Monday night (3/21), the Oskaloosa City Council will hold several public hearings. The first one will certify the budget for the current fiscal year….with adjustments to income and expenses because of the timing of the Oskaloosa Early Childhood and Recreation Center. The second public hearing will adopt a budget for the 2023 fiscal year and set a tax levy for the budget. A third public hearing will be for a five-year capital improvement plan for the city. And there will be public hearings on whether to approve special assessments for nuisance abatements at 106 Geneva and at 817 6th Avenue East. Monday’s Oskaloosa City Council meeting starts at 6pm at Oskaloosa City Hall.
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Ottumwa Police need help identifying woman
Ottumwa Police are asking for your help in identifying an elderly woman who was found dead Friday morning (3/18). Around 11:35 am Friday, Ottumwa Police were called to the area of Madison Avenue and Adeline Road after someone passing by noticed a woman lying on the ground next to a vehicle. When Police arrived, they found an elderly white woman who was dead. She had no identification with her and Police have not been able to determine who she is. Foul play is not suspected at this time. If you think you might know who the woman is, you’re asked to call Ottumwa Police at 641-683-0661.
Carrie Underwood On Her “Hauntingly Beautiful” Song “Ghost Story”
Carrie Underwood is back with a new song “Ghost Story,” which was written by David Garcia, Hilary Lindsey and Josh Kear.
“The song is hauntingly beautiful, has a really wide range and amazing melody,” Carrie shares, noting it “just tells this really cool, cinematic story of how this guy is never going to be able to let go of the girl he let go of because she’s just always going to be haunting him.”
She adds, “I feel like it’s just a really awesome song and I’m glad they got together to think of me while they were writing one day.”
- Meanwhile, during an appearance on Apple’s Today’s Country With Kelleigh Bannen,” Carrie gave fans a little info about her upcoming album, which so far doesn’t have a title or release date.
“It’s fun. It’s a lot of fun,” she says. “I feel like people are going to hear everything and just going to get some warm fuzzies and just, I don’t know, hopefully it’ll just make people happy to listen to.” She adds, “It’s a very like sing into your hairbrush, in your house, in your room kind of album, which I think it’s going to translate well. I think people are going to like it.”
Source: Carrie Underwood
This day in Country Music History
- Today in 1955, Johnny Cash auditioned for Sam Philips at Sun Records in Memphis. Philips liked “Hey, Porter,” and asked Cash to come back and record the next day, despite passing on most of his other songs.
- Today in 1981, Willie Nelson got a #1 single with “Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground.”
- Today in 1987, Restless Heart hit the top of the charts with “I’ll Still Be Loving You.”
- Today in 1988, at the Academy of Country Music awards, Randy Travis won Top Male Vocalist and his song “Forever And Ever, Amen,” won Single Record and Song of the Year.
- Today in 1994, the “8 seconds” soundtrack went gold. Artists who contributed included John Anderson, Pam Tillis, Billy Dean, Brooks & Dunn, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, McBride & The Ride, Karla Bonoff, David Lee Murphy, Mark Chesnutt, Patty Smyth, and Bill Conti.
- Today in 1998, Clint Black and Steve Wariners “Nothin’ But The Taillights” hit the top of the Billboard country chart.
- Today in 1999, Garth Brooks experienced the beginning of spring training, getting a single up the middle of pitcher Mike Sirotka during a San Diego Padres game, as they lost to the Chicago White Sox.
- Today in 2000, Nickel Creek released a self-titled debut album.
- Today in 2004, Rascal Flatts singer Gary LeVox and his wife Tara gave birth to their second daughter, Brooklyn Leigh Vernon.
- Today in 2014, in an episode of “CMT Crossroads,” Dierks Bentley and OneRepublic sang “Apologize,” “Up On The Ridge,” “Pride (In The Name Of Love)” and “I Hold On.”
- Today in 2015, Jason Aldean married Brittany Kerr in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. “Duck Dynasty” star Willie Robertson conducted the ceremony, and Tyler Farr was one of the groomsmen. Aldean and Kerr’s first dance? Lionel Richie’s “Stuck On You.”
- Today in 2017, Little Big Town performed in Australia for the first time, appearing at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney with opening act Kip Moore.
- Today in 2018, Keith Urban’s “Coming Home” hit the airwaves.
