FROM KCCI: Des Moines man charged after allegedly dousing woman, home with gasoline. A Des Moines man is in jail after allegedly splashing gasoline on a woman and pouring more on a house in the city's east side. It started Tuesday morning in the 2900 block of E. University Avenue, according to a news release from the Des Moines Police Department, when 60-year-old Brian Jeffries had a confrontation with a woman riding a bicycle around 7:30 a.m. ... READ MORE

FROM WHO-TV: Iowa State Fair announces new foods for 2025. We’re only one month away from the 2025 Iowa State Fair, and on Tuesday fair officials released a list of the over 60 new foods people can enjoy this year.  ... READ MORE

FROM WOI: Iowa farmers, Department of Agriculture join forces for cleaner water amid nitrate crisis. As a lawn watering ban continues in central Iowa due to high nitrate levels in water sources, farmers and the Iowa Department of Agriculture are taking steps to limit the environmental impact of farming. ... READ MORE

Clear Mortgage meteorology

Dry through Thursday morning. Severe weather is possible late Thursday and heavy rain Friday.

For help with pre-approvals or refinancing, get in touch with Originating Branch Manager Carrie Hansen at carrie.mortgage.

Woebegone Wednesday
The venerable Cronk’s café in Denison is closed and up for sale. Serving its town since 1929, Cronk’s came back from 2020 shutdowns as a Mexican/American café. Sadly, there was not enough support. In caucus years, it was a must-stop for politicians and political writers like RW Apple of the New York Times, who praised it. The place was just too big to make the numbers work according to the last owner. There is some hope. Denison is not a shrinking town. It has grown in all but one of the 11 decades since it opened. It experienced double digit growth percentage wise in four of those decades. 

Deals today
• Smoking Goat Pub (3015 Merle Hay Road, Des Moines) has a $10 classic burger and beer deal all day. 

• Haiku (1315 31st St., Des Moines) lets kids 11 and younger eat free with adults on Wednesdays. Hot sour soup and eggrolls are comped today with lunch entrees.  

• Wednesdays bring steak night to Club 2000 (422 Indianola Road, Des Moines). Steaks are cooked to order with salad, potato and bread, $14.99.

• Angry Goldfish (2301 S.W. Ninth St., Des Moines) offers hot beef sandwiches with mashed potatpes and gravy for $11.50 on Wednesday. 

• Wine bottles are half price on Wednesdays at Trostel's Greenbriar (5910 Merle Hay Road, Johnston). The Continental (407 E. Fifth St., Des Moines) also has half-priced bottles on Wednesdays. 

• G Mig's (128 Fifth St., Valley Junction) offers a special lasagna dinner today with salad and garlic bread for $19.25.

• Barntown's (9500 S.E. University Ave., West Des Moines) Wednesday specials are a pound of chicken tenders with fries and two sauces for $11.99, plus $13 core pitchers of beer.

• Wednesday is Biryani Festival at Chowrastha (5910 Ashworth Road, West Des Moines). Buy two and a third is free.

• Tacos Mariana's (1305 University Ave.) and The Station (3124 Ingersoll) have specials on tacos today. 

• Village Inns offer free pie with entrees on Wednesdays. 

• It's lasagna day at Maxie's Supper Club (1311 Grand Ave., West Des Moines), breaded pork tenderloin day at Eastside Eddie's (3517 E. 26th St., Des Moines), and barbecue ribs evening at G Migg's (128 Fifth St., Valley Junction).

• Panka Peruvian (2708 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines) has live jazz Wednesday. 

• Chuck's (3610 Sixth Ave.) offers $5 off pizza on Wednesdays.

• Curbin Cuisine (1325 S.W. Oralabor, Ankeny) has $7 gyros on Wednesdays. 

• Bordanaro's (6108 S.W. Ninth St., Des Moines) has a Wednesday-Thursday only special on carryout pizza. They start at $6.50 for a 10-inch cheese pie. Each ingredient added is an extra charge, but this pretty much adds up to half-price pies.

• Gilroy's (1238 Eighth St., West Des Moines) has fried chicken specials tonight.  

• Kwik Stars' Wednesday special is eight pieces of fried chicken for $10. Their fried chicken is ridiculously good for a convenience store.  

• On Wednesdays, you can get any burger, wrap or sandwich with fries for $10.99 at Tito's Lounge (3916 N.W. Urbandale Drive, Urbandale). 

• Jethro's have $9.95 BPT sandwiches, including a side of choice, on Wednesdays. Because tonight is an Indiana WNBA game night, the West Des Moines Jethro's has a "Fever Reliever" special of any two appetizers on the Happy Hour menu and two pints of domestic beer for $22. 

• Hy-Vee grilles are offering a cheeseburger and fries Wednesday special for $8.

•  Price Choppers have sales on peaches and nectarines at $1.49/pound and on strawberries and blueberries at $2/pint  through Monday.

• Fresh Thyme (2900 University Ave., West Des Moines) begins a week-long sale on lobster tails at $4.99 each, USDA prime porterhouse steaks at $17.99/pound and organic mini watermelons at $2.99 each. 

• Waterfront's Wednesday night special this week is Faroe Island salmon. 

— Jim Duncan, jd91446@aol.com

1993: Romanov remains identified using DNA. British forensic scientists announce that they have positively identified the remains of Russia’s last czar, Nicholas II; his wife, Czarina Alexandra; and three of their daughters. The scientists used mitochondria DNA fingerprinting to identify the bones, which had been excavated from a mass grave near Yekaterinburg in 1991.   ... READ MORE

1850: President Zachary Taylor dies unexpectedly. On July 9, 1850, after only 16 months in office, President Zachary Taylor dies after a brief illness. The exact cause of his death is still disputed by some historians. On a scorching Fourth of July in Washington, D.C., Taylor attended festivities at the newly dedicated grounds upon which the Washington Monument would be erected.  ... READ MORE

1996: A family is brutally attacked on a walk in England. Dr. Lin Russell, her two daughters, Josie and Megan, and their dog, Lucy, are all brutally attacked by a man wielding a hammer on their way home to Nonington Village, Kent, England, after a swimming gala. Forcing them to sit down in the woods, the attacker blindfolded and tied up his victims with their torn towels, and then bludgeoned them one by one. Nine-year-old Josie, the sole survivor of the vicious assault, had to relearn to speak after surgeons inserted a metal plate into her head to cover the area where her skull had been smashed. Some of her brain tissue was so damaged that it had to be removed. ... READ MORE

 www.history.com