The Freese-Notis (podcast) weather forecast for Atlantic & the KJAN listening area, and weather data including rainfall, from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.1MB)
Subscribe: RSS
The Freese-Notis (podcast) weather forecast for Atlantic & the KJAN listening area, and weather data including rainfall, from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.1MB)
Subscribe: RSS
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest Tuesday night of 34-year Angie Jo Huffstutlear. The Villisca woman was charged with Serious Domestic Abuse, following an investigation into an incident in the 100 block of north 5th Avenue, in Villisca. Huffstutlear was taken into custody at around 8:10-p.m. and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where she was being held without bond, pending an appearance before a magistrate.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials are using a new system for organizing boat registrations in the state. The state Department of Natural Resources says a boat’s registration information, title and decals will be on one document. Registrations will be handled in the county where the boat owner resides. Nonresidents can register in the county where the boat primarily will be used.
Officials encourage owners to bring in their current registration for a renewal, since it includes information that’s needed in the new system. That includes the boat’s make, model, model year, hull identification number, length and width. About 235,000 boats will be registered in April. Registrations are good for three years.
347 AM CDT WED APR 10 2013
EARLY THIS MORNING…WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS. BREEZY…COLDER. NORTH WIND 15 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30 MPH. CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS NEAR 100 PERCENT.
TODAY…NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS AND RAIN THROUGH MID MORNING…THEN RAIN IN THE LATE MORNING AND AFTERNOON. COLDER. HIGH IN THE UPPER 30S. TEMPERATURE STEADY OR SLOWLY FALLING IN THE AFTERNOON. NORTH WIND AROUND 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 90 PERCENT.
TONIGHT…RAIN LIKELY UNTIL EARLY MORNING. SNOW LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT…THEN A CHANCE OF SNOW EARLY IN THE MORNING. SNOW ACCUMULATION AROUND 1 INCH. LOW AROUND 30. NORTH WIND 5 TO 15 MPH. GUSTS UP TO 25 MPH THROUGH MIDNIGHT. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 70 PERCENT.
THURSDAY…CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE MORNING. A CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE LATE MORNING AND AFTERNOON. HIGH AROUND 40. NORTHWEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 50 PERCENT.
THURSDAY NIGHT…CLOUDY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW THROUGH MIDNIGHT. LOW IN THE UPPER 20S. NORTHWEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH.
FRIDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 40S. NORTHWEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH.
FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE UPPER 20S. HIGH IN THE LOWER 50S.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says it is continuing its program of placing young ospreys at Iowa locations to establish future nesting sites. The DNR plans to place 10 young ospreys at Mud Lake in Dubuque County and at Swan Lake in Carroll County. The 42-day-old ospreys are developed enough to tear apart fish to feed themselves. They will begin flying at about 53 days of age. The raptors establish a home where they learn to fly and catch fish. They return to their home location to nest at four or five years of age. Last year, 18 pairs nested producing 32 young. Since 1997, 249 ospreys have been released in Iowa.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials are monitoring the weather’s impact on pheasant numbers in the state. The state Department of Natural Resources says spring nesting season is a critical time for pheasants. Their counts in the state could decrease if temperatures in April and May are below normal and rainfall is above normal. The opposite outcome in weather would lead to an increase.
The northwest region of the state, which had below normal snowfall amounts this winter, could have an increase in populations with a good spring. The state Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship says March was the coldest winter on record in Iowa since 1975, and it was the snowiest since 1998.
The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) is joining other organizations across the country to observe April as Alcohol Awareness Month. Shannon Pogones, oversees the A-B-D’s training programs for retailers. “This is the time of year when youth are typically out attempting to purchase more alcohol, having graduation parties, and spring break parties, and prom parties and after parties and things where alcohol is present,” Pogones says. The division sent out reminder letters to retailers on the issue.
“It went out to licensees — even restaurants and places that just have beer and wine permits — saying ‘hey’ prom and graduation are coming up more, just be aware that you may be seeing more of an increase of youth attempting to purchase in your area,” Pogones says. The letter also reminds the retailers of the online training A-B-D has created to teach employees how to avoid selling to minors.
