June 12, 2025 (DES MOINES, IA) — The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) today announced five recipients of the Iowa Rural Certified Site Initiative (IRCSI), a competitive grant program supporting the development of project-ready industrial locations in Iowa’s smaller communities.

A total of $133,528 in matching funds was awarded to assist with due diligence activities required for site certification — a key step in attracting new business investment and quality jobs. The funding reimburses costs for required reports and studies such as environmental assessments, geotechnical investigations and cultural resources surveys.

“Rural communities are thinking strategically about long-term growth,” said Debi Durham, director of the IEDA and Iowa Finance Authority. “This support helps them take important strides toward welcoming new employers and creating opportunities close to home.”

The following applicants received funding:

• Clarinda Economic Development Corporation
  $29,875 — Hugh and Maxine Loudon Business Park (~70 acres), Clarinda
• Jackson County Economic Alliance
  $27,050 — Highway 61 Industrial Park (~59 acres), Maquoketa
• Iowa Interstate Railroad
  $37,500 — Newton Rail Park (~478 acres), Newton
• City of Webster City
  $37,500 — Webster City Southeast Industrial Park (~773 acres), Webster City
• Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance (on behalf of Webster County)
  $1,603.75 — Iowa’s Crossroads of Global Innovation (~765 acres), west of Fort Dodge

Created during the 2024 legislative session, the IRCSI provides matching grants of up to $37,500 to eligible applicants, including local governments, economic development organizations and utility providers in counties with populations fewer than 50,000.

(Radio Iowa) – A few dozen tiny turtles were turned loose in a wetland in Guthrie County this month, the next important step in helping the rare creatures regain numbers in a state where they were once plentiful. Mick Klemesrud, a spokesman for the Iowa DNR, says many populations of Blanding’s turtles died out during a frigid, snowy spring about a decade ago. With the help of Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, more than 50 were hatched and raised last year.

“We released 32 of them last week. Most of them had a transmitter on them, so we’re going to track their movements and try and get some information on these juveniles, what they do, search for habitat and where they move throughout the wetland,” Klemesrud says, “so we could maybe make some management decisions based on that to help these turtles survive.”

An adult Blanding’s turtle may grow to 10 inches in diameter, resembling an old-style army helmet, but each of these youngsters would fit in the palm of your hand. So how do you track them? Klemesrud says Iowa State University is also a part of this project.

Two of the Blanding’s turtles (Iowa DNR photo)

“They have a student technician that’s going to be going out every day this summer with an aerial transmitter, and she’s going to be tracking these. There’s different frequencies associated with different transmitters,” Klemesrud says. “She’s going to be collecting some of this information just to see, where are they going? What are they using? What is their preferred habitat in the wild?”

Blanding’s turtles are a threatened species in Iowa and they’re being considered for federal listing. Besides the frigid weather, Klemesrud says the turtles face many other challenges in Iowa.

“The turtles will travel a long distance to lay their eggs and so they have to travel across a lot of roads and sometimes they get hit by vehicles. There’s a lot of nest predators that will just completely wipe out their nests,” Klemesrud says. “We have very little natural reproduction. It takes about 14 to 20 years for these turtles to become mature and to start laying eggs, the females, so it just takes a long time to get these back.”

In an agency statement, DNR director Kayla Lyon says: “In the wild, just hatching means these turtles beat the odds. Leaving the nest and finding the wetland is another major achievement, and making it to year one is like winning the lottery — which makes today all the more exciting.”

She says the restoration of wetlands and shallow lakes benefits Blanding’s turtles, in addition to many other wildlife species, including nesting trumpeter swans and sandhill cranes.

(Radio Iowa) – The City of Ames is shutting down its police advisory committee in order to comply with a new state law. During a city council meeting this week, Police Chief Geoff Huff said members of the Ames Resident Police Advisory Committee — or ARPAC — learned about police procedures, offered suggestions and helped with community outreach events.

