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Body Recovered from Des Moines River Positively Identified

Posted on by Sam Parsons

EDDYVILLE — Authorities have positively identified the body of a man that was recovered from the Des Moines River last week.

The Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office reports that yesterday afternoon, at around 4:15pm, they were notified by the State Medical Examiner’s Office that the body recovered from the Des Moines River on Friday was confirmed to be that of 47-year-old Waylon Straube of Eddyville.

The body was recovered on Friday afternoon roughly ¼ mile south of the Chillicothe Bridge in Wapello County. Straube went missing following a boating accident on Sunday, May 25, in which it is believed that his boat struck underwater concrete, throwing Straube and a female companion overboard. The companion, who was identified as 50-year-old Roseanna Benda of Corydon, was rescued from the water shortly after the accident by two citizen boaters.

The Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in their search for Straube over the course of the 5-day search by several agencies, including the Iowa DNR, the Mahaska County Dispatch Center, the Mahaska Health Partnership Ambulance Service, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office, the Emergency Management Agencies from ADLM and Mahaska County, the Oskaloosa Fire Department, the New Sharon Fire Department, the Ottumwa Fire Department, the Eddyville Fire Department, the Lucas County Water Rescue Team, and the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office.

Sicily’s Mount Etna erupts with columns of smoke and ash

Posted on by Sam Parsons

MILAN (AP) — Sicily’s Mount Etna put on a fiery show Monday, sending a cloud of smoke and ash several kilometers (miles) into the air, but officials said the activity posed no danger to the population.

The level of alert due to the volcanic activity was raised at the Catania airport, but no immediate interruptions were reported. An official update declared the ash cloud emission had ended by the afternoon.

Italy’s INGV National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said the spectacle on Europe’s most active volcano was caused when part of the southeast crater collapsed, resulting in hot lava flows. It was the 14th eruptive phase in recent months.

The area of danger was confined to the summit of Etna, which was closed to tourists as a precaution, according to Stefano Branca, an INGV official in Catania.

Sicily’s president, Renato Schifani, said lava flows emitted in the eruption had not passed the natural containment area, “and posed no danger to the population.”

The event was captured in video and photos that went viral on social media. Tremors from the eruption were widely felt in the towns and villages on Mount Etna’s flanks, Italian media reported.

Video showed tourists running along a path on the flank of the vast volcano with smoke billowing some distance in the background. Excursions are popular on Etna, which is some 3,300 meters (nearly 11,000 feet) high, with a surface area of some 1,200 square kilometers (about 460 square miles.)

Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report

Posted on by Sam Parsons

DES MOINES — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig commented on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly April through November. Additionally, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship provides a weather summary each week during this time.

“Planting is nearly complete across the state and most of the corn and soybeans have emerged. Many farmers are now turning their attention to applying crop protection products and baling hay,” said Secretary Naig. “While haze from Canadian wildfires has hung around the last few days, it’s expected to clear by mid-week. The forecast shows much of the state could receive some welcome rain in the week ahead.”

The weekly report is also available on the USDA’s website at nass.usda.gov.

Crop Report
Dry weather with isolated showers led to 5.4 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending June 1, 2025, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Primary field activities included planting, cutting hay and spraying emerging crops.

Topsoil moisture condition rated 5 percent very short, 23 percent short, 70 percent adequate and 2 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture condition rated 5 percent very short, 27 percent short, 65 percent adequate and 3 percent surplus.

Corn planted reached 97 percent. Corn emerged reached 87 percent, 6 days ahead of last year’s pace and 1 day ahead of normal. Corn condition rated 84 percent good to excellent. Ninety-six percent of the expected soybean crop has been planted. Soybeans emerged reached 79 percent, 10 days ahead of last year and 4 days ahead of normal. Soybean condition rated 81 percent good to excellent. Ninety-five percent of the State’s oat crop has emerged. Oats headed reached 41 percent, 2 days ahead of last year and 1 week ahead of normal. Oat condition rated 85 percent good to excellent.

Sixty-one percent of the State’s first cutting of alfalfa hay has been completed, 6 days ahead of last year and average. Hay condition rated 83 percent good to excellent.  Pasture condition rated 73 percent good to excellent.

MCCF Awards Friends of Mahaska County Conservation with Community Betterment Grant

Posted on by Sam Parsons

OSKALOOSA — Mahaska County Community Foundation recently awarded a Community Betterment Grant totaling $25,000 to the Friends of Mahaska County Conservation.  This is the second year that Friends have received the Community Betterment Grant.  The grant will allow for the Friends and Mahaska County Conservation Board to build the All-Inclusive Nature Playscape and Community Area that will provide local and surrounding communities with an outdoor imaginative experience.  Construction is underway and the Nature Playscape will have natural climbing features, a mammoth play sculpture, a log traverse and staggered trails along with various other outdoor adventures.

