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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa, today (Thursday), announced that a federal search warrant was executed this morning, at a home on the 100 block of Ehrig Avenue in Treynor. The search at this residence was an official law enforcement action involving agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are unaware of any safety risk to the public.
Authorities say this is an ongoing investigation and no other information will be released at this time.
(Radio Iowa) – A new state policy bans family, friends and third parties from sending books to inmates in Iowa’s prisons, and it’s raising civil rights concerns among loved ones and advocates. Veronica Fowler, spokeswoman for the A-C-L-U of Iowa, says limiting inmates’ access only to books they buy themselves from state-approved vendors undermines their rights to freedom of expression. “The freedom to read is so closely linked to the freedom of thought and the freedom to learn,” Fowler says, “and no matter what your position is in our society, we should not be limiting that, within reason.”
For people serving time, books have long been a means of education and connection, a way to understand themselves and the outside world. James Tager is the research director at PEN America, a literature and human rights advocacy group. “All of this is fundamental to the human experience, which is to say it’s fundamental to human dignity,” Tager says. “That’s what we’re talking about when we’re talking about access to literature. And that’s what is affected by this provision that seems to dramatically restrict access to literature for incarcerated Iowans.”
The new policy also appears to cut off access to nonprofits which are dedicated to sending books to inmates. Loved ones say the change will result in significant cost increases that for some will be prohibitive. The Department of Corrections says the policy is needed due to an increase in contraband entering the prisons with books. Similar bans in other states have prompted legal challenges and public outcry.
(reporting by Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)
(Radio Iowa) – For the second time this year, the Iowa Senate has voted to remove the time limit for filing criminal charges against people accused of sexually abusing children. Under current law, victims of child sex abuse have until their 33rd birthday to file criminal charges. Senate President Jake Chapman, a Republican from Adel, says criminals should always be held accountable. “Whether it’s five days from the time of their crime or 50 years from the date of the crime, someone who has committed sexual abuse against a minor should not get a free pass simply because within an arbitrary deadline,” Chapman said.
Chapman says legislators need to act now. “There’s a group of Iowans who have not received the protection they deserve,” Chapman said, “and while we are too late for many Iowans, it’s never too late to do the right thing.” Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, has been trying for years to get rid of THIS time limitation on CRIMINAL charges as well as the one that forbids child sex abuse victims from filing civil lawsuits seeking damages once they’ve reached their 33rd birthday. “The line in the sand is based on someone’s birthday,” Petersen says, “…the line drawn on justice.”
Senators unanimously voted to attach the legislation on criminal charges for child sex abuse to a different bill after their original bill on the subject failed to pass the House. It’s now up to the House to decide whether this proposal becomes law in 2021.
(Des Moines) – The Iowa Department of Public Health, Thursday (Today), reported there were 543 additional positive COVID-19 cases, for a pandemic total of 394,001, and one additional death, for a statewide total of 5,931 since the start of the pandemic. Deaths at long-term care facilities in Iowa account for 2,313 of the total number of deaths statewide.
Iowa’s positivity rate data show the 14-day average is 4.0%, and the 7-day average is 3.9%. Virus hospitalization data from the past 24-hours show: 184 hospitalized; 37 persons were admitted; 44 patients are in ICU (an increase of 7 from Wed.), and 25 patients are on ventilators. In RMCC Region 4 (hospitals in western/southwest Iowa): 17 COVID patients are hospitalized; 10 are in an ICU; three people were admitted with symptoms of the virus, and there are now four people on a ventilator.
Vaccinations administered as of Thursday total more than 2.28-million, and more than one-million persons have had their vaccination series completed.
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, 1,450 cases; {+3}; 54 deaths
Adair, 980; {+2}; 32
Adams, 346 {+1}; 4
Audubon, 518 {+2}; 9
Guthrie, 1,280 {+4}; 29
Harrison County, 1,912; {+0}; 73
Madison County, 1,708; {+4; 19
Mills County, 1,772; {+1}; 21
Montgomery, 1,099;{+2}; 37
Pottawattamie County, 12,030; {+15}; 164
Shelby County, 1,355 {+2}; 37
Union County, 1,324; {+3}; 32
The Griswold School Board is expected to decide in the coming days, who will succeed Billy Hiatt as Middle School/High School Principal. The Board met Wednesday night and interviewed in separate closed sessions, three finalists out of 18 who had applied for the job. Hiatt had earlier announced his resignation from the post. The finalists each spent an hour with each group made up of School Board members, Administrators, and Community members.
In other business, the Griswold School Board, Wednesday, agreed to continue with the current face mask policy, which calls for masks/face coverings to be worn during school hours while in the school building, and during times when students are being transported by district vehicles.
The Board encourages the public to wear face coverings when they are in school buildings, during times that coverings would otherwise not be required.
The Iowa Department of Transportation, this week, is focusing on the safety of our workers in work zones and getting you through those areas without incident. However, work zones aren’t the only dangerous place to be on the roadway. A stalled vehicle may not be viewed as a major safety hazard. But the Iowa DOT conducted a three-year study and found that 759 crashes occurred near or with stalled/abandoned vehicles. These crashes resulted in 16 fatalities and 249 injuries.
No one leaves on a trip expecting their vehicle to have a breakdown or be involved in a crash. Being stranded on the side of the road, especially a busy interstate in a metro area can rattle even the most seasoned traveler and become as shown above can be a major safety hazard for both you and your fellow travelers. So if you find yourself on the side of the road in the Des Moines, Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Council Bluffs, or Quad City metro areas, you just might find one of our Highway Helpers coming to assist you.