Russian strikes hit Ukrainian capital and outskirts of Lviv
By CARA ANNA
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces pressed their assault on Ukrainian cities Friday, with new missile strikes and shelling on the capital Kyiv and the outskirts of the western city of Lviv, as world leaders pushed for an investigation of the Kremlin’s repeated attacks on civilian targets, including schools, hospitals and residential areas.
The early morning barrage of missiles on Lviv’s edge was the closest strike yet to the center of the city, which has become a crossroads for people fleeing from other parts of Ukraine and for others entering to deliver aid or fight.
In city after city around Ukraine, hospitals, schools and buildings where people sought safety have been attacked. Rescue workers were still searching for survivors in the ruins of a theater that served as a shelter when it was blasted by a Russian airstrike Wednesday in the besieged southern city of Mariupol.
Ludmyla Denisova, Ukrainain parliament’s human rights commissioner, said Friday that 130 people had survived the theater bombing.
“As of now, we know that 130 people have been evacuated, but according to our data, there are still more than 1,300 people in these basements, in this bomb shelter,” Denisova told Ukrainian television. “We pray that they will all be alive, but so far there is no information about them.”
At Lviv, black smoke billowed for hours after the explosions, which hit a facility for repairing military aircraft near the city’s international airport, only six kilometers (four miles) from the center. One person was wounded, the regional governor, Maksym Kozytskyy, said.
Multiple blasts hit in quick succession around 6 a.m., shaking nearby buildings, witnesses said. The missiles were launched from the Black Sea, but the Ukrainian air force’s western command said it had shot down two of six missile in the volley. A bus repair facility was also damaged, Lviv’s mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.
Lviv lies not far from the Polish border and well behind the front lines, but it and the surrounding area have not been spared Russia’s attacks. In the worst, nearly three dozen people were killed last weekend in a strike on a training facility near the city. Lviv’s population has swelled by some 200,000 as people from elsewhere in Ukraine have sought shelter there.
Early morning barrages also hit a residential building in the Podil neighborhood of Kyiv, killing at least one person, according to emergency services, who said 98 people were evacuated from the building. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said 19 were wounded in the shelling.
Two others were killed when strikes hit residential and administrative buildings in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, according to the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
In Kharkiv, a massive fire raged through a local market after shelling Thursday. One firefighter was killed and another injured when new shelling hit as emergency workers fought the blaze, emergency services said.
The World Health Organization said it has verified 43 attacks on hospitals and health facilities, with 12 people killed and 34 injured.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that American officials were evaluating potential war crimes and that if the intentional targeting of civilians by Russia is confirmed, there will be “massive consequences.”
The United Nations political chief, Undersecretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo, also called for an investigation into civilian casualties, reminding the U.N. Security Council that international humanitarian law bans direct attacks on civilians.
She said many of the daily attacks battering Ukrainian cities “are reportedly indiscriminate” and involve the use of “explosive weapons with a wide impact area.” DiCarlo said the devastation in Mariupol and Kharkiv ”raises grave fears about the fate of millions of residents of Kyiv and other cities facing intensifying attacks.”
About 35,000 civilians left Mariupol over the previous two days, Kirilenko said Friday.
Hundreds of civilians were said to have taken shelter in a grand, columned theater in the city’s center when it was hit Wednesday by a Russian airstrike. On Friday, their fate was still uncertain, with conflicting reports on whether anyone had emerged from the rubble. Communications are disrupted across the city and movement is difficult because of shelling and fighting.
“We hope and we think that some people who stayed in the shelter under the theater could survive,” Petro Andrushchenko, an official with the mayor’s office, told The Associated Press Thursday. He said the building had a relatively modern basement bomb shelter designed to withstand airstrikes. Other officials said earlier that some people had gotten out.
Video and photos provided by the Ukrainian military showed the at least three-story building had been reduced to a roofless shell, with some exterior walls collapsed. Satellite imagery on Monday from Maxar Technologies showed huge white letters on the pavement outside the theater spelling out “CHILDREN” in Russian — “DETI” — to alert warplanes to the vulnerable people hiding inside.
Russia’s military denied bombing the theater or anyplace else in Mariupol on Wednesday.
In Chernihiv, at least 53 people were brought to morgues over 24 hours, killed amid heavy Russian air attacks and ground fire, the local governor, Viacheslav Chaus, told Ukrainian TV Thursday.
