(Clive, Iowa) – March Madness tips off this week with college basketball teams battling for the No. 1 spot in the nation. But you don’t have to live and breathe hoops to cheer on restaurants vying for Iowa’s best pulled pork sandwich. Every March, the Iowa Pork Producers Association searches for Iowa’s best pulled pork sandwich. Nominations were accepted from March through the 10th. Voting is now open until 10-a.m. March 17th, for the “Elite 8,” from the “Sweet 16” nominations. A vote for the “Final 4” will be held from 5-p.m. March 17th until 10-a.m. March 22nd. The event wraps up with the “Final 2, and a vote for the Champion on March 31st.

The winning restaurant receives $250, a plaque, and the honor of being this year’s Pulled Pork Madness CHAMPION!!!  Past winners cannot be nominated. Pulled pork must be from a restaurant that is typically open year-round with regular hours. Food trucks, concession stands, seasonal establishments, and catering businesses are not eligible. No email or social media nominations will be counted.

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is calling for every Iowa high school to conduct a voter registration drive on Wednesday, March 22.

Iowa law allows 17-year-olds to register to vote and there are currently more than 3,400 already registered. They can also participate in primary elections as long as they turn 18 prior to or on the day of the general election. Iowa law requires high schools to conduct two voter registration drives every school year.

“Voting is both a fundamental right and an important way for individuals to engage in their communities,” said Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo. “When young people are registered, they are more likely to turn out to vote. Participating in high school voter registration day is a great opportunity to promote civic engagement and motivate young people to take part in shaping the world that we live in.”

To check your voter registration status, register to vote or update your information, visit VoterReady.Iowa.gov.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, Tuesday afternoon, arrested a woman on Forgery and Theft charges. 36-year-old Alana Marie Johnson, of Red Oak, was arrested on four Felony counts of Forgery (Class-D Felony), and an Aggravated Misdemeanor charge of Theft in the 3^rd Degree. Johnson was being held on a $5,000 cash bond.

Kellerton, Iowa – The first rhythmic and haunting cooing begins as the night sky fades and sunrise begins. The short grass prairie booming grounds prepares for a display found nowhere else in Iowa. This is prairie chicken country and April 1 will be Prairie Chicken Day at the Kellerton Wildlife Management Area, in Ringgold County. Activities originate from the viewing platform on 300th Avenue, southwest of Kellerton. The bird’s annual ritual begins as early as mid-March and lasts through April. Male prairie chickens meet at the booming grounds every morning to display, spar and fight with other males trying to catch the eye of the females watching nearby.

“They will be out there until 8 in the morning or so, when they begin to slow down,” said Stephanie Shepherd, wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Diversity Program. Prairie chickens will display each morning regardless of the weather. The area has an elevated viewing platform to help see all the action. “Some mornings you can hear them and some you can’t. They are out there every day, but are less active if it’s raining or really cloudy,” Shepherd said.  While there will be some spotting scopes available to use, attendees are encouraged to bring their own or a set of binoculars.

The prairie chicken population at Kellerton has benefited from a collaboration between the states of Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska, and the Nature Conservancy, Blank Park Zoo and the Ringgold County Conservation Board. The collaboration extended to area producers who help to manage 30 percent of the grasslands through grazing. Some of the partners captured and relocated prairie chickens from Nebraska to the Kellerton area and the Dunn Ranch in northern Missouri to increase bird numbers and introduce new genetics to the population. While others worked to reestablish the rolling grasslands in the area.

From mid-March through the end of May, male prairie chickens meet at the booming grounds every morning to display, spar and fight with other males trying to catch the eye of the females watching nearby. Photo courtesy of the Iowa DNR.

“There has been a lot of collaboration to improve the landscape across the state line to recreate 160,000 acres of rolling hills of grass with few trees,” Shepherd said. “This partnership benefits not only the prairie chicken, but other grassland species as well.” This year, in addition to prairie-chicken viewing, the Iowa Ornithologist’s Union will lead a birding field trip, starting at 8 a.m. All birding experience levels are welcome and the plan will be to bird around Kellerton, Ringgold and Mount Ayr wildlife areas. Target birds include northern bobwhite, red-shouldered hawk, loggerhead shrike and northern mockingbird.

