(Radio Iowa) – D-O-T engineer Clayton Burke says the ferry taking people across the Mississippi River after the old bridge was closed has been running most of the time. He says they are averaging between 500 and 600 passengers a day with 300 to 400 vehicles every day. The old bridge was closed so work can continue on the new bridge. Burke says weather is the only thing that has stopped the ferry. “With that Thanksgiving storm obviously and the holiday we had to stop the ferry service for day and a half just because of the weather and and what-not,” Burke says. Burke gave an update to the Iowa Transportation Commission Tuesday on the new bridge, and says with the peers in place steel is going up.

Mississippi River bridge at Lansing. (File photo, Iowa DOT)

“The steel truss has been erected on the Iowa side through that first span on the left side of your sheet there. They’ve started with construction of the cantilever towards the Wisconsin side, they started construction of that part of the truss. Construction has slowed down a little bit, but they’re still out there working, obviously with the weather that’s going to slow things down,” Burke says. He says they will soon take down the steel from the old bridge.

“The implosion is coming up on the existing bridge, that’s coming up on December 18th,” Burke says. Burke says the ferry runs during holidays, but the reduce the hours to 12 hours a day instead of 16 hours.

(Red Oak, IA) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man on an assault charge, Tuesday evening. Authorities report 22-year-old Tylor Ray Adams, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 8:15-p.m., on a Montgomery County warrant charging him with Domestic Abuse Assault – a Simple Misdemeanor.

Adams was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held without bond.

(Radio Iowa) – A Republican has won Tuesday’s special election for a seat in the Iowa House. Unofficial results indicate Republican Wendy Larson of Odebolt finished 40 points ahead of Democrat Rachel Burns in the district, which covers Sac, Calhoun and Pocahontas Counties and a portion of Webster County. It was Larson’s second race in the district. She’s campaigned on protecting landowner rights in an area of the state where some property owners have opposed the Summit Carbon Solutions Pipeline. She came within 53 votes of defeating Representative Mike Sexton of Rockwell City in last year’s Republican Primary.

This fall, President Trump appointed Sexton to be state director of U-S-D-A Rural Development. Sexton resigned from the Iowa House September 19th. Larson’s win means Republicans have maintained their 67-seat supermajority in the Iowa House.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart says Rachel Burns — the Democrat who ran against Larson — ran a gutsy campaign and did 11 points better in the district than Kamala Harris did in 2024.

This was the fifth special election this year to fill a vacancy in the state legislature. A sixth special election on December 30th will fill the seat held by state Senator Clair Celsi (SELL-see), a Democrat from West Des Moines who died in October. The 2026 Iowa legislative session begins January 12th.

(Radio Iowa) – Four of the five Republicans running for governor say it’s time for action to reduce the alarming rate of new cancer cases among Iowans. The candidates appeared at a forum last (Monday) night in Sioux Center that was sponsored by the Iowa Standard blog. Zach Lahn of Belle Plaine says Iowans know there’s something terribly wrong with the status quo.

“I have read the Monsanto papers. I understand this issue deeply. When my father go cancer, I did that,” Lahn said. “…We know what’s going on here, but this is not on the backs of our farmers. I’m with you. I’m one of you. We are being lied to and it’s time that we stand up for our people and stand up for our health and I’m here to do just that.” Lahn was endorsed this week by MAHA Action, a group aligned with Robert F. Kennedy, Junior — a long time critic of farm pesticides.

Pastor Brad Sherman of Williamsburg, a former state legislator, says it’s time for independent studies to confirm the reasons why Iowa’s cancer rate is so high. “We can find out exactly what’s causing these problems,” Sherman said. “And when we can’t find them out, it’s because we don’t want to find them out.” Former Iowa Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen of Runnells says there had been no history of cancer in his family — but his father died of kidney cancer three years ago and his mother just survived breast cancer.

