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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!
(Lewis, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board is holding a youth fishing derby at Cold Springs Park on September 7th 2024. The event is open to the first 50 youths age 15 and under to register for the event. Check-in will run from 8:15am to 8:45am with the derby starting at 9:00am and running till 10:30 am.
Prizes will be awarded for the highest total weight, heaviest single fish, longest single fish and shortest single fish. The Conservation board will have some live bait for use and a limited number of fishing poles for use as well.
The CCCB thanks all those who donated items for the event over the past 5 years: Weirich Welding for the trophies, and Cappel’s Ace Hardware and Scheels for prizes.
(File photo) – CCCB Youth Fishing Derby
To register or for further details please contact Micah Lee with the Cass County Conservation Board at 712-769-2372.
(Lewis, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board is holding two, “Mysterious Monarchs” Programs next month, in Atlantic and Massena.The first takes place on September 14th beginning at 1-p.m., at the Camblins Addition Shelter, located inside Atlantic’s Sunnyside Park. The second program is Sept. 14th beginning at 3-p.m., at the Massena Outdoor Educational Classroom (Follow Hwy 148 South of Massena, turn Left onto Tucson Rd for 1 ½ mile the park will be on your right).
Both programs are free. You’re invited to discover the Monarch Butterflies before they begin their journey south. Cass County Conservation staff will tag monarchs and show you how to do so, as well.
If you would like a home tagging kit you must attend and pre-register for the Kit. Call 712-769-2372 to pre-register for your kit. You DO NOT have to be a registered camper to attend the program! …
(Elliott, Iowa) – Officials with SWIPCO (The Southwest Iowa Planning Council), in Atlantic, report the City of Elliott Food Pantry was recently awarded a grant from the Iowa Economic Development Authority to strengthen their infrastructure and supply of fresh food. The Elliott Food Pantry received a Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $19,327.
The funds come from the remaining COVID relief money and were designated to benefit food pantries or broadband access. The Elliott Food Pantry was opened in 2021 as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic and people losing employment or not being able to afford basic needs. Since its inception the pantry has had an increase in users and this grant will help them support the growing need.
With the funds, the Elliott Food Pantry plans to use around $12,000 to purchase fresh foods. Currently they are only able to offer mostly highly processed foods. The pantry also plans to purchase new refrigerators and freezers, as well as more shelves to help store fresh produce, meats, milk, yogurt, and other perishable items.
The Elliott Food Pantry Volunteer Committee says “The Elliott Food Pantry is extremely thankful for the generous grant. This will enable us to provide healthy food for everyone in our community who walks through our door.”
Southwest Iowa Planning Council helped the pantry complete the application to obtain the funding and will help them with implementing the funding now that it has been awarded. SWIPCO assists communities in the region with grant applications, writing plans, project management, codes and ordinances, and more. Projects such as this help improve the quality of life for Southwest Iowa residents
DES MOINES, Iowa – State Treasurer Roby Smith is celebrating another outstanding year of finding Iowans’ missing money at the Iowa State Fair. “This year marks another success at the fair as we were able to reunite thousands of Iowans with their missing money,” said Smith. “Fairgoers had ‘Fair Fever’ and in those 11-days, over 2,400 claims were filed at the Iowa State Fair and more than $572,900 was claimed. The largest single claim filed was $50,717!”
Great Iowa Treasure Hunt is Iowa’s only legitimate source of unclaimed property. Each year, millions of dollars are turned over after financial institutions and businesses lose contact with the owner. If assets held by financial institutions and businesses go a specific period of time without activity or contact from the owner, State law requires those assets be turned over to the Treasurer’s Office for safekeeping. It is then the Treasurer’s responsibility to locate and reunite the funds with the owner or heir through Great Iowa Treasure Hunt. Examples include dormant checking and savings accounts, lost stocks, uncashed checks, life insurance policies, utility refunds and safe deposit box contents.
