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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
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) – Iowa’s first African-American woman mayor has died. LaMetta Wynn was elected mayor of Clinton in 1995. LaMetta Wynn died recently at the age of 87. Wynn served a dozen years on the Clinton School Board. After that, she was elected as the Clinton Mayor in three consecutive elections. As mayor, Wynn was recognized in Iowa and across the nation and attracted interviews for her place in Iowa history. Three Iowa governors also appointed Wynn to various state commissions. She also worked as a nurse at the local hospital for many years.
Wynn’s funeral will be held Friday at the Church of the Open Door in Clinton.
(Radio Iowa) – There’s a benefit concert in Grinnell tonight (Tue., June 29) to raise money for the reward fund for information about a missing 11-year-old boy. Xavior Harrelson of Montezuma was reported missing in late May. The benefit concert at the Poweshiek County Fairgrounds starts at 7 p.m. “We just want to bring Xavior home,” says Tina Goff, part of the “Finding Xavior Harrelson” Faeebook group..
Goff says country singer Adam Whitehead of Marshalltown was instrumental in putting the concert together. “Adam had mentioned that he was interested in helping us in the effort to find Xavior Harrelson,” Goff says, “and we thought the best way to do that was to put together this reward benefit.” 
There’s a silent auction as well as music from Whitehead and Hunter Mason, a singer and piano player from Ottumwa. Organizers are asking concert-goers to wear orange tonight. “Xavior’s favorite color is orange,” Goff says, “so we really want just to show Xavior we care and are coming out for him, to bring him home.”
All the proceeds from the concert will go to the reward fund for information on Xavior’s whereabouts. The Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office says the reward fund has now reached more than $22,000.
(Radio Iowa) – Linn County Auditor, Joel Miller, says he is considering a run for Iowa Secretary of State. Miller is a Democrat and says he is collecting signatures for a possible run against incumbent Republican Paul Pate. Miller talked about a potential run while in Sioux City last week for a conference of county auditors. “I’m exploring, I’m not committed because I want to gather data and I don’t have a lot of data and information from western Iowa. I’ve been in eastern Iowa pretty much my whole life — that’s where I was born and raised — and I’ve held the office of Linn County Auditor for 14 plus years.”
Joel Miller
Miller says he was disappointed by the election law bill passed by the legislature controlled by Republicans after record voting numbers in the primary and presidential elections. “The legislature decided to drop a 40-page election bill with lots of changes — primarily targeted at vote by mail, but also in-person early voting — with very little impact to people who vote on election day,” Miller says. “So it appears that the legislature majority Republican wanted to pick who they wanted to vote, versus the voters picking the legislators.”
Miller says the changes make it more inconvenient for some people to cast their votes. He says he believes the job of Secretary of State is to promote democracy. “The other part of that is to oppose anything that is anti-democratic,” Millers says, “and this election bill in my view is anti-democratic.”
Miller says his goal is to have every Iowan involved in our elections. Miller was one of the county auditors in Iowa sued by the Trump Administration for sending out absentee ballot request forms that had voter information on them before the last election. The judge sided with the administration and ruled absentee ballots sent out by Miller and other auditors were invalid.
(Radio Iowa) – Protesters calling for the defunding of the police department disrupted the Des Moines City Council meeting last (Monday) night for the second week in a row. Demonstrators demanded attention to issues like racial profiling and marijuana enforcement. Laural Clinton is part of the racial justice team with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. Clinton says, “It’s not always pretty when you complain, but it’s also not pretty when you’re not heard.”
Several people were removed from the council chambers for interrupting the meeting to oppose a contract for police de-escalation training. One person was later arrested. The protesters repeated demands that Police Chief Dana Wingert and City Manager Scott Sanders be fired. Mayor Frank Cownie confronted the protesters, one of whom stood on her chair and held up a sign.
The council passed a resolution praising the city manager and police chief’s work to reduce racial bias in policing and city services. According to the resolution, the council has no intention of firing either man. Council member Joe Gatto supports the measure which passed unanimously. Gatto says, “It’s high time in the Des Moines Police Department and other, zoning officers and everyone else that works for the city, it’s high time that we stepped up as a council and be supportive of what they’re trying to do.”
The resolution also points to equity policies and police training as signs of progress. Since returning in-person, the city council has adopted stricter rules of conduct.
(By Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)
(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 for months are still required to wear masks on public transportation, including on planes, trains and buses. Some Republicans in the U-S Senate are calling on the C-D-C to drop that mask requirement, which extends to airports, train stations and bus stations. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley wasn’t part of the initial group but says he agrees with their reasoning. Grassley says, “When you get 70% of the people having one shot and things are slowing down dramatically, I think it’s reached the point where it’s kind of ridiculous to be wearing masks.”
Grassley, who tested positive for COVID late last year but was not afflicted with symptoms, says he’s fully vaccinated and he will continue to comply with the federal guidelines. “As long as they have the rule, I’m going to wear a mask,” Grassley says. “I’m not going to fight with the airlines or the airports so I wear my mask and I’m going to do what I can to make sure things are civil in the process.”
The state health department says 45-percent of Iowans are fully vaccinated for coronavirus, while 64-percent of Iowans have gotten at least one shot. The C-D-C reports about 42-percent of all Americans are fully vaccinated and 54-percent have had at least one shot. It’s very unlikely President Biden’s goal of 70-percent vaccinated by July 4th will be reached.