The Mahaska County Community Foundation was established in 2005, as a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing the needs and challenges of Mahaska County through strategic philanthropy. Focused on areas such as arts and culture, health and human services, community betterment, recreation and environment, education, and youth development, MCCF awards grants annually to support local projects identified through a community-driven application process. Supported by the Iowa County Endowment Fund Legislation, MCCF has granted over $1.7 million since it started. As an affiliate of the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines and the Iowa Community Affiliate Network, MCCF offers donors professional expertise in philanthropic strategies, providing a personalized approach to charitable giving that fosters community partnerships and enhances the quality of life in Mahaska County. To learn more about the Mahaska County Community Foundation, visit their website at https://mahaskafoundation.org/.  

Oskaloosa City Council Makes Vote on Vacancy Appointment, Discusses Edmundson Park Pool

Posted on by Sam Parsons

By Sam Parsons

The Oskaloosa City Council held a regular meeting last night and officially made an appointment for their vacant council seat. The council received a total of 5 applications to fill the vacancy, with Wyndell Campbell, Manny Garcia, Andy Holmberg, Nicholas Ryan, and Cheryl Benson tossing their hats in the ring. Of those 5, Garcia, Holmberg, and Ryan were present at last night’s meeting. After brief discussion with those three candidates, the council appointed Andy Holmberg to fill the vacancy on a 4-2 vote. 

Council members Lisa Ossian and Ronda Almond were the ones to vote “no.”

The vacancy in the council was left behind by former council member Charlie Comfort, who announced his resignation effective May 14. The appointment fills the vacancy for the remainder of the term, which lasts through the end of 2025.

The council also discussed the future of the public pool at Edmundson Park. According to city staff, the pool is continuing to age and has had some larger maintenance issues which need to be addressed, including the pool shell, which the city says has experienced leaks for several years, and the pool house building, which is in need of repairs, primarily for the roof.

City staff said that the council has a few options for how the city can proceed with the pool, including minimum repairs to the pool house roof, which would cost roughly $90,000; pool shell rehabilitation, which would cost an estimated $140,000; repairs to the pool piping, which would cost approximately $50,000; or a full-scale reconstruction of the pool, which could cost the city upwards of $2 million, depending on the scope of the project. The water slides could also be handled independently from the rest of the project; if the city decides to replace the slides, that could cost somewhere between $200,000-500,000. No official action was taken last night, but the council expressed a desire to address the pool house roof, the pool shell, and the pool piping.

The next Oskaloosa City Council regular meeting will be held on June 16.

FDA approves Moderna’s new lower-dose COVID-19 vaccine

Posted on by Sam Parsons

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. approved a new COVID-19 vaccine made by Moderna late Friday but with limits on who can use it — not a replacement for the company’s existing shot, but a second option.

The new vaccine, mNexspike, is a step toward next-generation coronavirus vaccines. It’s made in a way that allows for a lower dose — a fifth of the dose of its current COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax — by refining its immune target.

The approval “adds an important new tool to help protect people at high risk of severe disease from COVID-19,” Stephane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO, said in a statement Saturday.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the new vaccine for use in all adults 65 and older, and for people age 12 to 64 who have a least one health condition that puts them at increased risk from the coronavirus.

That’s the same limit that the FDA set in licensing another COVID-19 vaccine option from competitor Novavax.

Those restrictions are a departure from how the U.S. has handled COVID-19 vaccines until now, reflecting skepticism about vaccines from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other Trump officials.

Moderna’s existing vaccine doesn’t face those limits and has long been used for anyone ages 6 months and older. The company said it expected to offer both options this fall.

The FDA’s approval was based on a study of 11,400 people age 12 and older that compared the new low-dose vaccine with Moderna’s existing vaccine. It found the new vaccine was safe and was at least as effective — and more by some measures — than the original shot, the company said.

The news came just days after the Trump administration canceled funding for Moderna to develop a vaccine against potential pandemic flu viruses, including the H5N1 bird flu, despite promising early study results.

Food Bank of Iowa: New CEO, same mission

Posted on by Sam Parsons

By Pat Powers (Radio Iowa)

Iowa’s largest provider of food for the needy has a new leader.

Tammi Nielsen took over this week as the CEO of the Des Moines-based Food Bank of Iowa, which serves 55 of the state’s 99 counties. Nielson has been with the agency for almost nine years.

“I’ve had a number of different roles at the Food Bank of Iowa, most recently the COO role, and I guess even more recently I’ve been the interim CEO since January 1st,” Nielsen says. “I found out through doing the job that I actually love this job, too, and so decided that this would be a good fit.”

