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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) – The director of the Iowa Department of Human Services says state officials have visited with some Afghan families directly to confirm they are getting essential services like housing and food assistance. Kelly Garcia’s statement comes after a Des Moines Register investigation found some families living in extended-stay hotels in central Iowa were running out of food and could not contact their caseworkers. Garcia says her department is working directly with resettlement agencies. “We, I think, have broken open all of the challenges that they’re experiencing,” Garcia says, “and have…reestablished that connection of a direct line to us, so that we can problem solve for them.”
Governor Kim Reynolds says resettlement agencies, not the state, are directly responsible. “If they don’t share any information with us, we don’t know,” Reynolds says, “so that’s why my team proactively met with all the refugee resettlement agencies prior to one, very few, coming into the state so that we could say: ‘You have the information. You make the decisions, but we want to help.'” Reynolds says part of that help has come as state officials redirected emergency rent assistance from the 2020 pandemic relief package.
“We actually called the federal government and got the O.K. from them. There’s only one other state that has done that,” Reynolds says. “It’s working in Cedar Rapids. It’s working in Le Mars. We’ve had great outcomes with them working with the state.” About 900 Afghan refugees have been resettled in Iowa so far.
Atlantic, Iowa – In an update to our previous report, the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Creston Construction Office today (Friday), said repairs to the Iowa 83 bridge over the East Nishnabotna River 1.1 miles west of the junction with U.S. 6 in Atlantic requires closing Iowa 83 between Iowa 173 and U.S. 6 from 8 a.m. Thursday, April 21 until 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 16, weather permitting.
During the project, traffic will be detoured around the work zone using Glacier Road, Echo Road, 620th Street/Olive Street, U.S. 6, and Iowa 83. Permitted oversize loads are prohibited. A 12-foot lane-width limit will be in effect.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Officer for the Southern District of Iowa reports a man from Omaha, Nebraska, 22-year-old Humberto Felipe Mancinas, was sentenced today (Friday) in Council Bluffs federal court to 162 months (13-1/2 years) in prison, for Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. His term of imprisonment will be followed by five years of supervised release. According to court documents, Mancinas pleaded guilty to the charge on October 22, 2021.
On March 12, 2021, Mancinas was stopped by law enforcement while driving in Fremont County, Iowa. During the traffic stop, a K-9 was deployed and indicated narcotics were in the vehicle. A search located approximately ten pounds of methamphetamine. Law enforcement then conducted a second search of a residence outside of Sidney, owned by a relative of Mancinas and where Mancinas had left just prior to the traffic stop, and located an additional seventeen pounds of methamphetamine.
United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Omaha Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations Transnational Organized Crime Task Force investigated the case. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two recent arrests. At around 11:35-p.m. Tuesday (April 12), 23-year-old David Glen Combs, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at Highways 34 and 59, for Driving While Barred (Bond: $2,000). And, a little after 9-a.m. on Wednesday, 21-year-old DeSean Maurice McVay, of Waverly, NE., was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. He was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.
(Radio Iowa) – Residents in Kanawha have returned back to a somewhat normal life after a tornado moved through the area. The Tuesday tornado damaged trees roofs and garages in the city and surrounding area. Police Chief D. J. Martinez says that the cleanup has gone well. Most of the damage was tree limbs that littered the area. “We had a bunch of volunteers come in yesterday and help with everything. We loaded everything up and hauled it out to the north end of town to the trucking location, just to get everything out of the way,” he says. Forecasters at the National Weather Service continually updated the track of the storm and issued warnings once trained spotters assessed the situation. Martinez says that was extremely helpful.
“I think everybody was pretty well informed the night of and they did a good job with everything on Facebook, radio stations, and everything, keeping people aware of what was coming,” Martinez says. “Obviously, we thought it was gonna miss us but it ended up coming back. So I thought everything else went pretty well and afterward everybody was ready to be helpful. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s a little too helpful right at the time of the incident, but the next day it went awesome.”
Martinez says Kanawha residents got help picking up the pieces after the storm from several neighboring communities.
(Radio Iowa) – Monday is the deadline to file your 2021 federal tax returns to avoid penalties and interest. I-R-S spokesman, Christopher Miller, says electronic filing remains the best option. “It’s even more important this year to file electronically because of some of the backlogs due to the pandemic and so we definitely want to encourage people not to file on paper if they can all avoid it,” Miller says. Miller says e-filing returns are more accurate. “If there are no issues with an E-filed return you can generally expect to get a refund in less than 21 days if you choose direct deposit. So that’s something we want people to be aware of,” he says. Miller has a couple of last minute tips.
