(Radio Iowa) –  A Christmas Eve disruption to American Airlines flights nationwide appears to have had little or no impact on Christmas Day air travel in Iowa. On Christmas morning, both American flights out of the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids were on time. Four out of five American Airlines departures from the Des Moines airport took off as scheduled, although a 5 a.m. Christmas morning flight from Des Moines to Dallas was cancelled.

The websites for Iowa’s two largest airports show all American Airlines flights due to land in Des Moines or Cedar Rapids on Christmas morning were on time, or close to it.

(Radio Iowa) – Triple-A and Gas Buddy report as holiday travelers hit the roads, gas prices are rising. According to GasBuddy, the average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline in Iowa has jumped about 11 cents in the past week. Triple-A’s latest report shows regular unleaded was selling for an average price of two-dollars-and-77 cents a gallon on Tuesday.

On Christmas Day, GasBuddy’s website showed the cheapest gas in Iowa was at a station in Ames.

(Radio Iowa) – Dubuque Police say a 16-year-old suspect who ran while officers were attempting to make an arrest on Christmas Eve was shot and injured. According to a news release from Dubuque Police, the teenager was wanted on an adult warrant, ran when officers approached, displayed a knife during a chase and two officers fired their guns.

Police say the suspect’s shoulder and arm were injured and the 16-year-old was taken to a Dubuque hospital for treatment.

(Radio Iowa) – Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says his December survey of bank C-E-Os in rural areas shows what may have been what he calls a “Trump bump” in the Midwest economy after the election has evaporated. The survey’s Rural Mainstreet Index was positive in November — the first and now only positive reading in 2024. “It’s not been good. It’s been tough,” Goss says. “Seventeen straight months of ag equipment sales.” And Goss says John Deere layoffs, for example, have had a trickle down effect to the smaller businesses that supply the parts for tractors and other John Deere products.

“2025, the first portion, is going to be little tougher, but I’m pretty positive about the second portion,” Goss says. “I’m hoping that President Trump negotiates some good trade agreements with China, selling more…Iowa soybeans, Iowa pork to China, so I’m most positive in that regard.” But Goss says if Trump imposes new tariffs on Canada, Mexico AND China, it’s likely those countries would retaliate against American products. And it’s unlikely farmers would get the kind of trade disruption payments they received during the previous Trump Administration.

“The deficit and debt are significantly higher now than they were in 2017 and 2018,” Goss says. “The ability to assist those industries that are negatively affected is much reduced.”

Goss made his comments during an appearance on Iowa Press on Iowa P-B-S.

(Radio Iowa) – If you had hand-held video games, watches or any other electronics under your tree, those shiny, button-sized batteries were likely in the box, too, and those batteries can be a critical problem if a child swallows one. Janna Day, a nurse and the education and outreach manager at the Iowa Poison Control Center, says the moisture in the throat can trigger the flow of current in the battery, which can lead to serious trouble in the esophagus.

“The esophagus is that tube that goes from your mouth down to your stomach, and if a battery gets stuck there, it can cause some really significant burning,” Day says. “That can happen quite quickly, even within just a couple of hours of that ingestion, there can be burning down in the esophagus.” Curious kids can find those batteries in all sorts of products, from bathroom scales to grandma’s hearing aids. Unfortunately, it likely means a trip to the E-R for X-rays if a battery is swallowed.

“If you know that a child or somebody that you are around has ingested one of those small button batteries, call us right away,” Day says. “It is definitely an emergency situation.” Other potential hazards are lurking. Many Iowans have ice melting products in their garages, for use on the sidewalk and driveway. Day says those tiny granules of ice melt might look appetizing to a child, so keep them out of reach.

“Keep your ice melt stored somewhere, safely away from kids and away from pets,” Day says. “Keep it in its original packaging, just in case there is an ingestion. If you call us, we’re going to ask you a little bit about the product, and so if you have the original container, that is really helpful.”

If your child ate ice melt, or anything else questionable, be on the safe side and call the Sioux City-based Iowa Poison Control Center. The experts are available any day, around-the-clock at 1-800-222-1222.

DALLAS CENTER, Iowa — A family in Dallas Center is without a home after a large fire took over early Tuesday morning. KCCI reports the Dallas Center Fire Department says it happened off 15th Street at around 4:30 a.m. When crews arrived, they found the home engulfed in flames and smoke. Nearby fire departments helped in taking down the fire.

