The on-air news from 7:06-a.m., with KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The Cass County Board of Supervisors are set to meet 9-a.m. Tuesday, during their regular weekly session in their courthouse Boardroom, in Atlantic, and via Zoom. Discussion and/or action items on their light agenda include: A provision of services for HIPAA Training, the Employee Handbook and other Human Resource services, re: Ahlers & Cooney law firm; and, the Board will act on an abatement of Tax for a parcel owned by the City of Cumberland at 216 Adams Street.

The Supervisors will also receive (as available), reports from various department heads.

A traffic stop in Red Oak at around 7:15-p.m., Sunday, resulted in an arrest. Red Oak Police report 50-year-old Richard Bryan Jenkins, of Red Oak, was arrested for Driving While (license is) Suspended. Jenkins was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on bond amounting to $491.25.

A man from Ankeny accused in the accidental shooting death last year of his pregnant girlfriend, has accepted a plea deal that could result in 10-years in prison. WHO-TV reports Donault Logan is pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and possession with intent to deliver in the death of 17-year-old Mia Holmes.

Logan was 18 years old when police say he accidentally shot Holmes in a hotel room at WoodSpring Suites in Ankeny in August 2020. According to court documents, Logan admitted he was there to sell marijuana. He initially faced additional charges including non-consensual termination of a pregnancy and sexual exploitation of a minor. Those charges have been dropped as part of the plea.

Logan is scheduled to be sentenced June 18th.

Police in Des Moines say a man shot and killed a woman before later killing himself, Friday night.

KCCI reports authorities say 39-year-old Christina Marie Dirks died Friday from gunshot wounds she suffered in an apartment at 4024 Hubbell Avenue. Investigators said they believe 42-year-old Rustin Dean Rice intentionally shot and killed Dirks before returning to the apartment and turning the gun on himself.

According to police Dirks and Rice had a “prior personal relationship” and had lived together in a Hubbell Avenue apartment until Dirks moved out May 6th. Dirk’s death is the third Des Moines homicide of 2021.

The West Des Moines Police Department has identified a woman who was found dead near I-35. KCCI reports officers responded at around 11:50 a.m. Sunday to the scene off I-35 northbound, mile marker 70.5. A passerby told authorities they found what appeared to be a deceased individual off the shoulder of the interstate north of Mills Civic Parkway.

Police found the body of 38-year-old Stephanie Waddell, of Oskaloosa. The preliminary investigation finds that Waddell may have been hit by a vehicle overnight. The West Des Moines Police Department are still investigating the scene, but said there is no indication of an ongoing threat to the public.

Anyone with information is asked to call the West Des Moines Police Department at 515-222-3399.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House and Senate have voted to let alcohol sales in Iowa to begin two hours earlier on Sunday mornings.  “Creating uniformity across each of the days of the week.” That’s Senator Craig Johnson of Independence, who guided the bill through the Senate. Under current law, a business has to get a special permit to sell alcohol on Sundays, and can’t sell booze before 8 a.m. The bill that passed the House and Senate last week would let Sunday sales begin at 6 a.m. Before 1973, alcohol sales were not allowed in Iowa on Sundays.

It wasn’t until 1992 that beer, wine and liquor could be sold before noon on Sundays. In legislative action this week, Senate Republicans have scheduled a subcommittee hearing today (Monday) on legislation that would implement the tax plan Republican Governor Kim Reynolds introduced last week. Republicans in the HOUSE continue to oppose part of the plan that would cut some property taxes and have the state take over paying for the mental health system. House Speaker Pat Grassley.

“We feel strongly about a lot of the positions that we’re taking,” Grassley says, “or obviously we wouldn’t have taken them.” On Friday, Representative David Maxwell, a Republican from Gibson, expressed his frustration over a House bill that the Senate twice sought to change. “One of the most important things that I think legislators need to have is common sense,” Maxwell said, “and the thing that I have figured out working on this bill is there’s not a whole lot of common sense in this building and there’s virtually none across the rotunda.”

Maxwell’s slap at the Senate drew laughter and clapping from other House members.

The Iowa Department of Public health, Sunday, said there were 141 new COVID-19 positive tests over the previous 24-hours, and one additional death. The total number of COVID-related deaths statewide remains 5,984. The health department reports 397,584 total positive tests since the start of the pandemic. The state’s positivity rates are unchanged from Saturday, with the 14-day rate 3.7%, and the seven-day rate at 3.5%.

COVID hospitalizations across the Iowa continue to slowly decline. As of Sunday, there were 170 hospitalized, 39 persons in an ICU, 21 people were admitted, and 12 were on a ventilator. In RMCC Region 4 (hospitals in western/southwest Iowa), there are 14 COVID patients hospitalized; four are in an ICU; four people were admitted, and no one was on a ventilator.

There have been more than 2.49-million doses of a COVID vaccine administered in Iowa, and nearly 1.18-million persons who have completed their respective vaccination series.

The state reports one Long-Term Care Facility Outbreaks, which is one less than what was reported on Friday. The Urbandale Health Care Center has 19 positive cases among residents and staff,  with 17 total recoveries. The state reports 2,323 care facility deaths since the pandemic began.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County; The # of new cases since yesterday {+} if any; and the total number of deaths in each county to date:
Cass, 1,461 cases; {+0}; 54 deaths
Adair, 983; {+0}; 32
Adams, 350 {+0}; 4
Audubon, 525 {+0}; 10
Guthrie, 1,290 {+0}; 29
Harrison County, 1,925; {+2}; 73
Madison County, 1,754; {+2; 19
Mills County, 1,785; {+1}; 22
Montgomery, 1,109;{+0}; 38
Pottawattamie County, 12,184; {+6}; 168
Shelby County, 1,365 {+1}; 37
Union County, 1,361; {+0}; 33

The CAM School District will hold a public hearing and their regular monthly meeting Monday evening, in the Superintendent’s Office. The regular meeting starts at 5:30-p.m., followed by a Public Hearing at 6:30-p.m., on the proposed 2020-2021 Budget Amendment, as published, and approval of the budget.

During the regular session, the CAM School Board will discuss and/or act on: an Award Audit RFP (Request For Proposal); A 2021-22 Library Services Agreement with Green Hills AEA (GHAEA); and approval of a 2021-22 contract agreement with the CAM Education Association (CAMEA) and Contract for the 2021-22 school year.

The Board will also discuss and possibly act on matters pertaining to district facilities, a Mask mandate, and their 400-Series Board reports.

DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Corrections, Saturday, reported 33-year-old Brandon Allen Mitchell, who was convicted of Willful Injury in Polk County, left the Fort Des Moines Residential Correctional Facility without permission Friday night, and has not returned.

Mitchell is a white male, height 5’9″, and weighs 185 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on March 29, 2021. On a Des Moines television station’s social media post about his escape, Mitchell responded by saying through his social media post, “Lol I didn’t escape they opened the door and let me walk out of it… you guys act like I kicked some walls down and climbed over it.” He said tauntingly, also, that “They know where I’m at they always do someone will do there [sic] job for them.”

Brandon Mitchell

Persons with information on Mitchell’s whereabouts should contact local police.