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Two Webinars Will Examine Impact of Excessive Farm Heat on People and Produce

Posted on by Sam Parsons
AMES, Iowa – Iowa State University Extension and Outreach’s Farm, Food and Enterprise Development team is holding two webinars in August that will explore the role of intense heat on farmers and growers, as well as their crops.
“Heat exposure is an increasing problem for agricultural workers, and can negatively impact their health and mental state,” said Alex Van Alstyne, food business extension specialist with Iowa State. “By addressing these issues, our goal is to protect the health of workers who bring food to our tables and offer guidance for small-scale growers on how to protect their crops.”
Both webinars are available at no cost to those who wish to attend. Read more information on each event below.
Heat-Smart: Protecting People from Field Heat Stress
This one-hour webinar will discuss the impact of field heat stress on agricultural workers’ physical and mental health and offer actionable strategies to protect them from its dangers.
The virtual webinar, which will be presented by Brandi Janssen, clinical professor in occupational and environmental health at the University of Iowa, is set for Aug. 5 from noon to 1 p.m.
Four key topics will be discussed:
  • Heat Burden: Trends Over Time, Increasing Night Heat, and Humidity
  • Effects on Human Health: Death Rates, Heat Illness, and Chronic and Acute Effects
  • Effects on Mental Health: Emerging Evidence and Workplace Consequences
  • Interventions and Strategies for Agriculture
To attend this webinar, please register online.
Heat-Stressed Harvests: Protecting Crops and Produce in Rising Temperatures
Another heat-related webinar will focus on how to protect growing and harvested produce from extreme heat. This webinar is ideal for small-scale and diversified vegetable and fruit growers, farmers market producers and anyone interested in improving produce quality and resilience during hot weather.
The webinar will take place on Aug. 19 from noon to 1 p.m. and will be presented by Suzanne Slack, assistant professor and extension fruit crop specialist at Iowa State.
Small-scale growers can expect to learn about relevant topics for their practice, including:
  • Basic Plant Physiology and Heat Response
  • Understanding Heat Units
  • Produce Heat Stress and Mitigation Strategies
  • Cooling Methods for Small-Scale Growers
  • Storage and Transport Considerations
To attend this webinar, please register online.
For more information on these webinars, visit the Heat-Smart and Heat-Stressed Harvests event sites or contact Alex Van Alstyne at alexv@iastate.edu or 515-294-3041.

Single Vehicle Accident Results in Death of Area HS Student

Posted on by Sam Parsons

PLEASANTVILLE – A single vehicle accident in Warren County on Saturday afternoon resulted in the death of an area high school student.

According to traffic records, on Saturday afternoon at around 3:37pm, a 2007 Ford Focus driven by 16-year-old Isabella Ashford of Pleasantville was traveling eastbound on Highway 5 when it left the road near 200th Avenue. The driver overcorrected and lost control of the vehicle, causing it to enter the ditch sideways. The vehicle rolled at least one time, coming to a rest on the driver’s side.

A passenger in the front seat was pronounced dead at the scene by authorities. The passenger was identified as Donald McCormick, a Pleasantville High School junior. He was 16 years old. Traffic records show McCormick was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.

Ashford was wearing a seatbelt and was transported to Blanks Children’s Hospital in Des Moines for treatment of undisclosed injuries.

Pleasantville Community School District superintendent Tony Aylsworth issued a statement on the district’s social media announcing McCormick’s passing, stating “We extend our sincerest condolences and sympathies to the McCormick family, as well as Donald’s friends, classmates, teachers, directors, coaches, and all who knew him.”

“Donald was a valued member of our school community, and his loss is and will be felt deeply by all of us. We recognize that this news may bring about a range of emotions. Counselors and additional grief support staff will be available in the PHS Events Center starting Monday to meet with students and staff who may need someone to talk to. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for support during this difficult time,” the statement continued.

A vigil for Donald McCormick will be held tomorrow evening at the Pleasantville High School Events Center. From 5-7pm, adults, pastors, counselors, and therapy dogs will be present to offer additional grief support. From 7-8pm, a candlelight vigil will be held where people can share stories if they wish.

