Data from Realtor-dot-com (www.Realtor.com) finds Iowa’s capital city has a higher percentage of so-called “millennials” buying a home than any other city in the country. In the first six months of this year, 59 percent of the borrowers who took out a loan to buy a home in the Des Moines metro were between the ages of 25 and 34. Iowa State University finance professor Tracy Turner says home ownership rates are rising faster in mid-sized cities like Des Moines where there’s plenty of housing available.

“Is it supply or demand?” Turner asks. “Demand in the sense of: Is there something unique about millennials at this point in time in their life that gives them the incentive and the ability to buy? Maybe. Or is it that the housing stock is still recovering and the millennials happen to be here at the right moment to buy when prices are relatively low?” According to the National Association of Realtors, the median age of a first-time home buyer, nationally, was 31 last year and 65 percent of first-time home buyers were married. Turner says people tend to marry earlier in Midwestern cities.

“Married households are far more likely to purchase,” Turner says. “Among first-time home buyers, they will be disproportionately married and what often happens is that young people in less urbanized places, we tend to see them marrying at younger ages. They’re more likely to marry.” The total number of homes sold throughout the state of Iowa is higher so far this year compared to last. And homes that are up for sale are on the market for a shorter period of time.

(Radio Iowa)

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You won’t have much trouble traveling most of Iowa’s waterways this fall. Tim Hall with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources keeps an eye on water levels. He says the U-S Geological Survey looks at around 100 gauges across the state to get a composite stream flow. “We’ve been running just slightly on the wet side or normal for the year — so stream flow is a little big higher than it would be normally this time of year — which is a pretty good place to be,” Hall says. He says the water in the streams and creeks is important.

“Stream flow contributes to a lot of things, it provides for habitat for fish and aquatic species, for migratory birds, its’ an ecosystem indicator. So, we kind of like to see stream flow at normal,” according to Hall. Stream flows often drop down in the winter time. “Being a little big higher than normal is great going into the winter….it’s going to replenish farm ponds, it’s gonna keep low-lying areas with some water in them, so that there’s plenty of moisture out there when spring rolls around,” Hall says.

The statewide average precipitation was a little more than four inches in September, and ranked it as the 50th wettest September in 143 years of records.

(Radio Iowa)

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Officials with the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB), this past week, dismissed a complaint filed by a patron of the Red Oak Community School District, that alleged the district failed to provide adequate notice for a meeting of its School Improvement Advisory Committee, or SIAC. According to the Daily NonPareil, the complaint, which was filed by Red Oak resident Margaret Stoldorf, alleged the district failed to provide a 24-hour notice to the media about the meeting, which was held in January.

Police in Red Oak arrested a woman from Kansas early this (Saturday) morning. 33-year old Tiffany Deanna Wheat, of Paola, KS., was arrested following a traffic stop at around 12:15-a.m.  She was charged with OWI/1st offense, and unlawful possession of a prescription medication. Wheat was cited for failure to carry a registration card, failure to obey a traffic control device, speeding, and opening container.

She was being held at the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center on a $1,000 cash bond.

Authorities say a woman from Elliott was arrested Friday afternoon, following a traffic stop. 20-year old Sarah Beth Ewing was pulled over in the 3000 block of 110th Street at around 4:50-p.m., and charged with Driving While Suspended, with five withdrawals in effect. Ewing was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 bond.

A woman from Shenandoah was injured during a single-vehicle accident Friday evening. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says 20-year old Tracy Loren Jackson was traveling north in the 1550 block of N Avenue at around 5:50-p.m., when she lost control of the 2007 Chevy Cobalt she was driving.

The car entered the east ditch and came to rest after striking a field drive. Jackson complained of neck and back pain afterward, and was transported to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital by Red Oak Rescue.

The car was a total loss. Authorities say speed and defective tires likely contributed to the crash.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

BURNSIDE, Iowa (AP) — A third member of a central Iowa volunteer fire department has lost his home in a fire this year. KCCI-TV reports the latest fire broke out early Friday at the home of Lehigh Fire Chief Kirk Kelley in Burnside. On October 5th, firefighter Cody Frazier also lost his Lehigh home in a fire. In April, firefighter Milton Friedel of Burnside lost his home in a blaze blamed on an electrical problem.

CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) — A trial has been rescheduled to January for a convicted sex offender who’d been defeated in a Charles City school board election. Online court records say the trial is scheduled to begin January 12th for 59-year-old Doug Lindaman. He’s pleaded not guilty to allegations that he performed a sex act in 2011 on a 17-year-old boy without the boy’s consent.

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — A court has upheld a ruling finding a New Hampton utility wrongfully fired a worker who had exposed inappropriate actions by a supervisor. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports the Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a lower court judgment that sided with Jacob Hackman, who filed a wrongful termination claim after being fired by New Hampton Municipal Light.

TYNGSBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is campaigning in Massachusetts, promising the repeal of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law and strict enforcement of immigration laws. The billionaire businessman spoke at a rally Friday in Tyngsborough, northwest of Boston.

The Iowa State Patrol says a teen from Ringgold County was injured during a two-vehicle collision north of Redding, Friday afternoon. 16-year old Baylee Love, of Redding, who was wearing a seat belt, was transported by Ringgold County Ambulance to the hospital in Mount Ayr, after the 1997 Pontiac he was driving was hit by a 2001 Mack truck.There was no report on his condition.

The accident happened just before 4-p.m. when the driver of the truck, 46-year old James Stonehocker, of Afton, failed to yield half of the roadway as he was traveling eastbound on 280th Street, near the intersection with Ringgold County Road P-27.

After the truck hit the car, the truck stopped on the road, while the car entered the north ditch and came to rest.