No injuries were reported, and a cause of the blaze was under investigation. Fire officials say a fund has been set up to help the family at Raccoon Valley Bank.

(Dover Air Force Base) 2021 CAM High School graduate Zoey Baylor, who was selected for the United States Air Force Honor Guard, is one of a select number of individuals who will present the flags at the 2025 Presidential Inauguration.

Qualifications for the Ceremonial Guardsman positions include a height requirement, possessing a minimum of a secret security clearance, and have received a decorated tour with a U.S. Air Force or Base Honor Guard tour.

Read more about the preparations, HERE.

Former Dover Base Honor Guard members practice the ceremonial at ease command during a two-day try-out at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, Sept. 5, 2024. Seventeen former BHG members went through a tryout process for ceremonial guardsman positions needed for the upcoming presidential inauguration ceremony scheduled in January 2025. (U.S. Air Force photo by Roland Balik)

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Lottery officials say NO ONE won Tuesday night’s Mega Millions jackpot drawing. The jackpot, which had been estimated at $1-billion, grows to an estimated $1.15-billion for Friday night’s drawing. If won at that level, it would be the fifth largest jackpot in the game’s history! The cash option with that jackpot is $516.1-million.

The white ball numbers drawn Tuesday were: 11-14-38-45-46 and the gold Mega Ball was 3. Around the country, 106 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Thirteen of those are worth $30,000 each because they included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 3X Tuesday night; the other 93 take home the standard $10,000 each.

In the 30 drawings since the jackpot was last won at $810 million in Texas on September 10, there have been more than 25.7 million winning tickets across all prize tiers. These include 60 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, won in 25 different jurisdictions from coast to coast. Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia. The overall odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24; the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.

(Radio Iowa) – While some Iowans’ homes were visited by a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer last night, it’s hoped there’s also -not- a visit today from a fire truck. Andrea Vastis, public education director for the National Fire Protection Association, says if you’re trying to add some holiday ambience to the room by lighting a few candles, do so with caution. Vastis says, “Candles, on average, cause 21 homes fires a day in the United States with the peak days of candle fires being Christmas Day — at almost three times the rest of the year — and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.”

December is the peak time of year for candle fires and studies find almost three of every five December home fires are started by candles. “Candles are great but they are an open flame and when they’re placed too close to a mattress, bedding, cartons, decorations,” Vastis says. “People leave the room and think they’ll be gone for 30 seconds but they’ve actually left for a lot longer, and now this candle is left unattended.”

Christmas Day is also one of the top three days of the year for home cooking fires, but she says lighting candles may only increase the risk of a disaster. “The key here is, if you’re going to use a candle, make sure it’s on a sturdy base. Make sure it’s at least 12 inches — one foot away — from anything that can burn,” Vastis says. “We are big supporters of battery-operated candles because you can use them anywhere and not worry about putting them with your decorations.”

Christmas tree fires don’t happen often, but when they do, they tend to be serious. An association report finds, on average, one of every 52 reported home fires that began with a Christmas tree resulted in a death, compared to an average of one death per 135 total reported home fires.

(Radio Iowa) – There wasn’t enough snowfall to give Iowa a white Christmas this year. National Weather Service meteorologist Brooke Hagenhoff says another color better describes the day. “Certainly going to be a bit of a gray Christmas. Pretty damp and dreary there in the afternoon, for sure,” she says. Hagenhoff says there will be some unseasonably warm weather the rest of the week.”We’re looking at temperatures in the upper 30s to pushing 40 degrees. We’re certainly going to warm up after Christmas. As we get into the upcoming weekend, we could see temperatures pushing 50 degrees or warmer,” Hagenhoff says. Snow isn’t in the long-term picture, but there will be some precipitation.

“We do have a system that will come up on Thursday into Friday, that will bring chances for rain state area, and perhaps another chance there on Saturday as well,” She says. “Thankfully, with the warmer temperatures we’re looking at, that being in the liquid form, which should make travel a little easier for anyone returning back to the area from holiday travels.” The New Year may start out colder. “As we get into kind of parts of next week, temperatures may come down just a little bit. We’re looking at temperatures returning likely to the mid 30s, closer to normal, as we get towards New Year’s ,” she says.

Hagenhoff says they’ll fine tune the forecast toward the end of the week to get a better idea of what we can expect to start the New Year.