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KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Radio Iowa) – A Bettendorf chiropractor who pleaded guilty to insurance fraud has been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay 22-thousand dollars. According to the Iowa Insurance Division, Joshua David Blunt had submitted false insurance claims to Wellmark on two previous occasions and had repaid the company, but he continued to file factious bills for chiropractic care which was never provided.
Blunt has been ordered to repay Wellmark nearly 21-thousand dollars and pay a civil penalty. Investigators also discovered that in 2017 Blunt paid eight-thousand dollars for a recreational vehicle, but claimed he bought it for a dollar to avoid the registration fee. He’s been ordered to pay that 425-dollar fee on the R-V as well.
(Des Moines, Iowa) – Hail ranging in size from dimes and ping-pong balls, to apples, fell across parts of central Iowa Friday afternoon, and heavy rain flooded the streets of Des Moines, catching motorists off-guard and resulting in stalled vehicles. Iowa State Fair officials ordered visitors to the fair to take shelter as the storms passed over the venue at around 2:30-p.m.
Hail reportedly damaged the roof at Valley High School in West Des Moines, flooding the school’s gymnasium. Hail as large as 2 to 3 inches in diameter was reported.
Many vehicle owners reported their windshields and other windows were shattered, and their cars were dented or dimpled, in Clive and West Des Moines. Heavy rain caused flooding at 24th and Hickman, in Des Moines. One motorist who didn’t heed the “Turn around, don’t drown,” message, found themselves stranded in the middle of the intersection, and requiring help from rescue crews. Water surrounded the car up to its hood, according to social media reports.
Ping-pong ball size hail was reported near Grundy Center, with quarter-size hail falling near Steamboat Rock and Holland. There were no reports of injuries.
(Radio Iowa) – Former Vice President Mike Pence says the F-B-I search of Donald Trump’s Florida home is troubling, but he’s urging Republicans to tone down the anti-F-B-I rhetoric. Pence, who is at the Iowa State Fair this (Friday) afternoon with Senator Chuck Grassley, says the Republican Party stands for law and order.
Senator Grassley has said there’s evidence of political bias in the F-B-I. Grassley and Pence support release of more information to explain why it was necessary to conduct a court-ordered search of a former president’s home.
(Radio Iowa) – A celebration is planned Saturday morning to name the Jasper County bridge over the Skunk River on Highway 117 the Staff Sergeant Herschel F. “Pete” Briles Memorial Bridge.
Colfax city administrator Wade Wagoner, says Briles was a Colfax native and World War Two Medal of Honor recipient.
“His grandson — a guy by the name of Brian Briles who was the former mayor of Monroe — presented me with this idea to rename the bridge in Colfax which is just north of our downtown in honor of his grandfather,” Wagoner says.
Sergeant Briles braved German gunfire in 1944 to rescue men from a tank destroyer in his platoon that had been hit and set on fire. The next morning, Briles used his machine gun to pour fire into the enemy ranks — which led to 55 Germans surrendering and the opening up of a junction between American units which had been held up for two days. Later the same day, when another of his destroyers was hit by a concealed enemy tank, he again with the help of another soldier, evacuated two wounded under heavy fire and, braved death from exploding ammunition to put out the flames.
Wagoner says there is another honor for Briles as well. “In addition to the bridge, we’ll be raising a flag in his honor kind of on our cell tower. It’s quite a large flag. We’ve had a flag up before but it’s been down for quite a while and we were able to get another flag,” he says.
Wagoner says Briles survived the war and returned to his hometown. “He was presented his Medal of Honor by President Truman and he decided to make his life here in Jasper County. And he, I believe raised three boys and a lot of them are still in the area,” Wagoner says.
Briles didn’t talk about the things he did in the war with even his own family. “By all accounts, he was a very humble man and very rarely spoke of the war or his medal or his accomplish
(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic resident Kathy Somers, Friday (today), officially filed her nomination papers to run for Cass County Auditor in the November General Election. On Monday, the Cass County Republican party held a special nominating convention, and elected Somers to be the party’s candidate to be placed on the ballot for the November election.
Somers has local government experience, having served on the Atlantic City Council for 12 years. She has served on the Atlantic Personnel & Finance Committee, the Landfill Board, and the Cass County Public Safety Commission. She has experience with human resources, labor laws, payroll, employee benefits, and insurance. She has been an active volunteer in the community and the Republican party.
Somers has been employed as the HR & EEO Officer/Safety Coordinator at A.M. Cohron & Son, Inc. for 13 years. In April, 2022, the Cass County Board of Supervisors appointed Sara Harris to the post, following the resignation of long-time Auditor Dale Sunderman.
Harris’ term expires at the end of the year.
DES MOINES – Today, Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) applauded two new grants to update and replace Iowa’s aging statewide bus fleet. Currently, nearly 63% of the state’s public buses exceed the federal standard for use of life, according to the Iowa Public Transit Association.
The $27.8 million provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation includes a $12M grant for the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) to purchase 90 new buses, cutaways, and vans for 26 of the state’s transit systems. The project is intended to improve transit system conditions, service reliability, and lower maintenance costs for providers across the state.
The new funding also includes a $15.8 million grant to IDOT for local transit agencies to purchase battery electric buses and charging equipment, as well as transit facilities construction and workforce development activities.
