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Carbon pipeline company takes unwilling landowners to court
Navigator CO2 Ventures, one of three companies that have proposed liquid carbon pipelines in Iowa, recently sued four sets of landowners to gain access to their properties to survey the land, according to court records. The company filed petitions in August for injunctive relief against landowners in Butler, Clay and Woodbury counties. The company claims […]
Reported COVID cases plummet but hospitalizations inch upward
The latest coronavirus infections reported by Iowa health officials in a weekly Wednesday update were about 15% fewer than what was reported one week ago. Yet, the number of people who have COVID-19 and are receiving inpatient treatment at Iowa hospitals was slightly higher than last week, according to federal data. The Iowa Department of […]
Soybean conditions improve despite warm, dry week
Last week was very dry in Iowa, with the northwest quadrant of the state having little or no rain, according to the state’s weekly weather summary. Yet, soybean conditions improved and corn was unchanged from a week ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Tuesday. Corn and soybeans were both rated 66% good or excellent […]
Rabbit owners should consider vaccines for newly detected virus, state says
A virus that is believed to kill at least half of the rabbits it infects was recently detected in indoor, pet rabbits in Story County, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. A new variant of rabbit hemorrhagic disease was first identified in the United States in 2020 and has since been […]
State beach bacteria levels are low ahead of holiday weekend
There are currently nine state beaches where the environmental regulators caution against swimming ahead of the Labor Day weekend, but many of them have relatively low bacteria levels, according to a recent Iowa Department of Natural Resources report. The state monitors bacteria and toxins at its beaches with weekly tests. Those results can change significantly […]
Mild winter buoys Iowa pheasant population
A lack of snowfall this past winter was likely a boon for Iowa pheasants, which were seen in roughly equal numbers as last year by state officers for their recent annual population survey. That survey portends a similar pheasant harvest for the upcoming hunting season as 2021, when hunters felled about 375,000 of the birds. […]
Ethanol plant fined for ongoing excessive air pollution
A southwest Iowa ethanol plant has been ordered to pay a $10,000 fine for its repeated air emissions of excessive, cancer-causing compounds in the past five years, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy is located just south of Council Bluffs in an industrial area along Interstate Highway 29. The […]
Judge levies extra $70,000 penalty for illegal tire stockpile
Two Davenport men who earned money last year by hauling and storing thousands of junk tires without permits have been ordered to pay a total of $90,000 for the violations and to remove the tires from the property they rent, according to court documents. Timothy James Peters and David Omar Mercado were fined $10,000 apiece […]
Drought expands in Iowa despite heavy rains
Drought conditions worsened in southeast Iowa in the past week — where there was little to no rain — and the overall areas of drought statewide expanded despite some heavy rainfall, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The worst drought in northwest Iowa was relatively unchanged in the Drought Monitor’s latest report on Thursday. Heavy […]
New COVID booster vaccines approved as Iowa cases flatten
Two new COVID-19 vaccine mixtures that are thought to be more effective at preventing serious illness for currently circulating coronavirus variants were approved by federal regulators on Wednesday. Meanwhile, documented infections in Iowa increased slightly as hospitalizations held steady, according to state and federal data. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized two variations of […]
Farmers poised to accelerate conservation efforts, ag secretary says
A matured body of research to reduce farm pollution and soil erosion — combined with state and federal funding and guidance to implement those practices — will lead to enhanced conservation in the coming years, according to Mike Naig, the state secretary of agriculture. “We really turned the page,” Naig told a gathering at the […]
Vilsack: America’s voluntary approach to agriculture is better than Europe’s mandates
BOONE, Iowa — The more than $1 billion the federal government is devoting to voluntary efforts to reduce agriculture’s adverse effects on the environment is a better long-term strategy than mandating new rules for farmers, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said Tuesday. While state and federal officials in the United States have tended to […]