REAL ESTATE
The residential real estate market has settled down as this season unfolds. Le Mars Realtor Julie Hurt says a rise in interest rates has slowed the market’s pace.
Potential buyers are more deliberative about home purchases.
The market has settled down from the frenetic pace of the past year.
That deliberation has taken some of the volatility out of home prices.
Buyers are more thorough in their purchasing decisions.
Hurt says the local market remains strong, How does the Le Mars real estate market compare these days with the rest of Iowa?
Hurt does not expect the market won’t break out of its current pace any time soon.
Besides interest rates, the cost of construction will be one of the biggest factors that will affect the market into the future.
DE SANTIS IOWA CAMPAIGN
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (dee-SAN-tiss) is in the midst of his first campaign swing through Iowa since kicking off his campaign for president last week. DeSantis spoke at a West Des Moines church Tuesday night, urging Iowans to look foward, not backwards as they choose a presidential nominee. DeSantis did not use the phrase “drain the swamp” as Donald Trump did during the 2016 campaign, but DeSantis said it requires a disciplined, energetic president who will spit nails to clean house in federal agencies. DeSantis also blasted the debt deal, but did not specifically call on Republicans in congress to reject it. DeSantis will campaign today (Wednesday) in Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Pella and Cedar Rapids.
IOWA SOLDIERS TO TEXAS
Iowa’s governor is deploying 100 Iowa National Guard soldiers to Texas for 30 days in August. Thirty Iowa public safety officers will spend the month of September at the border. Reynolds says she and other Republican governors are addressing the border crisis that President Biden’s administration is ignoring. Two years ago, Reynolds deployed 28 state troopers to assist Texas officers patroling roads near the border make arrests and seize drugs and weapons.
DEBT CEILING DEAL
Two of the four Iowans who serve in the U.S. House say they’re likely to vote for the plan that would slow federal spending in the future and immediately raise the government’s borrowing authority. However, under certain circumstances, they might vote no. Republican Congresswoman Marianette Miller-Meeks of LeClaire says elements of the plan are common sense, like recouping 30 BILLION dollars in unspent COVID recovery money.
Miller-Meeks says it’s time to restart the monthly student loan payments that were suspended at the beginning of the pandemic — that’s part of the plan as well. Miller-Meeks says the House G-O-P is proving that it can govern and she plans on supporting the package, unless there are major changes made to it.
Congressman Zach Nunn, a Republican from Bondurant, says he wants an assurance that Senate Democrats will back the plan.
Both Miller-Meeks and Nunn say the plan’s limit on non-defense spending over the next two years is key.
Neither Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion nor Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull have commented on the deal.
ABNORMALLY DRY
U-S-D-A meteologist Brad Rippey says abnormally dry conditions are likely to persist in Iowa through the summer. The most recent U-S-D-A Drought Monitor indicates 57 percent of Iowa is either abnormally dry or is experiencing some level of drought.Pockets of severe or extreme drought stretches through four northwest Iowa counties and three counties in southeast Iowa.
The definition of “exceptional” drought that’s happening in northwest and southeast Iowa is something that is experienced once every 20 to 50 years according to Rippey.
While Rippey is not expecting Iowa to have the kind of decades long drought that California has experienced, 29 percent of Iowa was considered to be in a drought by last week.
The last major droughts to hit Iowa were in 1988 and 2012.
CRAIG MAN ARRESTED
The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday arrested Richard DeYoung, age 71 of Craig, Iowa. DeYoung had three outstanding valid arrest warrants for harassment in the 1st degree (x2) and disorderly conduct. DeYoung was then transported to the Plymouth County Jail. At the Plymouth County Jail, DeYoung was also charged with operating motor vehicle without owner’s consent. This charge was based on a different incident that also took place in Craig, Iowa on 05/17/2023.
VEHICLE/BICYCLE ACCIDENT
Saturday afternoon, deputies with the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Officer were called to the 31000-blk of West Loop Road for a vehicle vs bicycle accident. At the scene, deputies located a 2009 Jeep Liberty that had struck a subject on a bicycle. The vehicle was leaving a driveway traveling southwest making a left hand turn. While entering the roadway, the Jeep Liberty struck a subject traveling eastbound on a pedal bike. The cyclist flipped over the hood of the vehicle and crashed through its windshield. The cyclist was transported to a Sioux City hospital with serious injuries. The driver of the vehicle was not hurt.
CHECK THREE THINGS
The warm weather is here, the kids are out of school, and Iowans are making plans for extended family vacations. Before backing the packed S-U-V out of the garage though, Triple-A’s Nick Chabarria (chuh-BARE-ee-ah) suggests you have a professional look over a few key things: B-E-T, which stands for battery, engine, and tires. The number of cars broken down along the roadside rises this time of year, Chabarria says, in large part because of a problem with one of those three elements. Chabarria says something important that Iowans can easily check themselves is the inflation rate on their tires, to keep the vehicle safe and running efficiently. You’ll also need plenty of gasoline. Triple-A says the average in Iowa is now three-37 a gallon, that’s down two-pennies in the past week. The national average is 20 cents higher at three-57.
PLANTING SEASON NEARLY COMPLETE
The planting season is down to just a few more trips across the field. The U-S-D-A crop report shows 98 percent of the corn crop is planted, eight days ahead of last year and 11 days ahead of the five-year average. Eighty-five percent of the corn crop has emerged — with 77 percent reported in good to excellent condition. Ninety-four percent of soybeans had been planted by Sunday, more than one week ahead of last year and 15 days ahead of normal. Sixty-seven percent of soybeans have emerged and the first condition report shows 71 percent are rated in good to excellent condition.
