THIRD AT H-10 MEET
DR. OZ COLUMN Have you heard of Kalettes? They are a combination of kale and Brussels sprouts and are loaded with vitamin K. Read more on page 5A. >>
Creston girls track team places third at Hawkeye 10 track meet Thursday. Breanna Wallace and Natalie Mostek place first and second in high jump. More in SPORTS, page 1S.
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Noxious weeds By JAKE WADDINGHAM
CNA associate editor jwaddingham@crestonnews.com
The spring season brings an abundance of green growth across southwest Iowa. Farmers are planting in the fields, flowers are in bloom and trees start to bud new leaves. It also means noxious weeds will be quickly popping up and spreading if it they are not properly controlled by farmers and landowners. The Union County Board of Supervisors have scheduled to reappoint Gary Blazek as Union
Good approach:
County’s weed commissioner during Monday’s meeting at the Union County Courthouse. They also set the deadlines for destructing noxious weeds in 2015. This is Blazek’s 11th year as commissioner. He said his primary focus in Union County is with thistles. He added teasel is a growing problem in the road ditches and it is a weed people may not recognize. “Winter annuals pressure has been light compared to previous years due to the cold spring and winter months,” said Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist Aaron Saeugling. “I
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2015
■ Gary
Blazek, Union County weed commissioner, gives his outlook for 2015. County officials can provide assistance with weed control. encourage farmers to use soil applied herbicide programs in soybeans and corn to slow weed pressure later in the season when large Saeugling weeds can be difficult to control with the limited post emerge herbicides for waterhemp control.” Blazek said if a landowner is struggling to control a certain type of noxious weed, he can assist the landowner with proper weed control practices.
“Some weeds, I’ll use dandelions as an example, will always be around,” Blazek said. “But when people do a great job of controlling them, and they are rarely a problem in those spots.” Iowa’s weed law lists primary and secondary weeds (see sidebar). In cases where the landowner fails to comply with any order of weed destruction from the county weed commissioner within five days of a written notice, the law allows the commissioner to enter any land within their county to destroy the noxious weeds. Supervisor Ron Riley, who farms in Union County, said there
Lawmakers looking to make education funding deal
CNA photo by KYLE WILSON
Dennis Loudon of Creston lobs his golf ball within 15 feet of hole No. 7 at Pine Valley golf course Thursday afternoon. Loudon was playing with Harry Walters (pictured behind), Scott Harry and Dave Swadley. Pine Valley’s course is open to the public for the season. A yearly single membership costs $425. For more information on memberships or green fees for a round of golf, call 641-782-4917.
ACT to expand computer based testing next year WASHINGTON (AP) — ACT test takers take note: The No. 2 pencil is losing its cachet. Greater numbers of high school students will be able to take the college entrance exam on a computer next year. The ACT announced Friday that computer-based testing will be available next year in the 18 states and additional districts that require students, typically juniors, to take the ACT during the school day. About 1 million students could be affected. But don’t throw away those
NOT CHANGING The familiar 36-point scale and the amount of time it takes for students to find out their scores — which is usually between two weeks and two months — won’t change.
pencils yet. Participating schools provide the computers for testing, and ACT officials say it’s too early to predict how many schools will be ready next year to offer the online
have been very isolated incidents where the weed commissioner has had to take action on noxious weeds on a property. “People in the county do a good job making sure they spray,” Riley said. “It is that time of year again, May through early June.” Riley said he has to monitor musk thistles every year in his pastures and has been working to eliminate poison hemlock in his fields. “It is the landowners responsibility to police their own farm,” Blazek said. “It sure helps the weed commissioner out when they do that, too.”
testing. Even where computer-based testing is available, ACT officials said the traditional paper test will still be an option. The announcement follows a two-year pilot project that allowed about 10,000 high school students to take the college-placement exam by computer, laptop or tablet. The ACT said it’s not making computer-based testing available on its traditional Saturday morning test dates largely because of the number of computers needed. Paul Weeks, senior vice
president for client relations at ACT, said the Iowa City, Iowa-based company is making the transition to online testing “thoughtfully and gradually,” so that all stakeholders can be assured that test scores on the computerized version are comparable to the paper version, which has been offered since 1959. What won’t change? The familiar 36-point scale and the amount of time it takes for students to find out their scores, which is usually between two weeks and two months.
DES MOINES (AP) — Iowa legislative leaders met privately Thursday in an effort to find a compromise on the budget for the next fiscal year. Lawmakers in the Republican-led House and Democratic-majority Senate are trying to determine an overall spending level, as well as find consensus on education funding, which has been a key sticking point in the budget process. A compromise deal could include a budget increase in basic aid for K-12 schools, as well as a one-time payment. Senate President Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque, said after the meeting that they had made some progress, but not reached an overall agreement yet and would meet again next week. She said that adjourning next week would be “rather challenging.” Legislators must resolve the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 before they can conclude the session; daily expense payments for lawmakers ended May 1. Budget bills are moving through the legislative process and should be negotiated in joint committees next week. Rep. Chuck Soderberg, a Republican from Le Mars who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, declined to discuss details of the ongoing negotiations. “I think anytime we’re here, we’re making progress in the process. Discussion is good, and that’s kind of where we’re at,” he said. The major sticking point this year has been how much money is available to spend. Senate Democrats and Gov. Terry Branstad support using some surplus money to balance the budget, but House Republicans say the state should not spend more than the projected revenue for the coming fiscal year.
U.S. employers add solid 223K jobs in April WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in April, a solid gain that suggests that the economy may be recovering after stumbling at the start of the year. The job growth helped lower the unemployment rate to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent in March, the Labor Department said Friday. That is the lowest rate since May 2008, six months into the Great Recession. The level of hiring signaled that
The job growth helped lower the unemployment rate to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent in March, according to the Labor Department. ■
companies were confident enough in their outlook last month to fill positions. The job growth, if sustained, could fuel an economic rebound after a January-March quarter in which the U.S. economy is thought to have shrunk. “Today’s report argues that the
economy is in decent health,” says Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman Private Banking. U.S. stock prices rose sharply when trading began an hour after the jobs report was released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
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Still, Friday’s figures included signs of concern: A weak March job gain was revised sharply down to just 85,000 from 126,000. In the past three months, employers have added 191,000 positions, a decent gain but well below last year’s average of 260,000. And the job growth isn’t raising worker pay much. Average hourly wages rose just 3 cents in April to $24.87. Wages have risen 2.2 percent over the past 12 months, roughly the same sluggish pace of
the past six years. Clemons said he was surprised by the meager gain in earnings. “Everything in this cycle has been slow-motion,” he said, referring to the modest recovery from the 2007-2009 Great Recession. “Maybe wages are another example of that.” Tara Sinclair, a professor at George Washington University Please see JOBS, Page 2A
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