“Thousands of fairgoers stopped to search for unclaimed money,” Smith continued. “Currently, my office is safekeeping more than $521 million to be claimed. Even if you have claimed in the past, search again. New properties are continually being added.”
To see if the State has any unclaimed property waiting for you, visit GreatIowaTreasureHunt.gov to complete your search. Stay up-to-date with the Treasurer’s Office on Instagram, Facebook and X.
(Radio Iowa) – The state is accusing a southeast Iowa man of failing to check for underground utilities before hitting a natural gas line as he was digging a trench. Iowa’s “One Call” law requires anyone planning an excavation to provide 48 hours advance notice, so underground utility lines can be marked.
The state’s lawsuit accuses Eric Fortune, Junior, of failing to make the call and using equipment that hit and damaged a one-inch natural gas line in Fort Madison that’s owned by MidAmerican Energy. According to the lawsuit, Fortune tried to repair the gas line himself rather than report the breach.
The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has recently settled two other lawsuits with contractors who failed to follow Iowa’s “One Call” law.
(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston say a man from Missouri was arrested for Assault, Tuesday night. 46-year-old Ryan Michael Harris, of Newton, MO, was taken into custody at around 11:50-p.m. in the 1500 block of N. Lincoln St., in Creston. Harris was being held in the Union County Jail on $300 bond.
Authorities said also, a woman residing in the 100 block of S. Sumner Street in Creston, reported Aug. 14th, that her grandson’s Ninebot Kickscooter Max, Model G-30P, was missing. The scooter is black with gold trim around the wheels. The loss was estimated at $900.
The stolen scooter is similar to the one shown here
(Des Moines, Iowa) – A Southwest Iowa nursing home that owes taxpayers more than $1 million has negotiated a 10-year payment plan with state officials. In May, the for-profit Tabor Manor Care Center in Fremont County filed for bankruptcy, listing $1.3 million in assets and $2.3 million in liabilities.
The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports by far, the 46-bed nursing home’s single largest creditor is the State of Iowa — specifically, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services/Iowa Medicaid Enterprises. The home reported that it owed the agency $1,169, 257. That debt is tied to Quality Assurance Assessment, or QAA, fees that are owed to the state and which date back to 2019, according to bankruptcy records. More than four dozen Iowa nursing homes currently owe the state a total of $10.7 million in unpaid, past-due QAA fees, according to DHHS records.
Last week, attorneys for Tabor Manor filed with the court an amendment to the company’s proposed financial reorganization plan. The new plan calls for the facility’s owners to pay the state $1 million in overdue QAA fees over the course of the next 10 ½ years, with the first payments to begin in roughly six months. The company would pay $10,930 per month toward the debt – an amount that would include interest payments calculated at an annual rate of 4.25%. For the first several months of payments, interest would be paid at roughly $3,500 per month while the principal would be paid down at a rate of roughly $7,400 per month.
Jeffrey D. Goetz, the Des Moines attorney representing Tabor Manor, noted that the plan has yet to be approved by the bankruptcy court, but he said the state, which is owed the money, has agreed to it in principle. Prior to an agreement being reached on the 10-year payment plan, Tabor Manor’s owner and administrator, Mitchell Worcester, told the court the state had consented only to a payment plan of a relatively short duration that the company rejected as unrealistic.
(Des Moines, Iowa) – As cases of COVID-19 have increased across the country, there have been more reported cases of the virus in Iowa in recent weeks, according to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. The Iowa Capital Dispatch says the DHHS report shows positive COVID-19 tests in the state were at 20.7% from the week of July 28 through Aug. 3 — the highest proportion in more than a year, according to department data, and significantly higher than the 9.7% in the same week in 2023.
While still low, COVID-19 cases were responsible for 2.2% of emergency room visits and 2% of inpatient visits in the reported time frame. That’s up from 1.2% of ER visits and 1.7% of inpatient visits during the same period last year. There were two reported deaths in the week, according to HHS data. Four deaths were reported during the same period a year ago.