“The biggest thing to remember this year is to keep the letters that the I-R-S sent you that show how much you received for that third stimulus payment or those advanced child tax credit payments,” Miller says. “Make sure you keep those letters handy because you’re going to need those to file an accurate return.” He says a majority of people now file electronically. “Paper returns will be delayed in processing and in issuing a refund so try to avoid sending in paper returns if at all possible so you can avoid delays in getting your refund,” Miller says.
April 15th is normally the federal tax filing deadline, but the deadline was moved back to Monday the 18th due to a holiday in the District of Columbia.
(Radio Iowa) – Preliminary information from the National Weather Service has confirmed eight tornadoes were part of Tuesday night’s storms. The weather service rated two of those tornadoes as EF-2s on the scale which classifies zero as the weakest and five as the strongest. Those were east of Bradgate and the other ran from Palmer to Gilmore City. There was an EF-1 southwest of Rutland, and one in Mason City.
There was an EF-0 in Kanawha. Mitchell and Howard County saw three tornadoes — with two rated EF-1s and the other an EF-0. Many buildings, houses, and trees were damaged — but there were no deaths or injuries reported following Tuesday’s outbreak.
Gilmore City tornado. (photo from NWS)
(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Public Health is asking Iowans to make healthy and safe choices when it comes to alcohol. The IDPH says between 2008 and 2019, the number of alcohol-related deaths in the state increased by more than 73%. Alcohol use in the past 30 days is higher for Iowans compared to the rest of the country, IDPH reports.
April is National Alcohol Awareness Month. The Health Department asks Iowans to be mindful of how much they drink to alleviate stress or cope with other problems, and to find help if they realize there is a problem.
In the 2018 Iowa Youth Survey, 10% of Iowa youth reported that they had at least one drink of alcohol in the past 30 days. Also, 3% of 6th graders, 7% of 8th graders, and 20% of 11th graders reported having at least one drink of alcohol in the past 30 days.
The Iowa Department of Public Health encourages Iowans to be aware of excessive drinking to alleviate stress or to cope with isolation or concerns. Keep these tips in mind for alcohol awareness:
Iowans who think they or a loved one may have a problem with alcohol use, should reach out to Your Life Iowa for free, confidential support: https://yourlifeiowa.org/alcohol.
(Radio Iowa) – The health clinic at the Rock Island Arsenal has been named in honor of a black medic who’s credited with saving dozens of soldiers on D-Day. Army Staff Sergeant Waverly Woodson, Junior, was a member of the only African American unit to storm Omaha Beach on June 6th, 1944. Woodson was seriously wounded, but the recently retired commander of the Rock Island Arsenal says what Woodson did next was heroic.
Woodson is also credited with saving four soldiers who were drowning, pulling them to shore and administering C-P-R.
That’s Lieutenant Colonel Thomas James, Junior, the former commander of the Rock Island Arsenal who spoke at a dedication ceremony yesterday (Thursday). James says Woodson had a long career in health care and retired in 1980 after working at the National Institutes of Health for 38 years.
Woodson’s official US Army portrait, taken while he held the rank of sergeant.
The Health Clinic in the Quad Cities that now bears Waverly Woodson’s name serves hundreds of active duty soldiers and their families in the region, as well as the hundreds of civilians who work at the Arsenal. The author of a recently-published book about Woodson’s World War II unit found a note from a general saying Woodson had earned the Medal of Honor.
Woodson died in 2005. His family has asked the Army to award Woodson the Medal of Honor posthumously.
(Radio Iowa) – The Republican National Committee has unanimously voted to have the Iowa REPUBLICAN Party’s Caucuses be the first voting event in the next presidential election.
That’s Governor Kim Reynolds. She joined Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann to discuss the decision national party leaders made Thursday. Kaufmann was chairman of a panel that made the recommendation that Iowa, followed by New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina retain their positions at the front of the G-O-P’s presidential selection process.
This G-O-P decision comes as the DEMOCRATIC National Committee launched a plan to have five states with racially diverse populations that may be toss ups states in the 2024 presidential election go first. Kaufmann says Iowa Democrats have a chance to make the case that their party’s Caucuses should remain in the lead-off position,
And Kaufmann argues Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada represent geographic and racial diversity and feature face-to-face, retail campaigning rather than just a barrage of ads.
Governor Reynolds says the Iowa Caucus campaign isn’t about big party donors or influencers on the east or west coast.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a potential 2024 candidate, was in Council Bluffs yesterday. And President Biden — the presumptive nominee for Democrats in 2024 — was in Iowa this past Tuesday.