(Radio Iowa) – While poinsettias have an undeserved reputation for being poisonous, as you’d have to eat a few hundred poinsettia leaves to get sick, an expert says two -other- traditional holiday plants -are- potentially toxic. Janna Day, a nurse and the education and outreach manager at the Iowa Poison Control Center, says mistletoe can be dangerous if consumed by people or pets, and also the red berries in holly should never be eaten. “They can cause gastrointestinal symptoms and upset,” Day says. “We might see things like nausea, vomiting, cramping, diarrhea if somebody ingests those or if a child ingests those.”

Day says those symptoms can show up quite rapidly and may last for 24 hours or more. “If that does happen, we do recommend that you just go ahead and call us at the poison center,” Day says, “because then we can evaluate how many berries were potentially swallowed, and help give you some recommendations on what we want you to do next.” On the subject of berries, mistletoe’s white berries can also be toxic, and while sprigs of the plant are often placed above doorways to promote kissing, Day says the entire plant should be avoided. Keep them out of kids’ reach and away from pets.

“The flower and the leaves, when we’re talking about mistletoe, they tend to be a little bit more toxic than the berry itself, but we do get more calls about the berry,” Day says. “It seems like those are what we have more ingestions of, the berry. Regardless, we still want you to call us if there is any type of ingestion.” If you have questions or concerns about these and other poisons, call the Sioux City-based Iowa Poison Control Center any day, anytime at 1-800-222-1222.

(Creston, IA) – Three people were arrested on separate charges over the past week or so, in Creston. According to the Creston Police Department, just before 6-a.m. Sunday, 41-year-old Angela Lee Stone, of Oskaloosa, was arrested at the Creston/Union County Law Enforcement Center, on an Outside Agency Warrant for two counts of Harassment in the 2nd Degree. Stone was taken to the Union County Jail and later transported to the Adams County Jail, where she was being held without bond until making her initial court appearance.

At Around 10:50-p.m. on December 17th, Creston Police arrested 23-year-old Jackson S. Elias, of Omaha. Elias was arrested at the intersection of Highway 25 and Townline, and charged with Possess Drug Paraphernalia. Elias was transported to the Union County Jail, cited, and then released on promise to appear in court.

And, at around 2:10-p.m. on Dec. 12th, Police in Creston arrested 27-year-old Beau Ethan Boswell, of Creston, on an Outside Agency Warrant for Parole Violation on original charges of OWI/1st offense, and Interference with Official Acts. Boswell was being held without bond in the Union County Jail.

(Grundy County, IA) – An adult and two children were injured when an SUV rolled over Sunday morning east of the Grundy Center exit from Highway 20. The Iowa State Patrol says a 2005 Ford Explorer driven by 24-year-old Dilcia F. Hernandez-Morales, of Peoria, IL., was traveling westbound on Highway 20 near mile marker 209. The vehicle left the road to the right and went out of control when the woman tried to get the SUV back into the lane. The vehicle entered the ditch and rolled over three times before coming to rest on its top, in a field. The accident happened at around 7:20-a.m., Sunday.

The Patrol says Hernandez-Morales and her passengers, ages one and seven, both from Peoria, IL., were transported by Grundy Center EMS to the Grundy County Memorial Hospital. The children were not restrained in the vehicle. Hernandez-Morales was wearing her seat belt.

(Radio Iowa) – Milk production is up across the U-S and worldwide, which has had some benefit to Iowa dairy producers. Iowa State University dairy expert Fred Hall says the increase is linked to fewer younger cows known as heifers going into the milking rotation. “What we found is, because the price of heifers are so expensive, people are keeping cows longer. And one of them unique things, more mature cows gives more milk than a heifer,” he says. Hall says the U-S has benefited from the increase in milk production. ” So if you have more of the commodity, that means the price is going to go down. And this is really good for the United States the last year because we were the cheapest dairy product in the world, so we sold a lot more,” Hall says.

He says as other countries produce more milk their prices go down and that impacts U-S dairy exports. Hall says that could impact milk prices and people will look for cheaper products. “Does it mean that they will quit buying dairy? Very unlikely. You know, a young family with children will continue to buy milk, but you may see instead of buying organic or grass fed, they may say, okay, we will have to buy commodity milk or we will go to two percent,” he says.

Hall says the same thing is happening with butter, as imported butter prices will drop and that could impact domestic sales. “The season for baking is coming up, we’ll know in January what that’s going to be. So yeah, we’re in a state of flux and I think a big part of it is that balance between production and consumption,” he says. Hall says the Iowa dairy industry is doing okay now, though the number of dairies has dropped.

“We’ve kept the same number of cows, fewer dairymen. And we know that as we have this abundance of feed we’re getting just a little more milk, and I believe it’s about a pound a day per cow more. And that’s significant. So Iowa is placed well,” Hall says. Hall says Iowa has the processing available to handle the milk produced or to add a little more, which is good. He says much of the processed milk in Iowa goes to cheese production.

(Lenox, IA) – Firefighters with the Lenox Fire Department were called to a house fire at around 9:50-p.m., Saturday. The first crews on the scene at 300 S. Maple Street in Lenox, reported several large explosions and structure was fully engulfed with flames. Several oxygen tanks and a couple propane tanks were discovered.