“A lot of what ARPAC has done is just bring that different perspective to the police department,” Chief Huff says. “We had very good discussions during all of our meetings. It’s a really good group of people, very committed to their community and to the police department.” Huff says there could be other ways to involve volunteers that would not involve a city commission.

ARPAC was formed in 2021 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis and the Black Lives Matter movement. Ames City Council member Tim Gartin says communities should be able to “craft solutions that work best for them.”

“We wouldn’t begin to tell Davenport or Sioux City how to make such personal decisions for their communities. Those are things best left for them,” Gartin says, “but I would ask the legislature to leave us alone, to allow us to make decisions.” Other Iowa communities affected by the ban on police advisory boards include Cedar Rapids, Coralville, Iowa City, Dubuque and University Heights.

The new state law preventing cities with civil service commissions from having any type of citizen review board related to policing goes into effect August 16th.

(Radio Iowa) – Dozens of landowners who would be impacted by the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline project held a conference call today (Thursday) to talk about the governor’s veto of the pipeline bill. Megan Sloma is the part owner of a Century farm in Sioux County says the governor chose the rights of the pipeline company over landowners, without any alternatives. “My dad told me growing up to never bring him a problem without also bringing him possible solutions, so I would ask Governor Reynolds what is your solution to help the land owners?,” Sloma says. Wright County land owner Julie Glade says she is “righteously angry” about the veto. ”

Megan Sloma. (Photo from Sierra Club video news conference)

Governor Reynolds, I’d like for you to tell me how modern life depends on the pumping of a waste product, highly pressurized and dangerous, through our very productive rich family farmland. I feel like she’s thrown us under the bus and sided with wealthy corporate interests in the state of Iowa,” Glade says.

Glade says people are paying attention like never before, and that will show when its election time.  “My phone was exploding yesterday with messages from friends and family that heard the breaking news that governor Reynolds had vetoed our bill,” Glad says. “This is going to be a high priority election issue from here on out. We are going to make sure of it. We can do what South Dakota did and elect representatives that will reflect the will of the majority in Iowa, unlike Governor Reynolds and her minions in Senate leadership.” Bremer County Supervisor Cory Cerwinske says the veto is extremely disheartening, and says the governor’s reasoning is absolutely flawed from any and every angle. “This isn’t an agree to disagree circumstance, as we sometimes see ourselves varying over legislation. This veto is an outright attack on our inalienable rights that we, the people, are protected by both our U-S and Iowa Constitutions,” Cerwinske says. He supports the effort to override the veto, and also wants the governor removed from office.

“I suggest to speaker Grassley that in addition to an attempt to override, that our General Assembly addressed the glaring issue of the governor’s malfeasance by ignoring the Constitution to decimate our private property rights with her actions, by going forward and introducing articles of impeachment under the guidelines contained in Article three, Section 20 of the Iowa Constitution,” Cerwinske says. Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says impeachment is not the way to go. “Look, I understand everybody’s emotions on this, but a governor choosing to veto a piece of legislation in spite of what we feel about how it may violate the Constitution and those sorts of things probably doesn’t rise to the level of impeachment. So I doubt that that would get gained much traction,” Holt says.

Holt says that there would likely not be enough votes in the Senate for a special session to override the veto. He says the veto will be an issue for legislation the governor proposes in the next session, and they will continue to bring up legislation in the House to force the issue. “And the Senate is going to figure out. What they’re going. To do about, you know, they tried for over four years. They stopped the will of the people through their elected representatives to address this issue, they hid behind process and refuse to let legislation come to the floor and now the chickens have come home to roost in the Senate. They’ve got a civil war going on in the Senate, they’ve attack one another,” Holt says.

