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Ancient DNA reveals a new group of people who lived near land bridge between the Americas

NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists have identified a new pod of ancient hunter-gatherers who lived near the land bridge between North America and South America about 6,000 years ago.

Researchers are still charting how human populations spread across the Americas thousands of years ago, arriving first in North America before veering south. Groups that split off developed their own collection of genes that scientists can use to piece together the human family tree.

Discovered through ancient DNA, the group lived in the high plateaus of present-day Bogotá, Colombia — close to where the Americas meet. Scientists aren’t sure exactly where they fall in the family tree because they’re not closely related to ancient Native Americans in North America and also not linked to ancient or present-day South Americans.

The new study was published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

“Up to this point, we didn’t believe there was any other lineage that would appear in South America,” said archaeologist Andre Luiz Campelo dos Santos with Florida Atlantic University who was not involved with the new research. “This is unexpected.”

Just 4,000 years later, these ancient humans were gone and a genetically-different human clan inhabited the area. Scientists aren’t sure exactly what happened to make them fade away — whether they mixed into a new, bigger group or were pushed out entirely.

Analyzing more genes in South America will help confirm if this new group truly did disappear or if there could be evidence of their descendants elsewhere, said Campelo dos Santos.

Studying these ancient Colombian genes are important to piecing together the history of the Americas since ancient people had to cross this land bridge to settle in and spread across South America.

The area is “the gateway to the South American continent,” said study author Andrea Casas-Vargas with the National University of Colombia.

Weekly Fuel Report

DES MOINES — The price of regular unleaded gasoline rose 2 cents, averaging $2.95 across Iowa according to AAA.

Crude Oil Summary

  • The price of global crude oil fell this week on the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) by $.16 per barrel over last week, currently priced at $61.89.
  • Brent crude oil fell by $.37 and is currently priced at $65.00.
  • One year ago, WTI crude sold for $80.90 and Brent crude was $81.34.

Motor Fuels

  • As of Wednesday, the price of regular unleaded gasoline averaged $2.95 across Iowa according to AAA.
    • Prices rose 2 cents from last week’s price and are down 32 cents from a year ago.
    • The national average on Wednesday was $3.16, down 2 cents from last week’s price.
  • Retail diesel prices in Iowa fell 2 cents this week with a statewide average of $3.32.
    • One year ago, diesel prices averaged $3.58 in Iowa.
    • The current Iowa diesel price is 22 cents lower than the national average of $3.54.
  • The current Des Moines Terminal/Rack Prices are $1.98 for U87-E10, $2.32 for Unleaded 87 (clear), $2.16 for ULSD#2, $2.41 for ULSD#1, and $1.97 per gallon for E-70 prices.

Heating Fuels

  • Natural gas prices were up $.24 at the Henry Hub reporting site and are currently priced at $3.62  MMbtu.
  • We will continue reporting retail heating oil and propane prices in Iowa in October.

Tips for saving energy on the road or at home are available at energy.gov and fueleconomy.gov.

Warhawks Blast Lynnville-Sully

NEW SHARON – North Mahaska scored seven first inning runs, and Bailee Bandstra’s pinch hit ground scored the winning run as the Warhawks topped Lynnville-Sully 11-1 in South Iowa Cedar League play Wednesday.

North Mahaska pounded out 12 hits including two doubles and a homerun. Regan Grewe hit a single and homer to drive in two runs and struck out five from the pitcher’s circle to help the win. Kaylia Shipman hit two singles with an RBI as well.

Lynnville-Sully was the first to get on the board in the first inning when Peyton Sharp singled and Jakeria Hay doubled, scoring Sharp. The Hawks had just two runners make it to third, but they were stranded each time.

North Mahaska scored two runs in the third and two more in the fourth to end the game early. Back-to-back singles by Kylie Van Weelden and Cali Sampson then both scored when Maddie Doonan reached on an error. She stole second and then was thrown out at third base.

In the final frame Grewe hit a solo shot leading off and Lydia Howell doubled.  With one out, Addie Falb reached on an error then Bandstra hit a ground ball to short for the second out, but Howell dashed home for the win.

“I really didn’t figure it out until it was over,” said Bandstra about driving in the winning run.

NM coach Mark Schroeder was pleased with his team’s effort after a close game against Keota on Tuesday.

