(Radio Iowa) – Last night (Tuesday) marked the Iowa premiere of a one-woman play about Erma Bombeck, a humorist who won wide fame for her column that described life in the Midwestern suburbs and was carried in more than 900 newspapers. The playwrights who crafted the performance are twin sisters, Allison and Peggy Engel, who both have many Iowa ties. Allison Engel emphasizes, it’s a play and not a stand-up act.

“There are a lot of funny things in it, that’s for sure, because she was a well-known humorist, and she just was also a very funny person in person,” Allison Engel says, “but the play tells about her remarkable life and how she really started writing at age 37 and became the most syndicated columnist in America.” Bombeck wrote three columns a week and 16 best-selling books, becoming extremely popular throughout the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. The play, “Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End,” had decades of copy from which to draw and the sisters agree, they had to leave out a lot of great lines, but those they kept in are gems.

“This play is punchy, it’s funny, it’s poignant, it’s sad, it’s happy,” Peggy Engel says, “and we’re really pleased with — we have a wonderful actress named Pam Sherman who takes us through her life in all its hilarity.” In addition to the newspaper columns and best-selling books, Bombeck was said to be one of Johnny Carson’s favorite “Tonight Show” guests, and she was also a regular correspondent on “Good Morning, America,” so multiple generations adored her humor and charm. “She told the truth about what it was really like to live in a household,” Allison Engel says. “People romanticized what a suburban life was like after World War Two, the housewife in pearls and heels and vacuuming — and Erma Bombeck told it how it really was, and she was very funny, but people recognized the humanity.”

Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, is a quick-witted, uplifting story recounting the life of American columnist and humorist, Erma Bombeck. (DMPA photo)

While Bombeck died in 1996, five days after submitting what became her final column, the Engels say her wisdom and her wit is still very much alive for the modern audience. “We’re really so cheered by the fact that so many families are going together, daughters taking moms, fathers taking their sisters, because we’ve seen them exchanging knowing glances in the performances,” Peggy Engel says, “because what they’re seeing on stage really played out in their own lives.”

Among their many credits, Peggy Engel is a former reporter for the Des Moines Register and the Washington Post, who now directs the Alicia Patterson Journalism Foundation and was managing editor of the Newseum. Allison Engel was a reporter for the Des Moines Tribune, among other papers, and was a speechwriter for former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and Lieutenant Governor Sally Pederson. “Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End” is playing at the Des Moines Civic Center through December 21st.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – One of the nation’s largest food and agriculture companies, with ties to eastern Iowa, is cutting its workforce. Cargill announced plans to layoff five percent of its employees worldwide. According to the company’s website, it employs around 160,000 employees.

The Minnesota based company has made a profit after the pandemic with rising inflation. But says falling numbers of U.S. cattle and grocery prices are hitting them the hardest. The company has not said if the layoffs will impact the multiple Cargill plants across eastern Iowa.

The Minnesota company did release a statement to the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis saying, “To strengthen Cargill’s impact, we must realign our talent and resources to align with our strategy. This difficult decision was not made lightly.”

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa State Fair has announced its first Grandstand act of the 2025 fair. “Hairball,” a rock tribute band, will perform Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025 at the Grandstand. The show is part of Hairball’s Silver Anniversary Tour marking their 25th anniversary. Hairball performed during the RAGBRAI® stop in Atlantic in 2019.

Additional entertainment announcements at the 2025 Iowa State Fair are expected to follow in the coming months. The fair will not host a February Hairball concert in 2025, according to the announcement.

Tickets go on sale at the Iowa State Fair website at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 6th.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Former Hawkeye superstar Caitlin Clark has been named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list. The 22-year-old Indiana Fever guard is fresh off a historic rookie season in the WNBA, where she was named the Rookie of the Year. Clark also set records for scoring and assists and became the first rookie in the WNBA to record a triple-double.

KCRG reports the Forbes article said “The first overall pick in 2024’s WNBA draft, Caitlin Clark led the resurgent Indiana Fever to their first playoff appearance in eight years while breaking the league’s single-season assists record and earning Rookie of the Year honors. She also led WNBA All-Star Game voting with more than 700,000 ballots and has been credited with pushing up league viewership and attendance.”

Photo credit: Hawkeye Nation

At Iowa, Clark set the NCAA’s all-time scoring record and was twice named the National Player of the Year. She also led the Hawkeyes to back-to-back national title appearances. Clark was the only WNBA player selected to the list and the fourth youngest.

WATERLOO, Iowa (KCRG)—More than 100 John Deere workers in Waterloo were told Tuesday (Dec. 4, 2024) morning that they will be without a job after the holiday season. It comes two weeks after Deere announced a net income of seven billion dollars last year. That’s a 16% decrease from the year before. Over 1,700 John Deere employees across Iowa have been laid off since the beginning of 2024. Waterloo has taken the brunt of the layoffs. Tuesday morning 112 employees at John Deere Waterloo Works were told their last day would be January 3. This brings the total layoffs in Waterloo alone to more than 1,000.