The rise in COVID-19 numbers are still far below reported figures from earlier in the pandemic, but are an increase compared to recent months. The Iowa surge is part of a national trend, as COVID-19 is being reported at higher rates across all regions of the U.S. in the past month.
Health experts are expecting coronavirus cases to continue to rise. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rated Iowa’s COVID-19 epidemic status as “likely growing,” one of 25 states where the organization says the virus is predicted to increasingly spread. The CDC labeled Iowa’s neighboring states of Minnesota, Illinois and South Dakota as having “growing” rates of COVID-19.
Iowa is also one of the states seeing an increase in COVID-19 wastewater viral activity, according to CDC data — one of the ways the national organization measures the spread of the virus. Wastewater treatment plants report data on coronavirus rates detectable in water, a way of monitoring that can detect the spread of viruses before a person goes to a hospital or undergoes clinical testing, according to the CDC, as well as in cases when infected people are asymptomatic.
There is currently “high” viral activity in Iowa, with nine wastewater sites reporting. As cases pick up, public health officials recommend staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations, with the CDC recommending people age 5 and older getting one dose of the updated 2023-2024 vaccine to protect against serious illness. According to Iowa HHS data, 15.6% of Iowans are immunized as of Aug. 8.
(Radio Iowa) – If you’ve been curious enough to taste Iowa-fried cicadas, you’ll have your chance this weekend. Ginny Mitchell, education program coordinator at the Iowa State University Insect Zoo, says one popular element of the annual “Bug Village” event is edible insects. Mitchell collected hundreds of the 13- and 17-year cicadas this spring which she plans to air-fry, sprinkle with seasoning, and serve to visitors to the Ames campus on Saturday.
Are insects “meat”? The issue of eating insects is subject of debate among vegetarians. Those who refuse to eat meat because of environmental reasons see the very small impact raising and eating insects has on the planet, so they may choose to consider insects as -not- meat, while other more strict vegans disagree. Whatever you call it, Mitchell says making a meal of insects can be extremely healthy.
While many of us may be hesitant to put an air-fried cicada in our mouths, no matter what sauce is on top, others are more adventurous. Mitchell has been studying — and eating — all sorts of insects for years and she plans to plate up a variety of cicada delicacies during the weekend event.
This spring, two broods of cicadas emerged in eastern Iowa (and across the Midwest) that had been slumbering underground 13 and 17 years. That simultaneous emergence only happens once every 220 years, so Mitchell took a four-day road trip to bag up hundreds of specimens of the six-legged creatures.
Others were using cicadas in tomato sauce over pasta, or even as a pizza topping. In addition to the edible insects at Saturday’s event in Ames, there will be a Bug Costume Contest and more than 150 species of living arthropods on display, with many available for hands-on inspection.
More info. at https://www.ent.iastate.edu/insectzoo/
(Radio Iowa)- A new state law to address chronic absenteeism requires notifying parents by certified letter if a student misses school for eight days in a semester. After additional absences, there must be an in-person meeting with a parent or guardian. Anne Discher, executive director of Common Good Iowa, says the most recent data shows absenteeism is remarkably widespread in Iowa schools.
Advocates of the new law say regular attendance at school is a habit that will carry over into adulthood — and much of what happens in a classroom cannot be learned through make-up work. According to a national group called Attendance Works, one in four Iowa students were chronically absent during the 2021-22 school year. Discher says that means they missed 10 percent or more of school days, for any reason.
Discher is hoping more recent data could show improvement, but she says some students just haven’t reconnected with school after the pandemic.
For younger students, like kindergartners, Discher says figuring out what’s happening with the parents is key.
Discher has a child in a Des Moines high school and she says before school started the family of every incoming ninth grader was offered an in-home visit from someone on the school’s staff.
Under Iowa law, if a student misses 20 percent of school days in a semester, a meeting of the student, a parent or guardian and the county attorney will be scheduled.
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