(Radio Iowa) – A Snow Squall Warning was issued this (Thursday) morning for parts of western and central Iowa, due to visibility being greatly reduced by heavy snow. The D-O-T says many roads across Iowa’s western half are completely snow-covered. National Weather Service meteorologist Brooke Hagenhof says the storm system is headed east, roughly following Highway 30 and Interstate 80. “We’re looking at between two to four inches of snow falling across the area this morning, it’s going to fall very quickly within that band,” Hagenhoff says. “The heaviest snow looks to be along or maybe just north of that I-80 corridor as it moves across the state of Iowa.” She says a second winter storm may be looming this weekend.

“We’re looking at another system that’s going to come very late Saturday night and then mainly through the day on Sunday,” Hagenhoff says. “We’re still working out the details on it, but right now, it does look like southern Iowa would be the most likely spot for that heavier snowfall. We’ll be fine tuning the forecast here in the days to come.” That system will leave behind much colder weather, as she says we’ll have high temperatures 15 to 20 degrees below normal.

“We’re looking at temperatures for highs in the teens next week with overnight lows near or below zero,” Hagenhoff says. “Add on top of that, the wind chill, and it’s going to feel near or below zero for several days into next week.” Keep up with the changing forecast at weather-dot-gov.

Officials with the Creston Police Department arrested a man late New Year’s night on an OWI charge. Authorities say 43-year-old Brett Joseph Miller, of Creston, was arrested in the 600 block of New York Avenue, at around 10:50-p.m., Wednesday. Miller was charged with Operating While Under the Influence. He was taken to the Union County Jail and later posted a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa-born astronaut Peggy Whitson is scheduled to command another two-week mission to the International Space Station in the new year ahead, though the launch date hasn’t yet been released. Whitson will turn 65 in February, but America’s most experienced astronaut is still light years from retiring. The Beaconsfield native flew on three NASA long-duration space flights and the Axiom 2 Mission in 2023. Whitson’s first mission was aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2002, heard here on NASA-TV:

Whitson’s spent a total of 675 days in space, more than any other U-S astronaut or woman astronaut in the world. During a question-and-answer session from aboard the International Space Station in 2023, an elementary schooler asked Whitson how hard it was to become an astronaut. She said it took more than ten years of applying to the NASA program, challenging herself to do all sorts of activities she wasn’t sure she could do.

“Those activities, in the end, were what made me a better astronaut and I think it’s really important that everyone tries to live a little bit outside what they’re comfortable with,” Whitson says. “Challenge yourself to do something you don’t know how to do or you’re not sure about because if you fail at something, you learn something from it and you’ll be better the next time.” Whitson retired from NASA in 2018 and joined Axiom Space, which plans to build a commercial space station. In a C-B-S interview from 2023, Whitson said Axiom’s missions mark a change, as private, commercial entities are taking the lead from governments in getting satellites — and people — into orbit.

Peggy Whitson in space suit (Axiom photo)

“Axiom Space’s vision is to enable the replacement for the International Space Station,” she says. “As you know, it’s been up there over 20 years now, and they’re planning to retire it. We plan to step in and hopefully, seamlessly, continue a space station program.” One of Axiom’s goals is to increase access to space for all countries, scientists and universities. Whitson hopes the company will also expand on some of the medical experiments that were conducted during her latest mission, including cancer research.

“We were looking at potential ways to treat different types of cancer,” Whitson says. “We had colorectal cancer and breast cancers. We really feel like those research objectives are going to help develop medical therapies here on the ground. We’re very excited to hear about the details of the research.” The next Axiom mission, AX-4, will use a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and a Dragon spacecraft, launching from Florida.

Axiom Mission 4 crew (Axiom Space photo)

Whitson’s commanding an international crew of four, with the other three astronauts hailing from India, Poland and Hungary. Axiom says the mission will emphasize scientific research, technology demonstrations, and the commercialization of space.

