furlich was arrested there.

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Eppley Airfield officials have made changes to ease the parking crunch during construction of another parking garage. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the existing rental car parking garage will be demolished next spring, making way for a six-story parking garage with 3,000 parking stalls. Of those, 900 will be for rental cars. The existing rental car garage has 519 public spaces and 555 spots for rental cars.

During construction, rental cars will be relocated to a new parking lot nearby. A shuttle will take customers to the temporary facilities.  The construction project doesn’t affect the airport’s main parking garage, but a parking guidance system has been installed to show drivers the available spots on each of the six floors in the garage.

If you’ve got walnut trees and some time to rake up the walnuts that fall from them, you can make a little money from the State Forest Nursery. Nursery spokesperson Candace Weigel says they collect walnuts every year to grow into thousands of seedlings. They are a little short on their seed supply this year. “This year and last year there’s been kind of a short of walnut seed, so we are having enough trouble getting enough walnuts to fulfill the walnut seedlings that we need to supply for the state,” Weigel says.

She says the walnut shortage is something that happens from time-to-time. She says seeds on trees tend to be cyclical as walnuts are prolific some years and other years are down. Weigel says that happens with other species too such as oaks. Weigel says they will pay you two dollars, 50 cents for each bushel of walnuts you bring to collection sites around the state.

“Just the native black walnut, which most trees are around here,” Weigel says. “If you know that you have an English walnut, then we don’t want that, just the native black walnut.” Weigel says the walnuts should be fresh and in good condition, free of debris like sticks and leaves. The seed can just be in buckets, or loose in a pickup bed or trailer. And the hulls can be left on,” she says. Weigel says most people don’t do anything with the walnuts that fall off their trees.

“Most of the walnuts will just be left for the animals and the squirrels bury some of them and they will grow up and produce little walnut seedlings,” according to Weigel. “Some people do collect them and crack them completely open and do eat the black walnut.” You can sell your walnuts at the State Forest Nursery in Ames (800-865-2477), Shimek State Forest (319-878-3811) in Farmington, Stephens State Forest (641-774-4559) in Chariton and Yellow River State Forest (563-586-2090) in Harpers Ferry.

Weigel says you should call first to schedule a time to drop off walnuts to be sure someone will be there to collect them and pay you.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say flash flooding is occurring across several counties in northeast Iowa, thanks to heavy rains. The National Weather Service said Thursday that 1 to 2 inches an hour have fallen in spots, and more thunderstorms are expected to produce another 1 to 2 inches. The same storms also may also be capable of producing hail and strong winds.

The service says water is covering some streets in Hawkeye and says there’s water over the pavement on U.S. Highway 18 west of Hawkeye. The service also says at least three tornadoes were reported Wednesday evening in parts of southern Floyd County and northern Butler County. Two machine sheds were destroyed southeast of Marble Rock, and trees were knocked down in several areas. It’s unclear whether the storms caused any injuries.

A survey conducted last year at the University of Iowa shows 1 in 5 female students said they were raped. UI Sexual Response Coordinator Monique DiCarlo says freshmen are most vulnerable as 11-percent reported they were raped in their first semester on campus. “It’s the first time they’re away from home in a significant way and they’re establishing intimate relationships for the first time,” DiCarlo said.

The results of the sexual assault survey were presented at a news conference Wednesday on the Iowa City campus. DiCarlo said the UI’s response plan involves adding staff, but also extensive education and student involvement. “The reason we’re doing that is our climate data suggests students are most likely to tell their peers about an incident and so we want to make sure that students are prepared to hear their peers’ disclosure and they know an effective way to respond,” DiCarlo said.

The plan also involves expanding resources for people accused of sexual misconduct. Nearly 2,700 students responded to the “Speak Out Iowa” survey conducted last year. DiCarlo noted the response rate to the survey was only 9.3 percent and three-fourths of the respondents were women.

(Radio Iowa)