OTTUMWA —
This week's crop condition report voices a rare sentiment for Iowa this summer: Hope.
Rains have returned to Iowa in the past couple weeks, though not in the amount seen in average years. But the widespread rain in the past week has farmers hoping soybeans may be more productive than had been feared.
Thirty-nine percent of the state's soybeans are rated as fair, with another 23 percent considered to be in good condition. Leaves have begun dropping from the plants, with 19 percent of the crop already turning color.
Less than half the topsoil in Iowa is now rated as very short of moisture. The 49 percent ratied very short is an improvement, though an additional 30 percent is short of moisture. Subsoil moisture levels improved as well.
Not all of the farmers out in their cornfields are chopping corn. Some have begun to harvest. Corn was severely impacted by the drought this summer, though, and the state's crop is expected to be well below spring predictions.
State Climatologist Harry Hillaker said last week was the wettest week out of the past 10 in Iowa, "and only the second week of the past 15 weeks to average greater than normal rainfall."
CNHI/SE Iowa
Rain improves Iowa soybean outlook
- CNHI/SE Iowa
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Mom delivered baby as tornado struck
Shayla Taylor was so far along in labor that her nurses at Moore Medical Center decided not to move her when Monday's tornado hit. They waited out the storm in an operating room, where the wall disappeared as the tornado hit the building.
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Stabbing trial pushed back
OTTUMWA -- The trial of an Ottumwa man accused of stabbing another man to death has been pushed back. Twenty-year-old Brandon Seim was charged in November 2011, when he was 18, with the stabbing death of Andy Madren, 34. When officers arrived at the
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Offering a few helping hands
Two area women formed a business around the idea that people who have lost loved ones may need assistance in getting estates squared away.
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TIMELAPSE: Take a tour through the damage in Moore
Take a driving tour of the damage in Moore caused by Monday's tornado.
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Mayor wants tornado shelters in new homes
Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis wants tornado shelters in all new homes in his city, where an EF-5 tornado damaged or destroyed more than 12,500 homes Monday afternoon. A proposed ordinance would require a shelter inside or outside each new residence.
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Officials release storm survey results
DES MOINES -- Officials with the National Weather Service have released a report on this week's severe weather, confirming that three tornadoes hit Iowa. That broke a nearly year-long streak without tornadoes in the state.
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AUDIO: Residents share their tornado experiences
Moore, Okla., residents talk about living through Monday's EF-5 tornado.
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In fan fiction, your favorite characters do what you want them to
When J.J. Abrams took over the "Star Trek" franchise in 2009, he boldly went where the series hadn't gone before — romantically — pairing Uhura with Spock. Many fans disliked the change. Some loved it. Others didn't care, because they just wanted to see Kirk and Spock make out.
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VIDEO: Orlando shootout tied to Boston bomb suspect
The FBI says it was involved in a fatal shooting near Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla. CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reports that the victim was a friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older brother suspected in the Boston Marathon bombing.
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Okla. officials vow not to quit looking until everyone is found
The tornado that killed 24 people and injured at least 100 others in the Moore and Oklahoma City area cut a 17-mile-long path that started in Newcastle and ended at Lake Stanley Draper. Nine of the dead are children.
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