“We hit the ball well tonight and played well defensively,” said Schroeder. “It was good to come out and play like this after that close one. We were aggressive on the bases. You and live and die by it but I was pleased with the way we played.

Grewe gave up four hits but only one extra base hit. She walked one and fanned four. Her Lynnville-Sully counterpart, Kate Harthoorn, also threw four innings allowing 11 runs on 12 hits, three walks and two strikeouts.

Hay hit a single and double for the Hawks with an RBI.

North Mahaska, 2-0, will head to Moravia Thursday for a varsity doubleheader, then goes to HLV Friday for another SICL tilt.

North Mahaska Baseball Tops Keota

KEOTA – North Mahaska utilized hitting and free bases to down Keota in South Iowa Cedar League baseball play Tuesday. The Warhawks recorded seven hits, 10 base on balls, and four hit batters to defeat Keota 8-4.

North Mahaska (1-1, 1-0) scored five runs in the top of the first inning then added three more in the third but was held scoreless the rest of the way. Keota scored a run in the bottom of the first and rallied to score three in the fifth before the Warhawks shut them down.

Seniors Hunter Wernli and Jack Kelderman led the offense. Wernli hit a single with two RBI and Kelderman hit a single and double to drive in a run. Lucas Nunnikhoven hit a pair of singles. Dylan Meland and Logan Baldock had one hit each.

Kelderman picked up the mound win going 3 2/3 innings allowing a run on one hit, a walk and five strikeouts. Wernli tossed two innings of relief yielding one hit, three walks and four strikeouts. Dane VanMersbergen tossed the final 1 1/3 with three runs on two hits, three walks and a strikeout.

Brennan McGuire, Blake Baker, Chase Haifley and Ayden Galindo each singled for the Eagles. 

Baker took the loss going three innings allowing eight runs on three hits, eight walks, three hit batsmen and three strikeouts. McGuire closed out the game with two hits, a walk and three strikeouts.

Uplifting Puppet Co. Unveils the First-Ever Uplifting Puppet Parade in Oskaloosa, Iowa

OSKALOOSA — Something big, bold, and beautifully handmade is coming to the streets of Oskaloosa! The Uplifting Puppet Co. is thrilled to announce the first-ever Uplifting Puppet Parade, a vibrant new tradition that celebrates creativity, community, and the joy of large-scale puppetry.

The grand parade will march around the historical square in downtown Oskaloosa on Saturday, June 14 at 2:00 PM as part of the annual Oskaloosa Art on the Square event, but the festivities begin well before then. In the days and weeks leading up to the event, artists and neighbors alike will gather for hands-on puppet building, art-making events, and public showcases.
This isn’t just a parade—it’s a community-powered art movement. Everyone is welcome to join in, whether you want to build a puppet, carry a banner, create a costume, or simply cheer from the sidewalks!
This year’s Uplifting Puppet Parade theme is “Fins and Feathers”, celebrating the colorful world of creatures that swim and soar! Everyone is encouraged to create a fish or bird-inspired puppet, mask, or costume to join the fun. As part of the Art on the Square festivities, local artists are decorating downtown windows with the theme “Seas and Skies”, turning storefronts into vibrant displays of underwater and airborne imagination. Parade participants are invited to pose for photos in front of these whimsical windows—dressed in costume or with their handmade puppets—as a joyful way to share their creativity with the community!
Key Events Leading Up to the Parade:
Thursday, May 29 – Meet the Artists @ FACE (Fine Arts and Cultural Events Center)
  • 12:00–6:00 PM – Open Puppet Work Session: See the artists in action and join the creative process.

  • 7:00–9:00 PM – Open Wall/Open Stage Reception & Artist Meet-and-Greet:
    Enjoy an evening of community, conversation, and performance, and meet Piper Smith, visiting artist from Minneapolis, MN, affiliated with the acclaimed BareBones Theatre. Piper brings a wealth of experience in puppetry, spectacle performance, and community-based artmaking. Piper will collaborate with Oskaloosa’s own Brant Bollman, director of Uplifting Puppet Company in the creation of two giant puppets, one fish and one bird. These will be the focus point for each movement of the parade.

June 2–6 – George Daily Youth Camp
  • A weeklong puppet-building camp culminating in a showcase:
  • Friday, June 6 at 4:00 PM – Campers perform with their creations!

