With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
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We have a Rolling Valley Conference basketball doubleheader for you tonight on KJAN. CAM will visit Adair-Casey for a re-match. CAM won the boys game and Adair-Casey won the girls game the first time these two schools met this season. The girls game is first at 6:00 pm and the boys will follow. We’ll be on the air at 5:50 tonight. You can listen live on AM 1220 & FM 101.1, you can catch the streaming audio on the web at www.kjan.com and you can listen on your smart phones with the free KJAN app. Watch live streaming video of the game tonight on KJAN TV. We’ll be providing the television broadcast on the TV page at www.kjan.com.
The Freese-Notis forecast for the KJAN listening area and weather data for Atlantic.
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The Iowa Department of Education has released its 2013 Condition of Education report Wednesday. Jay Pennington, the department bureau chief for information and analysis services, says the report gives a wide overview of several areas of the education system. “You certainly see more diversity in the state, which means a larger increase of our student population are minority students. We certainly continue to see an increase in poverty,” Pennington says. “When we look at things like our schools we see there’s a need for more broadband. At the same time, we also see more students having access to computers than ever before.”
The report says student enrollment is 20-point-two percent, up from 14-point-nine percent in the 2008-09 school year. Forty-one-percent of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches which is up from 27 percent twelve years ago. The four-year graduation rate for the Class of 2012 was 89-point-three-percent. The report includes a couple of special sections — including one which evaluates the impact of the voluntary preschool program on third grade students. Pennington says they compared the students’ kindergarten scores and saw a “significant increase in those scores” as they transitioned into kindergarten. They next looked at the scores of the students once they hit third grade. He says they found some increases for third graders, but the “affect size was relatively small.”
“Certainly I think that’s good news, but that’s not quite the slam dunk that we like to see,” Pennington says. Another area examines how students fare when a school district retains its teachers. “School districts that where high achieving at time A and time B were able to retain a significant larger portion of their teacher workforce when compared to school districts that were lower achieving at time one and time two,” according to Pennington. There were 348 school districts in the 2012-13 school year, compared to 351 the year before. Pennington says the state looks at all the numbers is getting a picture of how the education system is performing.
“It doesn’t grade us on an A, B, C, or D scale…education is a complex area and this report provides a number of different types of metrics,” Pennington says. The full report is available on the Iowa Department of Education’s website at: www.educateiowa.gov.
(Radio Iowa)
A rarely-issued High Wind Warning is posted for a large portion of western and central Iowa for much of today (Thursday). Meteorologist David Pearson, at the National Weather Service, says motorists can expect to be dodging garbage cans, recycling bins and anything else that’s not nailed down. “We don’t issue these too often so it is somewhat of a big deal,” Pearson says. “Wind gusts to 50 miles per hour wouldn’t be out of the question, even a bit higher.”
Some of the alerts say winds may reach 60 miles an hour — or stronger. “At that point you can start even seeing some damage to structures,” Pearson says. “It’s possible, especially tree damage, too.” At 74-miles an hour, it would be considered hurricane strength. Blowing snow or dust could make driving hazardous. The winds will be more than a nuisance to anyone driving a high-profile vehicle. Pearson was asked for his advice for drivers of trucks, vans or campers who have to get from Point A to Point B.
“You need to not go and that’s just being honest as there’s not a whole lot you can do,” Pearson says. “Obviously, it depends on the vehicle and the experience of the person driving. The wind’s going to be out of the northwest so if you’re taking Interstate 80, west to east, that wind’s going to be hitting your broadside and the effects could be pretty dangerous if the wind’s high enough.”
A Wind Advisory has also been posted for parts of southwest, south central and central Iowa. Today’s warnings and advisories covers parts of Iowa and five other states: Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas.
(Radio Iowa)
Two men were arrested on burglary and other charges this week, following an extensive investigation into burglaries at two businesses in Red Oak. Red Oak Police said Wednesday, 22-year old Aaron Gar Nelson and 23-year old Eric Alan Vannausdale, both of Red Oak, face felony charges of Burglary in the 3rd degree. Nelson was also charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, after officers found the drug on his possession after he turned himself-in to the Red Oak Police Department. Both men were being held Wednesday in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 cash bond, each.
Officials say their arrests stem from an investigation into burglaries that occurred Sunday at the Washboard Laundromat at 400 E. Washington Avenue, and the Hair Corner Salon at 308 N. 4th Street, in Red Oak. The suspects are alleged to have taken several items from both businesses, with an estimated value of $800.
Two people were flown to a hospital in Omaha and one transported by an ambulance to the hospital in Shenandoah, following a two-vehicle collision Wednesday evening on Old Highway 2, in Fremont County. Sheriff’s officials say a vehicle driven by Randy Ward, of Farragut, was turning left onto 370th Avenue from 190th Street (Old Highway 2), when his vehicle collided with a vehicle driven by Hanna Rothermel, of Clarinda.
Rothermel and her passenger, Scott Brown, of Clarinda, were flown by helicopter to Omaha, while Ward was taken to the local hospital. The accident, which occurred at around 5-p.m. Wednesday, remains under investigation. Authorities say alcohol was NOT a factor in the crash.
JULIA MALINDA McCLELLAN, 95, of Guthrie Center, died Tue., Jan. 14th, at the New Homestead in Guthrie Center. Per her wishes, her remains were cremated and no scheduled Memorial Services will be held for JULIA McCLELLAN. Twigg Funeral Home in Guthrie Center is in charge of the arrangements.
Inurnment of cremains, at a later day, will be held in the Union Cemetery at Guthrie Center.
AMES, Iowa (AP) — An agronomy professor at Iowa State University is developing a way to determine how much soil is lost from farm fields from sudden heavy rain. Downpours can create what is called ephemeral gullies — temporary washouts that carry valuable topsoil from fields. Agronomy professor Richard Cruse is leading a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Integrated Water Quality Program project to study the issue and develop better ways to control such erosion.
Global studies show that the world’s cropland is losing topsoil faster than new soil is forming, reducing cropland’s fertility. Such erosion also increases the amount of phosphorous and nitrate carried into streams, lakes, and rivers. Cruse says the land’s ability to retain water also decreases as more sediment is washed down a river leading to even more erosion.