ST. LOUIS, Mo. (AP) — Some key U.S. farm states punished by the nation’s worst drought in decades benefited slightly from recent rains, with more rain forecast as of last weekend from the remnants of Tropical Depression Isaac.

The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday showed that the section of the continental U.S. in the worst two categories of drought – extreme and exceptional – remained relatively unchanged at 23.2 percent.

But thanks to rains last weekend, the amount of Iowa in the two worst drought classifications fell by 9 percentage points, to 58.3 percent. Illinois saw a 7 percent drop, and Kansas’ numbers slid 6 points.

Forecasters expected portions of the Midwest to get as much as 12 inches of rain within days due to Isaac.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (AP) — A southwestern Indiana cantaloupe farm is the source of at least some of the salmonella responsible for an outbreak that sickened people in 21 states and killed two Kentucky residents, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Aug. 28.

Salmonella collected from Chamberlain Farms in Owensville matches the “DNA fingerprint” of the salmonella strain responsible for sickening 178 people, including 62 who were hospitalized, FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said. She stressed that federal and state agencies were still investigating whether there might be other sources of the salmonella involved in the outbreak.

“Just because we’ve identified this as one source, things just don’t stop here. We’re still assessing the full scope of this,” she said.

Amy Reel, a spokeswoman for the Indiana State Department of Health, said samples have been collected from multiple southern Indiana farms. The FDA is handling analysis of those samples, she said.

Gary Zhao, an attorney for the southwestern Indiana farm, said last week in response to a message seeking comment that the farm would release a statement later. Tim Chamberlain, who runs the 100-acre Chamberlain Farms, said it had stopped producing and distributing cantaloupe on Aug. 16, when the FDA alerted him the fruit could be tainted.

SOMERSET, Ky. (AP) — A south-central Kentucky farmer has died after his tractor overturned on a steep hill.

The Commonwealth Journal reported 74-year-old Rual Kissee died Aug. 27 after being pinned to the ground by the steering wheel of the vehicle. Coroner Richard New said the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the chest area.

Pulaski County Public Safety Director Tiger Robinson said Kissee was bush-hogging near his home in the Nancy community when the accident happened. New said Kissee was working on an “extremely steep grade” and he “apparently got too far over onto a part of it.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced last week a two-month extension for emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres, freeing up forage and feed for ranchers as they look to recover from this challenging time.

Vilsack also designated 147 additional counties in 14 states as natural disaster areas; 128 counties in nine states due to drought. In the past eight weeks, USDA has designated 1,892 unduplicated counties in 38 states as disaster areas – 1,820 due to drought – while USDA officials have fanned out to more than a dozen drought-affected states as part of a total U.S. government effort to offer support and assistance to those in need.

To assist producers, USDA is permitting farmers and ranchers in drought-stricken states that have been approved for emergency grazing to extend grazing on CRP land through Nov. 30, without incurring an additional CRP rental payment reduction. Producers must submit a request to their Farm Service Agency county office indicating the acreage to be grazed.

The extension of emergency grazing does not apply to these practices: Grass Waterway-Non-easement, Wetland Restoration, Wetland Restoration-Non-Floodplain, Farmable Wetlands Pilot Wetland, Farmable Wetlands Pilot Buffer, Duck Nesting Habitat and FWP Flooded Prairie Wetlands.