Hulk Hogan’s cause of death was a heart attack, medical examiner says

Posted on by Sam Parsons

CLEARWATER (AP) — Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan ‘s death last week was caused by a heart attack, according to a Florida medical examiner’s report released Thursday.

Hogan, 71, whose real name was Terry Bollea, previously had leukemia and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm, the report from the District Six Medical Examiner said.

To honor the “Hulkster,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said, flags will be flown at half-staff at all official buildings Friday, which he declared “Hulk Hogan Day in Florida.”

“He was a true Floridian through and through,” the Republican governor wrote in a memo Thursday.

Hogan was pronounced dead at a hospital less than 90 minutes after medics arrived at his home in Clearwater to answer a call about a cardiac arrest on the morning of July 24, police said. The report said the cause of death was “natural.”

“He had been dealing with some health issues, but I truly believed we would overcome them,” Hogan’s wife Sky Daily posted on Instagram.

“This loss is sudden and impossible to process,” she added. “To the world, he was a legend… but to me, he was my Terry.”

Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his in-ring exploits. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon.

Hogan’s daughter Brooke Bollea Oleksy, better known by her stage name Brooke Hogan, memorialized her father in a recent social media post.

“I am so grateful I knew the real version of him. Not just the one the world viewed through a carefully curated lens,” she wrote on Instagram.

Funeral plans have not yet been publicly announced.

Attorney General Bird Warns of Ticket Scams Ahead of Iowa State Fair

Posted on by Sam Parsons

DES MOINES — As our great Iowa State Fair approaches and concerts and shows are scheduled in venues all over the state, Attorney General Brenna Bird is reminding Iowans to be cautious when purchasing event tickets.

Digital tickets and purchases are now prevalent, leading to an increased risk of ticket scams. Scammers will often create counterfeit tickets or duplicate a ticket and sell them to more than one person. Purchasing tickets through third parties like social media and paying for them via gift cards, wire transfers, or peer-to-peer payment apps such as Venmo or ApplePay heightens the possibility of being scammed.

“The state fair serves as a great reminder to stay cautious when purchasing event tickets,” said Attorney General Bird. “Scammers prey on the excitement of people who are eager to see a favorite artist, event, or show, so it’s important to be extra cautious and double-check ticket sources.”

How to protect yourself from ticket scams:

  • Purchase tickets directly from the venue
  • Verify website address when buying tickets from name-brand sites such as Ticketmaster or StubHub
  • Be skeptical of tickets being sold on social media
  • Be skeptical of sellers that want payments via gift cards, wire transfers, payment apps, or cryptocurrency
  • Be skeptical of sellers that want to negotiate the price
  • Pay with secure payment methods such as credit cards
  • Examine the ticket details for errors

If you think you have been targeted by a ticket scam, contact the Iowa Attorney General’s office at 888-777-4590 or file a complaint online here.

City of Ottumwa Designated as Thriving Community

Posted on by Sam Parsons

OTTUMWA — The City of Ottumwa has been designated as a 2026 Iowa Thriving Community by the Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) and Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA). The IFA and IEDA has recognized Ottumwa as a forward-thinking community, demonstrating best practices in planning, financial support, targeted development, leadership, and employer engagement. Ottumwa’s investment in community assets is also part of this designation. We did not achieve this honor alone. The City collaborated with Indian Hills Community College, the Ottumwa Community School District, the Legacy Foundation, Greater Ottumwa Partners in Progress, JBS, and others to obtain this designation. Being named a 2026 Iowa Thriving Community provides valuable scoring advantages for the Federal Housing Tax Credit, Workforce Housing Tax Credits, HOME, and Community Catalyst programs while gaining state and national visibility as a model for successful housing strategies. This all means Ottumwa becomes more attractive to developers, creating a better community for everyone. With the state’s help, we can move forward on our goals of meeting the community’s housing needs.

Mahaska Health’s 13th Annual Run in the Sun to be Held Tomorrow

Posted on by Sam Parsons

OSKALOOSA — Mahaska Health is set to host the annual 5K/2K Run in the Sun supporting Hospice Serenity House and caregivers in their mission to provide personalized, compassionate care to patients and their families. The 14th annual Run in the Sun event will begin at 7:00 am on Saturday, August 2nd, 2025, at the Statesmen Community Stadium in Oskaloosa, Iowa. The race begins at 8:00 am. The event also includes family-friendly post-race activities. Community members in Oskaloosa and the surrounding counties are welcome and encouraged to participate.

