Police in Creston say a local man was involved in two, separate hit-and-run accidents this week. Late Monday night, a legally parked vehicle registered to Derek Kohl, of Creston, was hit by on Sycamore Street by a northbound vehicle, which then left the scene. The 1996 Dodge Avenger sustained $1,100 damage.  Police officers followed tire tracks to the home of 80-year old Dean Paxson, of Creston, where they found a 1996 Chevy S-10 pickup that had sustained $1,200 damage. Officers spoke with Paxson, who said he had no idea what happened.

At around 12:15-p.m. Tuesday, Police in Creston received a report that the rear of a 1990 Chevy Caprice parked off the road in a yard at 403 West Monroe Street, had been hit by a vehicle traveling westbound on Monroe Street. The car, registered to Timothy Norton, sustained $500 damage.

The vehicle responsible left the scene, but parts of it were left behind. An investigation matched the piece to Paxson’s pickup. The police report indicated no citations were issued.

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers is warning the public that not paying parking tickets in Clarinda may land you in jail. Brothers said as an example, 21-year old James Alan Kinghorn, of Shenandoah, was arrested Tuesday evening on a warrant for failure to pay parking tickets issued to Kinghorn over the last couple of months. As a result Kinghorn ended up spending a night in the Page County Jail.

The Chief Brothers says the City of Clarinda goes out of its way to give individuals an opportunity to get their parking tickets paid. If a parking ticket is issued, the violator has thirty days to pay the $15.00 fine for a simple parking violation to city hall. If the parking ticket is not paid within the allotted thirty days, the police department sends a letter in the mail to the registered owner of the vehicle ticketed informing the person they have 14 days to pay the parking violation from the date of the letter and that the parking violation is now $20.

If not paid, a complaint will be filed with the court and a warrant may be issued for the person’s arrest. Brothers said that if the parking ticket ends up in the courts, the costs of the initial parking ticket ends up being about $100. He added, that it’s not his desire to utilize his department’s resources in arresting people for unpaid parking tickets, but he makes it clear that if you are issued a parking ticket, you shouldn’t throw it away, because that approach may just land you in jail.

The Glenwood Police Department reports a Glenwood man, 38-year old Billy Hunter, was arrested Tuesday, on two Mills County warrants. One was for Probation Violation, while the other was for Theft in the 4th degree. Hunter’s bond was set at $6000.

DES MOINES, Iowa – The latest study shows a growing number of low-income children in Iowa and across the nation taking part in school breakfast programs, but locally there’s much progress to be made. The report from the Food Research and Action Center shows the number of Iowa kids who eat free or reduced-price lunches at school and also take part in school breakfast programs has grown by 2.2 percent over the past five years. However, Crystal FitzSimons, FRAC’s director of school and out-of-school-time programs, says much more can be done.

“Iowa actually ranks 48th for participation in the school breakfast program, compared to low-income students’ participation in the school lunch program,” she said. “So, they’re feeding about 72,000 students breakfast each day.” Nationally, an average of more than 11 million low-income kids ate breakfast at school each day last year, an increase of about 320,000 students from the previous year.

FitzSimons said many factors are driving the upward trend in school-breakfast participation. One is that states and districts are looking at more innovative and accommodating ways to offer morning meals, such as breakfast-in-the-classroom programs.

“It’s where kids are eating breakfast in the morning in the classroom together,” she said. “They’re doing grab-and-go programs, where kids kind of grab a breakfast on their way into school and take it to the class with them – really taking a look at creative ways to make sure that the breakfast program is available to kids who want to participate.”

Considerable research shows that nutrition – and eating breakfast in particular – is important for cognitive functioning and academic success. State-specific information is online at frac.org.

(Iowa News Service)

A bill that would ban teenagers from commercial tanning bed businesses has cleared a committee in the Iowa House. About 100 volunteers from the American Cancer Society were at the statehouse Tuesday, as a show of support for the bill. Gail Orcutt, of Pleasant Hill, a lung cancer survivor, has a cousin who died of skin cancer two years ago. “Kids can’t go in and buy cigarettes and certainly they can’t smoke cigarettes before they’re 18,” Orcutt says, “so we need to keep our kids safe and a lot of parents just don’t know how dangerous tanning is.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, indoor tanning can cause skin cancer. Eleven other states, including Minnesota and Illinois, have passed legislation banning indoor tanning for minors. A 2011 study found one-third of the girls who were high school seniors had used a tanning bed that year.

While the bill banning teens from tanning beds in Iowa cleared the House Human Resources Committee, it wasn’t unanimous. Some Republicans on the panel objected, arguing it should be the parent who decides whether their 16 or 17 year old can tan.

(Radio Iowa)