The bill the governor vetoed would have put limits on the use of eminent domain for pipelines. The governor says the bill was too broad and would impact other projects outside of carbon pipelines.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A chain of Iowa-based Mexican restaurants is being sued by the federal government for allegedly paying some of its workers only the tips collected from customers. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, the U.S. Department of Labor is alleging that Rocio Correa-Mata, 33, of Iowa City, as the sole owner and primary manager of the Mexico Lindo Grill & Cantina restaurant chain, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Mexico Lindo Grill & Cantina has locations in West Branch, Iowa City, and North Liberty.

The department alleges that certain servers at the restaurants were “only paid via direct cash and credit tips from customers” and did not receive the federal minimum wage rate of $7.25 per hour. The chain also is alleged to have “willfully and repeatedly” paid employees less than the statutory overtime rate of 1.5 times the workers’ regular wages for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. In addition, the department claims Mexico Lindo paid its “back-of-the-house employees” – a term typically used to describe kitchen workers — a cash salary that was insufficient to compensate them for any overtime hours.

According to the lawsuit, Mexico Lindo then failed to create and preserve accurate records of employees’ hours and failed to document each worker’s full name and Social Security number. The department alleges defendant Correa-Mata has actively managed and supervised Mexico Lindo’s operations and employees from June 2015 through the present, overseeing the chain’s daily operations, hiring and firing employees, establishing work schedules, and setting rates of pay at each location.

The Mexico Lindo Grill & Cantina at 1857 Lower Muscatine Road in Iowa City is one of three Iowa restaurants accused of wage-and-hour violations by the U.S. Department of Labor. (Photo via Google Earth)

The Department of Labor is seeking a court order enjoining Correa-Mata and the chain from “continuing to withhold employees’ unpaid minimum wages and overtime compensation,” as well as an order finding them liable for any unpaid wages, plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, payable to 25 different employees of the three Mexico Lindo locations.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) — A motorcyclist led Cedar Rapids police on a high-speed chase Wednesday evening.  KCRG reports that at approximately 7 p.m., police attempted to pull over a pickup truck and motorcycle traveling on Highway 100 after witnessing them taking videos of dangerous motorcycle stunts. The driver of the pickup truck stopped, but the motorcyclist continued to drive down the highway in an attempt to elude officers. The motorcyclist led police on a high-speed chase that ended in the 7700 block of 18th Street SW.

An airplane owned by the Iowa State Patrol tracked the motorcyclist and led police officers to the motorcyclists’ hiding spot. The plane also tracked the speed of the motorcycle, revealing the motorcyclist was driving at 177 mph while driving on Highway 100 and Highway 30.

Kyle Ward (Linn Co. S/O booking photos)

The motorcyclist, identified as 19-year-old Kyle Aidan Ward, was arrested and charged with felony eluding 25 mph over the speed limit, eluding 25 mph over the speed limit/2nd or subsequent offense, careless driving, speeding, disobeying a traffic control device, improper passing, failure to display registration plate, and improper tires. His bond was set at $7,000.

(Atlantic, Iowa) — Officials with Cass Health in Atlantic, today (Thursday), announced the winners of the photo contest have been chosen, and that most of the artwork is installed. Ann McCurdy, CCHS Director of Marketing and Communications, said “We are thrilled by the positive response from the community! We had more than 90 individuals participate, with more than 300 photos submitted. We have more than 35 canvases already displayed in our hallways, and we are expecting a few more to arrive soon. We also received several beautiful winter images, which we will put on display this December.”

One of the winning photos submitted by Colby Euken. (Courtesy Ann McCurdy)

The winning entries were submitted by the following:

Amanda Hall
Amayi Walker
Amy Nelson
Angela Turner
Ann Clinton
Ashley Skow
Aubree Williams
Breanna Russell
Caitlin Nelson
Christine Hass
Colby Euken
Dana Larsen
Derek Henry
Dianna Blake
Dolly Bergmann
Julie Holmes
Kaley Young
Kari McMartin
Kate Wheatley
Kathy Somers
Katie Nichols
Kelly Knudson
Kolton Hewlett
Kylee Wessling
Lydia Rouse
Mallory Kirchoff
Nancy Croghan
Nathan Robinson
Paige Bintner
Ruth Glines
Sandy McCurdy
Savannah Cameron
Steve Olsen

Honorable mentions were also given to photos submitted by Sue Hunt, Taylen Abarr, and Bob Lane. The winning photos can be viewed in the hallways near the Cass Health Pharmacy, Radiology, and Rehab Services, and an online gallery of the winning photos can be viewed under the Community tab at casshealth.org.

