United Group Insurance

ARDELL GRIFFITH DELLINGER, 93, of Greenfield & formerly of Fontanelle – Svcs. 12/29/14

Obituaries

December 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

ARDELL GRIFFITH DELLINGER, 93, of Greenfield (& formerly of Fontanelle), died Friday, December 26th, at the Greenfield Rehabilitation and Health Care Center. Funeral services for ARDELL DELLINGER will be held 10:30-a.m. Mon., Dec. 29th, at the Fontanelle United Methodist Church. Steen Funeral Home in Fontanelle has the arrangements.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, December 28th, at the Steen Funeral Home in Fontanelle from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., where the family will greet friends from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Online condolences may be left to the family at www.steenfunerals.com.

Burial will be in the Fontanelle Cemetery. A luncheon will be held at the church following the committal services at the cemetery.

Memorials may be directed to the Ardell Dellinger memorial fund to be established by the family at a later date.

 ARDELL DELLINGER is survived by:

Her children: Cheryl Baker, of Phoenix, AZ; Dean Griffith and wife Linda, of Bridgewater; Roger Griffith and wife Paula, of Ankeny, and Kevin Griffith and wife Tierra, of Denver, CO.

Her brothers – Robert Bruner, of Downing, MO., and Max Bruner and wife Janet, of Memphis,
MO.

16 grandchildren; 19 great grandchildren; other relatives and friends.

(Podcast) 8-a.m. KJAN News, 12/26/2014

News, Podcasts

December 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

With Ric Hanson.

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Meeting to address development of safe routes to school

News

December 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

A meeting is scheduled next month in Des Moines to help develop more programs in Iowa that encourage kids to walk or bike to school. Alana Croco, director of the Safe Routes to School Program, says her organization is making “good headway,” but there’s a lot more that can be done. “I think a lot of people are hesitant about building walking school bus programs because they feel that the infrastructure in their community is not up to par,” Croco said. There are ways to work around a lack of sidewalks or traffic signals, according to Croco. A “walking school bus” simply involves kids walking together to school with designated stops along the way.

“There are two adults walking with the kids and they just pick kids up along the way to school,” Croco said. “It’s a lot of fun and kids seem to love it.” The Iowa Safe Routes to School meeting will take place on the morning of January 24 at the Iowa Events Center. One of the presentations will involve a pair of injury prevention specialists from the University of Iowa who are preparing a study which will utilize GPS-enabled helmet cameras to capture the bicycling experience of children and adults.

“It’ll help us kind of see what kids see and how they react to certain situations, so I think it’s going to be a really cool program,” Croco said. Getting kids to be more active and healthy will improve their performance in the classroom, according to Croco.

(Radio Iowa)

Trend in farmers buying farmland hasn’t changed

Ag/Outdoor, News

December 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

The Iowa farmland values survey released last week by Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development showed the first drop in values since 1999. Retired I-S-U economics professor, Mike Duffy, says that drop broke the upward trend in prices, but another standard of Iowa farmland ownership didn’t change. “Basically we’ve saw a continuation of the trends we’ve seen, and that’s existing farmers are the primary purchasers,” Duffy says. Duffy says investing in Iowa farmland hasn’t pushed out gold or the stock market for those outside of farming hoping to make some money.

“We had seen in the early two-thousands investor interest rising relative to existing farmers, but since about 2004, 2005, we’ve seen the existing farmers being the primary ones in the market,” Duffy says. “So most of Iowa’s land is owned by someone actively farming it, or someone who has in the past.” Duffy says the sales data from farmland shows mostly transactions from “Iowa to Iowa.”

“You can have some outside investors that have Iowa holdings, but it’s not as much as you might see in some of the surrounding states,” Duffy explains. He says part of the reason land doesn’t replace other investments, is that it takes ongoing work to reap the rewards. “I think sometimes people want to use just short-run points of view on the land market. Land is a long-term investment, it’s an investment that people buy for a variety reasons, not just income,” Duffy says. “We’ve seen probably close a fifth of the land — 20 percent — is owned for sentimental reason.”

Duffy has tracked the farmland values for 28 years and says those who operated farms for their livelihood have had a lot to keep track of recently. “You know the last few years have probably been some of the most unusual where we saw the big run up in values, massive changes in corn prices, and it’s been an interesting time,” Duffy says.

Duffy started tracking land values as the state was coming out of the farm crisis and big drop in prices in the late 1980’s. He thinks this year’s drop in prices is a correction in values related to commodity prices falling, and doesn’t think values will continue to drop like they did back then. Duffy has retired from I-S-U and says this is likely his last year working on the farmland survey.