Crews did a quick knock down of the majority of the structure but due to multiple additions that were added to the house that contained concealed spaces that was hard to get water to. The house is considered a total loss.

Photo via the Lenox Fire Dept. Facebook page.

The resident was able to escape the fire but was injured and transported by Taylor County Ambulance. Authorities say the cause of the fire was unknown, and still under investigation. Fire crews wrapped-up their activities at the scene and returned to their station at around 4:30-a.m., Sunday.

Lenox Fire thanks the agencies that assisted in handling the incident including: Taylor County Ambulance; The Taylor and Adams County Sheriff’s Departments, and Lenox Municipal Utilities.

(Radio Iowa) – House Majority Leader Bobby Kaufmann says there’s a high level of interest among House Republicans to respond to landowners who don’t want Summit Carbon Solutions to seize segments of their property for the company’s proposed pipeline. Kaufmann was highly critical of Governor Reynolds decision six months ago to veto a bill that would have made it more difficult for Summit — and other companies — to use eminent domain for pipelines and other utility infrastructure.

“Certainly I supported last year’s bill 1000%, but it was a big target for people to politically shoot at,” Kaufmann said, “so I think you’ll see something very, very simple and very, very straightforward early on.” Kaufmann isn’t predicting what proposal may come up for a vote, but during an interview Radio Iowa, he mentioned the law South Dakota’s governor signed in March that bans the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines.

“I’ll take my majority leader hat off for a moment,” Kaufmann said, “and Representative Kaufmann 100% supports a South Dakota-style bill coming out of the House very soon.” But Kaufmann says he’s polling his fellow House Republicans to determine what the group supports and he plans to meet with Governor Reynolds to discuss it. Kaufmann isn’t withdrawing his criticism of her pipeline bill veto.

“On a scale of 1 to 100, my thoughts on that were about negative 2,000,000,000,” Kaufmann said, “but that does not take away from the good things she has done, the good things she will do and I’m happy to have a conversation with her at any time on any topic.” Meanwhile, Senate Republican Leader Mike Klimesh will be introducing a bill to create a 10 mile zone around the proposed routes for utility infrastructure. Klimesh says it would let developers find new paths to avoid properties owned by people who don’t want the project on their land.

“And I think that’s where we find a place in Iowa where we all but eliminate the need to use eminent domain ever again,” Klimesh said. Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says the proposal Klimesh is talking about has no guarantee that Summit would be prohibited from using eminent domain to seize property along the pipeline route. “They could get the expanded corridor and still use eminent domain and so that solution alone is not acceptable to us,” Holt said.

“Now, if you want to talk to us about expanding the corridor and including language that says: ‘No eminent domain for the CO2 pipeline in the State of Iowa,’ then we could have the discussion.” Holt is among a group of House members who’ve worked on and passed several bills over the past few years to set up new regulations for carbon pipelines or even block the Summit project.

(A report by the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Iowans eligible for a federal utility assistance program are applying for assistance at higher rates this winter than last year, according to some distributors.  The low-income home energy assistance program is a federal program that helps qualifying households pay for part of their residential heating bill during the winter season.  The program, which is abbreviated to LIHEAP, is administered by community action associations and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.

A spokesperson for HHS said the state is seeing “a consistent slightly increased level of need” so far into the winter heating season. The spokesperson noted in an email, however, that applications are still being processed by the state and that HHS expects to have a “clearer picture” of need in the next couple of weeks. While overall inflation rates decreased in November, according to consumer price indexes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for food at home and energy increased slightly.

Photo by KJAN

Christopher Ackman, the communications and volunteers manager at Hawkeye Area Community Action Program, or HACAP, which helps to administer LIHEAP to households, said the organization has already had more than 5,700 applications for the winter season. Ackman said in most years, HACAP has around 11,000 applications.

Ackman said the sub-zero temperatures that most of the state endured in early December were likely a contributing factor to the increase in applications, but he said other factors like the cost of food and energy can also contribute to an increase in applications to the program. HACAP, which is also a food bank and provides other services to low-income households, is experiencing “higher than normal” need at the food pantries it serves, according to Ackman. He said folks seeking energy assistance are typically enrolled in or utilize other programs that HACAP facilitates.

Utility companies also accept and offer a match on utility assistance donations. Programs, like I CARE from MidAmerican Energy, or Hometown Care Energy Fund from Alliant Energy, collect funds and donate to the local community action agencies.  Most rural cooperatives and other utility companies offer similar services or allow customers to round up their energy bills to donate into the community network. Customers who qualify for LIHEAP, which requires an income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, are also eligible for a disconnection moratorium during the cold season, from Nov. 1 through April 1.

Rate-regulated utilities are required to report data of accounts that are past due and have been issued disconnection notices. According to the latest data compiled by the Iowa Utilities Commission, in November there were 49,299 accounts eligible for energy assistance in Iowa, 912 of which were issued disconnection notices.  The total number of accounts eligible for energy assistance is up nearly 21% from November of 2024 and the number of accounts with disconnection notices is about 9.5% higher this year than last.

HHS said LIHEAP applications for both owner-occupied and renter-occupied households will be accepted through April 30, 2026. Applications can be found online and submitted in person, by mail, over the phone or via email.