The Cass County Board of Supervisors will hold their regular, weekly meeting, beginning at 8:30-a.m. Wednesday, in their courthouse boardroom, in Atlantic. During their session, the Board will hear a reports and FY2019 request for funding, from the Cass County Committee on Aging. They are also expected to receive quarterly reports from Micah Lee, with Cass County Conservation, and Mitch Holmes, with Cass County Veterans Affairs.

In other business, the Board will act on approving a 28-E (cost sharing) agreement with the Guthrie County Board of Health, for the sharing of environmental health services in Cass County. They are also expected to act on renewing a lease agreement with Marne & Elk Horn Telephone Company, which grants METC the right to install, maintain and operate certain equipment on the Courthouse Tower, and, in lieu of rent, provide a high speed internet connections and internet services, to the courthouse.

The Supervisors will also act on appointments to fill vacancies on the Southern Iowa Regional Housing Authority and Pymosa Township Trustee position. And, they Board of Supervisors are expected to act on setting the dates for hearings on an Ordinance authorizing the operation of all-terrain vehicles (ATV’s) and off-road utility vehicles (UTV’s), on county roadways and trails.

January is known in some legal circles as “divorce month” as couples in Iowa and many other states flock to untie the knot. Attorney Scott Trout, C-E-O of the law firm Cordell & Cordell — with offices in Des Moines and Omaha/Council Bluffs, says it’s easy for some people to get caught up in the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and think relationships are going fine.”But once the clock strikes midnight on January 1, the real-life problems start piling up again and reality kicks in and they realize it’s not going to work,” Trout says.

It’s unfortunate, but he says once the new year arrives, some people resolve to make a big change, which often means dissolving a marriage. Trout says, “They give it a go but then we see this huge increase and spike in divorce rates starting in January and carrying all the way and peaking into March.” While January is the most popular month for divorce, it’s also tops for people signing up on dating websites, and it’s no coincidence. Trout says if you’re facing a looming divorce, do yourself a favor and avoid Facebook, Instagram and all other social media.

“Fifty-one or two-percent of the divorce attorneys are utilizing social media in their cases in trials, whether it be posts about bashing your ex or bragging about a job you claim you don’t have or vacations,” Trout says. “There is a treasure trove of information on social media.” Trout says the divorce rate is over 51-percent and marriage rates are falling.

(Radio Iowa)

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports a man was arrested Sunday evening for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense and Interference with Official Acts, after he allegedly assaulted his 35-year old wife, in Carson. Officials say 38-year old Adam Charles Woods, of Carson, reportedly resisted attempts to arrest him. Deputies used a stun gun and then physically restrained Woods before transporting him to the Pott. County Jail.

Deputies early Sunday morning, arrested a Council Bluffs man on charges that include Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense (2 pill bottles containing 4 1/2 morphine pills), Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (2 pipes, a digital scale, a grinder and baggies), as well as Theft in the 5th degree (for allegedly stealing license plates from a vehicle belonging to a Council Bluffs resident). 34-year old Donald Clayton Hosack, Jr., of Council Bluffs, was arrested following a traffic stop at around 3-a.m. Sunday, near Tremont Street and Old Lincoln Highway, in Crescent.

Early Saturday morning, 22-year old Matthew James McPhillips, of Honey Creek, was arrested after he crashed the 2017 Pontiac Sunfire he was driving. The car entered a corn field at Old Lincoln Highway and Page Lane. McPhillips fled the scene and was later located at his parents’ house in the 28,000 block of 185th Street, in Honey Creek.  McPhillips was taken into custody for OWI/2nd offense. Also arrested early Saturday morning, was 40-year old Carlos Hernandez-Navarrete, of Omaha. He was pulled over on Interstate 80 near the 12 mile marker, after his 2017 Chevy Silverado was observed swerving all over the road. Hernandez-Navarrete was arrested for OWI/1st Offense.

Friday night, Pott. County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 38-year old Chad Steven Carl Rains, of Crescent. Rains was arrested at a residence in Crescent, for Domestic Abuse Assault for an incident involving his 37-year girlfriend, during which suffered from apparent, minor injuries.

Nebraska man was arrested last Thursday night, after a deputy stopped to check on a vehicle with its flashers on at 390th/Highway 92. The driver, 54-year old Gregory P. Nice, of Omaha, admitted to the Deputy that he had used methamphetamine about 20-minutes prior, and was showing signs of impairment. Records showed Nice was driving on a revoked Nebraska license. He was taken into custody without incident on charges of OWI/1st Offense, and No Driver’s License.

A reported accident Thursday night resulted in the arrest of a Nebraska man’s arrest for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st Offense. 27-year old Maxwell Robert Krueger, of Lincoln, NE, was arrested following an investigation into an unknown/possible injury accident at 10204 Wabash Avenue. The car Krueger was driving – a Kia Optima – was found in a field near the address mentioned. Authorities found a marijuana pipe during their search of the vehicle, and a clear jar with marijuana, and a bag with 6.3-grams of pot.