June 6 & 13 – Friday After Five
  • Uplifting Puppet Co. tables with info and mini art activities

Saturday, June 7 – New Sharon Spring Festival Parade
  • 11:30 AM – Catch an early glimpse of our puppets in action as they join the parade through downtown New Sharon, IA!
Tuesday, June 10 – Makers Event @ Studio Osky
  • A hands-on evening for teens and adults to craft parade puppets and props
Thursday, June 12 – City Band Concert Table
  • Stop by for details, puppet making, and lastminute signups.
Saturday, June 14 – Parade Day!
  • 10:00 AM – Make & Take on the Square: Craft last-minute creations
  • 2:00 PM – Uplifting Puppet Parade: Let the puppets lead the way around the square!  We will end in the bandstand for dancing and fun.

This first-of-its-kind event is organized by the Uplifting Puppet Co., with support from community partners and a shared belief in the unifying power of the arts. The project celebrates imagination, collaboration, and uplifting the human spirit—one puppet at a time.

North Mahaska Wins Softball Opener

KEOTA – North Mahaska opened the 2025 softball campaign at Keota with a 4-2 on Tuesday. Sophomore Lydia Howell’s two-run homerun in the second inning ut the visiting Warhawks in control. Senior Regan Grewe singled to open the second and Howell ripped a ball over the fence in centerfield.

Keota junior Kennedy Jackson singled in the top of the fourth inning and later scored on freshman Hailie Heisdorffer’s double.

Jo Fogle stepped into the circle first for North Mahaska. She allowed three hits and one run over four innings, striking out five and walking two. Grewe pitched three innings of no-run ball for the Warhawks in relief. The right-handed pitcher gave up four hits, striking out two and walking two.

Jessalyn Aller began the game for Keota. The right-handed pitcher surrendered five hits and four runs over seven innings, striking out 10 and walking two. 

Howell led the Warhawks with two runs batted in. Grewe recorded two hits in three at bats. Addie Falb stole two bases. North Mahaska did not commit an error. 

Halle Heisdorffer led Keota with one run batted in. Jackson and Heisdorffer each collected two hits for the Eagles.

‘How did you get here?’ A large elephant seal is found lumbering along a South African street

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A large elephant seal took a wrong turn and was seen lumbering along a street in a coastal town in South Africa early Tuesday, surprising residents and inspiring a rescue effort to get him back to sea.

The two-ton seal, which an animal welfare group said was a young male, was making his way through a suburb of Gordon’s Bay near Cape Town.

Locals came out of houses and recorded videos.

“This is unreal. Hi, bro, how did you get here?” one woman asked.

Police and a local security company attempted to contain the seal by parking patrol cars around him. He rested his huge head on the hood of one car and half-climbed over another before slipping free, crossing a road and carrying on up a sidewalk.

The seal eventually stopped next to a shopping mall. Animal welfare officials worried he was too far from the ocean to find his way back and might become exhausted and dehydrated. They estimated he weighed around two tons (4,400 pounds). Elephant seals can grow to twice that size.

A team of marine wildlife specialists and a city veterinarian sedated the seal and guided him into an animal transport trailer to be returned to his natural habitat at a nearby bay.

The local Cape of Good Hope SPCA later posted a video on social media of the seal making his way down a beach and toward the ocean.

“Sea you later,” the video said.

Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report

DES MOINES — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig commented on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly April through November. Additionally, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship provides a weather summary each week during this time.

“Last week’s cool and soggy conditions sidelined many farmers who were looking to finish planting or complete other field work. Despite the delays, most farmers are grateful to receive the rain as we recharge our soils and give the crops a strong early season boost,” said Secretary Naig. “We expect a less active weather pattern with warmer temperatures and spotty rain in the week ahead.”

The weekly report is also available on the USDA’s website at nass.usda.gov.

Crop Report
Timely rains while needed, limited Iowa farmers to 3.8 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending May 25, 2025, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Corn and soybean planting continued but some producers are waiting for warmer and drier conditions to start spraying.

Topsoil moisture condition rated 4 percent very short, 15 percent short, 76 percent adequate and 5 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture condition rated 5 percent very short, 23 percent short, 67 percent adequate and 5 percent surplus.

