(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who can afford a pair of tickets to this weekend’s Super Bowl probably don’t care so much about the cost of airfare or hotels, but if you’re trying to make the trip on the cheap, well, it won’t be. Triple-A spokesman Nick Chabarria says depending on when you arrive in New Orleans and how long you plan to stay, you could shave several hundred dollars off the price.

If you can be flexible in where you’ll stay before and after the big game, Chabarria says that could also be a major cost savings.

Reports say ticket prices for the Super Bowl, depending on seat location and which website you use, range from around 38-hundred dollars to more than seven-thousand. Chabarria says another thing to consider is travel insurance, which can help cover unexpected events like trip cancellations, medical emergencies, and lost luggage. With everything you may buy online, he says to be watchful for scams.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic High School’s Senior Alumni Scholarship Foundation (SASF) recently held their annual meeting and welcomed new members Becky Ludington Stahr, Brad Pellett and Ann Johnk. The SASF was created by Atlantic alumni with the goal of providing need-based scholarships to graduating seniors of AHS.

Funding for the foundation is provided by donations from Atlantic alumni. Generous donations from individuals and previous classes have allowed the foundation to grow. The first $500 scholarship was given out in 2003. In 2024 the number of scholarships awarded was expanded to reach as many students as possible. The SASF increased the scholarship amounts this year and will award five, $2,500 scholarships to the Class of 2025. Students must have a GPS of 2.5 and higher to qualify. Applications are online at the Atlantic High School website and are due April 7th of this year. Students are encouraged to apply and contact Gina Honke for more information.

front row L to R…Ted Robinson Vice chair, CJ Heithoff President, Linda Robinson, Cathy Baragary Executive Directors.
2nd row… Becky Ludington Stahr, Tammy Wickman, Ann Johnk
3rd row…Steve Wallingford, Brad Pellett, Jackie Sampson, Cathy Hansen, Deb Schuler and JC Van Ginkle. Not present were Mark Smith Treasurer, Mark McNees, and Billie Hoover. (Photo courtesy of Mark McNees)

Alumi, or friends of the Atlantic High School, who would like more information on donating to the 501c3 foundation are encouraged to visit the website at atlanticsasf.org or visit the Atlantic High School Senior Alumni Foundation Facebook page.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department says personnel with the Creston Tobacco store reported early Sunday morning, someone stole vape products from the store’s location in the 600 block of W. Taylor Street. The loss was estimated at just under $300.

Creston Police said also, seven people were arrested between Jan. 26th and Feb. 1st:

At around 2:50-a.m. Saturday (Feb 1st), 34-year-old Trevor Alan Miller, of Lenox, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. He was later released on his Own Recognizance. At around 12:20-a.m. Saturday, 47-year-old Brandy Dawn Scheuerman, of Winterset, was arrested in Creston in the area of Highway 34 & Wyoming Avenue. Scheuerman was charged with Possession of drug paraphernalia, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd offense. She later posted a $5,300 bond and was released. And, at around 12:06-a.m., Saturday, 18-year-old John William Egly, the 4th, of Creston, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. He later posted a $1,000 bond and was released from the Union County Jail.

There were three separate arrests Friday, in Creston: 42-year-old Becky Ann Bochniak, of Creston, was arrested at around 5-a.m., for Driving While Suspended and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. She was cited and released from the scene on a Promise To Appear (in Court); 47-year-old Toby Annette Crawford, of Creston, was arrested at around 5:20-p.m., Friday, for Driving While Revoked. She was cited and also released on a Promise To Appear; And, a little after 9-p.m., Friday, Creston Police arrested 73-year-old Danny Paul Hacker, of Creston, for OWI/1st offense, and Interference with Official Acts. Hacker was later released on a $1,300 bond.

On January 26th, Police in Creston arrested 45-year-old Rebekah Raelyn Moon, of Creston, for OWI/2nd offense. She was taken into custody at around 6:20-a.m. and later posted a $2,000 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is hosting a series of public meetings to discuss the past hunting and trapping season and possible rule and regulation changes to the sports. The meetings will be in locations across the state from Feb. 17th through the 20th. This past weekend on KJAN’s Conservation Report, Cass-Adair County Conservation Officer Adam Gacke says during the meetings, biologists generally come out to provide an update specific to each area in the state.

In this area, meetings will be held in Mills and Union Counties.

Gacke says they’re hoping to have a good turnout at those and other meetings across the State.

Comments collected from the meetings will be presented to the Natural Resources Commission and will be considered by DNR before it proposes any changes to hunting or trapping regulations.

