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Red Oak man charged with burglary

News

October 24th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

Police in Red Oak arrested a local man on a burglary charge Wednesday night. Officials say 29-year-old Zachariah Michael Holland, of Red Oak, was arrested on charges of 3rd degree burglary and interference with official acts. Holland was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 cash bond.

And, the Red Oak P-D reports Victor Audie Stephens of Red Oak was arrested Wednesday on a “Breach of Peace” charge, after officers responded to a domestic disturbance in the 1000 block of East Corning Street.  As officers tried to interview Stephens in the front yard of the residence, he allegedly was loud and used profanities. Despite being told several times to lower his voice and stop swearing, Stephens persisted, and was placed under arrest. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 bond.

CECELIA BUCKLEY, 92, of Earling (Svcs. 10/26/13)

Obituaries

October 24th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

CECELIA BUCKLEY, 92, of Earling, died Wed., Oct. 23rd, at the Dunlap Nursing & Rehab Center. A Mass of Christian Burial service for CECELIA BUCKLEY will be held 11-a.m. Sat., Oct. 26tth, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Earling. Pauley-Jones Funeral Home in Harlan has the arrangements.

Visitation at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Earling is from 4-to 9-pm Friday (10/25), with a Rosary at 6-p.m.

Burial will be in the St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

Cecelia Buckley is survived by:

Her sons – Russell, of Earling, and Rex (Irene) Buckley, of Harlan.

Her daughters – Linda Buckley, of Omaha, and LuAnn Buckley, of Earling.

Her sisters – Lavina Blum, of Dunlap; Rose Mary Rehberg, of Cedar Rapids, & Sally (Ken) Dillmuth, of Owatonna, MN.

Her brother – Alfred (Joan) Leinen, of Earling.

11 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.

(Podcast) Skyscan Forecast: Thu., Oct. 24 2013

Podcasts, Weather

October 24th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

The Freese-Notis/Weather.Net forecast for the KJAN listening area, and weather information for Atlantic from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson…

Play

Farm group holds online fall farm seminars

Ag/Outdoor

October 24th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A series of online seminars aimed at helping farmers learn about such topics as how to insure an apple orchard, marketing and distributing local food, and the profit potential of grass-based livestock will be held through December. Practical Farmers of Iowa has set a schedule for a series of seminars this fall. The interactive webinars are Tuesday evenings from Nov. 5 through Dec. 10, except for Thanksgiving week.

Anyone is invited to listen in by signing in as a guest at www.practicalfarmers.org/farminar. Funds for the webinars have come from more than 200 individual donors and corporate sponsors including John Deere and Farm Credit Services of America.

Most presenters are farmers and the events are set up for participants to ask questions in real time.

Iowa regents consider 2nd year for tuition freeze

News

October 24th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Board of Regents will consider a plan to freeze tuition rates for undergraduates from Iowa for the second straight year. The board that governs Iowa’s public universities meets Thursday at the University of Iowa. Up for discussion is a plan to maintain current tuition rates for in-state undergraduates next year as long as lawmakers give the universities a 4 percent funding increase. The regents adopted a similar strategy last year, which has proven popular and was successful in the Legislature.

The regents will also discuss a plan to reduce tuition for out-of-state students to improve sagging enrollment at the University of Iowa law school. The regents aren’t expected to give final approval to either plan until December. Gov. Terry Branstad is expected to speak at the meeting.

Dan Gable, Iowa wrestling legend, wins state’s Pillar of Character award

Sports

October 24th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

Iowa wrestling legend Dan Gable is being named the 2014 recipient of the Robert D. Ray Pillar of Character Award. Amy Smit, spokeswoman for Character Counts in Iowa, says the annual award is given to a public figure with Iowa ties who has demonstrated the six pillars of character: caring, citizenship, fairness, respect, responsibility and trustworthiness.

“Every year we present an award to someone who has not only shown good character but has done so as a public role model,” Smit says. “Past recipients of the award include Shawn Johnson, Norman Borlaug and Governor Ray.” Gable is a Waterloo native who wrestled at Iowa State University, won a gold medal in the 1972 Olympics, and coached wrestling at the University of Iowa and for the U-S Olympic team. He only lost one match during his entire college career. Smit says Gable is an excellent choice for this honor.

“I don’t think you get to have a record like he has and a coaching career and so many young athletes that look up to him without having perseverance and diligence and determination.” Despite his already-distinguished career, Smit says Gable was taken off-guard when he heard he would be receiving this award. “We’ve done this for eight years now so we’ve had eight different winners and they all are very surprised that we thought of them,” Smit says, “which is funny because they’re always usually the people that are on top of everyone’s mind.”

Gable will receive the Pillar of Character Award at Character Counts’ annual banquet in Des Moines next April.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa is home to 16 of “Top 100” US cooperatives

Ag/Outdoor

October 24th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

Sixteen Iowa agricultural cooperatives are among the nation’s 100 largest. According to the U.S.D.A., farmer-owned cooperatives set records in 2012 for sales, income and assets. Sales at farmer-owned co-ops in the U.S. were up more than eight percent and income was up nearly 13 percent. There are more than 22-hundred co-ops in the United States. Iowa’s highest ranking ag co-op is United Suppliers of Eldora. It ranked as the country’s eighth largest co-op in 2012.

