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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!
The Atlantic City Council has a full slate of action items on their agenda for their 5:30-p.m. meeting at City Hall, on Wed., May 5th. That includes a Mayoral Proclamation that May 2nd through the 9th is Professional Municipal Clerks Week, in Atlantic, as a means of honoring their “Precise organization, record and book-keeping skills,” which without, “The City as a business organization could not function.”
The Council will act on the following orders pertaining to upcoming special events:
The Council will then hold a Public Hearing on the sale of City-owned real estate at 211 W. 6th Street, as discussed in past council meetings. The hearing will be followed by a Resolution calling for the lot to be sold to Jeff Pross, for the sum of $1.00, with the provision he must build and occupy a home valued at $100,000 or more. The Council will also review and act on a recommendation with regard to a bid on City-owned properties at 204 W. 3rd, 202 W. 3rd and 211 Locust Street.
Chuck Templeman has proposed purchasing the lots for $4,810, which is the assessed value, and for the purpose of building a garage estimated to cost $10,000. Templeman owns 209 Locust Street, which is a rental house located to the north of the aforementioned lots. In addition, the Council will review and act on a recommendation for a bid of $650 for City-owned property at 611 Linn Street. The bid from James Hemphill is considerably less than the assessed value ($8,300). Hemphill wants to merge the lot with his property to the north. City Administrator John Lund says he cannot recommend the Council approve the bid, because a $100,000 home is not planned for the proposed lot. Lund says because of that, the policy would require $8,300 for the transaction.
The Council will act on setting a Public Hearing for May 19th, to amend the FY 2021 Budget, and they’ll hold the third and final readings of Ordinances pertaining to the timeframe and removal of snow and vehicles from sidewalks and streets. If approved, the Ordinances as written would reduce from 72-hours to 24-hours following the conclusion of a snow event, to clear sidewalks, and remove vehicles so the plows may clear the streets more effectively.
(Radio Iowa) – Growers planting the traditional corn and bean crops in the state have a pretty conventional process — while industrial hemp growers face a lot more questions. Robin Pruisner from the Iowa Department of Agriculture says there are four options for most hemp growers. “So you have to kind of figure out what you’re growing before you start — which is different from what we have with our normal crops in Iowa. Typically with corn, you raise it and then you can decide if you are going to sell it to a feed mill or an ethanol plant,” She explains. “Hemp is a little more complicated than that and you have to start planning earlier.”
With hemp you can grow it to extract the C-D-B, to create seeds, for grain, or for fiber. Pruisner says the different uses cause growers to use different methods in tending those crops. “You will see an incredibly wide spectrum of fertilization techniques and products out there — with some people not fertilizing at all. Others investing in very specific products to their crop,” Pruisner says. Pruisner says the cost of the inputs used for the crop are also varied. “Depending on whether you plant seed and if it is feminized seed — it can cost a dollar or more a seed. And it can cost a lot less if it is not feminized. And if you are planting clones or seed starts — they can run as high as five dollars a piece. And then you have you labor and planting costs,” Pruisner says.
Weather conditions are a factor for all crops — including hemp. “Once its established, it likes it on the dry side. It is not uncommon to see people irrigating if they are going for the high-value flower crop for extraction,” according to Pruisner. “It is also not uncommon to just see it planted out in the farm field with no irrigation. I really do see it from Alpah to Omega the way people are raising it.” Pruisner says hemp growers do not want wet conditions around harvest time because that can cause the plants to get moldy.
(Radio Iowa) ) The rare and powerful derecho that rampaged across Iowa last August caused extensive damage to hundreds of thousands of trees, but not all of the wind storm’s damage was negative. Billy Beck, a forestry specialist at the Iowa State University Extension, says the state’s woodland owners -can- recover and make their forests even more resilient than before. “We want to treat this as a forest management opportunity,” Beck says, “and not like an insurmountable setback.” Much like a wildfire can help a forest by clearing out dead trees and undergrowth, the derecho has provided the chance to rebuild some of the state’s key woodlands.
Beck notes oak trees, which are important to Iowa’s environment, love the sunlight. “They actually rely on disturbances such as this that open canopies up and expose young seedlings to sunlight to keep their species on the landscape,” Beck says. “If not, if the canopy closes, a lot of other species that love shade, still good trees but not oaks, will creep up in the understory and eventually take over the canopy.” Diversity is vital in a forest, Beck says, and that includes diversity of species, age, size and structure, as well as distribution on the landscape. He says one plot of forest land in Linn County is a good example of how diversity helped during the derecho.
“This particular property had a lot of younger plantings, a lot of middle age plantings, and some older established forests,” Beck says. “The older established forests were hit pretty hard but the younger and middle age stands of trees that were planted were not. So, this person, although they had some damage, has a forest resource for the future because of their management efforts.” Beck is releasing a series of four short YouTube videos that explain how woodland owners can rebuild after the destructive storm. “There’s really no cookbook method to rebound,” Beck says, “so what these four initial videos were really doing is giving folks a general overview of some big concepts to start thinking about, some resources that are out there that can help them, and just some things to keep their eyes open for following storms.”
Next, Beck plans to release several longer videos that offer more detail about how to start over with woodlands. Iowa has nearly three-million acres of forestland, and saw one-and-three-quarter million acres of forests, wind breaks and urban canopies impacted by the derecho. Iowa’s forestry industry supports 18-thousand jobs and pumps nearly five-billion dollars a year into the economy.
