Iowa

Expert says 2020 derecho may have helped poison hemlock thrive in new places

Published

4 months ago

June 29, 2025

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Expert says 2020 derecho may have helped poison hemlock thrive in new places

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Poisonous plants are continuing to spread in the state of Iowa.

Last summer, TV9 brought you a story about poison ivy and poison hemlock spreading in eastern Iowa.

A year later, an expert with Iowa State University says there are a variety of things causing poison hemlock to spread.

The plant with the white flower on top looks pretty unassuming.

“It looks a little bit like Queen Anne’s Lace,” said Shelly Wilson. Wilson was enjoying the Freedom Festival in Cedar Rapids this weekend with her friends when TV9 asked if she’d ever heard of Poison Hemlock.

“I have never heard of it, it’s always good to be aware,” said Donna Moeller, Wilson’s friend.

“I had never heard of it either,” Wilson added.

Experts at Iowa State University say the plant is highly toxic to people and animals and can be deadly if ingested.

“One of the problems with poison hemlock is that it can look like some species that are edible,” said Meaghan Anderson, a field agronomist at ISU.

Anderson says these dangerous weeds may be popping up in more places than they used to for a variety of reasons, including the 2020 derecho.

“It didn’t physically move these plants anywhere that they weren’t already. I think that’s fairly unlikely,” said Anderson. “I think what the derecho probably did do was it opened up a lot of what was historically good tree cover under fairly full shade, and perhaps provided lots of species, including poison hemlock, a little bit more of a niche where it got more sunlight and more opportunity for some of these invasive species that we think of like our bush honeysuckle type species, poison hemlock, poison ivy, garlic mustard, all kinds of these species we know we don’t like to see on the edges of woodlands or within woodlands, but it probably provided them with a pretty good opportunity to get better established than they would have if there was full canopy cover in these tree areas.”

Another way the plant spreads is through the movement of soil caused by human activity.

“We’re really effective as people in building things and expanding things and we move a lot of stuff around on equipment, so I do imagine that’s helping it a bit,” Anderson said.

The weed is commonly found along the edges of woodlands, fence lines, and crop fields, and is becoming increasingly common in ditches alongside roads.

If it pops up on your property, you can remove it yourself, just use caution. Wearing gloves is recommended.

“You can dig up those giant plants right now. Given the fact that they’re basically all flowering everywhere, I probably wouldn’t just lay it down on the landscape and leave it to rot, I would probably dispose of it as trash this time of year,” Anderson said.

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Iowa

Iowa State University to host public presidential finalist forums

Published

19 hours ago

October 28, 2025

Press Room

Iowa State University to host public presidential finalist forums

Finalists for Iowa State University’s presidency will come to campus next week to meet with stakeholders and introduce themselves to the public in the hope of being selected for the role. The Iowa Board of Regents announced Tuesday that three of the four finalists recommended by the ISU Presidential Search Committee have accepted invitations to […]

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Iowa

Iowa farmers who lost soybean sales to China now fear new hit to cattle

Published

2 days ago

October 27, 2025

Press Room

Iowa farmers who lost soybean sales to China now fear new hit to cattle

After several years of losing money on cattle, Burleen and Pete Wobeter thought this would finally be the year things turned around. Their Iowa farm also grows corn and soybeans — crops that have been hit hard by the trade war with China — but cattle had been a bright spot so far in 2025. As Lana Zak reports, their backup plan was threatened when President Trump announced plans to increase beef imports from Argentina.

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The non-sports reason comedian Nate Bargatze picked BYU to win over Iowa State

Published

3 days ago

October 26, 2025

Press Room

The non-sports reason comedian Nate Bargatze picked BYU to win over Iowa State

Despite their perfect record and No. 11 ranking, the BYU Cougars were the underdogs heading into Saturday’s game against the Iowa State Cyclones.

But that had no bearing on the predictions from ESPN’s College GameDay crew.

Citing a consistently impressive showing from true freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier, among other strengths, Desmond Howard, Nick Saban, Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit all picked BYU to win over Iowa State.

Special Collector’s Issue: “1984: The Year BYU was Second to None”

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And so did celebrity guest picker Nate Bargatze — but for an entirely different, non-sports related reason.

Nate Bargatze picked BYU to win over Iowa State

When it came time for Bargatze to weigh in with his prediction for the BYU versus Iowa State game, the comedian didn’t even hesitate.

“This is a business decision right here,” he said with a smile. “I’ve got four shows in Salt Lake City. BYU, baby!”

Bargatze chose wisely. After a rough start, the Cougars went on to pull off another win on the road, defeating the Cyclones 41-27 and remaining undefeated at 8-0.

When does Nate Bargatze come to Salt Lake City?

Bargatze’s “Big Dumb Eyes” world tour comes to Salt Lake City in December.

The comedian will perform four shows at the Delta Center Dec. 4-6.

He previously did four shows at the Eccles Theater in 2022 and three shows at the Delta Center in 2023. Bargatze spoke to the Deseret News at that time about the popularity of clean comedy in Utah.

“You always heard (Jim) Gaffigan and (Brian) Regan could go there,” he said in 2023. “You heard, ‘If you’re clean, you do really great in Salt Lake City.’ … I actually now have a lot of close friends that live in Salt Lake City. And I actually end up there a lot.”

During one of his 2023 Salt Lake shows, Bargatze called Utah the “clean comedian’s Hollywood,” per Deseret News. That show overlapped with the 193rd Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the comedian thanked the crowd for sharing the weekend with him, as the Deseret News reported at the time.

Nate Bargatze hosts the 77th Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. | Danny Moloshok, Invision via the Associated Press

“The crowds were so good,” he later said of the Salt Lake City shows, per Deseret News. “You have dreams of it happening like this, but every single time it’s overwhelming.”

Bargatze’s upcoming shows at the Delta Center come just a few months after he hosted the Emmys for the first time — a major moment in his career that he put his own stamp on with a $100,000 plan to keep acceptance speeches short.

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