The Food Bank of Iowa distributes more than 27-million pounds of food every year through some 700 partners statewide. Nielsen says Iowa’s challenges with food insecurity aren’t insurmountable, but they’re continuing to grow.

“As we all see, in grocery shopping and just the price of items, and the national economy,” she says, “there is indication that the numbers are going to continue to rise for folks facing food insecurity, and so we’re just in a hard place right now with indication that it’s going to get harder.”

A report last year from Feeding America found nearly 11% of all Iowans and more than 15% of Iowa children face food insecurity. That translates to 344,000 Iowans, including 110,000 children, who don’t know where they will find their next meal.

Nielsen is the food bank’s fourth leader since its founding 43 years ago. She succeeds Michelle Book, who retired at the end of 2024.

Local Health Organizations to Offer a Community Health Needs Assessment for Poweshiek County

Posted on by Sam Parsons

GRINNELL — Poweshiek County Health Department and UnityPoint Health – Grinnell Regional Medical Center are conducting a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) aimed at gathering valuable insights into the health needs and priorities of residents in Poweshiek County.

The CHNA survey, which will be conducted over the next three months, seeks to engage community members in a dialogue about their health concerns, experiences and goals. By understanding the unique challenges and opportunities facing our community, we can better tailor our programs and services to address the most pressing health issues. 

“This assessment is a valuable public health tool to inform community members and decision makers regarding community health issues and strategies, said David-Paul Cavazos, Grinnell Regional Medical Center president. “By gathering input directly from residents and analyzing local data, we can make informed decisions about where to focus our efforts, ensuring resources are used effectively to improve health outcomes for everyone.”

Topics covered in the survey include access to health care, chronic disease management, mental health, substance abuse, social determinants of health and more. It will be available online at and distributed through various community channels to reach as many residents as possible. 

“We encourage everyone living in Poweshiek County to participate in the survey and share their perspectives,” said Brooke Holder, Poweshiek County Public Health manager. “Your input is invaluable in helping us create a healthier and more vibrant community for all.” 

The results of the survey will be carefully analyzed and used to inform the development of a CHNA Report, which will be available to the community later this fall. This report will serve as a roadmap for prioritizing health initiatives and allocating resources effectively.

For more information about the CHNA survey, please contact Brooke Holder. You can also learn more online. To complete the survey, please visit www.prcsurvey.com/begin/Grinnell2025CHNA or use the QR code provided below. Spanish language can be accessed by clicking on the “toggle” at the top of the survey screen.

Food Safety Certification Class to Be Held

Posted on by Sam Parsons

OSKALOOSA — Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach is offering a food safety training for food service managers on June 26 at the Mahaska County Extension Office in Oskaloosa.

“Certification in ServSafe® meets the Iowa Food Code requirements to have a certified food protection manager in all establishments,” said Cathy Drost, class instructor and ISU Extension and Outreach health and human sciences educator. “We live in a time when food safety hazards and risks are prevalent. Serving safe food is mandatory. This eight-hour program aims to train food service professionals about food safety requirements and best practices to meet them.”
According to Drost, the program is based on the National Restaurant Association’s ServSafe® certification program and the Iowa Food Code. The class is beneficial for foodservice managers from all areas such as schools, restaurants, convenience stores, child care, senior meal sites and health care. Participants will receive a copy of the ServSafe® Manager training manual and will take the ServSafe®  certification exam.
Registrations close three weeks before class on June 5.  For more information about the program, contact Suzette Striegel at (641) 673-5841 or visit www.extension.iastate.edu/humansciences/servsafe/.

Body of Missing Eddyville Man Found in Des Moines River

Posted on by Sam Parsons

EDDYVILLE — On Friday, May 30, 2025, at approximately 2:15 pm, searchers located the body of a deceased male, believed to be that of 47-year-old Waylon Straube of Eddyville, in the Des Moines River 1⁄4 mile south of the Chillicothe Bridge in Wapello County. 

Mr. Straube went missing following a boating accident on Sunday, May 25 at approximately 9:50 am, when he was ejected from a boat that he was operating near 310th Street. A female companion, identified as Roseann Benda of Corydon, lowa was also ejected from the boat during this accident. Shortly after the accident, Ms. Benda was rescued from the river with the help of two citizen boaters. With the help of other Public Safety Agencies, the Sheriff’s Office has been searching the river daily since the accident. 

This male’s body will be transported to the lowa State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny, lowa for positive identification and autopsy. The Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the following agencies during this multi-day river search: Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Wapello County Sheriff’s Office, the Emergency Management Agencies from ADLM, Wings of Mercy, Rapid Response Services Search and Rescue out of Illinois, National Canine Facility, Chariton Dive Team, Lucas County Water Rescue Team, Eldon Fire Department, Oskaloosa Fire Department, New Sharon Fire Department, and Eddyville Fire Department. 

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