Corn planted reached 95 percent. Corn emerged reached 76 percent, 6 days ahead of last year’s pace and 2 days ahead of normal. Corn condition rated 0 percent very poor, 2 percent poor, 15 percent fair, 62 percent good and 21 percent excellent. Ninety-two percent of the expected soybean crop has been planted, just over 2 weeks ahead of last year and 8 days ahead of the 5-year average. Soybeans emerged reached 60 percent, 8 days ahead of last year and 4 days ahead of normal. Soybean condition rated 1 percent very poor, 2 percent poor, 17 percent fair, 64 percent good and 16 percent excellent. Ninety-two percent of the State’s oat crop has emerged. Oats headed reached 26 percent. Oat condition rated 0 percent very poor, 1 percent poor, 13 percent fair, 69 percent good and 17 percent excellent.

Forty percent of the State’s first cutting of alfalfa hay has been completed.  Hay condition rated 85 percent good to excellent. Pasture condition rated 68 percent good to excellent.

Oskaloosa School Board Splits Vote on Appointment to Fill Vacancy

By Sam Parsons

The Oskaloosa Community School Board held a special meeting last night to interview applicants for their vacant school board seat and to appoint a new school board member. The vacancy was created when former school board president Charlie Comfort announced his resignation, effective May 14. Two individuals were nominated at the end of the discussion: Sharma Parlett and Scott Van Veldhuizen.

After the board discussed the qualifications of the two candidates, they held three rounds of voting, and all three rounds were split down the middle, 3-3. Board members Matt Sherlock, Aaron Hinnah, and Sarah Hall voted for Parlett, while board members Kathy Butler, Amanda McGraw, and Clint O’Day voted for Van Veldhuizen. 

After the first two rounds, superintendent Mike Fisher said that putting Van Veldhuizen on the board could present a conflict of interest.

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Board member Amanda McGraw responded to Dr. Fisher by saying it wasn’t appropriate to discuss a candidate in that way.

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As a result of the tied vote, the board decided to table the appointment process until their next regular meeting on June 10.

Board president Kathy Butler noted that Iowa code stipulates that school boards have 30 days from the date of the vacancy to make an appointment, otherwise the vacancy must be filled by a special election. Superintendent Fisher noted that such an election could cost the district approximately $10,000. The next regular meeting on June 10 does fall within that 30 day window. Butler said that the two candidates will automatically be nominated during that next meeting, and the board will consider other candidates in the meantime as well.

France’s first lady seems to push her husband as they land in Vietnam. He says they were joking

PARIS (AP) — They were just playfighting.

That was French President Emmanuel Macron ‘s explanation Monday for video images that showed his wife, Brigitte, pushing her husband away with both hands on his face before they disembarked from their plane to start a tour of Southeast Asia this weekend.

The moment quickly made headlines in France, with media trying to decipher the interaction that cameras spotted through the just-opened door of the plane. The headline of a story on the website of the daily Le Parisien newspaper asked: “Slap or ‘squabble’? The images of Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron disembarking in Vietnam trigger a lot of comment.”

Macron later told reporters that the couple — married since 2007 after meeting at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher — were simply joking around.

“We are squabbling and, rather, joking with my wife,” he said, adding that the incident was being overblown into “a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.”

In video taken by The Associated Press as the Macrons arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday, a uniformed man can be seen pulling open the plane door and revealing the president standing inside, dressed in a suit and talking to someone who wasn’t visible.

Brigitte Macron’s arms — in red — were seen reaching out and pushing Macron away, with one hand covering his mouth and part of his nose while the other was on his jaw. The French leader recoiled, turning his head away. Then, apparently realizing that he was on camera, he broke into a smile and gave a little wave.

In subsequent images, Macron and his wife, wearing a red jacket, appeared at the top of the stairs. He offered an arm but she didn’t take it. They walked down the carpeted stairs side by side.

The French leader argued that the images and reaction to them offered a cautionary tale about disinformation in the social media age, noting that in recent weeks, other videos had been used to circulate made-up stories about him.

“Everyone needs to calm down,” he said.

His office also downplayed the interaction.

“It was a moment where the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around. It’s a moment of complicity. It was all that was needed to give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists,” his office said.

Brigitte Macron was Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three children, when they met at his high school. A teacher, she supervised the drama club where Emmanuel Macron, a literature lover, was a member.

He moved to Paris for his last year of high school, but promised to marry Brigitte. She later moved to the French capital to join him and divorced before they finally married.

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