Monday night (7/15), there are three regional championship games for high school softball. North Mahaska travels to Lynnville-Sully for the Class 1A Region 5 title. We’ll have that game on KMZN AM & FM with pregame coverage at 6:45 and Erick Zamora’s play-by-play at 7.
In Class 2A Region 8, Pekin hosts Wapello. And in Class 3A Region 8, Albia hosts North Polk.
The Iowa State Patrol is investigating a Sunday night (7/14) crash in Poweshiek County that sent two people to the hospital. The crash happened just before 5pm at mile marker 191 on eastbound Interstate 80 near the Malcom exit. Two semis and a U-haul trailer were in the crash, with one of the semis catching fire. The State Patrol says two people were injured in the crash; their names and conditions have not been released. Interstate 80 was closed for a time while law enforcement worked the accident scene. Traffic was said to be backed up for several miles.
The Southern Iowa Fair begins its week-long run in Oskaloosa Monday (7/15). Monday’s highlight is the crowning of the Southern Iowa Fair Queen. The six candidates are Jeana Appleget, Veronica Bolibaugh, Karlee Chandler, Hannah Koellner, Grace Marshall and Addisyn Jo McCrea. The Queen contest begins at 6pm on the free stage at the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds in Oskaloosa.
Oskaloosa’s baseball team reached the 20 win mark for the season Thursday (7/11) as the Indians swept a doubleheader with Pella Christian at Lacey Recreation Complex. The Indians took the first game 12-1 in five innings as Tyler Miller and Colton Butler drove in three runs apiece. Rian Yates was the winning pitcher. Then in game two, the Indians scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to earn a 10-7 victory. Third baseman Noah Van Veldhuizen had two doubles and drove in five runs. Wyatt Krier got the win in relief. Oskaloosa improves to 20-10 on the year and 15-6 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. The Indians wrap up the regular season Monday night (7/15) at Washington.
By KEVIN McGILL and JANET McCONNAUGHEY
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Building toward hurricane strength, Tropical Storm Barry began hitting Louisiana with wind and rain Friday as it closed in for what could be a long, slow — and epic — drenching that could trigger flooding in and around New Orleans.
With the storm expected to blow ashore by early Saturday, National Guard troops and rescue crews were stationed around the state with boats and high-water vehicles, helicopters were on standby, and drinking water and blankets were made ready for distribution. Utility repair crews with bucket trucks moved into position in the region. And homeowners sandbagged their property or packed up and left.
The National Hurricane Center predicted Barry would come ashore as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, though a weak one, just barely over the 74 mph (119 kph) windspeed threshold. But center Director Ken Graham said the designation is “not the point here.” The real danger, he said, is the rain.
Barry’s downpours are expected to pose a severe test of the improvements made to New Orleans’ flood defenses since the city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The Mississippi River is already running abnormally high because of heavy spring rains and snowmelt upstream, and the ground around New Orleans is soggy because of an 8-inch drenching earlier this week.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said on Thursday that authorities do not expect the river to spill over its levees, but he cautioned that a change in the storm’s direction or intensity could alter that.
New Orleans could get its worst drenching in decades, possibly eclipsing the city’s wettest day on record — 12.24 inches (32 centimeters)— on May 8, 1995, forecasters said. The storm could also shatter Baton Rouge’s one-day record rainfall of 11.99 inches (30 centimeters) from April 14, 1967.
President Donald Trump declared a federal emergency for Louisiana, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts.
Late Friday morning, Barry was about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi, and its winds had jumped to 65 mph (100 kph). Tracking forecasts showed the storm continuing on toward Chicago, swelling the Mississippi River basin with water that must eventually flow south again.
Scientists say global warming is responsible for more intense and more frequent storms and floods, but without extensive study they cannot directly link a single weather event to the changing climate.
About 10,000 people in Plaquemines Parish on Louisiana’s low-lying southeastern tip were ordered evacuated on Thursday.