(Radio Iowa) – Going after the paddlefish on the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers was once banned, but the populations came back enough to restart the paddlefish season. The D-N-R is hoping for similar success in bringing the paddlefish back at two popular lake areas. D-N-R Western Regional Fisheries Supervisor Chris Larson says West Okoboji is one area they have targeted. “They used to migrate up the little Sioux River out of the Missouri River and get into the big, great lakes up there, but now there’s barriers to keep them from doing that. And so we’re trying to experimental stocking at West Okoboji, where we reintroduced paddlefish this past fall,” Larson says. Two years ago they were stocked at Rathbun Lake as Larson says the paddlefish were native to the Cherokee River.

“I think they radio tagged about 25 of them, and they lost a few after that initial stocking. But they’re still swimming around in Rathbun and surviving,” he says. “So we assume that a majority of those fish survived and are growing. And it’ll take a number of years before it’ll create a fishable population.” He says it takes come time for the paddlefish to grow to a size that can be caught. “They get stocked at about 12 inches, and it might be six or seven years before you see a ten pound plus paddlefish in Rathbun but they’ll eventually, hopefully show up,” Larson says. The fish have a big paddle that sticks out in front of their face called a rostrum and they use it to help them navigate and find the plankton they eat. Larson says they are hoping to have the same success with paddlefish that other states have had.

“They’re very popular fisheries when you get down into the Missouri, the Ozarks, and into Oklahoma, they do paddlefish snagging in the large reservoirs there. These fish grow quite large — up to 100 pounds plus,” he says. Larson says the paddlefish like deeper areas of water that have some movement to them, and don’t like stagnant backwater.

(Radio Iowa) – A spokesman for the top Republican in the Iowa Senate says there are signs of progress as Sente Majority Leader Jack Whitver continues treatment for a brain tumor. Last May, Whitver announced that he was receiving radiation therapy for a brain tumor. A spokesman for Whitver says multiple scans this fall have shown the tumor is getting smaller and Whitver is in the middle of a series of drug therapy treatments. During an interview with Radio Iowa, Senator Whitver briefly addressed his health journey.

“I just really appreciate the support I’ve received from a lot of people in this state and it’s really humbling,” Whitver said. “I’m very thankful for that support and we’re going to just keep fighting.” Whitver turned 44 in September. He was first elected to the Iowa Senate in 2010 and has been majority leader since 2018. Last month, Whitver’s Republican colleagues voted to keep him in the role and he says the party’s top priority for 2025 is addressing concerns about Iowa’s property tax system.

“It’s something that we hear about on the campaign trail and we want to be responsive to Iowans,” Whitver said, “and so we are going to put a lot of time this year into property taxes.” Legislators will also be crafting a 12-month budget for the state for the next fiscal year with a lower amount of tax revenue than is being spent in the current year. “We expected revenues to decrease. And, really, that was the point of tax cuts, right? And so we’re watching that closely,” Whitver says. “We think the state is collecting too much money and we want to get as much back to the taxpayer as possible.”

Last year, Governor Reynolds signed a law shrinking the number of state agencies from 37 to 17 and Reynolds has said she has more plans for streamlining state government operations. Whitver says Senate Republicans are eager to have those discussions. “When you look at state government, it is huge and often it grows on its own, without thought,” Whitver said, “and so any kind of reorganization that needs to be done, we are more than happy to be at the table to work on that.”

House Speaker Pat Grassley recently created a new committee in the Iowa House to review the state’s entire higher education system. In 2018, Whitver suggested it might be time to create a state commission to study the state universities and how they could be more effective.  “We have looked at the Regents over the years, made changes where necessary. The governor has been appointing very strong, capable people there,” Whitver says. “If there’s changes to make, that the House is looking to make, we’re happy to work with them. I personally feel like the Regents have done a fairly good job over the last several years, but we can always do better and happy to work with the House on anything they’re bringing forward.”