(Carroll, Iowa – KTIV) – A western Iowa man who was driving a tractor involved in a fatal accident earlier this Spring near Carroll, is facing homicide charges. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 51-year-old Troy Bluml, of Carroll, is charged with two counts of homicide by motor vehicle and one count of serious injury by motor vehicle.

The charges stem from an April 14, 2025, crash between a tractor and an SUV, that resulted in the deaths of the SUV driver, 17-year-old Elvin Murillo Castro and his 55-year-old Pedro Murillo Castro. Another passenger, 24-year-old Carlos Murillo Castro, was seriously injured in the collision that occurred at around 10:40-p.m. April 14^th, southwest of Carroll.

According to court documents, a tractor, driven by Bluml, was traveling east on 220th Street when it didn’t stop at the intersection’s stop sign at Hawthorne Drive. The Hyundai Santa Fe SUV was heading north on Hawthorne Drive when it was hit on the driver’s side by the tractor. The State Patrol reported the tractor left the scene of the crash.

Authorities found Bluml at his home in Carroll the following day, and placed him under arrest for leaving the scene of a fatality accident. A continuing investigation resulted in Bluml being charged with homicide by motor vehicle.

Blum turned himself-in to the Carroll County Jail on Wednesday, June 11th, and was booked-in on the latest charge.

(Radio Iowa) – For the first time since last October, parts of Iowa saw high temperatures in the 90s on Wednesday afternoon. Meteorologist Jim Lee, at the National Weather Service, says Des Moines hit 95 degrees and the heat generated a lot of turbulence in the air.“We did have a round of severe thunderstorms across parts of northern and northeastern Iowa. A lot of wind damage, a little bit of hail, in a swath from around Estherville to Waterloo roughly,” Lee says. “We had a lot of reports of trees down, some power lines down, a few places where limbs fell on homes, things like that.”

Lee says the forecast is calling for the chance of more storms later today. “We do think there will be some more scattered thunderstorms this afternoon and evening,” Lee says. “For most of the state, severe weather is unlikely, but there could be some more severe thunderstorms up in the north, more or less the same kind of area as yesterday.”

The extended forecast shows a chance of showers for wide sections of Iowa both Saturday and Sunday.

(Radio Iowa) – A nonprofit pharmacy with urgent care is set to open in Cedar Rapids, the first in the area to serve primarily low-income families. Stacie Eastman, development director for Eastern Iowa Health Care, says the pharmacy may better serve those patients under a bill Governor Kim Reynolds’ signed into law Wednesday. It would allow patients to pick up covered medications from a pharmacy of their choosing, rather than being limited to certain pharmacies by pharmacy benefit managers, or P-B-Ms.

“This really allows people as well to be a little bit healthier, too,” Eastman says, “because we have the opportunity then for people to be able to get what it is that they need in a quicker manner, rather than having your company decide, ‘Yeah, you can have that medicine but now you have to wait for it to be mail-ordered.'” Nearly 70 percent of Eastern Iowa Health Care’s existing patients have earnings below the federal poverty line, and 61 percent are on Medicaid. Eastman says the new pharmacy will help to fill the gap left by another one in the area shutting down. “We know that there’s a huge group of people already who are really looking forward to using our services so that we can start to work on them getting healthy again,” she says, “and our pharmacy not only is going to be open to everybody in just our neighborhood, but it’s open to our whole community as well.”

The health care provider has not operated a pharmacy until now.