(Radio Iowa)

(Podcast) Skyscan Forecast, Fri., 12/26/14

Podcasts, Weather

December 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

The Freese-Notis weather forecast for the KJAN listening area & weather info. for Atlantic.

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(Podcast) KJAN Sports Report, 12/26/14

Podcasts, Sports

December 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

The 7:18-a.m. Sportscast, with Ric Hanson.

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(Podcast) 7:06-a.m. KJAN News & funeral report, 12/26/2014

News, Podcasts

December 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Traffic fatalities in Iowa increase in 2014

News

December 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

The number of people killed in traffic crashes in Iowa this year will likely be more than last year. The 317 traffic fatalities last year marked the lowest annual total since 1944. As of Tuesday of this week, the traffic fatality count for this year already stood at 317. Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Scott Bright says there were some violent collisions last month on the state’s roadways that quickly raised the number of traffic deaths for the year.state patrol car

“We had 40-some fatalities just in November,” Bright said. “I recall one where we had five fatalities just in one collision.” There was also a single weekend back in January when freezing rain made roads slick and 11 people lost their lives on Iowa roadways. While most Iowans wear a seat belt when they’re in a vehicle, more than half of the people who died last year in Iowa traffic crashes were not wearing a seat belt.

“What we’re seeing is a lot of people around small communities, if they’re just leaving their house and going three or four miles, they aren’t using their seat belts,” Bright said. “Most collisions usually occur 10 miles from your residence, so if people are going to leave their home for just a few miles, put that seat belt on. Seat belts do save lives.” According to U.S. Department of Transportation figures, around 94-percent of Iowans routinely buckle-up in a vehicle. The national seat belt usage rate is 87-percent.

(Radio Iowa)

Weather forecast for Cass & area Counties: 12/26/2014

Weather

December 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

345 AM CST FRI DEC 26 2014

EARLY THIS MORNING…PARTLY CLOUDY. WEST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

TODAY…CLOUDY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN AND DRIZZLE LATE IN THE AFTERNOON. COLDER. HIGH IN THE MID 30S. NORTH WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.

TONIGHT…CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW AND LIGHT RAIN THROUGH MIDNIGHT…THEN LIGHT SNOW LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATION AROUND 1 INCH. LOW IN THE MID 20S. NORTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 70 PERCENT.

SATURDAY…CLOUDY THROUGH MID MORNING THEN BECOMING MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 20S. NORTHWEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

SUNDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 30S. SOUTH WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

MONDAY…CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGH IN THE MID 20S.

National Sports Headlines: Fri., 12/26/2014

Sports

December 26th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

MIAMI (AP) — The Heat spoiled LeBron James’ return to South Beach as Dwyane (dwayn) Wade scored 24 of his 31 points in the first half of Miami’s 101-91 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Luol Deng finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Heat, who blew a 17-point lead and trailed early in the fourth quarter before handing the Cavaliers their fourth loss in 16 games since a 5-7 start. James scored a game-high 30 in his first game at Miami since he left the Heat to return to the Cavaliers.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Warriors have their second two-game skid of the season after Jamal Crawford hit four 3-pointers and finished with 24 points and seven rebounds to lead the Los Angeles Clippers past Golden State 100-86. Blake Griffin finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds, while Deandre Jordan had 14 points and 12 boards for the Clippers. Klay Thompson led the Warriors with just 15 points on 6 of 18 shooting.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka led the Oklahoma City Thunder to their sixth consecutive regular-season win over the Spurs, a 114-106 triumph against the defending NBA champs at San Antonio. Westbrook had a game-high 34 points and a team-best 11 assists, while Ibaka delivered 21 points and nine rebounds. Steven Adams added 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Thunder, who played their fourth straight game without Kevin Durant because of a sprained right ankle.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Washington Wizards handed the New York Knicks their 16th loss in 17 games as John Wall’s 24 points and 11 assists led a 102-91 triumph at Madison Square Garden. Bradley Beal chipped in 17 points to help the Wizards end a two-game skid and improve to 20-8. The Knicks fell to 5-26 despite Carmelo Anthony’s game-high 34 points.

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bulls cruised to a 113-93 win over the Los Angeles Lakers as Pau Gasol had 23 points and 13 rebounds against his old team. Jimmy Butler finished with 21 points and Derrick Rose added 20 points in the Bulls’ fifth consecutive win. The Lakers played their second straight game without Kobe Bryant, who says his knees, Achilles tendons, feet and back are all sore.