Ukraine’s emergency services said a mother, father and three of their children, including 3-year-old twins, were killed when a Chernihiv hostel was shelled. Civilians were hiding in basements and shelters across the embattled city of 280,000.
“The city has never known such nightmarish, colossal losses and destruction,” Chaus said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said early Friday he was thankful to President Joe Biden for additional military aid, but he would not get into specifics about the new package, saying he did not want Russia to know what to expect. He said when the invasion began on Feb. 24, Russia expected to find Ukraine much as it did in 2014, when Russia seized Crimea without a fight and backed separatists as they took control of the eastern Donbas region.
Instead, he said, Ukraine had much stronger defenses than expected, and Russia “didn’t know what we had for defense or how we prepared to meet the blow.”
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven leading economies accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of conducting an “unprovoked and shameful war,” and called on Russia to comply with the International Court of Justice’s order to stop its attack and withdraw its forces.
Both Ukraine and Russia this week reported some progress in negotiations. Zelenskyy said he would not reveal Ukraine’s negotiating tactics.
“Working more in silence than on television, radio or on Facebook,” Zelenskyy said. “I consider it the right way.”
Putin spoke by phone Friday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who urged the Russian president to agree to an immediate cease-fire and called for an improvement to the humanitarian situation, a spokesman for Scholz said.
In a statement about the call, the Kremlin said Putin told the German chancellor that Ukraine had “unrealistic proposals” and was dragging out negotiations. The Kremlin also said it was evacuating civilians, and accused Ukraine of committing war crimes by shelling cities in the east.
While details of Thursday’s talks were unknown, an official in Zelenskyy’s office told the AP that on Wednesday, the main subject discussed was whether Russian troops would remain in separatist regions in eastern Ukraine after the war and where the borders would be.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, said Ukraine was insisting on the inclusion of one or more Western nuclear powers in the negotiations and on legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine.
In exchange, the official said, Ukraine was ready to discuss a neutral military status.
Russia has demanded that NATO pledge never to admit Ukraine to the alliance or station forces there.
The fighting has led more than 3 million people to flee Ukraine, the U.N. estimates. The death toll remains unknown, though Ukraine has said thousands of civilians have died.
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Associated Press writer Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and other AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Drought conditions getting worse in the west, could linger
RADIO IOWA – Parts of western Iowa are again in “severe drought” and extremely low soil moisture levels may linger even longer, as the National Climate Prediction Center is now forecasting the current La Nina will last well into summer.
Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U.S.D.A.’s Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, says that could extend a serious worry for Iowa farmers as planting season nears. “If we were in relatively decent shape soil moisture-wise right now, I wouldn’t be as concerned, but given that we have dry conditions and that we’re not seeing big help so far this spring, that’s what has me concerned,” Todey says. “Any increase in chances that the drought continues is going to be a problem.”
Todey says much of the region is heading into spring with very dry soil and the CPC is forecasting drought areas may expand across the Central Plains into spring. “Originally the thought was that La Nina was going to continue weakening this spring and would not be in effect in the summertime,” Todey says. “Some of the models are hinting that this La Nina could last, maybe not strongly, but last into the summer.”
The latest map from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows roughly 45 Iowa counties are in the category of abnormally dry, with about 36 counties in moderate drought. Large sections of Monona and Woodbury counties are now listed as “severe drought,” while there are only around 16 counties where soil moisture levels are considered normal.
(By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton)
Bottle Bill changes and cut in beer tax win GOP backing in Senate panel
RADIO IOWA – Republicans on an Iowa Senate committee have approved making changes in Iowa’s Bottle Bill — tripling the amount of deposit fees that go to redemption centers that accept empties and pay back the nickel deposits on cans and bottles. Democrats say the entire package of changes will crush the Bottle Bill.
Republican Senator Jason Schultz of Schleswig said it’s time to stop waiting for grocers and beverage distributors to come up with a compromise.
“Iowans, I think, are increasingly and justifiably enraged that we’ve let this go this far,” Schultz said.
If the bill becomes law, redemption centers will get three out of every five cent deposit fee. Schultz said that should allow them “to expand and multiply.” Beverage distributors would maintain an already existing system of mobile trailers that accept empties and the state’s beer excise tax would be reduced next year. Finally, the bill says grocery stores could quit taking back cans and bottles in 2023.
