One person died today in a plane crash near the Farm Progress show in Boone County. Boone County Sheriff Ron Fehr says they received the report of the crash at 9:22 this morning.

The plane crashed in a field north of the farm progress show just after taking off from the Boone Airport. The plane was towing an advertising banner for a farm show vender. Sheriff Fehr says witnesses reported there was some sort of problem with the banner.

F.A.A. spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory says the National Transportation Safety Board is now handling the investigation. She says the plane was registered to Drake Aerial Enterprises in Geneo, Ohio.

By Jim Turbes, KWBG, Boone

A Quad Cities woman is taking the blame for a fatal wreck that claimed the life of a family member. Nineteen-year-old Kelsey Alexander of Bettendorf is pleading guilty to serious injury by motor vehicle while operating under the influence.

 That’s in connection with an early morning May 21st crash in central Davenport that killed her older sister, 23-year-old-Amanda Alexander of Bettendorf, who was a front-seat passenger, and injured a back-seat passenger and the other motorist.

Police say Kelsey Alexander, who also was hurt in the wreck, crossed the center line. They say both alcohol and excessive speed were factors in the wreck. Scott County Attorney Michael Walton says the charge against Kelsey Alexander pertains to the injury of the other driver, not the death of her sister. He says she could get up to five years in prison when sentenced October 14th.

A charge of vehicular homicide could have netted her 25 years in prison.

By Phil Roberts, Davenport

August was the deadliest month on Iowa’s roadways in more than three years. Senior Trooper Mark Domino, of the Iowa State Patrol’s Mason City post, says 50 people died on Iowa highways in August. He says August of 2010 is the state’s deadliest month since July of 2007 when 51 people were killed in traffic accidents.

Domino says a number of factors contributed to the increase in traffic fatalities, including: speed, alcohol, distracted driving and falling asleep behind the wheel. He says drivers need to make sure they are 100% ready to drive, including being well-rested and knowing the route they’ll be taking. He also says people need to pay attention to what’s happening in front of them and be prepared to stop with a proper following distance.

Domino says some simple thinking can help prevent accidents. He says to take breaks while driving, wear your seat belt and don’t drink and drive. Domino says what originally looked like a record-setting year for the fewest fatalities on Iowa’s roads has been marred by a bad month in August.

He says 2009 had the lowest number of fatalities with 273. After August, the state is about five off of last year’s mark for the entire year, and he hopes Labor Day weekend won’t push 2010 over 2009′s total. Domino says residents will need to remember to drive cautiously around construction zones, especially during the holiday weekend.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Drained Lake Delhi on August 18th.

The Delaware County Board of Supervisors is pledging to support rebuilding the Lake Delhi Dam — in spirit, but not with cash.

 One supervisor says providing county funds for a privately-owned structure wouldn’t be fair to other residents and places in the county that suffered flood damage. Supervisors chairman Jeff Madlom says the board did agree to search for ways to help find funding.

Madlom says they’re looking for grants and for someone who knows how to write grants. The 92-year-old dam gave way in late July, draining what was a popular nine-mile recreational lake in northeast Iowa, damaging or destroying up to 300 homes. Madlom says Delaware County also intends to take part in the National Flood Insurance Program and an ordinance should go into effect later this month.

The first reading of the ordinance will come during the September 7th meeting, with a second and final reading possible on September 13th. After that, the entire 18-page document will have to be published and then it will be an ordinance by September 22nd, if all goes as planned.

If the supervisors adopt the ordinance, it will allow Lake Delhi flood victims to collect individual recovery assistance from the state or federal governments. It will also allow Delaware County residents to get flood insurance at a reasonable price. Madlom says he’s glad the county and Lake Delhi are able to work together on the issues.

“We’re trying to work so closely with everyone,” he says. “We’re trying to put this county back together. Do we agree on everything? Absolutely not, but we’re working as hard as we can for a common goal.” Meanwhile, the Lake Delhi Task Force Committee plans to hold the first of several public meetings on Friday, September 10th at Maquoketa Valley High School in Delhi.

By Janelle Tucker, KMCH, Manchester

State lawmakers were in Ames Tuesday touring flood damage buildings at Iowa State University and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are also in town to begin their damage assessment. State Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, quizzed I.S.U. vice president Warren Madden about who will end up paying the local match that FEMA requires.

