Dar Danielson

Des Moines

Reporter at Radio Iowa

Radio Iowa Reporter, Dar Danielson

Articles

Indianola daycare operator charged in baby's death

1 day ago | radioiowa.com | Dar Danielson

An Indianola daycare operator is charged with first-degree murder in the death of a child. Indianola Police say they got a 9-1-1 call on October 8th of last year and found an unresponsive four-month-old child at the Indianola daycare operated by 51-year-old Melissa Hancock. The infant was airlifted to a Des Moines hospital but died the next day. Indianola police say their joint investigation with the DCI and medical examinations revealed injuries consistent with child abuse caused by Hancock.
Work zone awareness important as Iowa road construction increases

2 days ago | radioiowa.com | Dar Danielson

The Iowa DOT is one of several states participating in “National Work Zone Awareness Week” activities as construction work ramps up with warmer weather. DOT Work Zone Operations Engineer Brian Worrel says distracted driving can be a big issue. “That’s one of the key things that we keep telling folks is just to, you know, expect the unexpected at any time, but especially along work zones.
Iowa to see more storms, more rain

2 days ago | radioiowa.com | Dar Danielson

The National Weather Service says more April showers are on the way for parts of Iowa. Meteorologist Craig Cogil says the system that brought recent rains has stuck around and will be active again tonight. “We’ll see additional threats for showers and thunderstorms into southern, maybe central Iowa later on tonight and into the day tomorrow as well,” he says. Cogil says the storms are not expected to be severe.
Iowa's early corn, soybean planting slightly ahead of last year

3 days ago | radioiowa.com | Dar Danielson

The U.S.D.A. Ag report shows farmers got started on planting, but wet weather and storms slowed up some of the progress. The report shows 18% of the projected corn crop was planted by Sunday. That’s three days ahead of last year and five days ahead of the five-year average. Eleven percent of the expected soybean crop is in the ground. That’s three days ahead of last year and one week ahead of the five-year average.
Iowa's Community Colleges see a slight increase in emrollment

3 days ago | radioiowa.com | Dar Danielson

The Iowa Department of Education’s Community College Bureau Chief Amy Gieseke says there were 119,310 students enrolled in the 15 schools in 2024. “This is a slight uptick, 1.8% over the previous year, but we know that credit enrollment has annually declined an average of 1.6% over the past five years,” Gieseke says. She says enrollment has started to turn around after the drop during the pandemic. “Prior to the pandemic in 2019, our community colleges were enrolling over 128,000 students.
Projects in Bell Plaine, Perry, Grinnell win state development incentives

4 days ago | radioiowa.com | Dar Danielson

The Iowa Economic Development Authority Board has approved economic incentives for a Norway-based company that wants to expand its operations in the state. IEDA spokesperson Kanan Kappleman says Frontier Natural Products is getting tax incentives. “They are planning to expand their Bell Plaine facility. And the company is a cooperatively owned wholesaler of natural and organic herbs, spices, and essential oil products,” she says. The expansion will add 90,000 square feet.
Report finds Iowa ag land values flat

5 days ago | kmaland.com | Dar Danielson

(KMAland) -- The recently REALTORS Land Institute survey shows the south-central district was the only one reporting a farmland price increase. Spokesman Matt Vegter says the state average value didn’t change much. “From September one to March one, the state of Iowa, for tillable land across all nine crop reporting districts, is down one percent, so pretty flat market,” he says. The south-central market was up two-tenths of a percent, the north-central was down 2.1%, for the largest drop.
Supreme Court takes Fayette County magistrate off the bench

6 days ago | radioiowa.com | Dar Danielson

The Iowa Supreme Court has removed a Magistrate Judge in Fayette County after determining he showed racial bias and a lack of impartiality. The Supreme Court says the removal of Magistrate David Hanson comes after he issued a denial of an arrest warrant that included his own disparaging views about young male victims of sexual assault. He also made statements in open court in another case using a derogatory racial slur about a criminal defendant.
Family members of cold case victims hope new effort brings information

6 days ago | radioiowa.com | Dar Danielson

The new Iowa Cold Case unit has given families hope they could finally find out what happened to their loved ones. The latest tool in that effort are playing cards with cold case information on them that are going to Iowa’s prisons and jails. Haley Elliott was at the announcement of the cards and talked about how tough it is not to know what happened to her aunt Ruthie Kingery-Pohlmeie. “We don’t know anything. How many people were involved? Why did you choose her?
Simpson College president found dead

1 week ago | radioiowa.com | Dar Danielson

Simpson College president Jay Byers was found dead was at the president’s residence near the Indianola campus Thursday during a wellness check. The 54-year-old Byers was a Simpson alum and had been president of the college since July 2023. Byers had previously been the CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, and prior to that had been an assistant to Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell. Byers had taken some time off this summer after the university said he was injured in a one-car accident.