“This is a very real move to reinvigorate and modernize Iowa’s decades old Bottle Bill,” Schultz said. “Every poll shows, every forum that I go to shows…and my own family shows that they want to have it. Iowans love the Bottle Bill.”
A survey conducted last month found the 44-year-old Bottle Bill remains popular with 84% of eligible Iowa voters. Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo, said it’s been one of the most popular laws on the books for years.
“This bill, the way it is written, is the de facto end of the Bottle Bill,” Dotzler said. “…You’re not going to be able to find a place to get rid of your bottles and cans.”
Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, said that’s already happened, with no consequences to retailers.
“The Bottle Bill’s on life support and it’s on life support because Hy-Vee and Fareway and convenience store chains have quit taking the containers that consumers buy,” Bolkcom said.
Schultz said while there could be some tweaks, his overall reform plan is the only viable option that can win votes in the Senate and the House.
“This is the opportunity to make the Bottle Bill live for another 10 years,” Schultz said. “It’s the only way to look at it. It’s hard to imagine any other way you could look at this situation.”
The bill passed the Senate Ways and Means Committee and is now eligible for debate in the full Senate.
Federal judge finds another Iowa ag-gag law unconstitutional
By DAVID PITT
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge has struck down an Iowa law that seeks to stop animal welfare groups from secretly filming livestock abuse, the latest in a decade of legislative measures and judicial rejections.
The decision Monday rejected the law approved by Iowa lawmakers in March 2019 that created a trespass charge punishable by up to a year in jail for those who use deception to gain access to a farm to cause physical or economic harm. A temporary court order will prevent enforcement of the law, and the restriction is expected to soon become permanent.
The state can appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case is one of many so-called ag-gag laws that have surfaced in the U.S. in recent years that pit the right of farmers to protect their property from trespassers against animal welfare advocates. Farmers argue intruders could track in disease and want to unfairly portray their livestock practices, while animal welfare groups say producers don’t want the public to see how farm animals are treated.
Judge Stephanie Rose said the legislature has a right to determine whether agricultural facilities are entitled to legal protections, but the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not allow the government to ignore free speech protections and keep out only those with certain points of view.
“To be sure, some of the investigations may violate other laws. However, the state of Iowa may not single out individuals for special punishment based on their critical viewpoint of agricultural practices, which they have sought to do” with the challenged law, she wrote.
She pointed out that the groups that sued the state want to shine a light on issues of public concern, such as animal abuse, food safety and agricultural working conditions. Those groups have included the Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Center for Food Safety.
Cristina Stella, a lawyer with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, said it’s important courts have recognized that undercover investigations produce information that is valuable for the public to understand how their food is made. That includes treatment of animals, workers and the impact on the environment.
“These topics are really vital for the public to know about, for the public to understand what is happening in our country and to have their choices reflect the information that they receive about them,” said Stella, whose organization has brought lawsuits challenging ag-gag laws in many states.
Such laws have been struck down in Iowa, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming, and some provisions have been rejected in Idaho. Lawsuits are continuing in Arkansas, North Carolina and Iowa.
Iowa alone has passed four such laws since 2012 and all but one remain tied up in legal battles or appeals. Significant portions have been struck down by courts while a few provisions that enhance the penalties for trespassing in farms and meat production facilities have survived.
Some states have passed such laws that haven’t been challenged, and in those states undercover investigations have been deterred, Stella said.
Farmers and sympathetic lawmakers said laws are needed to enforce the basic right for livestock producers to control who enters their property and barns, said Eldon McAfee, a former farmer and a lawyer who has represented legislators defending the laws.
“Do we have a right on our own as producers to restrict who comes into our facilities, just to say no, you can’t come in there? Yes, we do have that right,” he said.
He said livestock farmers aren’t hiding anything. Instead, he argues, they don’t trust the activists to accurately portray how animals are treated.
In a heavily agricultural state like Iowa, where farmers raise millions of pigs each year for meat and chickens for eggs, protecting a huge segment of the state’s economy from negative publicity is a priority.
However, shining a spotlight on modern livestock practices has arguably led to changes. For example, public concern about the living conditions of egg-laying hens has been key to a shift in the last 10 years of 4% of eggs coming cage-free hens to 28%. That figure is expected to increase to about 70% in the next four years.
Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Responds To Dolly Parton; She’s Still On The Ballot
Dolly Parton recently asked the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame remove her from his year’s ballot, insisting she felt she hadn’t “earned that right” to be considered. Well, the Hall disagrees. The Hall of Fame just released a statement insisting she will remain on this year’s ballot.
In the statement the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” calls Dolly, an “incredible talent,” adding, “her humility is another reason Dolly is a beloved icon by millions of fans around the world.” The Hall insists, “From its inception, Rock and Roll has had deep roots in Rhythm & Blues and Country music. It is not defined by any one genre, rather a sound that moves youth culture,” noting, “Dolly Parton’s music impacted a generation of young fans and influenced countless artists that followed.”
They note, “Her nomination to be considered for induction into to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame followed the same process as all other artists who have been considered.” Besides, they say voting has already started on this year’s nominees. They share, “We are in awe of Dolly’s brilliant talent and pioneering spirit and are proud to have nominated her for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
- Meanwhile, during an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Dolly explained why she took her name out of the running .“Well, I didn’t feel exactly right about that,” she said. “Because my perception, and I think the perception of most of America — I just feel like that’s more for the people in rock music. I’ve been educated since then, saying that it’s more than that, but I still didn’t feel right about it.” She added, “It kind of would be like putting AC/DC in the Country Music Hall of Fame. That just felt a little out of place for me.”
This day in Country Music History
- Today in 1985, Kris Kristofferson was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in New York.
- Today in 1989, Ricky Van Shelton hit the top of the Billboard country singles chart with his remake of “From A Jack To A King.”
- Today in 1996, Brooks & Dunn released the single, “My Maria.”
- Today in 2000, “How Do You Like Me Now?!” by Toby Keith began a five-week period at the top of the Billboard country singles chart.
- Today in 2003, the Dixie Chicks album, “Home,” was certified for shipments of 6-million copies.
- Today in 2006, Kenny Chesney’s “Living In Fast Forward” began its three weeks at #1.
- Today in 2009, on “American Idol,” Carrie Underwood and Randy Travis sang “I Told You So,” and Brad Paisley performed “Then.”
- Today in 2013, Kellie Pickler got great footwork feedback as ABC-TV launched a new season of “Dancing With The Stars.” Wynonna competed with family members Naomi Judd, Ashley Judd and husband Cactus Moser seated in the studio audience.
- Today in 2014, Jessie James Decker and her husband, NFL player Eric Decker, welcomed a daughter, Vivianne Rose Decker.
- Today in 2014, John Rich launched a new fashion line, Redneck Riviera, during an event at Spinnaker in Panama City, Florida.
- Today in 2017, Little Big Town started their two-week reign at #1 on the Billboard country albums chart, with “The Breaker.”
- Today in 2017, music pioneer Chuck Berry died in St. Louis. As a songwriter, he enjoyed country hits with Buck Owens’ “Johnny B. Goode,” Emmylou Harris’ “(You Never Can Tell) C’est La Vie,” George Jones & Johnny Paycheck’s “Mabellene” and Waylon Jennings’ “Brown Eyed Handsome Man.” Hours later, Brad Paisley paid tribute by playing “Johnny B. Goode” during a concert in Kissimmee, Florida.
- Today in 2019, Jordan Davis snagged a gold single from the RIAA for “Take It From Me,” while Jon Pardi’s “Night Shift” single also went gold.
- Today in 2019, Luke Combs collected a double-platinum single from the RIAA for “Beautiful Crazy” and a triple-platinum single for “When It Rains It Pours.” The same day, Kacey Musgraves collected a platinum single from the RIAA for “Blowin’ Smoke” and Keith Urban’s “Blue Ain’t Your Color” earned two multi-platinum singles from the RIAA, going triple- and quadruple-platinum.
- Today in 2019, a representative for Jerry Lee Lewis announced that the Killer had been moved to a rehabilitation facility, two weeks after he was hospitalized with a stroke. He has since returned to music.
- Today in 2019, Kathy Mattea received the American Master Award from the Berklee College of Music at Warner Music Nashville.
- Today in 2019, Brooks & Dunn, Ray Stevens and retired producer/label executive Jerry Bradley were announced as the 2019 inductees in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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