FROM KCCI: JBS buying former Hy-Vee facility in Ankeny, plans to invest $100M. JBS announced on Wednesday that it will be purchasing the former Hy-Vee Fresh Commissary facility in Ankeny. JBS says it plans to invest $100 million and transform the 186,000-square-foot facility into the largest ready-to-eat bacon and sausage plant in the company's U.S. portfolio. ... READ MORE

FROM WHO-TV: Are mosquitoes actually worse this year? A little. This summer, central Iowa has seen a lot of flooding and record rainfall, which means there has been a lot of standing water all across the area. People have complained of more mosquitoes and more mosquito bites, but it is actually worse this year? ... READ MORE

FROM WOI: EPA removes Iowa rivers from impaired waters list despite high nitrate levels. A mid-year change to Iowa's list of impaired waters is coming. Seven segments of Iowa rivers, including water in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, were initially added to the list in 2024 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Now, in the wake of a lawn watering ban and high pressure on water filtering systems, the Trump administration's EPA is rolling back that decision despite scientists' belief that the water is among the worst in the country. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: Zelenskyy meets with UK’s Starmer as Europe braces for Trump-Putin summit. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to London on Thursday in a show of the U.K.'s support for Ukraine a day before a critical U.S.-Russia summit is set to take place in Alaska. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE NATION: New York allowed pot shops to open too close to schools. Now they might have to move. Since New York began licensing recreational marijuana stores about three years ago, the state has been using a simple tactic to ensure pot shops are kept a legally-mandated distance from local schools: Measure from the door of the dispensary to the door of the school. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE STATE: Woman accused of stabbing two dogs in Webster County. A Lehigh woman was arrested last week for allegedly stabbing two dogs. Harlie Mallinger, 41, is being held in the Webster County Jail on two counts of animal neglect with serious injury or death and two counts of animal mistreatment causing serious injury or death. The charges are all aggravated misdemeanors. ... READ MORE

Clear Mortgage meteorology

Dry and warm conditions today. We have a slight chance of thunderstorms early on Friday. Steamy condition Saturday and Sunday with scattered storm chances beginning late Sunday afternoon and lasting through Tuesday evening.

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

There's supply and demand and then there's New York City. For the last decade, food and beverage tenants surpassed all other retail sectors in leasing properties in the Big Apple, accounting for at least 35% of New York City’s total leased square footage. How? NYC restaurants are coming back but are still far from pre-pandemic numbers. Restaurants remain risky business. Though rents are down compared to the years before COVID, Gen Z (ages 19-29) is spending much less on dining out and dating than any generation since the 1960s. As Des Moines' mentor/chef George Formaro says, "When a young person asks me for advice opening a new restaurant, I just say, 'Don't.' "

Total U.S. eating and drinking place sales are expected to reach $1.5 trillion this year, up $400 billion from 2024, according to the National Restaurant Association.  

Daily newspapers have been contracting in sales and coverage since the internet became mainstream. Yet the New York Post is expanding to the West Coast and will begin publishing a Los Angeles edition soon.

Thursday deals
• Hy Vee Market Grilles are running a breakfast special Monday through Friday. Order one and get the second half priced.

• Beaver Tap (4050 Urbandale Ave., Des Moines) offers $10 country fried breakfasts and $9 tenderloins or shrimp/fish tacos on Thursdays. 

• Ruth's Chris (Ashworth Road at Jordan Creek Parkway) has a Thursday special with their decadent RBAR burgers and fries going for $16.

•  Steaks: Sirloin steak dinners are featured specials today at Johnny's Italian Steakhouses (before 4 p.m.), Sully's Irish Pub (860 First St., West Des Moines); Front Row (9956 Swanson Blvd., Clive); Winn’s Pizza and Steakhouse (122 W. Ashland Ave., Indianola), and Hy-Vee Market Grilles. Gilroy's has both sirloin and NY strip specials. The Station on Ingersoll (3120 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines) has a ribeye special on Thursdays. Gilroy's (1238 Eighth St. West Des Moines) offers ribeyes and sirloins only on Thursdays after 5. 

• Thursday nights, Moroccan couscous — lemon chicken, beef keftas, five vegetables, harissa — are $17 at Purveyor (505 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines).

• Sprockets (2314 University Ave., Des Moines) offers a breaded pork tenderloin special on Thursdays for $9.99 

• Kids eat free at Scornovacca’s (1930 S.E. 14th St., Des Moines) on Thursdays

• Mariscos El Pirata (6050 S.E. 14th St., Des Moines) offers $2 off all sushi on Thursdays 

• ShortE's BBQ (8505 Chambery Blvd., Johnston) has $1 smoked wings Thursdays.  

• Jethro's Thursday special is a pound of boneless "wings" for $8. 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. 


• Bevy’s Tavern (1300 50th St., West Des Moines) has a special of beef stew and cornbread Thursdays for $13.   

• Amruth Indian Grill (9974 Swanson Blvd., Clive) offers an all-you-can-eat dosa (gram/rice flour crepes) buffet on Thursdays 5:30-9 p.m., $18.95.  

• Destination Grille  (2491 E. First St., Grimes) has a "Comfort Thursday" special chicken fried De Burgo, a gluten free spin on DSM's classic, $16

• The Dam Pub (2710 Beaver Ave., Des Moines) has a throwback Thursday special goulash with garlic toast.  

• The Continental (407 East Fifth St., Des Moines) has $7 loaded fries on Thursdays. 

• Haiku (1350 31st St., Des Moines) offers free tom yum soup and edamames with lunch entrees today.

• Aldi stores have sales through Tuesday on red grapes at $1.29/pound, cantaloupes for $1.69 and navel oranges at $2.89/3-pound bag.

— Jim Duncan, jd91446@aol.com

1935: FDR signs Social Security Act. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935. Press photographers snapped pictures as FDR, flanked by ranking members of Congress, signed into law the historic act, which guaranteed an income for the unemployed and retirees. FDR commended Congress for what he considered to be a “patriotic” act. ... READ MORE

1985: Michael Jackson takes control of the Beatles’ publishing rights. On August 14, 1985, King of Pop Michael Jackson purchases the publishing rights to the vast majority of the Beatles’ catalog for $47 million. ... READ MORE

2003: Blackout hits Northeast United States. On August 14, 2003, a major outage knocks out power across the eastern United States and parts of Canada. Beginning at 4:10 p.m. ET, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes. Fifty million people were affected, including residents of New York, Cleveland and Detroit, as well as Toronto and Ottawa, Canada. ... READ MORE

 www.history.com