DES MOINES – Governor Reynolds has announced that eight troopers and two sergeants from the Iowa Department of Public Safety will deploy March 31 to Texas in support of Operation Lone Star and the Texas Department of Public Safety. The deployment will last 28 days and conclude on April 27. The Iowa National Guard will deploy on two mission. The first deployment will begin April 1and conclude May 3, with 110 personnel supporting the Texas Military Department’s security objectives. The second deployment will conclude September 30th with 5 personnel providing ground vehicle maintenance and public affairs support. All costs will be covered by federal funding allocated to Iowa from the American Rescue Plan.

RED OAK – The fertilizer spill near Red Oak in Montgomery County earlier this month killed nearly all the fish in an almost 50-mile stretch of the East Nishnabotna River to the Missouri border, totaling at just under 750,000. On March 11, NEW Cooperative, Inc. in Red Oak notified the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) of a release occurring on-site. Approximately 1,500 tons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer discharged into a drainage ditch, then into the East Nishnabotna River. The release occurred due to an aboveground storage tank valve left open for the weekend. DNR staff from the Environmental Field Office worked with the NEW Cooperative staff to stop the release and began cleanup efforts. DNR Fisheries staff began investigating the impacts and documented the fish kill occurring in all 50 miles of the East Nishnabotna and Nishnabotna Rivers downstream of the spill.

BOSTON – A late effort in a primetime contest was not enough for the Iowa State Cyclones basketball team, as the men fell to Illnois 72-69 in the Sweet 16. The Cyclones were the last Iowa-based team in the men’s tournament; Iowa’s No. 1 seeded women take on Colorado Saturday.