Among the last to leave were 65-year-old Clarence Brocks and his family. The Plaquemines Parish native evacuated many times before and had to rebuild after Katrina wiped out his home. But he said he wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
“I was born and raised here. This is all I know,” the Air Force veteran said. “I’ve been all over the world and guess where I want to be at? Right here.”
With lightning flashing in the distance and some streets already covered with water from heavy rains, shoppers at an Albertsons grocery store in Baton Rouge stripped shelves bare of bread. Half the bottled water was gone.
Kaci Douglas and her 15-year-old son, Juan Causey, were among dozens filling sandbags at a fire station in Baton Rouge. She planned to put the bags around the door of her townhouse. “I told my son it’s better to be safe than sorry,” she said.
Meanwhile, utility crews who may be needed after the storm filled hotel parking lots along Interstate 59 in southern Mississippi.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Thursday that Barry could dump water faster than the city’s drainage pumps can move it. However, the city did not plan to order evacuations because Barry was so close and because it was not expected to grow into a major hurricane.
Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic flooding in New Orleans 14 years ago and was blamed altogether for more than 1,800 deaths in Louisiana and other states, by some estimates.
In its aftermath, the Army Corps of Engineers began a multibillion-dollar hurricane-protection system that isn’t complete. The work included repairs and improvements to some 350 miles (560 kilometers) of levees and more than 70 pumping stations that remove floodwaters.
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The Oskaloosa High softball team opened the Class 4A Region 1 playoffs Thursday night (7/11) with a 5-2 victory over Grinnell in Oskaloosa. The Indians took advantage of two Grinnell errors to score an unearned run in the first inning. Oskaloosa added two more runs in the third and another in the fourth for a 4-0 lead. Then in the fifth, Grinnell’s Megan Doty hit a two run homer that cut the Indians’ lead to 4-2. But the Indians would add one more run in the fifth on a Maleah Walker squeeze bunt single to make the final score 5-2. Hayle Hacker struck out 13 to get the victory. Sophia Dykstra had three hits for Oskaloosa with a run batted in. Mahleah Walker and Megan Moorman both had two hits and an RBI. Meredith McKnight took the loss for Grinnell. Oskaloosa improves to 23-14 on the season. They’ll play at Norwalk Saturday night (7/13) at 7pm in the Region 1 semifinals. We’ll have that game on KMZN AM & FM Saturday night with the first pitch at 7pm.
1A Region 5:
A federal judge will let a jury decide a lawsuit against Grinnell College that challenges the way the Iowa school handles sexual misconduct complaints.
The lawsuit was filed in March 2017 by a male student identified only as John Doe, who was expelled in 2016 after he was accused of sexual misconduct.
Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger concluded in a ruling filed Tuesday that he has adequately shown that gender bias could have been a motivating factor in his dismissal and he may not have received a fair and impartial review of his appeal.
The student had sex with a female student. She said she willingly participated in the sex and didn’t initially pursue a complaint but the college launched an investigation and later sought her participation.
Doe, who lives in the state of Washington, is seeking emotional and psychological damages, damage to reputation, past and future economic losses, loss of educational and athletic opportunities and loss of future career prospects.
He also wants a court order preventing Grinnell from violating federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination when it considers future sexual misconduct complaints.
A trial is set for Sept. 18.
Grinnell College spokeswoman Debra Lukehart says the judge’s decision only means there will be a trial and there was no finding the college violated the law. She says the college looks forward to sharing its “robust processes that uphold the rights of all of our students at trial.”
Keokuk County law enforcement is investigating a fatal farm accident. According to the Keokuk County Sheriff’s Office, there was a call about an accident around 4pm Wednesday (7/10) at 260th Street east of Zephyr Avenue, outside Delta. Deputies found a man who had died from the accident. The man’s name has not been released, nor has the nature of the accident.
Our KBOE Pet of the Week is Blue, a 7 1/2 year old female Pitbull mix. She’s a sweet girl who gets along well with other dogs, cats and people. Blue is fixed, wormed, has all of her shots and is ready to go home with her new forever family. For more information on Blue and a wide variety of other adoptable pets, contact Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter in Oskaloosa at 641-673-3991.
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