“We also helped create a tool called I-Alert which helps stores and on and off-premise locations make a policy for their establishment,” Pogones says. She says those policies allow them to decide if they are going to card everybody, or just people who look under 30, and then they can then give it to their employees and have everybody sign off on. The A-B-D website also provides information for parents on how they can help prevent problems with alcohol. Pogones says simply being up to meet your child when they come home can be a deterrent.
“Communicate with other parents and school officials on where your child may be going and discuss the consequences that your child’s school may have around if they get caught possessing or consuming alcohol,” Pogones says. “Whether that my jeopardize your graduation or future sporting events or things like that and also just the consequences of the harm you may do to yourself and potentially others.” Pogones says it’s important for parents to keep the lines of communication open about the dangers of alcohol, and that conversation can start before they reach high school age. Find out more at Iowaabd.com.
(Radio Iowa)
Republicans in the Iowa Senate are touting a plan that would cut individual income taxes by 15 percent over the next three years and get rid of a tax break Republicans have long fought to preserve. Senator Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, revealed details of the plan at a statehouse news conference. “It is not just a whimsical idea,” Feenstra says. “This idea took a lot of time and effort and took a lot of time, meeting with a lot of people, to get it right.” Iowa income taxes were last reduced in 1997, by a 10-percent across-the-board cut. Feenstra says another income tax cut is long overdue. “What this plan does is it starts getting at the fact of reducing income coming into the state that is currently at a surplus,” Feenstra says.
The state has a more than 800-million dollar surplus today. Feenstra’s ultimate goal is to eliminate the state income tax, by reducing the number of products and services on which the state sales tax is not charged today. “Right now there’s 191 sales tax exemptions, so if you want to completely eliminate the income tax, that’s the method you’d need,” Feenstra says. “You’d have to go down that path.” The income tax plan Senate Republicans propose now would get rid of the tax break that lets Iowans deduct their federal tax bill from their income before calculating their state income taxes.
That change has long been opposed by Iowans for Tax Relief — an organization founded by a former Republican legislator — but Feenstra says that tax break is “complicated” and makes Iowa’s income taxes look higher than they are. “Is it a watershed moment? Yeah, probably, because what we’re trying to say is, ‘Hey, we want to reduce everyone’s income tax and we’ve got an idea,'” Feenstra says. “‘We’ve got a plan.'” Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs rejects the G-O-P’s plan. “They’ve come up with a mechanism that massively benefits the richest Iowans. Warren Buffet will probably move to our state as a result of their legislation, but no one else will,” Gronstal says. “It’s a tax plan that hurts middle class families.”
Iowa’s current income tax system has nine rates or brackets, with a top rate of just under nine percent. The Republicans’ plan sets up a three-tier income tax system, with a top rate of five-point-six percent. Gronstal says that means wealthy Iowans would get a bigger tax cut than others. “It’s a tax bill that hurts the middle class in Iowa, makes them carry a greater portion of the load of taxes in this state,” Gronstal says. “That’s all their bill does: shifts taxes to middle class families.”
Republicans in the House have proposed a different approach to income taxes, something akin to a flat tax, but it also gets rid of that tax break Republicans have fought for decades to keep. House Republicans also proposed a tax rebate for every Iowan. Republican Governor Terry Branstad has said he’s focused on cutting commercial property taxes rather than income taxes.
(Radio Iowa)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The amount of water released into the lower Missouri River this spring will remain at minimal levels because of ongoing dry conditions in the region. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it plans to release just enough water to support a minimal channel for barge traffic on the river upstream of St. Louis. Additional water won’t be released to raise the water level above Kansas City if there is no commercial traffic in that area.
The corps says it expects the amount of runoff flowing into the river basin this spring to be about 81 percent of normal. So the corps is imposing drought conservation measures. The amount of water released out of Gavins Point dam on the South Dakota-Nebraska border averaged 18,600 cubic feet per second during March.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals closer Jason Motte faces reconstructive elbow surgery if his condition does not improve in the next three weeks or so. Motte, who had a career-high 42 saves last season, has been shut down since late March because of a strained right elbow. He was not cleared to throw after an MRI exam Tuesday didn’t show sufficient improvement.
General manager John Mozeliak said the team should have a good idea by early May whether the 30-year-old Motte would be able to pitch this season. The news comes a day after stand-in closer Mitchell Boggs was charged with six earned runs in one-third of an inning in the Cincinnati Reds’ nine-run ninth inning.