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

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According to the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), reported cases of gonorrhea are increasing quickly in Iowa. Preliminary Iowa data indicate 3,600 cases of gonorrhea in 2017. This would be a 145 percent increase since 2013. There were 2,600 cases reported in 2016. In Iowa, increases are occurring in both women and men and the rate of increase is higher among men. This likely signals an increase among men who have sex with men. About 80 percent of diagnoses are among persons 15 to 34 years of age.

Additionally, there continue to be disproportionate rates among Iowa’s black/African American populations. Despite making up about 3.5 percent of the Iowa’s population, just under 30 percent of the gonorrhea diagnoses occur among black/African American populations. By comparison, about 60 percent of the diagnoses are among white populations and they make up about 91 percent of Iowa’s population.

“Numerous studies over the years have demonstrated that higher rates of STDs among certain populations indicate that some combination of social forces are at work. Factors like neighborhood location, economic opportunity, income, rates of incarceration and even the number of alcohol outlets in particular neighborhoods have been associated with higher rates of STDs in some populations,” said IDPH STD Program Manager George Walton. “Further analysis is needed to determine which factors are most important in Iowa for each population that is disproportionately affected.”

For more information about gonorrhea, visit https://www.cdc.gov/std/Gonorrhea/.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 32-year-old man has been imprisoned being for drunk when his pickup truck rammed into a semitrailer on Interstate 80 in Polk County, killing his passenger. The sentence of 15 years was handed down Friday in a Des Moines courtroom to Michael Wright, of Ankeny. He’d pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide-reckless driving and to driving while intoxicated-third or subsequent offense.

The accident occurred April 23, 2016. The Iowa State Patrol says Wright changed lanes and hit the semi. His pickup hit a guardrail and went airborne, ejecting Wright and the passenger, 44-year-old Susannah Thompson. She was pronounced dead at the scene. He was briefly hospitalized.

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

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For the second time in less than a week, a female from Creston has reported the theft of an Apple Watch from their school locker. Thursday night, a woman reported her son’s Apple Watch was taken from a locker at the Creston High School. The incident happened sometime between 4:30-and 6:30-p.m., Thursday. The watch was valued at $250. On Friday, a female from Creston reported to Police that sometime between 4:30-and 7-p.m. Thursday, someone stole a Series 1, black, Apple Smart Watch from her locker, at school. The watch was valued at $250. No arrests have been reported.

Sioux City’s 185th Iowa Air National Guard Refueling Wing has received a special honor. Base Commander Colonel Larry Christensen announced at the 185th Headquarters that they’d won the “Outstanding Unit Award.” He says the award is not only a reflection on the unit, but also the community and the support they give. Christensen says this is the 9th time the unit has earned the award, and this one is for the 2015 to 2016 time period. Christensen says that seems like a long time ago, but he says it takes them some time to evaluate the units.

The 185th’s main mission is mid-air refueling, flying and maintaining eight K-C-135R Stratotanker aircraft. They have personnel stationed all over the world on a constant rotational basis and some will soon go on a new mission: “We’re currently in South America, Africa, the Middle East, but we shift every once in a while. And we are going to have a shift here shortly,” Christensen says. “We’ll continue to deploy where we are at, but we will also move over towards the Pacific, over towards Guam,” Christensen says.

The 185th Air Guard unit is comprised of over 900 full and part time members.

(Radio Iowa)

A recent study finds opioid addiction is hitting farm families much harder than the rest of rural America and a new outreach campaign is targeting those populations in Iowa and elsewhere. Will Rodger, director of policy communication for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says the research found 74-percent of farmers and ranchers may have a problem themselves or they know someone who’s already hooked. Rodger says, “Most of them are going to know somebody who is strung out on drugs or who is trying to get clean, one way or the other.”

The survey by the Farm Bureau and the National Farmers Union found that rural adults do recognize opioid abuse can start accidentally with the use of what are deemed as “safe” painkillers. “We’re not talking about recreational drugs,” Rodger says. “We’re talking about folks who have fallen into addiction through little or no fault of their own. They got injured, they started on a course of opioids and for whatever reason, whether it’s bad treatment or genetic susceptibility or a combination of the two, they’ve gotten to the point that they can’t get off the drugs.”

The campaign called “Farm Town Strong” provides resources for those in rural America who need help battling opioid addiction. “It puts together a number of resources that people can turn to so that if they do have an addiction problem or know someone who does, they can get ahold of people who can give them treatment, help them with prevention, folks who can serve as sounding boards so they can figure out what their next step needs to be to get well again,” Rodger says.

The leaders of the Farm Bureau and the Farmers Union are holding discussions on overcoming the opioid crisis at the bureau’s annual convention, underway through Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee.
More info. at FarmTownStrong.org

(Radio Iowa)