Participants can choose a 5k run or 2k walk. Registration for both options is $25, with the 5k run including a timing chip. All participants will receive a Run in the Sun T-shirt. Free children’s activities, including a Kid’s Fun Run, face painting, Sno-Biz treats, and inflatables will be available during the post-race activities. Groups and individuals of all ages are welcome to join in the fun. Friends and family are encouraged to cheer on the runners and show support through donations.

“Participants in this event make a difference in the lives of many,” shared Dr. Zacharjasz, Mahaska Health Family Medicine Physician and Hospice Medical Director, “Run in the Sun is a great opportunity to unite as a community to help others. We are very grateful to our volunteers, participants, and sponsors for making it possible to better support those in our care through this event. We look forward to seeing everyone on race day!” 

The annual Mahaska Health Foundation Run in the Sun supports the Mahaska Health Foundation and Hospice Serenity House in continuing to provide individualized, compassionate care to families who need it most. For information on registration, packet-pickup, race day schedule, and other details, visit: mahaskahealth.org/run2025.

Along with a strong second quarter rebound for the US economy, some red flags

Posted on by Sam Parsons

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy expanded at a surprising 3% annual pace from April through June, bouncing back at least temporarily from a first-quarter drop that reflected disruptions from President Donald Trump’s trade wars.

Still, details of the report suggested that U.S. consumers and businesses are wary about the economic uncertainty arising from Trump’s radical campaign to restructure the American economy by slapping big taxes — tariffs — on imports from around the world.

“Headline numbers are hiding the economy’s true performance, which is slowing as tariffs take a bite out of activity,” Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic wrote.

America gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — rebounded after falling at a 0.5% clip from January through March, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The first-quarter drop, the first retreat of the U.S. economy in three years, was mainly caused by a surge in imports — which are subtracted from GDP — as businesses scrambled to bring in foreign goods ahead of Trump’s tariffs.

The bounceback was expected but its strength was a surprise: Economists had forecast 2% growth from April through June.

From April through June, a drop in imports — the biggest since the COVID-19 outbreak — added more than 5 percentage points to growth. Consumer spending registered lackluster growth of 1.4%, though it was an improvement over the first quarter’s 0.5%.

Private investment fell at a 15.6% annual pace, biggest drop since COVID-19 slammed the economy. A drop in inventories — as businesses worked down goods they’d stockpiled in the first quarter — shaved 3.2 percentage points off second-quarter growth.

A category within the GDP data that measures the economy’s underlying strength weakened in the second quarter, expanding at a 1.2% annual pace, down from 1.9% from January through March and the weakest since the end of 2022. This category includes consumer spending and private investment but excludes volatile items like exports, inventories and government spending.

Federal government spending and investment fell at a 3.7% annual rate on top of a 4.6% drop in the first quarter.

Wednesday’s GDP report showed inflationary pressure easing in the second quarter. The Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge – the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index – rose at an annual rate of 2.1% in the second quarter, down from 3.7% in the first. Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, so-called core PCE inflation rose 2.5%, down from 3.5% in the first quarter.

On his Truth Social media platform, Trump heralded the GDP gain and stepped up his pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates: “2Q GDP JUST OUT: 3%, WAY BETTER THAN EXPECTED! “Too Late” MUST NOW LOWER THE RATE. No Inflation! Let people buy, and refinance, their homes!”

Trump sees tariffs as a way to protect American industry, lure factories back to the United States and help pay for the massive tax cuts he signed into law July 4.

But mainstream economists — viewed with disdain by Trump and his advisers — say that his tariffs will damage the economy, raising costs and making protected U.S. companies less efficient. They note that tariffs are paid by importers in the United States, who try to pass along the cost to their customers via higher prices. Therefore, tariffs can be inflationary — though their impact so far has been modest.

Monday night’s cross-Iowa storm now designated as a derecho

Posted on by Sam Parsons

By Matt Kelley (Radio Iowa)

The experts now say the powerful storm that rolled over Iowa Monday night and into Tuesday was a derecho, an exceptionally long-lasting and damaging wind storm, which some call a land hurricane.