“Is it chemicals on our crops? Is it chemicals on our golf courses? Is it chemicals in our yard? Is it radon? Is it drinking? Is it smoking? What is it that is causing these cancer rates to be so high? We have to determine what that is,” Steen said. Eddie Andrews of Johnston, a member of the Iowa House, says it was misguided for the Iowa Senate to pass a bill that would have provided liability protection to Monsanto, the maker of roundup. “The exactly wrong direction,” Andrews said. “We need to be finding solutions to cancer, stopping things.”

Congressman Randy Feenstra, the other Republican candidate in the 2026 race for governor, did not appear at last (Monday) night’s event with his G-O-P rivals. Feenstra spoke at campaign event in a brewery in Sioux Center.

(Glenwood, IA) – The Glenwood Police Department, today (Tuesday) reports two arrests. 52-year-old Trevor Lee Narron, of Glenwood, was arrested Dec. 9th in Des Moines, on an Out-of-County/State warrant. He was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

And, on Monday (Dec. 8), 33-year-old Brandon Charles Amenta, of Glenwood, was arrested in Glenwood for Failure to Appear on a citation. His bond was set at $1,000.

Glenwood Police on Wednesday (12/10), reported the arrest on Tuesday, of 41-year-old Amber Anette Osler, of Malvern. She was arrested for Driving While Barred, with bond set at $2,000.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa author Dan Henderson will visit two southwest Iowa towns this week to share the stories behind his new non-fiction book, “Rhythm and Pep: The Vaudeville Career of the Pearson Brothers.” The brothers were from Clarinda and the project sheds light on both local history and a major era in American entertainment. Henderson will appear at the Shenandoah Public Library tomorrow (Wednesday) and at the Clarinda Public Library on Thursday.

“I’ll be in the area two days in a row, and I’ll have lots of books, lots of great stories to share,” Henderson says. “I think people will really enjoy hearing about a couple of local boys that grew up in that area and did well.” The book traces the history of what he calls the unlikely rise of Earl and Lester Pearson, who grew up working in their father’s coal mine just west of Clarinda. They performed from coast to coast from 1918 through 1928, including a show for President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, D.C.

“I’m going to be sharing their story, of course, but I’m also going to share a little bit about Vaudeville and America’s cultural history,” Henderson says. “You’ll see some video of actual Vaudeville performances, some of the music of that era.” The presentation will include slides taken of photographs and artifacts from a Pearson family scrapbook, materials that served as the foundation for his research. Henderson, who lives in Council Bluffs, hopes to show Iowans the role their own communities played in shaping early American entertainment.

He’s to appear in Shenandoah tomorrow at 4:30 PM and in Clarinda at 5:30 PM on Thursday. The events are free and open to the public.

(Radio Iowa) – Lawmakers who lead the panel that reviews the pension systems for public employees say there’s no appetite in the Iowa legislature to make immediate changes in pension plans, but they aren’t ruling out at least studying changes. Republican Senator Tim Kraayenbrink of Fort Dodge says the governor’s DOGE task force created a lot of chatter when it raised the idea of giving new employees the option of a pension or a 401-K style investment plan.

“I think everybody can understand, is smart enough to know that they’re not a group that makes law,” Kraayenbrink said. But Kraayenbrink — who is an investment advisor — says lawmakers should not rule out at least studying changes. “Does that mean we’re going to do it? I mean, no,” Kraayenbrink said. “I don’t have the appetite to do it.” Representative Charley Thomson of Charles City says it would take years of study before any changes would be implemented.

“And buy in all by sorts of stakeholders in the system before they’d even be seriously considered,” Thomson said. The legislature’s Public Retirement Systems Committee is meeting today (Tuesday) and hearing reports from pension system managers. Kris Rowley — the Dickinson County Treasurer — is vice chair of the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System or IPERS Investment Board. Rowley says she hopes legislators keep IPERS as it is.

“401(k)s can be wonderful, but as you know the market can go up and down. I’m old enough I’ve lived through several of those good old market crashes, so to speak…Pension plans are much more stable. This is a very well funded pension plan,” she told lawmakers. Matt Carver, an attorney with the School Administrators of Iowa, is chair of the IPERS Benefits Advisory Committee. He says the governor’s DOGE committee created quite a stir by discussing changes in IPERS benefits.

