FARMERS ARE PREPARING FOR SPRING PLANTING
These days farmers are preparing for spring planting, mainly getting equipment ready. For area agronomist Leah Ten Napel, it’s a quiet time waiting for planting conditions to come forth.
Soil conditions will improve soon enough.
Some producers will also have to deal with flood issues left over from last year.
These producers will have to watch their flooded acres carefully.
It was an extremely dry winter, but a couple of late winter snowstorms improved topsoil moisture.
For Ten Napel, this is quiet time, for producers, a busy time of preparation.
There is concern that last year’s floods washed out some seed stock. Ten Napel isn’t sure if that’s a problem here.
COAST GUARD TO KEEP NAVIGATION AIDS ON MISSOURI RIVER
The U.S. Coast Guard announced it will pause removal of 36 aids to navigation on the Missouri River north of Blencoe, Iowa.
U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra is pleased with the announcement.
Last December, Congressman Feenstra led a letter to USCG Captain Andrew Bender urging the USCG to reconsider its decision to remove 36 ATONs on the Missouri River north of Blencoe and to continue infrastructure investments in the Missouri River.
Efforts to increase barge traffic on the river are continuing.
Eight lawmakers and 53 local businesses supported Feenstra’s letter.
IOWAN INVOLVED IN FATAL SOUTH DAKOTA ACCIDENT IDENTIFIED
The South Dakota Highway Patrol has identified the Cherokee, Iowa man who died in a one vehicle accident last Saturday in Custer County. The man was identified as Jordan Anfinson, 24. Anfinson was driving on Lime Kiln Road in Pringle around 2-10 a.m., when he lost control on a curve, went off the roadway, and into a ditch, striking a culvert. Anfinson was not wearing a seat belt. He was ejected from the vehicle and died of injuries suffered in the crash.
IOWA SENATE BILL GIVES SOME LEGAL PROTECTION TO MAKER OF ROUNDUP
The Iowa Senate has voted to shield farm chemical companies from lawsuits that allege the labels of products lack proper warnings about health risks. Bayer, the company that sells Roundup, faces thousands of lawsuits filed on behalf of farmers and others who’ve been diagnosed with cancer. Senator Mike Bousselot, a Republican from Ankeny, says Roundup’s label meets the legal requirements of the U-S government and other countries where it’s approved for use.
Senator Adrian Dickey, a Republican from Packwood, says this area of the law has become a playground for attorneys.
The bill passed on a 26-to-21 vote — the minimum number of yes votes required to clear the Senate. Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, is among the critics who call the bill the cancer gag act.
Similar legislation passed the Iowa Senate last year by a wider margin, but it didn’t come up for a vote in the House.
HOUSE AGAIN SENDS PIPELINE BILLS TO THE SENATE
The Iowa House has again approved legislation that would provide new protections for landowners along the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline route.
Representative Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City, says the overwhelming majority of Iowans oppose the project.
The package includes new restrictions on the use of eminent domain to seize land for an expansion of the pipeline and it calls for Summit to reimburse landowners who cannot get insurance because the pipeline runs through their property.
Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, says he’s proud the House has been standing up for property owners.
Bruce Rastetter is the founder and owner of Summit Carbon Solutions. One Democrat who voted for the package suggested it will not become law because Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and key Republicans in the Senate support the pipeline project. The head of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says he’s confident cooler heads will prevail in the senate, the pipeline will be built and demand for corn will increase by billions of bushels.
IOWA HOUSE VOTES TO LOWER AGE TO POSSESS A HANDGUN
The Iowa House has passed a bill that would lower the legal age for carrying a handgun in the state to 18. Under current law, people who do not have a professional permit must be at least 21 years old in order to possess a handgun. Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says the idea that young adults between the ages of 18 and 21 are not mature enough to possession a handgun is being rejected by the courts. And Holt says young adults should have the same right to keep and bear arms as older adults. The bill passed on a 79 to 18 vote. One critic of the bill pointed to federal data indicating death by gun is the second leading cause of death among children and teens.
RED CROSS HANDS OUT HERO AWARDS
The Iowa chapter of the American Red Cross gave out four Heroes of the Heartland awards Tuesday. Red Cross spokesperson Emily Holley says the Des Moines Blank Children’s Hospital Advocacy and Outreach program is one of the winners. They went to Greenfield and provided free car seats and pack and plays for the families of infants and young children hit by the tornado there. Holley says. She says they did the same thing following the flooding in Northwest Iowa. Other award recipients were David Tollander of Hudson for his efforts to save his best friend’s life on a fishing trip in northeast Iowa, Sharlett Patterson of West Des Moine for her use of C-P-R and an A-E-D to save a shopper who experienced a cardiac arrest, Honor Flight of Sac City/Fort Dodge for their of 15 years flying hundreds of Iowa veterans to see monuments and memorials in Washington, D-C.