Winds in the storm topped off in northwest Iowa at 99 miles an hour, and cleanup in multiple communities statewide may take a week.

Meteorologist Alexis Jimenez, at the National Weather Service, says derechos are always designated after the fact.

“That line of storms had moved across much of northern Iowa, and then even sinking into eastern Iowa,” Jimenez says. “So the intensity of seeing 70-plus mile an hour winds for a very long span — at that point, it was hundreds of miles — plus seeing the significant damage that we saw, those all go into factoring if that was a derecho or not.”

Iowa was walloped with more powerful storms last night and into this morning, marking the third straight night of wicked weather.

Jimenez says this latest round wasn’t as severe as the previous night, but it did push at least one Iowa city into record territory during what’s usually one of the state’s driest months.

“We broke the record for monthly rainfall for July for Des Moines specifically,” Jimenez says. “At least as of 7 o’clock this morning, we’ve had 10.62 inches of rain so far this month, and the previous record was 10.51.”

Some areas of the state got three more inches of rainfall overnight, and strong winds again tore through trees, ripping off limbs and knocking out the power to many thousands of homes across Iowa.

“We still had some winds that were getting towards severe, 60 miles an hour wind gusts, especially in places like Carroll,” Jimenez says, “and then other sections over by Waterloo, as another line of storms moved through that section of the state.”

Along with three nights in a row of storms, Iowa also had multiple recent days with heat advisories and extreme heat warnings, as heat indices climbed as high as 115 degrees some afternoons.

Jimenez says the forecast calls for more pleasant, calm weather ahead with dry conditions and highs the next several days only in the 70s.

Hunter Education program opens registration for fall courses

Posted on by Sam Parsons

DES MOINES — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) offers more than 200 hunter education courses each year, and now is the time to enroll before hunting seasons arrive.

Hunter education is a mandatory program designed to introduce students to firearms safety and several other life-long skills that are important to the many different types of outdoor recreational activities.

A person who is 11 years old or older may enroll in a course, but those who are 11 and successfully complete the course will be issued a certificate which becomes valid on their 12th birthday.

Students may certify in several ways, such as the traditional classroom course or a hybrid online/field day course. Students 18 years of age and older may certify completely online with no field day requirement. For more information on course options, visit: https://www.iowadnr.gov/things-do/hunting-trapping/hunter-education-safety

Locally, Hunter Education Classroom Courses will be offered in Newton (August 6 at the Izaak Walton League), Knoxville (August 28 at the Marion County Sportsman Club), and Sigourney (September 13 at the Keokuk County Sportsman Club).

“Our courses are taught by volunteer instructors who are also hunters, so very few classes take place after mid-November,” said Jamie Cook, program coordinator with the Iowa DNR. “Many new hunters, and parents of new hunters, tend to delay in finding a hunter education course until classes become unavailable. My advice is to check the website weekly.”

To find a course and begin the registration process visit https://license.gooutdoorsiowa.com/Event/EventsHome.aspx

Hunter education is required for anyone born after Jan. 1, 1972, in order to purchase a hunting license. Iowa recognizes hunter education certificates issued by another state and some foreign nations.

Knoxville Man Arrested for False Report of Stolen Vehicle

Posted on by Sam Parsons

KNOXVILLE – A Knoxville man was arrested after police say he falsely reported a vehicle involved in an accident as stolen.

Court records show that on July 18, the Knoxville Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office began investigating a crash that took place in the 1200 block of 132nd Avenue in Knoxville. The accident involved a car striking a power pole, which caused a temporary power outage in the area. A wallet left in the vehicle connected the accident with 22-year-old Tanner Sutherland.

According to court records, Sutherland told authorities that he had no knowledge of the crash and wished to report the vehicle as stolen. He allegedly stated that the vehicle in question was a rental vehicle and was stolen from him, and that he was not involved in the crash. However, after an investigation that included multiple witness testimonies and video surveillance footage, it was revealed that Sutherland was providing false information, and that he was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident.

Sutherland now faces a charge of False Report of an Indictable Offense, a serious misdemeanor.

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