120519 304 After months of running high within its banks through Sioux City, the Missouri River has begun to recede and will continue to do so. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began reducing releases from Gavins Point Dam to the winter release rate on Sunday. Releases as of Wednesday were at 57,000 cubic feet per second and will be reduced 3,000 cfs per day until they reach 27,000 cfs. Releases will remain at that rate through December before being dropped to 25,000 cfs in January for the

An Iowa man has been charged with first-degree murder and robbery in Kossuth County Court. The Des Moines Register reports, 35-year old Valentino Williams of Coralville is accused of shooting a bank employee in Lu Verne yesterday morning. Forty-three-year old, Jessica Weishaar of Algona died at the scene she was walking outside of the bank when she was shot and killed. Williams was apprehended about an hour later. Nearly 800 Nebraska State Penitentiary inmates more than half the Lincoln prison’s

This week, a new monthly survey of business leaders suggested the economy is slowing down in a section of nine states in the Midwest and Plains, including all three Siouxland State. The index slipped into negative territory for the first time in a few years. Economist Ernie Goss from Creighton University oversees the survey that saw a November number of 48.6. That’s down four points since October. Any score below 50 shows decline. Goss talked to Siouxland Public Media’s Sheila Brummer about the

Authorities in northern Iowa say a woman has been shot to death during the robbery of a bank in Kossuth County. It happened this morning in the town of Lu Verne. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says the suspect in the bank robbery fled the scene and was later taken into custody. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says a deer in Woodbury County tested positive for chronic wasting disease. The DNR is monitoring the area where the road-kill animal was found on the south side of

Law enforcement leaders and first responders teamed up for a special announcement in Sioux City on Wednesday, December 4th. Siouxland Public Media’s Sheila Brummer has details on a new 911 system operating in parts of the metro area. Local law enforcement officials and first responders from Woodbury and Dakota County gathered for an announcement on Wednesday, December 3, 2019 to improve public safety. Both, jurisdictions are using “Text-to-911”. Siouxland Public Media’s Sheila Brummer takes us

On this week's program, we will hear from the author of a new book that tells the wide-ranging history of the Lakota people, who have lived in Missouri River Valley for hundreds of years. Also, we have an interview with presidential candidate and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg spoke with the hosts of the podcast We Are Not A Monolith Ike Rayford and Shelby Pierce at the Siouxland Public Media studios last week. We also talk with the new director of the human rights group One

120319 504 Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is asking House Democrats to “act quickly” to ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement before the week is out. Yesterday Grassley told the Senate the agreement would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and help raise wages for Americans. Grassley says if a deal cannot be reached by the end of this week, he doesn’t see how the USMCA can be ratified this year. Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s disappointed that a federal judge temporarily blocked a

120319 404 Governor Kim Reynolds is no longer allowing the public to attend her annual budget request meetings with state agency directors. The hearings had allowed state agency directors to publicly describe the needs of their agencies, and the governor could ask them questions. But Reynolds says she finds the private meetings very productive. “And really doing a one-on-one and walking through the budget and asking them what are some initiatives that you’re working on, where can we look at some

120319 304 Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s disappointed that a federal judge temporarily blocked a new law critics call “ag-gag two-point-oh”. The law creates a specific trespass crime for people who go undercover to investigate livestock operations and puppy mills. The ACLU of Iowa says the temporary hold on the law is a victory for free speech. The South Sioux City Fire Department has been awarded a Fire Prevention and Safety Grant from FEMA. This grant will allow the fire department to offer

A Sioux City man has pleaded guilty in what authorities have called a human trafficking case in which a teenage Guatemalan girl was raped. Thirty-eight-year-old Cristobal Francisco-Nicolas pleaded guilt in federal court to a smuggling count and unlawful possession of identification documents. In exchange, a third smuggling count will be dropped. Prosecutors say Francisco-Nicolas helped pay smuggling costs for the girl and her father to get from Guatemala to the U.S.-Mexico border and then travel