Home News Monday News, August 3rd

Monday News, August 3rd

Secondary Roads Department Closes Two Roads For Construction

(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Secondary Roads Department will close a couple of roads beginning today. Aspen Avenue from county road C-38 to the city limits of Westfield will be closed in order to perform some pavement maintenance. Also Granite Avenue from county road C-60 heading north to 280th Street will be closed due to the replacement of a wooden bridge with a
culvert. The Aspen Avenue project is expected to finished within one day, and the Granite Avenue road will remain closed until at least August 14th.

 

 

 

Fire And Rescue Department Issues July Monthly Report

(Le Mars) — During the month of July, the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department responded to a total of 47 calls. 17 of those calls were for fires. The Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department answered five rescues, 18 investigations or accident clean-ups, six requests for services, and one mutual aid call with
Oyens. Notable information includes the local fire and rescue department mailed out the annual fund drive letters, assisted with two fatality calls, a grain bin accident and a deceased person at a home. The Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department promoted Lt. Ethan Mitchell to the rank of captain, and
added one new firefirghter (Matt Saltsgiver).

 

 

 

Drought Worsens In Western Iowa

(Des Moines) — The new report from the U-S Drought Monitor shows more counties now showing dry conditions. The Iowa D-N-R’s Tim Hall says the negative outweighs the positive in the report.

He says the driest area continues to be in western Iowa.

Hall says the dry conditions have started to spread to the east.

Hall says the impact of the dry areas can also be seen in satellite images of the crops.

He says the good news for the western areas that are dry is the impact right now isn’t hitting water supplies.

Hall says the precipitation deficit is a concern because we are soon going to be heading out of the wettest months of the year, and could be behind in groundwater going into the winter.

 

 

 

Iowa State University Extension And Outreach To Host Webinars On Drought

(Le Mars) — Iowa State University Extension has started a series of webinars to offer various options for those farmers facing drought conditions to consider.
Extension crop specialist, Joel DeJong, covers northwest Iowa and says they are seeing some similarities with the last drought.

“DeJong, Joel”

The first seminar was Thursday and the second one is next Thursday, August 6th, and deals with finding animal feed.

The next webinar will deal with handling crops.

The webinars are free of charge, but pre-registration is requested. For more information about the times and topics, check the I-S-U Extension website.

 

 

 

Rural Communities Contain More Nitrates In Water Supply

(Des Moines) — A study of drinking water systems shows communities in Iowa and four other Midwestern states have legal but potentially worrying levels of nitrates. The Environmental Working Group found nitrate levels in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma are trending up. Report author Anne
Schechinger (SHECK-in-ger) says spikes can occur after heavy rains and she found nitrate problems are more frequent in smaller communities.

Schechinger says proximity to farm fields is also a factor. The report analyzed water data from ten states and praised Hastings, Nebraska, for building a system that removes nitrates before they enter the drinking water supply. Hastings’ environmental director Marty Stange (STANG-ee) says the
innovative system is working well.

Stange says preventing nitrates from getting to the water is far cheaper than building a system to remove the pollutant once it’s there. Elevated nitrate levels can cause blue baby syndrome and more recently have been associated with upticks in colorectal cancer and certain birth defects.

 

 

DNR Recommends “No Swimming Advisories” For Beaches

(Des Moines) — The beaches at one state recreation area and seven state parks currently have “swimming not recommended” advisories from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. D-N-R environmental specialist Daniel Kendall says that’s about typical for this time of the year, and down one beach from last week.

All of the recommendations are based on the presence of a particular E-coli bacteria, which Kendall says doesn’t directly make people sick. But it can be an indicator of the presence of other harmful pathogens.

Kendall says rain often flushes the pathogens into beaches so it’s also a good idea to wait a few days after rainfall before swimming.
Beaches with DNR “Swimming Not Recommended” Advisories include:
Emerson Bay State Recreation Area
McItosh Woods State Park
George Wyth Memorial State Park
Denison Beach at Black Hawk State Park
Backbone State Park
Lake Darling State Park
Lake Keomah State Park
Nine Eagles State Park

 

 

 

Analysis: Corn Farmers To Lose $89/Acre

(Des Moines, IA) — An analysis prepared for the National Corn Growers Association concludes American corn farmers will lose 89 dollars an acre in revenue this year — due to the pandemic. The association’s new vice president, Chris Edgington, who farms near St. Ansgar, says a prediction from a University of Illinois economist suggests 2020 revenue from U.S. corn sales will dip to a 14-year low. The economic analysis done for the Corn
Growers indicates that even after calculating the additional payment from federal farm programs, there’s a 15-dollar per acre drop in revenue related to the 2019 corn crop. He says exports are a challenge, demand from both ethanol and livestock have both been hit pretty hard at times and are key issues they talk about.

 

 

 

Construction Accident Leaves 2 Workers Dead

(Pella, IA) — Pella police say a Saturday morning construction accident has left two workers dead. The victims were installing fiber cable near Lincoln Elementary when they hit an electric line. Thirty-five-year-old Genis Urgell Rueda and 20-year-old Joani Figueroa of Virginia died before they could be helped. A third worker was taken to a local hospital for evaluation. That person’s name hasn’t been released. The area was blocked off by authorities while an investigation was conducted and utility workers could check for potential gas leaks.