“Does the university have reserves for that or are looking at a state appropriation,?” Quirmbach asked and Madden replied, “We’re not far enough along to know what will be needed.” The current presidential disaster declaration has the federal government paying 75% of the cost. Legislators went inside and stood looking down on the bare concrete floor of Hilton Coliseum.

Dave Miller who heads up facilities management at I.S.U. says restoring the floor is the easy part of getting Hilton ready for basketball. “We could rent a floor if that’s what it took to have the first basketball game. So what will be necessary, the first basketball game what do you have to have? Well, were gonna have at least two out of the six elevators have got to be running,” Miller explained.

Miller showed lawmakers where three feet of drywall has been removed in ground level offices, but reconstruction is some days off, at least until crews make mechanical repairs and restore electricity. “We’re not yet reconstructing the building, but we are in the process of making it clean, dry and safe,” Miller says.

Miller says recovery is moving faster than it did in the last major flood in 1993, and it looks like Hilton will be ready for the opening of the basketball season. Officials say unless there’s more rain, parking should be okay for the season opening football game Thursday, in spite of some still soggy grass parking lots.

A South Dakota man who was clearing brush in northwest Iowa was killed Monday when a tree fell on him. The Plymouth County Sheriff’s office identified the man as 63-year- old James “Jim” Netley of Dakota Dunes.

The Sheriff’s Office and Plymouth County Coroner’s Office responded to the report of someone being injured around 7:30 Monday night. The location was on Highway Three at Ruble, a ghost town between Akron and Brunsville. The sheriff’s office said Netley’s death was being handled as an accident and no further investigation was anticipated.

By Joanne Glamm, KLEM, Le Mars

 The summer of 2010 will enter the record books as the second wettest in Iowa history. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says the June and July trend of torrential rains and flooding continued in August.

He says parts of central and southeast Iowa received up to 16 inches of rain over the 31 days in August. Preliminary figures show Iowa had a statewide average of 23.3 inches of rain between June, July and August.

Hillaker says that total surpasses the 22.57 inches of rain that fell over the three month period in 1902.

“It’s actually quite a bit distant behind 1993 – which still ranks as the wettest summer on record,” Hillaker said. “We were about four inches below (the ’93) total, but still (2010 produced) the second highest rainfall total in 138 years of state records.”

Temperatures across the state in August averaged about 3.5 degrees above normal – making it the sixth consecutive month with warmer than normal temps. Hillaker says it was a relatively hot summer, despite the fact not a single city posted an official reading in the triple digits.

“The numbers aren’t quite all in yet, but it looks to be at least the warmest summer since 1995,” Hillaker said. “It may even be the warmest summer since 1988 – the big drought year.” The highest official temperature recorded in Iowa this summer was 98 degrees on July 14 in Ankeny.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Lake Delhi after dam collapse.

The head of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Richard Leopold says the collapse of the Lake Delhi dam has contributed to problems downstream in the Maquoketa River. 

Leopold met with editors and reporters from The Des Moines Register Monday and he said the “tragedy” that started with the dam’s collapse continues.

“That lake has reasserted itself as a river and the pollution in that river is atrocious right now,” Leopold said. “So you have, you know, about 70 to 80 years of silt that have built up on this lake-bottom bed that is now, again, a river and all of this silt is cutting away. Downstream from that dam, they’re having to remove untold tons of sediment that’s ending up in their structures and cities and fisheries and everything else.” 

Leopold said it may be necessary to plant a “cover” crop of oats or some type of grass that grows “super fast” on what used to be the bottom of the lake, to stop the erosion.

“The D.O.T., you know, they do this when they have road projects and stuff like that, so trying to get some sort of seeding or matting,” Leopold said. “We can do it aerially.  It’s a mess, so it’s not like you can get machinery in there and plant it.  You’re going to have to fly over it.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced last week it would not provide any money to help rebuild the dam. Lake Delhi property owners plan to appeal that decision, further complicating the process of restoring the area in some fashion — either with a new dam or a spruced-up river corridor. According to Leopold, there’s a debate within the Iowa Department of Natural Resources as to whether it’s better to rebuild the dam or let the river return to its natural state.  Leopold said the task force studying the future of Lake Delhi will have to wrestle with that issue.