The Iowa Department of Transportation began the Highway Helper program in Des Moines and has since expanded to three additional metro areas. Highway Helper services can clear debris from the road and quickly address the needs of stranded motorists by providing jump starts, tire changes, up to two gallons of fuel, and transportation to a safe location. In addition, each truck is equipped to provide traffic control and quick clearance for emergency responders.
To best serve motorists, Highway Helper vehicles are on patrol during normal service hours in high traffic volume corridors looking for motorists needing assistance. Service hours are generally during the morning and afternoon rush and the daytime hours between. However, our Highway Helpers are also patrolling during special events that can have the tendency to increase traffic. In addition to regularly patrolling the heaviest traveled metro roadways, operators in Iowa DOT’s Traffic Management Center utilize hundreds of traffic cameras around the state to identify stranded motorists and dispatch a Highway Helper when needed.
What to do if you’re stranded on the side of the road.
Any unexpected object on or alongside the road can cause a traffic slowdown, which increases the chances of a crash. For many of us, a flat tire, running out of gas, or having another issue that may leave us stranded on the side of the road is not a common occurrence and we may not know what to do. Here are a few tips.
Stalled vehicles can cause significant traffic issues
If your vehicle has a flat tire, runs out of gas, or has stalled for another reason, having a Highway Helper respond and help can get you back on the road so you don’t put yourself in danger by trying to fix the problem yourself or abandoning your vehicle alongside the road to get help elsewhere. If a Highway Helper is assisting you, the safest place for you to be is in your vehicle with your seat belt fastened.
At a crash scene, the Highway Helper can assist law enforcement by positioning a vehicle near the end of the initial traffic back up with their lights flashing. This can help alert drivers coming near the scene that they need to slow down and pay extra attention in the area with the goal of reducing additional crashes.
Why keeping traffic moving is important
When managing traffic incidents like stalled vehicles or crashes, every minute counts. Research has shown that for every minute a lane is blocked, the risk of another crash in the same area increases by 2.8 percent. For an incident that blocks a lane for longer than 30 minutes, the likelihood of a secondary crash is very high and secondary crashes are often more serious than the initial incident.
So whether that’s debris on the road, a stalled vehicle, or a crash, having the Highway Helpers available to quickly resolve the issue keeps traffic moving more reliably and creates a safer commute for everyone.
AMES, Iowa – April 29, 2021 – Iowa Department of Transportation crews have shifted from plowing snow to spring and summer maintenance activities like patching potholes and painting road markings. These activities often take DOT crews out of their trucks onto the roadway, dangerously close to speeding traffic. To help reduce the risk to those crews and everyone else who is on the road, the DOT employs a number of safety practices, including the use of audible attenuators on short-term, stationary, or slow-moving maintenance operations. The attenuators are designed to warn drivers of crews ahead and take the impact of a crash if a driver does not slow down or move over for the crew.
An attenuator is a trailer that is pulled behind a truck equipped with flashing lights and signage signaling the presence of crews. If a driver does not appear to slow down or move over for the crew, the attenuator operator has the ability to turn on additional flashing lights that shine at a higher frequency. If a driver is still not responding to the extra lighting, the attenuator operator can then activate an audible sound in a final attempt to get the attention of the driver.
VIDEO – https://youtu.be/TLM7G6sqgrY
The DOT says instances of crews being hit are an ongoing problem. In 2020, there were five crews hit and two members of the DOT family lost their lives. So far in 2021, there’s already been four crews hit by motorists. Brad Fleming of our Maintenance Bureau says the number of trucks being hit is impacting the willingness of employees to drive the attenuator trucks. He said, “Our crews have a sense of duty to get the job done. They are dedicated to their work, but we have very few employees who haven’t seen or been involved in a near-miss or a crash due to an inattentive driver.” When drivers aren’t paying attention, sounding the audible attenuator is designed to be loud enough to get the attention of the driver and has the added benefit of signaling to everyone around that the crew is in imminent danger of being hit.
Fleming added “Although you may not be aware of these audible attenuators, they are very similar to fire or law enforcement sirens. We recognize the sound from the attenuator has the potential to be disruptive to those in the area. We hope that those that are hearing the sound recognize the value it brings to the safety of our crews and treat the disruption like sounds they would hear from other emergency response vehicles. Just like those sirens, these audible warnings are used to increase the safety of not only our crews but all of those who share the road Our crews don’t like the loud sound any more than others in the area. That’s why we reserve its use for when we feel it could be a life or death situation.”
The Iowa DOT currently has 39 audible attenuator systems in place and 32 more systems should be in place this year. Each system is built by Iowa DOT staff and costs approximately $10,000. While the current systems are manually triggered by an operator driving the attenuator truck, Fleming says testing will begin this spring on an automated version of the system that will be triggered when a vehicle approaches a work zone too quickly or too closely.
Creston Police, Thursday, arrested a man and a woman on separate charges. Authorities say 45-year-old Michael John Palmer, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on a charge of Theft in the 5th Degree. He later posted bond, and was released from the Union County Jail. And, 34-year-old April Marie Roberts, of Creston, was arrested Wednesday at 122 Manor Drive, on a charge of Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree. She was cited at the scene, and released on a promise to appear in court.
The 7:07-a.m. broadcast News w/Ric Hanson.
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A woman from Shenandoah faces charges after two children were found wandering the streets, Tuesday. According to Shenandoah Police, 21-year-old Callysta Deann Griffin was arrested late Tuesday morning on a child endangerment charge. She was taken into custody after authorities received a call at around 10:30-a.m., with regard to two toddlers seen in the middle of the 200 block of West Sheridan Avenue without an adult present.
Officers later located Griffin, the children’s parent, at her home several blocks away from where the children were found. Griffin was released from the Page County Jail on a $2,000 bond, and was ordered to report at a later date, in front of a judge.