“And I’m not here to shoot arrows at the DOGE committee,” he said. “I think they were just doing their best to come up with ideas of, well, where can be save some money and that happened to be one of those.” Carver is thanking Iowa House and Senate leaders who issued statements this fall saying the 2026 legislature would not vote to make changes in IPERS. One of out of every 10 Iowans is a member of IPERS and their pension is guaranteed for life. The system ranks among the top 10 state-run pension systems in the country. There are other pension systems for public employees in Iowa like judges and court system employees, peace officers and fire fighters.

(Radio Iowa) – The annual Iowa State University Extension farmland survey shows land values statewide increase by point- seven percent an acre. I-S-U’s Rabail Chandio oversees the survey. “This minor increase is the sixth increase in the last seven years. The only exception to that was last year when we experienced a decline, again a minor one,” Chandio says. The increase brings the statewide average this year for an acre of farmland to 11-thousand-549. She says when you consider inflation, land values are holding steady. “In inflation adjusted terms, we actually see a decline. Overall. I would really classify this change as about stability in the land market rather than growth rather than broad based growth,” she says.

Six of the nine crop districts reported increases in land values. “The highest increases are observed in the northeast corner and the east-central corner and the northwest corner. These are the top three districts reporting highest increases in land values,” Chandio says. “And these are also the areas that are more prone to livestock activity, animal operations within Iowa.” The crop district in the northeast corner of the state saw a land value increase of four-point-one percent. Chandio says the money made from cattle was better than for crops. “The most respondents reported more difficult situations within the crop sector, while the dairy farmers or the cattle sector experienced better gains or better prices this year,” she says. Chandio says the lack of available farmland for purchase helped keep prices up.

“The most positive influence on the land markets again this year was a limited supply of land. Cited as a major positive factor by 21 percent of the responses,” she says. The top negative factor in the value of farmland are the continued low commodity prices. “This factor was cited by 32 percent in our responses…followed by high interest rates, higher input costs, uncertainty around trades and tariffs, as well as the struggles with depleting cash and credit reserves,” she says.

O’Brien County once again has the highest county-level land values at 16-thousand-269 dollars an acre. And the lowest land values are again reported in Appanoose County that stand at six-thousand-679 dollars an acre.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the 12-billion dollar farmer bailout program President Trump announced Monday is much-needed and he predicts a great many farmers in Iowa will qualify for it. Grassley says this is quite similar to the help the president offered farmers in 2020 when trade trouble with China impacted U-S agricultural markets. Grassley keeps a very close eye on the daily movements of commodity markets. “Yesterday’s prices in Shell Rock, Iowa, were about $4.11 for corn, still losing money on corn,” Grassley says. “The price of soybeans was down yesterday, I think about 12-cents, and at 10-something, farmers are still losing probably a dollar-and-a-half, a dollar-75.”

Grassley’s son, Robin, raises corn, soybeans and livestock on the family farmstead in New Hartford. The Republican says they had a good crop in Butler County this season, but input costs were up 25-percent, so they’re in the same financial boat as most other farmers. “The last two years, I haven’t been farming with Robin 50-50, like you might call crop share,” Grassley says. “He pays me cash rent, so whether he applies for this aid or not, that’s his business. I’m not going to say anything about that.” Grassley says the program is for farmers who are facing severe losses due to high input costs, falling commodity prices, and international trade troubles.

“The president ran on a platform of tariffs, and for the most part, his tariff programs are working out pretty good for the economy, generally,” Grassley says, “but when you have programs that are working out, sometimes they have harmful effects and these tariffs are having a harmful effect on farmers’ income.” The Farmer Bridge Assistance Program will make payments available to farmers who raise 20 different crops, including corn and soybeans, with the checks expected in late February. Applications need to be in to U-S-D-A by December 19th.