“For those people that bought, they had lake front homes. They don’t have a lake front home anymore, but, if that’s a river, they probably get a bunch more property, right?” Leopold said. “Depending on where you live and that meander (of the river), you might get some more property ceded to you that is now riverfront property instead of lakefront property, so it’s an entirely different scenario.”

The “mind set” of residents in the area is to restore Lake Delhi, according to Leopold, and Leopold said he respects that, but the “competing value” of the river being a river has to be considered, too.

Leopold has been D.N.R. director since January of 2007.  He is exiting the state agency soon to take a job in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Fort Snelling, Minnesota and is scheduled to start there on September 12th. 

Leopold’s interview with The Des Moines Register editors and reporters is posted on the paper’s website.  The discussion about Lake Delhi starts around minute 27 of the hour-long session.

Photo courtesy of Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

A northwest Iowa man died in a truck-train accident Monday. The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office reports a dump truck being driven north on a gravel road four-and-a-half miles northeast of Le Mars was struck by an eastbound Canadian National train.

According to the report, the truck did not yield to the train and was struck on the driver’s side. The Sheriff’s office identified the man who died as 37-year-old Richard Patrick Martin of Remsen. The accident happened at a railroad crossing controlled by crossbucks and yield signs about 11:30 Monday morning.

By Joanne Glamm, KLEM, Le Mars

Governor Chet Culver is in Cedar Rapids this afternoon, touting a public-private program that’s helping flooded-out homeowners rebuild, “Block by Block.”  

“This is another great example of Iowans helping Iowans. Local folks in Cedar Rapids have come together to create this ‘Block by Block’ program,” Culver says. “…With a combination of resources including an additional $1.3 million, we’ll be able to build back about 365 homes in a 24-square-block area of Cedar Rapids.”

To participate in the “Block by Block” program, at least 60 percent of the property owners in the block must agree to participate. ”And most importantly, you’re talking about hundreds of volunteers who actually get into these homes, do the necessary repairs and help provide a new home for families that were forced out in the summer of 2008 because of the flood waters,” Culver says.

Culver is holding a news conferece at the “Block by Block” offices in Cedar Rapids to discuss additional funding for the program.

Some flood victims in Cedar Rapids object to the city’s plans for some neighborhoods and they’ve been pushing for a meeting with Culver to voice their concerns. Culver says his campaign manager met with some of the upset residents this past Saturday. “And we look forward to an on-going dialogue with anyone and everyone that’s been impacted by the worst natural disaster in our state’s history,” Culver says. 

Democrats in the legislature who are from Linn County are hosting a fundraiser for Culver this evening in Cedar Rapids.  One flood victim told The Cedar Rapids Gazette it is “tacky” for Culver to raise money in the flood zone and some flood victims plan to protest outside tonight’s event. Culver says he has “a ton of support” in Cedar Rapids.

“I have made about 100 trips to Cedar Rapids,” Culver says, “so I’ve been meeting with impacted business owners, homeowners, community leaders for two solid years and I will continue to do that because by sitting down and listening to these individuals, these businesses that have been impacted, that’s why we’ve been so effective at our response.” Culver points to the more than $4 billion in state and federal aid that have poured into Cedar Rapids to help with flood recovery and flood prevention projects. 

A Democrat from Cedar Rapids who is a state senator is making a public-relations tour around Iowa, touting the Culver Administration’s response to the floods.  Culver says it’s a campaign issue that “really separates” him from Republican challenger Terry Branstad. “Terry Branstad has said repeatedly that he thinks that the Iowa Jobs and Infrastructure initiative is a mistake. He’s even called it a goofy idea, ” Culver says. “I ask him to tell that to the homeowners and businesses and communities like Cedar Rapids who have benefitted from $365 million in Iowa Jobs and Infrastructure funds that have allowed those communities, those neighborhoods and those businesses to come back.” 

Tim Albrecht, Branstad’s campaign spokesman, says “politicizing” the flood is “sad and pathetic.” Albrecht says Culver should be ashamed for making “juvenile” campaign attacks against Branstad — and for holding a campaign fundraiser at a restaurant that’s “in the flood plain of Cedar Rapids.” 

The Flamingo restaurant was flooded up to the roof line in June of 2008.