The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports one person was arrested, early Tuesday north of Avoca. 50-year old Michele Renee McKern was taken into custody for OWI/2nd offense, after a Deputy responded at around 1:30-a.m. to Wings America, to meet with Shelby County Deputies, in connection with a wanted person.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Officials with the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, Tuesday, announced the retirement of K-9 “Rage.” Rage, whose handler was shot in the line of service last fall, has served the citizens of Guthrie County for almost 8 years. The Belgian Shepherd has developed age-related hip problems, and will enjoy life on the farm with her former handler. The Sheriff’s Office says Rage put in many hours fighting the war on drugs. She was a valuable asset in the fight against illegal drug usage for Guthrie County. Over the years Rage also did several building searches and engaged in tracking criminals. Rage will be missed by all of us at the Sheriffs Office.

Guthrie County K9 “Rage”

With her retirement, the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office is in the process of obtaining two, new, dual-purpose K-9’s, in continuance and enhancement of the fight against drugs and crime. The new K-9’s will be used for a variety of patrol duties, will engage in criminal tracking and apprehension, premises searches, finding lost persons, and assisting neighboring law enforcement departments as needed. They will also be used for education and outreach.

Sheriff Marty Arganbright says the Sheriff’s Office is looking for monetary donations to sponsor the K9 program. Any funds received will be used directly for the purchase of the new K9’s, handler training, and any future expenses the program may incur. If you would like to support the program, make your tax-deductible donations directly to the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, either in-person or by mail. Checks may be made payable to the:

Guthrie County K-9 Fund, C/O Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office

200 N. 5th Street

Guthrie Center, Iowa 50115

Three people were arrested on separate charges Tuesday, in Creston. Authorities say 36-year old Ray Brunner, of Creston, was arrested at his home, for Simple Assault. Brunner was cited and issued a summons to appear (in court). 37-year old Jaime Torres, of Creston, was arrested at the Creston Dollar Tree Store, Tuesday, on a Union County warrant for Violation of a Protective Order. Torres was being held in the Union County Jail while awaiting a bond hearing.

And, 36-year old Jonathan Jackson, of Orangeburg, SC, was arrested Tuesday night at the Dollar General Store in Creston, for Theft in the 5th Degree. Jackson was cited at the scene and released on a summons to appear.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) – Republican Governor Kim Reynolds is joining other governors in calling on congress to approve more pandemic relief. “It’s time for congress to come together and get a relief package passed and get some relief to our small businesses and Iowa families who are suffering,” Reynolds says. Some states are providing direct aid on their own. Colorado’s legislature has reconvened in special session this week to provide emergency relief to businesses and individuals. Reynolds does not plan to do that in Iowa. She says the federal government should.

“Unfortunately, there’s just not enough state funding to make everybody whole and that’s just a reality of what we’re dealing with, because not only are our businesses impacted, but also the supply chain,” Reynolds says. “They need to step up, they need to do their job, they need to come together and get it figured out and get relief sent to the states for our small businesses and Iowans that are suffering from Covid-19.” Reynolds says there’s still a portion of the one-point-two BILLION dollars of federal CARES Act money sent to the State of Iowa this spring that has not yet been spent, although she did not specify how much. The money must be spent before the end of the year and Reynolds says she and her staff are meeting to determine how it will be used.

Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell says he’s sticking with his scaled-back COVID-19 relief bill with the goal of passing a significant down payment during the lame-duck session and then revisiting the topic next year. The Kentucky Republican made the announcement after President-elect Joe Biden called upon lawmakers to follow a similar path. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resumed talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about a year-end spending package that could include COVID-19 relief provisions. Yet it’s unclear whether the flurry of activity will lead to progress.

A vacancy for Treasurer in Montgomery County was filled Tuesday by the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors. The position opened up when former County Treasurer Tera Hughes submitted her resignation effective on November 6^th, after announcing she would be moving out of the County. Jackie Porter was selected for the position after three candidates were interviewed on Monday. Porter has been employed by the Motor Vehicle Department for several years.

Auditor Stephanie Burke says Montgomery County citizens may request a special election by filing a petition containing 397 signatures 14 days after the appointment or 14 days after the publication.

Iowa’s Coronavirus dashboard today (10-a.m., Wednesday), indicates there are 2,964 new, Positive cases of COVID-19, and 22 additional deaths. The total number of Positive cases since the beginning of the pandemic, amount to 233,866. Deaths total 2,449. The IDPH says one more death was reported in Cass County, for a total of 24, and in Pottawattamie County, where the total number of deaths stands at 71. Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities report 1,075 deaths, and deaths attributed in-part to preexisting conditions number 1,337.

