WINDING DOWN
GOLF NIGHT
The Creston varsity baseball team lost 4-1 Tuesday evening to Winterset in a district tournament preview. These two teams will meet again July 18 in the Class 3A District tournament opener. Read more about the game in SPORTS, page 9A.
This is the seventh week in the women’s golf league at Pine Valley Golf Course in Creston that started in May and will end later this month. See photos from last night’s round on page 14 of today’s paper.
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ZOO DAY IN ORIENT More than 40 children and parents received an up close experience with five animals from the Blank Park Zoo Tuesday at Orient Public Library. Audrey Sidey gave a short presentation for each animal — bearded dragon lizard, domestic ferret, tarantula, gopher tortoise and American alligator — and fielded questions about the animals and the zoo. ■
CNA photos by JAKE WADDINGHAM
Left, Audrey Sidey with Blank Park Zoo shows the slinky body of a domestic ferret to a crowd of children and parents at the Orient Public Library Tuesday. Above, Emma and Ella Boswell of Orient get a close — but not too close — look at a tarantula at Orient Public Library Tuesday. More than 40 children and parents were able to see a bearded dragon, domestic ferret, tarantula, gopher tortoise and American alligator up close.
MORE PHOTOS ONLINE >> To scroll
through all 48 photos taken of Blank Park Zoo’s visit to the Orient Public Library Tuesday afternoon, go to www.crestonnews. com and click on the photos tab.
Firefighters respond to threealarm fire in Thayer THAYER — Firefighters responded to a three-alarm house fire around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in rural Union County. The home at 1921 Umbrella Ave., Thayer, is owned by Jim Smith. Afton, Lorimor and Murray fire departments worked until after midnight to extinguish flames that damaged the first floor, interior walls and ceiling of the residence. No one was inside the home when the fire started. No injuries or deaths were reported with this fire. The cause of the fire and damage estimates are inconclusive as of press time Wednesday. “It was a hard one to get to because there were so many interior walls,” said Afton Fire Chief Jim Krantz. “It took a lot to get in and check everything.”
Afton City Council discusses energy options By SARAH BROWN
CNA staff reporter sbrown@crestonnews.com
Cheyenne Huddleson touches the shell of a gopher tortoise at Orient Public Library Tuesday. Audrey Sidey with Blank Park Zoo said the tortoise was 15 years old and can live more than 100 years.
AFTON — At Afton City Council meeting Tuesday, the council members met with Dave Peterson of JEO Consulting Group to discuss energy options for the town. Toni Landers, Afton city clerk, said the city’s current substation is owned by Alliant and rented by the city. “The current one is outdated, not safe and it’s time for a new one,” Landers said. Currently, Alliant is building a new substation northwest of Afton, south of Highway 34. Afton Please see COUNCIL, Page 2
Flooding in Iowa results in more mosquitoes (MCT) — Mosquito activity across Iowa has been quiet so far this year, with average populations measuring about half as big as last year at this time, according to Iowa State University entomologists. But that could change in the coming weeks as floodwaters are expected to recede and leave behind plenty of standing water. Puddles and pools are “prime real estate” for mosquitoes to lay eggs, according to Brendan Dunphy, a research associate in ISU’s Department of Entomology.
In fact, Dunphy said in a news release, the “running dogma is that with all this rain, the mosquito population should explode at any time now.” “Frankly,” he said, “I’m a little surprised that it hasn’t done so already.” Mosquito traps managed by the ISU Medical Entomology Laboratory averaged twice as many mosquitoes last June than this June. The statewide weekly average reached about 600 mosquitoes per trap in June 2013, and the highest
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average this year was about 300 per trap. ISU entomologists say the drop might be related to this spring’s late frost, which could have wiped out immature mosquitoes. Or low mosquito numbers late last summer could have resulted in fewer
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The statewide weekly average reached about 600 mosquitoes per trap in June 2013. The highest average this year was about 300 per trap. However, that could change in coming weeks. ■
Volume 131 No. 27
2014
If you do not receive your CNA by 5 p.m. call 641-782-2141, ext. 221. Papers will be redelivered in Creston until 6:30 p.m. Phones will be answered until 7 p.m.
eggs. And this year’s numbers are statewide averages, Dunphy said, meaning some mosquito populations at the local level might be more on par with last year’s activity. Still, he said, mosquitoes clearly aren’t as problematic as they
were last summer — so far. Wetter conditions this summer have caused rivers across northern, central and Eastern Iowa to swell, flooding many communities — including parts of Johnson and Linn counties. Recent forecasts show less moisture in the forecast and floodwaters receding, but the standing water that gets left behind historically has meant more mosquitoes. Please see MOSQUITOES, Page 2
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