Participants can meet field trip leaders at the prairie chicken viewing platform area at 8 a.m. and can direct any questions to Dennis Thompson at cndthomps@gmail.com.

(Radio Iowa) – The National Weather Service predicts a wet spring in eastern Iowa and a rising Mississippi River, so the city of Davenport is preparing for the possibility of major flooding. In the Quad Cities, flood walls and levees hold the river back from Bettendorf, Rock Island and East Moline, but not Davenport. The city’s choice to live with the river means flooding and that requires preparation. Nicole Gleason is Davenport’s public works director. “Really, if you look at it on a large scale, we’re really flooding a minimal amount of time in the big picture,” Gleason says, “so, kind of balancing that long-term interaction with the short-term needs of flooding.”

The weather service says there’s a 50-percent chance of major flooding, which for Davenport is 18 feet. Gleason says that would require closing River Drive, diverting many commuters driving between Muscatine and Bettendorf. Gleason says the flooding is part of the balancing act for a town that chooses to live with the river, rather than walling it off.  “Any time you’re setting up a temporary measure as opposed to a permanent measure, the goal is to maintain the river views,” she says, “to make sure that when we’re not flooding — which is the majority of the time — people can see the river, interact with the river, as opposed to putting up a permanent flood structure.”

City staff are practicing the deployment of flood barriers and pump stations and the city is urging residents to visit the city’s website to sign up for alerts and get more information. Gleason says as waters rise, the city uses a combination of HESCO flood barriers and pump stations to limit damage.

(by Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)

[7-a.m. News] (Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston report two arrests. At around 12:26-a.m. today (Wednesday), 49-year old Allison Loy Dunphy, of Creston, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. She later posted at $1,000 cash bond and was released. And, at around 3:20-p.m. Tuesday, 40-year-old Michael David Brandt, of Creston, was arrested at his residence. Brandt was charged with Domestic Abuse Assault 3rd. Brandt was taken to Union County Jail. He was being held without bond until seen by the magistrate.

(Radio Iowa) – If you’ve hit some rough stretches on state highways, you are not alone. The Iowa Transportation Commission has approved amending its budget to spend 15 million dollars on weather repairs. The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson says there’s been an above normal number of freeze-thaw cycles this winter that are causing issues. “We are seeing some significant impacts on some pavements,” he says. Anderson says they checked with maintenance districts across the state and believe this money will help take care of some of the issues. “It certainly won’t address all the damage we’re seeing — but it’ll get the worst of it,” Anderson says. “The last time, we had something like this was about four years ago, March 2019, we came out of a pretty unique winter season and saw the same kind of damage.”

U-S Highway 218 (IA DOT Photo)

Anderson says the Transportation Commission took the same action and spent 12 million in winter repairs in 2019. He says there are issues across the state and the money will be spread evenly among the maintenance districts. He says each district will get two-and-a-half million dollars to do the repairs. The D-O-T’s chief engineer, Mitch Dillavou says the conditions have been the worst you can get for pavement. “It’s the uniqueness of this winter where you get those fluctuations in temperatures, plus we’ve had a lot of moisture,” Dillavou says. He says his perfect winter conditions for pavement are when the temperature drops and stays the same and there’s not a lot of melting water or rain that gets into pavement cracks. Dillavou says the older pavement has more problems.

“Our newer roads have a good drainable base and better infrastructure. So, it’s our older pavements that you’ve heard just talked about quite a bit,” he says. “it gets down in there, and then it freezes, and then it just starts cracking. and things move.” Anderson says the 15 million dollars will be moved out of the next fiscal year budget to allow them to handle the repairs as soon as they can.