After increasing for a day, hospitalizations fell from 1,172 Tuesday to 1,162, today. Health officials say 226 COVID patients are in an ICU (Compared to 235 Tuesday), 181 were admitted (Compared to 129 Tuesday), and 131 patients are on a ventilator. Hospitals in southwest/western Iowa (RMCC Region 4) report: 62 hospitalized;  20 are in an ICU; four were admitted, and eight COVID patients are on a ventilator.

Long-Term Care facility outbreaks are up to a record, 163. The IDPH says 5,105 patients/staff have tested positive; 2,265 have tested negative. Area LTC data show: 214 positive cases and 132 recoveries at the three facilities in Cass County; 113 positive and 23 recovered in Shelby County (2 facilities); 139 positive and 120 recovered in Harrison County (1 facility); and 235 positive cases along with 89 recoveries at three LTC’s in Pottawattamie County.

Iowans who have recovered from the virus number 142,249, while 1,222,572 have been tested, to-date. There were 5,593 lab results returned yesterday, with 4,377 negative results and 1,154 positive. The individual positivity rate is 19.1%, and the 14-day rolling average is down from 17.1 to 16.9%. Cass County’s positivity rate is down from 18.4 to 16.8%. A total of 986, 510 negative results have been returned since the pandemic began.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases in each county, along with the 24-hour change in case numbers {+#}; the number of persons recovered, and the total number of [deaths] (if any), since the pandemic began,

• Cass, 825 cases {+5}; 527 recovered; 24 deaths
• Adair, 445 {+3}; 253; 8
• Adams, 177 {+6}; 93; 2
• Audubon, 302 {+2}; 214; 2
• Guthrie, 768 {+4); 473; 15
• Harrison County, 1,106 {+19}; 757; 30
• Madison County, 713 {+18}; 425; 4
• Mills County, 1,078 {+14}; 556; 7
• Montgomery, 491 {+8}; 238; 11
• Pottawattamie County, 6,573 {+128]; 3,804; 71
• Shelby County, 784 {+11}; 471; 11
• Union County,  808 {+26}; 317; 6

A traffic stop at around 1:50-a.m. today (Wednesday), in Red Oak, resulted in two people being arrested on drug charges. Red Oak Police stopped a vehicle near Summit and Boundary Streets, and after an investigation, arrested 53-year old Charles Samuel Williams, of Villisca, for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. 55-year old Stephanie Lee Hightshoe, also of Villisca, was arrested on three counts of unlawful possession of prescription drugs and possession of paraphernalia. Both were being held in the Montgomery County Jail, with bonds set at $300 and $1,000, respectively.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies assisted in the arrests.

(Radio Iowa/KJAN) – State Climatologist Justin Glisan says preliminary data shows a statewide average of two inches of precipitation fell in Iowa last month. While that’s exactly what’s average for November, Glisan says precipitation amounts were far below average in northwest Iowa. “We saw precipitation departures of anywhere from one to two inches,” Glisan says. That means some areas of northwest Iowa, where there are drought conditions, recorded little, if any precipitation last month. On the flip side, south central and south east Iowa were much wetter.

“We kind of had the storm track locked on that part of the state,” he says. “That’s where we saw the largest positive departures, anywhere from 1.5 to 2 inches.” That means some pockets of southern Iowa had twice as much rain as average. Glisan says due to a lack of precipitation over the past three to six months, a few counties in northwest iowa are in extreme drought.

“You can kind of cut Iowa in half, typically right down I-35. Anywhere east of that we’re above average precipitation wise and anywhere west of that we’re below average and that’s where we see…abnormally dry conditions all the way to the extreme drought conditions up in that northwest corner.”

Based on astronomy, winter starts on December 21st, but based on climatology and meteorology, December 1st is the first day of winter. Glison says that means the drought conditions are likely to persist. “Drier soils will freeze faster and they’ll freeze deeper,” Glisan says. “If we get into a cold period in which we dip below freezing for a good amount of time and the soils freeze, any precipitation in the form of rain or snowfall getting into a melt period will not infiltrate into that soil very deep, if at all.” The other factor is subsoil moisture is depleted, especially in western Iowa. Temperatures in Iowa averaged five degrees above normal for the month of November.

“Typically when we do see warmer temperatures along with these windy days that we’ve had, especially in November, that produces atmospheric demand for water vapor,” Glisan says. And that exacerbated evaporation of what moisture there had been in the soil. Glisan says the short term outlook is for warmer and drier than normal conditions in December for the western three quarters of the United States.