House leaders say their review of the state’s higher education system will examine Iowa’s private colleges as well as Iowa’s 15 community colleges and the three state-supported universities. Whitver says senators would act if there’s something really egregious at private colleges that needs to be addressed, but he says Senate Republicans hope the primary focus is on the public universities.

(Radio Iowa) – 2025 has arrived and the experts say about eight in ten New Year’s resolutions are broken before the second week in February, and one popular vow many Iowans likely made last night is to lose weight. Nutritionist Heather Rasmussen says for anyone who is positively committed to eating right and getting off the couch, they can absolutely get on course to better health.

“It should be done all year ‘round but the new year gives people an opportunity to reevaluate what they’re doing both diet-wise and physical activity,” Rasmussen says, “and maybe to change their mindset and create some goals surrounding their health including diet and exercise.” Anytime you form a goal, she says it allows you a chance to pause, look over your situation and make changes to your lifestyle, even if the change is temporary.

Rasmussen says permanently changing dietary habits is difficult, so for those trying to stay on the diet wagon, a slow-and-steady approach may be ideal. “People get overwhelmed and say, ‘Okay, I’m never going to eat pizza again in my entire life,’ and then they just don’t do it because it’s too much,” Rasmussen says. “Thinking about my patients, what are your short-term goals? I know you want to lose 50 pounds but what do you want to do for this month, or this week?”

If you find yourself slipping on your nutritional mission, it might help to scale back long-term goals in favor of more short-term ones. Good habits, especially ones drastically different from typical lifestyles, are hard to start and even harder to keep. Research shows that on average, it takes about 66 days for a habit to become automatic.

EDDYVILLE, Iowa (KCRG) – Some Cargill workers in southeast Iowa will be out of a job by the beginning of February. KCRG-TV reports the plant in Eddyville is letting go 29 people on Feb. 5th. They are some of the first cuts to employees in Iowa after the company announced earlier this month that they would be letting go five percent of its workforce.

The Minnesota based company employs about 160,000 employees worldwide. A five percent cut in their workforce would equate to around 8,000 jobs. It’s not clear yet if additional Cargill jobs are at risk in eastern Iowa.

AMES, Iowa (KCRG) – Around a dozen members of the Iowa State University Cyclone Marching Band had minor injuries after the bus taking them back to Ames from the Pop-Tarts Bowl game in Florida over the weekend was involved in a crash. KCRG-TV reports the accident happened at around 7 p.m., Monday, when the Windstar Lines motorcoach carrying the band members collided with a school bus near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The President of Windstar Lines told KCRG that  a privately owned school bus pulled out in front of the motorcoach carrying the band members. The privately owned school bus then left the scene. The Windstar Lines motorcoach remained upright, but was disabled because of the damage sustained in the crash. First responders evaluated the band members, but there were no serious injuries. The university said about 12 students had bumps, bruises and cuts, but no one had to go to the hospital.

The motorcoach was part of an eight-bus convoy, and there was enough space on the other motorcoaches available to accommodate the students from the damaged bus. Windstar Lines said it is conducting its own internal investigation of the crash, and is cooperating with local authorities. The driver of the motorcoach was not charged for the crash.

(Rural Nodaway, Iowa) – Seven area fire departments worked to battle a residential fire Tuesday morning, in Adams County. According to Red Oak Fire Chief John Bruce, firefighters from Corning and Villisca were requested to fight  chimney fire at 1025 230th Street in rural Nodaway, at around 9:15-a.m.

Crews arriving on the scene found the flames had extended into the attic and the rest of the structure, as the result of increasing winds. Mutual aid was subsequently requested for tanker support (more water) from the Grant, Stanton, Lenox, Prescott, and Red Oak Fire Departments.

Photo courtesy of Red Oak Fire Chief John Bruce

The Chief reports the home’s residents were able to evacuate without incident. Two firefighters were treated at the scene for minor injuries that did not require transport to the hospital. The house was a total loss.

Other agencies assisting in handling the incident, included: The Adams County Sheriff’s Office and Adams County Communications; Adams County Ambulance, and Montgomery County Communications.