The West Central Cooperative in Ralston made the largest jump on the “Top 100” list, going from 69th in 2011 to 41st in 2012.

(Radio Iowa)

GOP US Senate candidates at forum asked if shutdown “smart” strategy

News

October 24th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

Six candidates vying for the Iowa Republican Party’s 2014 U.S. Senate nomination gathered last night (Wednesday) in Des Moines for a discussion of “ObamaCare” and the federal government’s finances. Last night’s forum sponsored by Americans For Prosperity and National Review was the first time the candidates have stood together on the same stage at the same time and faced questions. When asked whether the recent federal government shut-down was a smart strategy for Republicans, David Young was the only one of the candidates to directly defend it.

“I was proud to watch the House of Representatives and the Senate fight ObamaCare — defunding it, delaying it, repealing it,” Young said. “You know, Ted Cruz was on the floor for 21 hours and it was so nice to see, finally, the senate deliberating…We need to do more of that.” Matt Whitaker said he was “disappointed in the solution.” “We cannot continue to manage this government by crisis, going from debt ceilings to fiscal cliffs and doing it all over again three months later,” Whitaker said, “and that’s where we’re heading with this.” Sam Clovis criticized Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s role in brokering the deal that ended the shutdown and Clovis blasted what he called a “carve-out” of two-billion dollars for a project in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky that was inserted in the final compromise.

“Is that compromise?” Clovis asked. “Is it compromise kicking the can down the road? Is that the compromise that Iowans want from their next senator?” Joni Ernst said politicians need to “stand on principles,” but they also need to “work together.”  “I don’t believe any Republican member of congress wanted to see a government shutdown or for us to default on our obligations,” Ernst said. “But I do believe they brought to light what is the tragedy of ObamaCare and what is our $17 trillion debt.” Each of the candidates comdemned the Affordable Care Act. Scott Schaben argued advocates of ObamaCare have a “hard time selling their product.”

“150 years ago those people would have been drug out of D.C. behind a horse,” Schaben said. Paul Lunde, the other candidate on the stage, frequently used the forum to tout some of the books he’s written. “You can go home, you can get it on your computer, you can open up a book and you can see exactly what I’m proposing to do,” Lunde said.

Iowa Democratic Party chairman Scott Brennan notes the phrase “middle class” was not mentioned during the debate, but Texas Senator Ted Cruz was touted as the ideal for Republican senators to follow. Congressman Bruce Braley is the only Democratic candidate who is seeking Iowa’s senate seat in 2014.

(Radio Iowa)

ISU researchers part of national effort to speed up bridge building

News

October 24th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

Researchers at Iowa State University’s Bridge Engineering Center are joining with counterparts at a federal accelerated bridge center based at Florida International University to create ways to replace bridges faster. The I-S-U center’s director, Brent Phares, says they’ll get approximately 800-thousand dollars from the U-S D-O-T over the next two years for research.  “It’s not just all about building bridges faster, it’s more about limiting the amount of time roads are closed to the traveling public,” Phares says.

He says high-volume traffic areas in cities and also bridges along interstates in rural areas like Iowa are part of the focus. Phares says the detours are often much longer than the original — causing drivers to use many more resources. “Additional travel time, they use additional fuel which causes additional pollution. Additional miles, which causes additional wear and tear on their vehicles,” Phares explains. One new technique was recently used by the Iowa D-O-T to replaced a 1930 bridge on State Highway 92 just outside Massena in western Iowa’s Cass County. The new bridge was built next to the old one and the old bridge stayed open during construction.

Once the new bridge was done, the old bridge was torn down and the new bridge was rolled laterally into line where the old bridge sat. The construction of that bridge took only nine days. Another idea is to use self propelled transporters so a new bridge can be built some distance away from the old bridge. “They are basically multi-wheeled vehicles, and then you drive the vehicle down the existing alignment and you drop it (new bridge) very carefully in place in the existing alignment,” according to Phares. “And again, the down that you have is pretty minimal.”

He expects their research will be conducted in the lab studying new techniques, but some will also be out in the field. “Also testing existing bridge details and how they function, how they perform in a bridge that is constructed in an accelerated environment. Because there are some differences in the loads that those bridges see,” Phares says. The researchers need to find another 400-thousand dollars in matching grants for a total of 1.2-million dollars of bridge research over the next two years. The University of Nevada-Reno is also a partner in the project.

(Radio Iowa)

KJAN listening area forecast: Oct. 24 2013

Weather

October 24th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

3:45-a.m. Thu., Oct. 24 2013/NWS Des Moines

EARLY THIS MORNING…MOSTLY CLEAR. NORTHWEST WIND AROUND 5 MPH.

TODAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE MID 40S. NORTHWEST WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.

TONIGHT...MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW IN THE MID 20S. NORTHWEST WIND NEAR 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTHWEST AFTER MIDNIGHT.

FRIDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. BREEZY. HIGH IN THE MID 50S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH INCREASING TO 15 TO 20 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.

FRIDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. NOT AS COOL. LOW IN THE UPPER 30S. SOUTHWEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH SHIFTING TO THE WEST AFTER MIDNIGHT.

SATURDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE MID 50S. NORTHWEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH.

SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW IN THE LOWER 30S. HIGH IN THE UPPER 50S.