Red Oak Police Chief Justin Rhamy reports Red Oak/Montgomery County First Responders “and all of our friends in SW IA, will be joining forces on Aug. 3rd along with 38 million others in celebrating National Night Out.” Rhamy says “This is the 38th year of the National event (the 5th year in Red Oak), and there will be more than 10 other Iowa cities officially registered for the event.” It takes place at Fountain Square Park in Red Oak, August 3rd, from 6-until 8-p.m.
The Chief says “Red Oak/Montgomery Co. is proud to state that the theme of the evening is Public Safety-Safety of the Public.” First Responders who have confirmed their plans to be on hand include those from:
Surrounding counties/cities have been contacted, according to Rhamy, and first responder invites have been extended. He says “We always have a great showing of cooperation and support from our neighbors, as we all truly work together.” The Safety of the Public aspect, will focus on:
LifeNet will land. The Prescott Car Club will be there also. Throughout the Park and around the square, there will be FREE food (Elks, Rainbow, Eagles, Walnut Creek Acres, HyVee, Fareway, United Group, Rotary, Grand Theater, and others), info booths and handouts, displays, games, SuperHeroes, vintage police and fire vehicles, (Prescott car club, racecars, photo booth, tribute vehicles and displays, and monster trucks. To date we have over 96 total partners helping with food/displays/ vehicles/ exhibits/events/and other participating factors and many more expected by August.
There will be a funnel cake trailer, a balloon artist, an Iowa State Patrol K9 presentation is in the works, and it’s possible a small auction will be held for similar events to be held in the future. There will be a Treasure Hunt Event ongoing that evening sponsored by the Red Oak Express. The Chief invites you to please join them at beautiful Fountain Square Park for a FUN and FREEEEEEEEE, evening. A Reminder to residents of Red Oak: The Square area and one block in each direction will be shut down at 4:00 pm August 3rd, to allow for set up and all of the partners to get prepared for the night. As a sign of support please turn your porchlight on for the evening. The National theme is to take back the night, take back our neighborhoods and communities.
(Radio Iowa) – The eastern Iowa City of Eldon is still recovering from a flash flood that struck Thursday night, and that swept out a concrete pier along with collapsing a 40-foot section of sewer pipe. Eldon Mayor Jerry Lee Potts says between seven-and-a-half to 11 inches of rain fell in a two-hour period, and there were very few people that weren’t affected. Potts says “…It was a lot deeper than people realize and it was rushing. If you see some of the damages down there, you’ll see how intense…Tubes washed out from under the roads.” The mayor says this flood is worse than the flooding that hit Eldon 28 years ago.
“City Hall had three foot more water than we had in the flood of ’93. It wiped out the whole basement underneath there,” Potts says. “There’s been numerous homes throughout the community, a lot larger amount of damages than in ’93 because it was a flash flood and it came too fast, too quick and they just couldn’t get away.” Given the amount of water that quickly swept through, they’re fortunate there were no fatalities. He says there is a report that a semi was submerged and several homes are total losses. The mayor says it’s tough to get around town right now. “The waters have receded and where there’s more shops and stuff, we’ve got those barricaded off for safety reasons,” Potts says. “We’ll be working throughout the week getting those repairs done, so we can get some of those opened back up.”
The Department of Natural Resources is cautioning residents to keep children and pets away from the area until at least 24 to 48 hours after repairs are completed. If you’d like to volunteer to help with the cleanup in Eldon, call Wapello County Emergency Management at 641-814-8333.
(Radio Iowa) – After nearly eight decades, the remains of a World War Two sailor from Bedford will be laid to rest in Iowa. Graveside services for William David Tucker — who was 19 years old when he was killed while aboard the U-S-S Oklahoma during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor — are scheduled for Wednesday morning at 10 at the Bedford Cemetery. Larry Johnson of Parowan, Utah, is a nephew of Tucker, and was only a year-and-a-half old when his uncle was killed. “He was raised there in Bedford,” Johnson says. “His mother and father were Agnes and William Tucker. They lived on 201 Grant Street when I was a youngster. We spent the summers up there–most of us kids, you know. He graduated from Bedford High”.
After receiving three months of training at the Great Lakes Navy Training Station, Tucker was assigned to the U-S-S Oklahoma as a fireman, working up to a first-class rating a little over one year after he had been in the service. He was transferred to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in October, 1940. Johnson says a twist of fate placed Tucker on the ship on that day of infamy one year later. “He was supposed to be on leave that day, from what I understand, and he traded shore leave with a friend of his, and he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, you know,” Johnson says.
William David Tucker
Tucker’s remains were among the unidentified Pearl Harbor dead later buried at the National Memorial of the Pacific at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu. The U.S. Navy launched a program in 2015 to identify and recover the remains of those killed in the attack, and return them home. Through that program, Johnson says he and a brother provided D-N-A to the Navy–which ultimately led to a long-awaited breakthrough. “So, the Navy contacted us last October,” according to Johnson, “and they needed D-N-A samples to try to get a match. Come to find out I’m the oldest living relative. The identification of the remains was made in December of 2020.”
The Navy elected Johnson and his wife to decide on the final resting place for Tucker’s remains. Johnson says the family decided Tucker’s body should be brought home to Bedford–and provide the sense of closure his family had sought for decades. “It’s kind of amazing, really, after 80 years,” he says. “You know, it’s been that long. My mother and my other three aunts were his sisters. They never gave up on being able to get any closure, and bring him home.”
The body was recently flown to a Nebraska air base, then transported to Cummings Funeral Home in Bedford. Tucker will be buried with full military honors. Tucker could be the last Pearl Harbor victim laid to rest under the Navy’s program, which will close on December 7th–the 80th anniversary of the attack.
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