Link to the first of four videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkvaCJrLxMo
Police in Council Bluffs are investigating a shooting that took place in the parking lot of the Ameristar Casino early this (Monday) morning. Authorities say at around 2-a.m., officers were dispatched to the casino at 2200 River Road, with regard to a security officer who was out with a man, who had suffered a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Officers spoke with the unidentified victim, who told them he was walking in the parking lot, when a dark colored SUV drove up to him, and someone inside fired a shot at the man. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Anyone with information about the incident and/or who may have been in the area at the time, is encouraged to the the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division, at 712-328-4728, or Crimestoppers at 712-328-7867.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 35-year-old Jorge Alfonso Garcia, Jr., of Glenwood, was arrested Sunday afternoon, following a traffic stop on Highway 34. He was pulled over for speeding 83 mph in a 55 zone, and arrested for Driving While License Revoked. Garcia, Jr. posted a $1,000 bond, and was released.
Police in Red Oak reported two arrests took place, Sunday. Following a traffic stop at around 4-p.m., 45-year-old Misty Schalome Currin, of Red Oak, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension (x4). She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on bond amounting to slightly more than $491. And, at around 4:10-p.m., 31-year-old Dustin Ray Aherns, of Red Oak, was arrested for Driving While Barred. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.
(Radio Iowa) – It’s unclear how much territory in Iowa has no access to broadband service today and experts suggest bandwidth demands will continue to climb statewide. Legislators have agreed on 100 million dollars in state grants to companies for building out broadband networks where none exist or where current speeds are slow. Brian Waller, president of the Technology Association of Iowa, describes broadband as the pipes and the plumbing in the ground that provide internet access.
“But we also see broadband as satellite, cellular and those are going to be the emerging technologies,” Waller says. “That’s why this project will never be done because technology moves so rapidly.” Dave Duncan C-E-O of the Iowa Communications Alliance, says the goalposts keep moving.
“As there’s new technologies, there’s new needs, pretty soon when you think what was good bandwidth and service before now is not quite so adequate because when we move to all kinds of new whether it’s holographic or 3D or new technologies, it’s going to require yet even more bandwidth,” he says. Most of the new state grants are for broadband projects that provide upload and download speeds for 100 megabits per second. Duncan says that’s as close to “future proof” as possible.
Duncan and Waller made their comments on this weekend’s “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S.
One person is dead and another was injured, during an ATV accident Sunday evening, in eastern Iowa’s Delaware County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2020 ATV occupied by the driver, 25-year-old Hannah Lea Koloc, and her passenger, 32-year-old Jordan Gerald Cabalka, both of Edgewood, was traveling eastbound on WoodEdge Drive near Edgwood, when the vehicle failed to negotiate a curve.
When the ATV rolled over, both occupants were ejected. The accident happened at around 7:55-p.m. Cabalka, who was wearing a seat belt, died from his injuries. Koloc was transported by ambulance to the local hospital. The Delaware and Clayton County Sheriff’s Offices, Edgewood and Greeley Fire Departments and Edgewood Ambulance, and Air Care, assisted at the scene.
Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report the arrest on Saturday afternoon, of 21-year-old Austin Dallas Houston, from Bellevue, Nebraska. He was taken into custody following a traffic stop for speeding 78 mph in a 55 mph zone. Houston was also charged with Failure to Yield to an Emergency Vehicle, and Driving While License revoked. He later posted bond, and was released.
The Iowa Department of Public health on Sunday, reported 369 new COVID-19 positive tests and two additional deaths. At 10 a.m., the health department reported 395,189 total positive tests, 347,966 total recoveries and 5,952 total deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Iowa reports 2,363,435 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered and 1,083,955 have completed the vaccine series. The state’s 14-day and 7-day positivity rate is at 3.9%. Health department data shows 4,822,302 tests have been administered.
There are now 179 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, down from 189 the previous day. Iowa reports 42 patients in ICU and 19 patients on ventilators. In RMCC Region 4 (hospitals in western/southwest Iowa): 18 COVID patients are hospitalized; 10 remain in an ICU; there was no one admitted with symptoms of the virus, and two people remain on a ventilator.
None of Iowa’s long-term care facilities report COVID-19 outbreaks. The state reports 2,317 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, 1,456 cases; {+2}; 54 deaths
Adair, 980; {+0}; 32
Adams, 349 {+0}; 4
Audubon, 518 {+0}; 9
Guthrie, 1,283 {+0}; 29
Harrison County, 1,924; {+6}; 73
Madison County, 1,725; {+8; 19
Mills County, 1,779; {+2}; 21
Montgomery, 1,103;{+0}; 37
Pottawattamie County, 12,093; {+24}; 165
Shelby County, 1,359 {+0}; 37
Union County, 1,355; {+6}; 32
Police in Red Oak arrested two men at a bar early this (Sunday) morning. Officers were called at around 2-a.m. to TAP Bar in the 400 block of E. Reed Street, for a reported fight. Upon their arrival and further investigation, officers arrested 29-year-old Cameron Allen Crismon and 24-year-old Kyle Andrew Nicholson, on charges of Disorderly Conduct Fight, a simple misdemeanor. The men were transported to the Montgomery County Jail, and held on $300 bond, each.
Sheriff’s Deputies were assisted at the scene by personnel with the Red Oak Fire Department.