w/ Ric Hanson
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ONAWA, Iowa (AP) – Nebraska’s Omaha Tribe has reopened its flood-damaged Iowa casino under a new name and with plans for a new building. Sioux City television station KCAU says the Blackbird Bend Casino greeted old and new customers when it reopened its doors Saturday. It was known as CasinOmaha when it was shut down by Missouri River flooding in June 2011. Blackbird Bend is temporarily located in the old restaurant of CasinOmaha.
A new building will be built just southeast of the old casino and will be built six feet higher in case of future flooding. The new casino will have more than 150 employees. Construction is scheduled to begin in March and take about 13 months. The casino is situated near Onawa, between Omaha, Neb., and Sioux City.
Police in Red Oak say one person was arrested early Sunday afternoon on a burglary charge. 21-year-old Cody Keen Blystone, of Red Oak, faces a charge of 3rd degree burglary. Blystone was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 bond.
Officials say Blystone was also arrested Saturday, on Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Interference with Official Acts, and Possession of Stolen Property charges.
Just because there’s snow on the ground in Iowa doesn’t mean the drought is over. Experts at the National Drought Mitigation Center are keeping a close eye on conditions across the Midwest this winter. Center spokesman Mark Svoboda says dry weather still plagues the region’s producers who desperately need to feed livestock. “Pasture, range and forage for livestock producers all across the heartland here and they’re coming off already two pretty bad summers especially in the Southern plains and there has been no chance for that pasture and range to recover and there hasn’t been precipitation to do that,” Svoboda says. “That doesn’t just pop right back in a couple of weeks. That can take years to recover.”
It’s still too early to know if the drought will continue well into 2013 but Svoboda says there are already some foreboding signs. “We’re not running with an abundance of precipitation over the fall period so that’s strike one,” Svoboda says. “Then you look at snow. Last year was a low snowpack year that fed the Missouri basin which feeds into the Mississippi. We had low snowpack across the Great Lakes where levels are very low, almost historically low, which feeds into the Mississippi. That was strike two, and so far this year, we’re seeing a repeat of that in a lot of ways.”
There has been a good amount of snowfall already this winter in some northern states, but he says we’ll need a lot of rain this spring or we’ll likely have a repeat of last year. Svoboda says the lack of snowfall for a second consecutive year will cause a lot of problems for some farmers, like wheat producers. “You want that snow not just for moisture but for insulating that crop, helping with emergence,” Svoboda says. “Back in the fall, we didn’t get a lot of widespread good rains to help with the emergence, so we had a lot of exposed soil that was blowing around in the fall, that was still a concern. Because of the lack of forage, they were bailing a lot of the cornstalks to get forage and feed. Without that on the field, you have less stuff to capture that snow when it does fall.”
A federal report last week found more than 60-percent of the country is still under drought conditions, including all of Iowa. That report also said it would take a total of eight-feet of snow this winter to overcome the drought by spring. The National Drought Mitigation Center is based in Lincoln, Nebraska.
(Radio Iowa)
CLIFFORD HOWARD HANSON, 94, of Harlan, died Sun., Jan. 13th, at Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan. Funeral services for CLIFFORD HANSON will be held 2-p.m. Tue., Jan. 15th, at the Grace Baptist Church in Harlan. Pauley-Jones Funeral Home in Harlan has the arrangements.
Visitation will be from 5-to 9-pm Mon., Jan. 14th, at the funeral home, where the family will be present from 6-to 8-pm, and a Prayer service takes place at 7:30-p.m.
Burial will be in the Harlan Cemetery.
CLIFFORD HANSON is survived by:
His wife – Phyllis Hanson, of Harlan.
His daughters – Bev (Roger) Sorensen, of Harlan, and Bonnie (Bill) Weilage, of Council Bluffs.
His sisters – Ethel Mahoney and Bonnie McPherson, both of Minneapolis, MN, and Eunice Call, of Alma Center, WI.
10 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren, 6 step great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great grandchildren.
Here’s the Freese-Notis (podcast) weather forecast for the KJAN listening area, and weather data for Atlantic…
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(INCLUDING THE CITY OF ATLANTIC) 333 AM CST MON JAN 14 2013
TODAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE MID 20S. WEST WIND NEAR 10 MPH.
TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW 10 TO 15. SOUTHWEST WIND NEAR 5 MPH.
TUESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 30S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.
TUESDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE LOWER 20S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH.
WEDNESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. WARMER. HIGH IN THE MID 40S. WEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE LOWER 20S. HIGH IN THE UPPER 30S.
FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGH IN THE MID 40S. LOW IN THE LOWER 20S.
Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sioux City police are trying to determine why a vehicle crashed into a creek early yesterday morning and killed three of the five people inside. The vehicle crossed a residential yard and crashed into Perry Creek shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday. Two of the occupants escaped the creek on their own.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Miss Iowa managed to finish fifth at this year’s Miss America pageant, but she may be remembered more for her answer to a question about marijuana. Near the end of the night Mariah Cary of Burlington was asked whether marijuana should be legalized for recreational use. Cary is a junior at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids. Miss New York Mallory Hagan of Brooklyn won the Miss America title.
MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — The murder trial for the man accused of killing a 23-year-old northern Iowa man is set to begin today. James Farnsworth the Second of Waterloo is schedule to be tried in the April 14th slaying of Ian Decker. The 22-year-old suspect is free on a $200,000 cash bond. Jury selection starts at 9 a.m. in Cerro Gordo County.
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Aaron White led a balanced attack with 17 points as Iowa snapped a 3-game Big Ten losing streak with a 70-50 victory over Northwestern yesterday afternoon. Iowa hosts Wisconsin on Saturday, then hits the road for Big Ten games at Ohio State and Penn State.
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Aaron White led a balanced attack with 17 points as Iowa snapped a 3-game Big Ten losing streak with a 70-50 victory over Northwestern on Sunday afternoon. Josh Oglesby had 14 points, and Melsahn Basabe added 10 for the Hawkeyes (12-5, 1-3). Dave Sobolewski had 14 points, and Tre Demps added 10 for the Wildcats (10-7, 1-3) in front of 6,805 fans at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Iowa opened a 25-15 lead by halftime behind Roy Devyn Marble’s eight points and steadily increased its lead through the second half. The Wildcats travel to Illinois on Thursday and host Indiana next Sunday. Iowa entertains Wisconsin on Saturday, then hits the road for games at Ohio State and Penn State.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sioux City police are trying to determine why a vehicle crashed into a creek early Sunday morning and killed three of the five people inside. The Sioux City Journal reports that the vehicle crossed a residential yard and crashed into Perry Creek shortly after 3 a.m. Neighbors say they awoke to a loud scraping sound and a bang. Police say the vehicle landed upside down and was partially submerged in the creek. Two of the occupants climbed out of the creek on their own.
The other three passengers in the vehicle were pulled out by rescuers. Those three all died later, but weren’t immediately identified. Neighbor Beth Bowman says she said many prayers while she watched emergency workers try to help the people in the vehicle.