KCRG reports that in Davenport, 80 workers will also be losing their jobs after the new year. Those layoffs were announced back in October and will take effect on January 3rd. A John Deere plant in Des Moines laid off 166 employees earlier this year and Deere in Dubuque has lost 133. The company said it has seen declining demand for its products because of challenging market conditions. It cited the USDA expecting falling commodity prices for things like corn and soybeans.

John Deere gave the following reasons for why orders are down:

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts major row-crop cash receipts to be down another 18% in 2024, following a 5% decline last year.
• The USDA also forecasts marketing year average prices for the new crop (crops harvested this fall) to continue to decline from last year and to be down over 30% compared to a couple of years ago (compared to 2022: corn -37%, soybeans -24%, and wheat -35%).
  

The company also says its construction division is impacted by fewer new homes being built. The company said:

• In the construction industry, compared to its peak in 2021, single-family home sales are down 30%, single-family housing starts are down 10%, and multi-family housing starts are down 40%.
• Despite some interest rate reductions, the current interest rate level is still elevated compared to recent history.

Laid off employees will receive monetary and health care benefits for a period after their end date.

AMES, Iowa [KCCI] — Iowa State University will have to pay the Des Moines Police Department for the 2023 death of a police K-9. According to the Iowa State Appeals Board, DMPD K-9 Hobbs was taken to the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine for surgery after a sudden illness last December. Hobbs did not survive the procedure. A veterinarian from Iowa State said a medical error caused the dog to become septic and die.

Photo from the Des Moines Police Department’s Facebook page

Iowa State must now pay $43,000 to the Des Moines Police Department for the cost of the department to buy and train Hobbs.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – Page County Attorney Carl M. Sonksen, Tuesday (12/3) issued a report on activities that took place in the Iowa District Court for Page County, during the week of November 25th. The following cases were presided over by the Honorable Amy Zacharias, 4th Judicial District Judge (All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law):

SIOUX CITY, Iowa –  Officials with the Iowa Department of Transportation say if you drive on Interstate 29 near Sloan (in northwest Iowa), you need to be aware of an upcoming traffic pattern change that may affect your trip. Beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6 until 5 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8, weather permitting, traffic in both directions of I-29 will be routed onto the ramps at the interchange with Iowa 141 (exit 127) in Sloan so crews can demolish and remove the old bridge over I-29. You will follow a marked route using the entrance and exit ramps to I-29 to safely travel around the work zone.

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

The latest traveler information is available anytime through the 511 system. Visit 511ia.org; call 511 (within Iowa) or 800-288-1047 (nationwide); stay connected with 511 on Facebook or X (find links at https://iowadot.gov/511/511-social-media-sites); or download the free app to your mobile device.

(Radio Iowa) – The Free Application for Federal Student Aid known as FAFSA is now open for the next academic year. FAFSA has had issues since an effort to upgrade the process and forms were delayed last year, but U-N-I Financial Aid director Tim Bakula it is now ready for this year. “It’s still at the studentaid.gov website, as usual, and students and families can go and complete that soon as they’d like, listing the schools where they’d want their FAFSA to be sent,” he says. The process in past years has had some bugs in it, but Bakula says so far he hasn’t heard any major issues.

” That’s not to say it’s perfect, or that everyone will go through it without a question, but they’ve built in various prompts and edits that are hopefully making the user experience better for families and completing it more direct and clear in instructions on how to complete it,” he says, “and hopefully allowing schools to then receive the most accurate information that they can about the students that are applying to their schools.” He says the process is key in finding out if you our your child qualifies for financial help. “Families that complete the fast forward putting themselves out there to be eligible for federal student loans, federal grants for instance. Many colleges and universities will use the FAFSA results to determine some scholarship eligibility, although that’s not the fastest primary focus. The FAFSA possible allows a family or student, I should say, to qualify for federal work study dollars,” Bakula says.

Workstudy allows a student to get a campus job to earn a little bit of extra money to help them pay for different things at college. “It really is the number one step to beginning the aid process to receive a financial aid offer from a from a college or university,” he says. Bakula says there are varying deadlines for completing FAFSA and he advises you do it as soon as you can. “The public universities in the state are all within early February as a priority deadline date. I can’t speak to every college in the state of Iowa or nationally, I would recommend, probably the best thing to do for a student would be to go out and look at the colleges that they’re kind of considering and see what dates exist,” he says.

“To complete the FAFSA families would need their 2023 tax information,” he says. “And one of the nice things about the FAFSA anymore is that it will accurately bring in federal tax information directly from the I-R-S once the family provides consent, both the student and the parent, in most cases.” Bakula says filling out the FAFSA should take at most 45 minutes to an hour.