Again, those area meeting locations and dates are:

• Glenwood, Feb. 17, 6:30 p.m., Southwest Iowa Sportman’s Club, 22869 Jamett Road
• Creston, Feb. 20, 6 p.m., Performing Arts Building multi-purpose room (124), 1201 West Townline St.

In other outdoor news, Gacke says persons wanting to go ice-fishing need to be aware that with the recent heat wave, ice conditions are variable, and can be dangerous.

The Iowa DNR reported nine OHV/ATVs broke through the ice late last month – seven at the Iowa Great Lakes on the Minnesota border, and two at Lake Rathbun, on the Missouri border. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. Gacke says where you start onto a lake or body of water can be completely different from where you intend to set-up your ice-fishing equipment.

Officials with the Iowa DNR announced in January, the agency sold more than 300,000 hunting, fishing or combination annual licenses to Iowa residents in 2024 and nearly 50,000 annual fishing, hunting or combination licenses to nonresidents. The figures do not include shorter time period licenses, lifetime licenses or specific season licenses. Annual licenses for 2024 expired Jan. 10, and Iowa’s final deer seasons wrapped up Jan. 19, which according to DNR’s harvest report, more than 101,000 deer were harvested in 2024. This was close to the totals for 2023, which reached 104,000 deer.

DNR asked the public to help collect samples throughout the hunting season to monitor for chronic wasting disease. The department collected more than 5,000 samples from deer across the state during the 2024-2025 deer seasons and confirmed 51 wild deer were positive for the disease that is fatal to deer. The department increased the number of samples it gathered in 2024 after confirming the disease in 128 wild deer in 2023. The 2024 figures are close to what the state saw in 2021, according to the DNR interactive database.

(Radio Iowa) – The 2024 tax season is now open and you can file your return. I-R-S spokesman Chris Miller says there’s plenty of help available for those who need it. “I-R-S Free File remains a great option for people with relatively simple tax returns, and it allows folks to go through irs.gov and get a choice of brand name tax software products that allow them to file online, electronically for free, day or night.” he says. Miller says there are some income restrictions. He says there are some programs where you can get face-to-face help. “The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, or VITA, or the tax counseling for the elderly program called T-C-E. One program is mainly for seniors, and the other is geared toward low to moderate income taxpayers. And VITA allows the taxpayers to sit down with a volunteer face to face and get help preparing any electronically filing that tax return for free,” Miller says.

Miller says they’ve added some upgrades to their online site. “So there’s more functionality to the online account that taxpayers can set up on their own,” he says. “There are more forms accessible by phone or tablet, and there’s also now a voice BOT that will help taxpayers when they call and ask questions about their refund.” One thing that is not new is the continued danger of scammers seeking to take advantage of you during tax season. “Watch out for phone calls or letters or text messages that threaten or make demands, because that’s a sign of a scam. We want you to watch out for unsolicited emails, text messages, social media messages, because they often contain attachments or links intended to steal your information,” Miller says.

Miller says the I-R-S won’t call you to get your information.

(Radio Iowa) – A series of workshops will be launched this week that are designed to teach Iowans how to extend the habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators. Liz Ripley, an outreach specialist at the Iowa Learning Farms on the campus of Iowa State University, says the four workshops will be held in four different areas of the state during February and March — and they’re all free. “So it’s open to anyone who would like to attend. We’d like to see a good mix of farmers, landowners and urban residents,” Ripley says. “When it comes to creating more habitat, we need everybody at the table. Obviously, the largest portion of our land here in Iowa and across the Corn Belt is in agricultural production, so definitely trying to reach a lot of farmers and landowners.” Like farmers, Ripley says pollinators help ensure the world eats. Studies find about 75% of the world’s flowering plants and about 35% of the world’s food crops depend on pollinators. That’s why the workshops are important, she says, as all Iowans can play a role.

“It’s an opportunity to learn a little bit more specifically what the monarchs as an indicator-pollinator species need and desire for their habitat and survival,” she says, “but also the role they play when it comes to our ability to grow things, not only here in Iowa, but across the Midwest and Corn Belt.” Iowa is in the middle of the annual monarch commute lane as the orange-and-black insects made the incredibly long journey. Experts can establish their population counts by the number of acres occupied when they overwinter in Mexico, and the numbers have fallen drastically in the past 20 years. “They can estimate the number of monarchs based on how much area that they cover each winter, and that does ebb and flow depending on different survival rates from the year prior,” Ripley says. “We have seen that continued steady decline of these monarchs, and a lot of that has been driven by habitat loss along their migratory journey north and south each year.” She says the workshops will provide Iowans with an opportunity to learn more about monarchs and how to integrate additional pollinator habitat into the state’s landscape.