That $15.8 million grant will support the following agencies in the Third District:
5 replacement buses for Heart of Iowa Regional Transit Agency (HIRTA)
1 replacement and 2 expansions for Southwest Iowa Transit Agency (SWITA)
“Many Iowans rely on dependable and safe bus systems to be connected to jobs and services and to contribute to our economy,” said Rep. Axne. “Our state’s transit agencies serve all 99 counties, providing millions of rides to Iowans across the state. I’m glad to see this investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law come to Iowa and I look forward to seeing how this project will connect our communities. I will continue working across the aisle to secure additional investments to bring our state’s infrastructure into the 21st century.”
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided $375.7 million in FY22 funding for the bus and bus facilities grant program that awarded these funds. Rep. Axne was the only member of the Iowa House Delegation to vote for the landmark infrastructure legislation that will provide at least $5 billion in critical infrastructure investments to the State of Iowa.
(Griswold, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports a Montgomery County man was injured during a rollover accident early Wednesday morning (Aug. 17). Rescue personnel responded at around 2:28-a.m. to the area “North of the Fish Farm” on 550th Street, for a single vehicle accident. An investigation by the Cass County Sheriff’s Office concluded that a 2003 Buick Lesabre being operated by John Mullenix, of Red Oak, was traveling South on 550th Street.
The vehicle entered the west ditch and rolled approximately 4 or 5 times. Mullenix was ejected as the car rolled. Due the extentof his injuries, Lifelight was called to the scene of the accident for direct patient care and rapid transport to a medical facility. The accident remains under investigation at this time.
The Cass County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by Griswold Fire and Rescue, Cass County EMS and Lifelight 1.
(Radio Iowa) – U-S Trade Representative Katherine Tai joined Congresswoman Cindy Axne, and U-S Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack Thursday at farm near Woodward to talk about global trade opportunities and the Inflation Reduction Act. Tai says the Inflation Reduction Act pushed through by Democrats will be important to the agricultural industry in terms of our trade tools and the design of the way that goods flow in the global economy. “And we see that there are short term stresses that we’re under that we are responding to. But we also know that there is a medium to long term realignment and transition that we need to go through in order to focus on and build out our resilience as an entire economy,” Tai says.
They also discussed the high cost of farm inputs, specifically fertilizer. Secretary Vilsack says one issue is making sure that farm income is high enough to be able to help farmers withstand these difficult times. He says prices today are better than they were a year ago. “And one of the reasons is because we are on par for a record year in exports. So as we continue to look for ways in which we can continue to market now, what are we doing, or we’re maintaining and expanding our presence in these markets, we have more trade missions, we have more assistance efforts underway to try to build existing markets. We’re opening up new opportunities,” Vilsack says. Tai says it’s also reasonable to take a look at the health and functioning of the market here domestically.
“In light of changes that have happened in the international context, and how healthy the competition is here. And what our options are also for creating more supply, creating more resilience, and thinking about how our trade tools can complement that,” she says. Secretary Vilsack was asked about the impact on the Farm Bill. He says it does not impact the decision making for the Farm Bill — it simply allows money through the process to be used on existing programs. “So it’s not like we have to write a whole bunch of rules, we don’t have to write a single rule,” Vilsack says. “We have a backlog of conservation projects that we haven’t been able to fund, not because we don’t have the staff, but because we don’t have the resources, the money.” Vilsack was asked if he sees carbon capture pipelines as essential to “climate smart agriculture.”
“The legislation that’s been passed and by the administration has been supportive of tax credits and basically encouraged this as a mechanism,” Vilsack says. “You know, the reality is, we need a variety of options here, a variety of options. Carbon capture and sequestration is one option, it is by no means the only option, and it is by no means the sole solution.” Vilsack is a Democrat and the former governor of Iowa who is serving his second stint as U-S Ag Secretary after serving in the Obama administration.
(Radio Iowa) – Deere & Company, Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer, is releasing its third quarter earnings report today (Friday) in an online conference call. Deere officials say the company is continuing to grow and thrive in the face of economic setbacks in the global marketplace. Rachel Bach is Deere’s manager of investor communications. Bach says, “John Deere achieved higher production rates in the third quarter resulting in a 25% increase in net sales, despite ongoing supply challenges.” The Quad Cities-based Deere reports net income of $1.88 billion for the third quarter, compared with net income of $1.66 billion in the third quarter last year. “Financial results for the quarter included an 18% margin for the equipment operations,” Bach says. “Ag fundamentals remain solid with our order books beginning to fill for model year ’23 products reflecting continued healthy demand as we look ahead.”
For the first nine months of the company’s fiscal year, net income reached $4.88 billion, also an increase from $4.68 billion for the same period last year. The production and precision agriculture division reports sales increased for the quarter, which officials say was due to higher shipment volumes and price realization. “The construction forestry markets also continue to benefit from demand contributing to the division’s strong performance in the quarter,” Bach says. “Similarly, order books are now extending into 2023 providing visibility into the new year.”
With one quarter remaining in the company’s fiscal year, net income attributable to Deere is forecast to be in a range of seven to seven-point-two billion dollars. “Net sales and revenues were up 22% to $14.1 billion, while net sales for the equipment operations were up 25% to $13-billion,” Bach says. “Net income attributable to Deere & Company was $1.884 billion or $6.16 per diluted share.”
In a news release, Deere chairman and C-E-O John May said: “We’re proud of the extraordinary efforts by our employees to increase factory output and get products to customers under challenging circumstances. At the same time, our results reflected higher costs and production inefficiencies driven by the difficult supply-chain situation.”