Twelve Iowa organizations and businesses will receive Environmental Excellence awards from Gov. Terry E. Branstad this summer. The awards are the premier environmental honors in Iowa. Among the winners is the Guthrie Center Community Schools, in Guthrie Center. The district will receive Special Recognition for Habitat Restoration and Environment Education.

The Governor said “The vision and initiatives undertaken by the award recipients to benefit Iowa’s citizens both economically and environmentally are recognized and celebrated through these awards. They showcase the commitment being made to make Iowa a better state now and into the future.”

Branstad will present awards to the recipients at a recognition ceremony at 3 p.m. Aug. 4th in the Capitol Rotunda, located at 1007 East Grand Avenue in Des Moines. The public is invited to attend.

For more information about the Governor’s Iowa Environmental Excellence Awards, go to www.iowadnr.gov/eeawards.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The state auditor’s office says a former doctor for University of Iowa Health Care improperly billed insurers and diverted nearly $1.9 million in collections into his personal bank accounts. The office said in a news release Thursday that the university had requested a special investigation into actions by Dr. Brian Adams. He worked in the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation from December 1992 until resigning last August.

Online court records don’t show any charges against Adams. The auditor’s office filed copies of its report with law enforcement, including Johnson County prosecutors.

We hear reports on Iowa’s corn and soybean crops from the U-S-D-A every week, but one thing we don’t hear updated often is the condition of Iowa’s -sweet- corn crop. Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey says so far, so good. “We’ve seen just a little sweet corn coming around and we’ll see a lot more in the next several weeks,” Northey says. “I’m hearing there’s a really good crop out there and it’s a great time of year for sweet corn.”

Northey said the condition of the sweet corn crop varies in different areas of Iowa. “We have some parts of the state that have gotten too much water,” he says, “so in those cases, if the sweet corn was in a low area and got too much water, that may be either hard to harvest or may even be such that it just drowned out pieces of that sweet corn or set it back.” Favorable reports have come from many sections of the state, especially northwest and north-central Iowa.

Northey says the first locally-grown corn started appearing around the 4th of July weekend and vendors are ready to sell the golden ears. “It’s a great time to pick up sweet corn at farmers markets,” Northey says. “There’s a lot of local sweet corn that’ll be sold in our grocery stores and of course, we have a series of festivals around that are centered on sweet corn, from now until almost Labor Day.”

Some of the bigger sweet corn festivals in the state include those in Adel on August 9th, West Point on August 13th and Des Moines on August 29th.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – The three giant Gateway Arches that for 35 years told travelers that they were in Sioux City have come crashing down. Each 40-foot-tall, 36-ton structure was pushed over on Wednesday after dirt was dug from the base beneath them. Now they’re no longer in the way of a new Nebraska Street exit to be built as part of the ongoing Interstate 29 project.

The estimated $165,000 cost of moving and installing the arches elsewhere in the city ruled out proposals to save them. Joanne Grueskin led the community drive to build the arches in 1980, and she says they helped spur development of the Anderson Dance Pavilion and the riverfront bike trails. She says the arches well-served their purpose.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Sioux City officials say some people who have paid parking tickets have still gotten city notices that they haven’t, so the city has stopped sending all notices until the problem is resolved. The Sioux City Journal reports that the city sends notices to people if their tickets aren’t paid within 15 days of the tickets being issued. The notices say that if the tickets aren’t paid within 30 days of their issuance, extra $5 charges will be added to the tickets.

The city usually sends 100-150 notices on Fridays. Last week 240 notices were sent.
No program problems have been found so far with the computer system that keeps track of parking tickets.

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

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The Creston Police Department today (Thursday) issued a report on incidents and an arrest. Officials say 35-year old Haley Miller, of Creston, was arrested Wednesday night on a Union County warrant for Theft in the 3rd Degree. Miller was later released on $2,000 bond. And, 24-year old Carlos Merazsanchez, of Creston, was cited  Wednesday morning for an annoyance or disturbance occurring at his residence, related to animal complaints.

A resident in the 600 block of N. Walnut Street, in Creston, reported this (Thursday) morning that her home and vehicle had been hit by projectiles from a paintball gun. And, early Wednesday afternoon, a resident in the 600 block of Oak Street, in Creston, reported someone took a small children’s pool and hot tub covers from her yard at her residence. The loss was estimated at $325.

The 7:06-a.m. report w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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A GoFundMe account has been established for a former Marne area resident who was viciously assaulted Sunday morning over an incident involving fireworks. Mark Paulsen, who lives in Omaha, and Logan Skow, both suffered injuries when they were attacked after they asked neighbors near 156th and Giles Road, to stop shooting-off fireworks at around 2-a.m., Sunday.

Family members said on the fundraising page established for Paulsen, that Skow walked away from the incident with bruises, cuts, bloody nose, and broken blood vessel in his eye. Paulsen, however, was in critical condition following the incident, after suffering several face and skull fractures, as well as bleeding on his brain. He was last reported to be in the Intensive Care Unit at CHI Health Creighton University.

The suspects in the case, Nathan Christensen, Andrew Short, his brother Branden Short and a juvenile, are charged with 1st degree Class 3 Felony Assault for beating, Paulsen, and 1st degree misdemeanor assault, for beating Skow. All four suspects posted bond at 10% of $25,000 ($2,500) and were released from the Sarpy County Jail. They are due in court again, on July 21st.

Paulsen is expected to be out of work for several months while he recovers from his injuries. Donations to help with his medical expenses can be contributed via GoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/markpaulsen. So far, around $2,790 has been raised.

Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley will hold Town Hall meetings Saturday, July 25th, in Carroll, Calhoun and Sac Counties. The meetings are part of Grassley’s annual 99 county tour.

His July 25th schedule includes at stop from 8-to 9-a.m. at the Rockwell City Community Center. Afterward, he travels to Carroll for a Town Hall meeting that takes place from 10-until 11-am in the meeting room at the Carroll County Courthouse. Grassley’s final stop for the day is at the Law Enforcement Center in Sac City, from 12:15-until 1:15-p.m., again on July 25th.

Iowa’s senior Senator will speak at the public meetings before taking comments and answering questions.