Photo courtesy of the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium

“These workshops are going to be held February 6th in Ames, February 11th at Storm Lake, March 11th in Fairfield, and March 18th in Coralville,” she says, “and if you’re interested in joining us, we just ask folks to RSVP to help us make sure that we have enough food on hand for the complimentary meal that’s included with each of these workshops.”

To RSVP, contact Ripley at 515-294-2473 or ilf@iastate.edu.

http://www.iowalearningfarms.org

(Radio Iowa) – State and federal officials announced this weekend that bird flu had been confirmed in a commercial flock of 240-thousand layer hens in northwest Iowa’s O’Brien County. Governor Kim Reynolds has recommended an additional half a MILLION dollars in state spending to support development of vaccines for bird flu and other foreign animal diseases.

The current outbreak of avian influenza began three years ago and the first human case of bird flu in the United States was identified in April of last year. In December, state officials reported the first human case in Iowa, in a person who worked in a commercial poultry operation. In a recent Radio Iowa interview, Reynolds said figuring out how to best mitigate transmission of the virus is key. “Think about it going from birds to hogs,” Reynolds said.”I mean just this past year it went to dairy. It’s scary the impact it could have not only on the food supply chain, but just to people as well.”

Governor Reynolds says the National Veterinary Service Lab in Ames is playing a critical role in confirming cases quickly, so current mitigation strategies can begin. When bird flu is confirmed in poultry, the birds are euthanized. “It’s been devasting what it’s done to our producers here in the state,” Reynolds says. A decade ago, over 30 million birds in Iowa poultry operations were euthanized during the previous outbreak of bird flu. Since March of last year, the virus has been detected in 12 commercial flocks in Iowa.

“I don’t want to see another epidemic like we dealt with before,” Reynolds said. In 2024, state and federal officials confirmed cases of bird flu in 13 Iowa dairy herds. Dairy cattle with signs of bird flu are segregated from the rest of the herd and the majority of the cattle recover from the virus.

(Iowa News Service) – Environmental advocates in Iowa want state lawmakers to tighten regulations on large livestock feeding facilities, which they say will help protect the state’s air and water. They say right now, Iowa is headed in the wrong direction. The group Iowa Food and Water Watch has a list of priorities for the 2025 Legislature – from opposing legislation that could limit pesticide companies’ liability, to protecting ground and surface water from the 4,000 large animal feeding operations in the state.

Food and Water Watch Iowa Organizer Jennifer Breon said cleaning up Iowa’s drinking water is at the top of the list – by requiring those operations to adhere to the U.S. Clean Water Act. “Only 4% of Iowa’s CAFOs or factory farms have Clean Water Act permits,” said Breon, “and Iowa has more factory farms than any other state.” Livestock industry operators say they are always balancing efforts to be more environmental friendly with the need to keep up with consumer demand for meat products.

A Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO).

Beyond polluting the air, ground, and surface water near CAFOs, Breon said the 109 billion gallons of manure produced by Iowa’s factory farms every year is threatening the state’s recreational opportunities. “It’s impossible to swim in the lake in Iowa in the summertime frequently, because of E. coli and algae blooms,” said Breon. “Our state is forced to issue warnings about beach closures, pretty much all summer long.”

An analysis by Food and Water Watch found that Iowa’s factory farms have been fined less than $750,000, despite multiple citations for water pollution over a decade.

(Storm Lake, Iowa) – Authorities say dense fog may have played a role in a fatal crash that occurred Sunday morning, in northwest Iowa. The accident in Buena Vista County happened on Highway 71 near Lakeside, a little after 5-a.m. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 27-year-old Derren Mauricio of Alta, Iowa died at the scene of an accident after the 2017 Chevy Traverse he was driving crossed the center line of northbound Highway 71, and struck a 2019 Jeep Wrangler, which was traveling south, and driven by 21-year-old Estevan Rodriguez, of Alta.

Rodriguez and his passenger, 30-year-old Lucero Martinez-Juarez, of Early, Iowa, were injured in the collision. They were transported to the Buena Vista Regional Medical Center, in Storm Lake. All three of the crash victims were wearing seat belts.

And, while the crash remained under investigation, dense fog was present during the collision, which reduced visibility.