(Radio Iowa) – The board that governs the three state supported universities is launching a comprehensive review of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs at the schools. The president of the Board of Regents has also directed the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa to pause implementing any new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. Representative Taylor Collins, a Republican from Mediapolis, says he appreciates the Regents response to concerns, but it’s time to pass a bill that dismantles the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion bureaucracies on the campuses.

“They’re being used to drive a certain political agenda and it’s unacceptable,” Collins says. “And Iowa taxpayers agree it’s unacceptable.” A bill that’s eligible for debate in the Iowa House would prohibit the state universities from spending any money on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion staff or training that discusses things like racial privilege or pronouns which do not represent a gender. Collins says it’s a woke agenda and he says he’s been shocked to hear from a lot of the faculty at the three universities.

“Faculty feel like this stuff is being pushed on them so much that it’s exhausting them,” Collins says. It’s unclear how the House bill would impact the recent legal settlement with former Hawkeye football players. The university has agreed to hire a black studies professor from the University of Texas professor to oversee a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion action plan for Hawkeye athletes and coaches. Collins is a member of the panel that drafts the budgets for the state universities.

“It’s frustrating that theoretically this DEI spending didn’t work,” Collins says. and then we’re going to spend money on DEI to solve the problem.” Senator Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Oskaloosa, is chairman of the Senate Education Committee. He hasn’t seen the House bill on this subject. “If the Regents are taking a hard look at this on their own, that’s probably a better approach to this,” Rozenboom says, “or at least that’s a good starting place.” Rozenboom does have concerns about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs on the campuses in Ames, Cedar Falls and Iowa City.

“Earlier this year I asked the Board of Regents how many DEI employees there were and found out there were 110,” Rozenboom says, “which I think translates into quite a few dollars.” Rozenboom says his approach has been to gather facts and figures and start investigating this year. “I don’t like to be impulsive,” Rozenboom says. “If the House sends something over, I’ll have to take a hard look at it, consider what the Regents are doing and we’ll go from there.”

Advocates of the Regents’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs say they are intended to ensure people from different backgrounds and experiences feel welcome on campus.

(Radio Iowa)- The state Transportation Commission has approved a grant to build a roadway into proposed plant at a site in Plymouth County south of Le Mars. Deb Arp of the D-O-T presented the proposal for what’s called a RISE grant. “The proposed roadway provides improved access to the bio energy facility — a digester plant — and assists in the creation of five full time jobs,” she says. “The facility will take waste from three dairies and process it to generate renewable natural gas. The development is anticipated to start construction later this year and to start production in spring or summer of 2024.” She says this is a local development grant, and the county will help fund the project.

She says the project will cost more than one-point-five million dollars $1,585,556). The county requested a grant of 792-thousand-778 dollars, and will provide the other 50 percent cost of the project in a local match. The Transportation Commission also approved a settlement of a rise grant for Burlington. “The city received a grant of one-million-536-thousand for roadway improvements contingent on the creation of 128 new jobs by General Electric within three years of project completion,” Arp says. She says the company was only able to create around half the jobs.

“In May of 2019 the roadway was open to traffic — however the company associated with this project was only able to create an average of 61 jobs within the allowable timeframe,” she says. Arp says the city has agreed to repay 323-thousand-123 dollars from the grant.

(Sidney, Iowa) – A southwest Iowa man was arrested Tuesday in Fremont County on sexual assault and other charges, out of Missouri. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports, 44-year-old Dewight Eugene Binau was arrested at a residence in Sidney, on a warrant out of Newton County, Missouri.

On February 3, 2023, the Fremont County County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a possible sexual assault that occurred in Missouri in December, 2022, and forwarded the information to the Neosho, Missouri Police Department.

Following an investigation, an arrest warrant was issued for Binau, charging him with two counts of statutory sodomy or attempted statutory sodomy-deviate sexual intercourse of a person less than 12 years of age and one count of 2nd degree molestation of a child less than 12 years of age.

Dewight Binau

Binau was taken to the Fremont County Jail pending extradition to Missouri.