State officials say Adventureland’s Raging River Ride has received five years of satisfactory inspection reports. An 11-year old boy died after a fatal accident this weekend on the ride. The Raging River ride was inspected last Friday. The inspector found “no code violations at this time,” according to a notation at the bottom of the inspection report. The father of 11-year old Michael Jaramillo told ABC News that his son and other family members were trapped by the ride’s seat belts when the

Despite a bit of rain, Iowa's drought worsened in the past month, according to the director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Midwest Climate Hub. Dennis Todey says prospects for the rest of the summer are hard to forecast. At best, Iowa would get enough rain to hold off an even worse drought, he predicted. Todey says the drought is the worst in 20 years, and the long-term forecasts don't call for much rain in the Midwest in the next week.

The Mardi Gras Parade kicked off Saturday in the Park festivities in downtown Sioux city last night. SPM's Sheila Brummer shares a few highlights. The grand marshals of the parade were Siouxland District Health’s Kevin Grieme and Tyler Brock. They were honored for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Saturday in the Park starts tonight at 5 p.m. at Grandview Park and continues Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

Even with the deluges of rain, hail, and thunderstorms that brought severe flash flooding to parts of Iowa, June wrapped up with below-normal rainfall statewide. State experts tell Radio Iowa the first half of the month was in the top ten for warmth. The second half of June brought storms and plenty of them for other regions of the state, with up to 11 inches in southeastern Iowa. Despite the long-running drought, the state overall was still lacking rainfall, including northwest Iowa. The U.S.

Iowa’s new permit-less gun law is in effect as of today. Iowans no longer need a permit to carry or purchase a handgun. Sgt. Jeremy McClure is a spokesperson for the Sioux City Police Department. “What hasn’t changed though is when you are carrying a concealed weapon, you can’t take them into schools, or certain businesses. And, you can’t have a gun if you are intoxicated. So, it’s important people know those laws before they carry a concealed weapon in Iowa.” Iowans still have to get a

Nebraska plans to stop reporting coronavirus numbers online after Wednesday. The state Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that it plans to retire the online dashboard that it has used to report statistics on the coronavirus pandemic for more than a year. The current state virus emergency also is set to expire on Wednesday, and along with that Nebraska will eliminate the last few social distancing guidelines that remain in place. As of its final update Wednesday, the state had

The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad did not illegally discriminate or retaliate against a gay state official — overturning a landmark $1.5 million jury verdict. The court on Wednesday found a lack of evidence to show Branstad, a former U.S. ambassador to China, discriminated against then-Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Chris Godfrey because of his sexual orientation. Godfrey, a native of Sioux City, was widely known as openly gay, but justices say there

Gun deaths have been surging in Iowa as a law is set to go into effect that will allow people to more easily buy handguns and carry them in public without training or a permit. The Iowa Department of Public Health said Tuesday that a record 353 people died from gunshot wounds in Iowa in 2020, a 23% increase from the previous high in 2019. This year saw 85 firearm homicides, an 80% increase. Suicides still made up three of every four gun deaths in the state. A leading gun violence researcher said

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem says she will join a growing list of Republican governors sending law enforcement officers to the U.S. border with Mexico. Noem’s announcement that she will send up to 50 South Dakota National Guard troops to Texas comes as the GOP ramps up a political fight with President Joe Biden over border security. The issue has drawn in a host of prominent GOP figures. Former President Donald Trump was expected to travel to the border this week. The latest fight was initiated

Governor Pete Ricketts has ended the COVID-19 State of Emergency in Nebraska. The State of Emergency started on March 13 th of last year. A majority of orders will expire at the end of the month. During a news conference Monday morning Ricketts says currently only 27 are hospitalized in the state and it is time to return to normal after the COVID-19 Pandemic. Ricketts says Test Nebraska will end on July 31 st with the final day for free testing available for July 18 th . He urged people to get