MILWAUKEE (AP) — A SkyWest flight from Iowa to Detroit made an emergency landing in Milwaukee after a sudden loss of cabin pressure. SkyWest spokeswoman Marissa Snow tells the Journal Sentinel the plane with 38 passengers and three crew members landed safely at about 8 a.m. Thursday. She says a female passenger received treatment at a hospital because of pain in her ear, but later resumed her travels. The flight left from Cedar Rapids at about 7 a.m.

Snow says the passengers continued their trip on a different plane while mechanical crews investigated what caused the loss in cabin pressure. The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The homesharing platform “Air B-n-B” is reporting outstanding growth in Iowa during 2017. Ben Breit (BRITE), spokesman for the hospitality company’s Midwest division, says the popularity of the program is bounding week after week, month after month. “Iowa hosts and homeowners earned a combined $5.8-million, with Des Moines leading the way, but with a lot of other strong results in other cities, particularly Iowa City,” Breit says, “and they welcomed 60,000 guests.”  Both figures are a big jump from just a year ago, as more people become aware of the service and sign on. “This more than doubled the results from 2016,” Breit says, “so we really are seeing tremendous growth in the state of Iowa.”

There are now just under 11-hundred Iowa hosts who share their homes via Air B-n-B. Breit says they typically earn about 36-hundred dollars a year in supplemental income from home sharing. Users of Air B-n-B usually like to get off the beaten path and don’t want to be confined just to big cities and hotel districts. “They want to be able to experience new neighborhoods that maybe don’t have hotels, or they want to get out to more rural areas of the state where entire counties sometimes don’t have hotels,” Breit says. “They’re looking for new experiences, authentic experiences and that’s what this platform provides.”

Des Moines was the top Air B-n-B city in Iowa with more than 11-thousand guests during the year, while hosts earned one-point-one million dollars. Iowa City was the number-two city, followed by Decorah, Dubuque and Ames. The fastest-growing demographic for hosts in the Midwest is older people. “Commonly empty nesters, their kids have grown up and left the home, now they have an extra empty room or two or three just sitting there,” Breit says. “Five years ago, they would’ve been collecting dust. Now, a lot of these seniors are realizing they have an economic opportunity on their hands.”

Hosts keep 97-percent of the room rates with three-percent going to Airbnb for facilitating the transaction. In addition to the new income going into the pockets of hosts, the state of Iowa is generating new revenue through a tax agreement announced in October. It allows Airbnb to collect and submit taxes on behalf of its hosts for all Iowa bookings. This deal covers state sales taxes as well as local, county and municipal hotel taxes.

(Radio Iowa)

More people have died in fire-related incidents in Iowa this year than any year since 1993. Ron Humphrey, a special agent with the Iowa State Fire Marshal’s office, says the tentative fire fatality count for 2017 has climbed to 53. “We’ve confirmed 38, but I’ve got 15 that are still in the ‘unconfirmed’ category because we’re waiting on autopsies, confirmations from fire departments, or other reasons,” Humphrey told Radio Iowa.

Two fires within the last week in eastern Iowa’s Scott County killed nine people, including four children. Two more people were killed in a school bus fire near Oakland on December 12. “Tentatively, we’ve had about 20 fatalities since Thanksgiving, including the multiple fatalities in Davenport and Blue Grass in the last week,” Humphrey said.

The fire in Davenport on December 21 killed a 23-year-old woman and her four children; ages 5, 4, 2, and 9 months. Investigators said their mobile home did not have a working smoke detector. According to Humphrey, more than half of Iowa’s fatal fires involve homes where a working smoke detector could’ve potentially saved lives.

“Usually, there’s a nonworking smoke detector, or they’re not present, or there’s so much damage that we’re just not able to tell if there was a smoke detector in there working or not,” Humphrey said.

The 53 (tentative) fire-related fatalities in Iowa this year compares to 47 last year and 31 in 2015. This year’s unconfirmed total is more than double the 26 fire deaths in 2013.

(Radio Iowa)

(Update) — A traffic stop late Thursday night, in Atlantic, resulted in a foot pursuit and the arrest of 29-year old Justin Patton, of Atlantic. Iowa DOT Enforcement Officer Brian Rink was making the stop at around 10:30-p.m. Thursday, when Patton took off on foot.  Cass County Deputy Tyler Shiels was dispatched to the vicinity of 10th and Oak Streets, where the foot pursuit was underway. Shiels and his K9 partner were deployed and located Patton, who was taken into custody and brought to the Cass County Jail.

(AP) — As a deep freeze sets in across half the country, officials are urging people to help those most vulnerable, especially the homeless and the elderly. Forecasters are warning people to be wary of hypothermia and frostbite from the arctic blast that’s gripping a large swath from the Midwest to the Northeast.

The prolonged, dangerous cold weather has sent advocates for the homeless scrambling to get people off the streets and to bring in extra beds for them. Health officials say older people are at increased risk from such severe cold, from medication side effects to falling risks. They encouraged people to check on family members, friends and neighbors.

Animal advocates are urging people to remember their pets and not to leave them outside.

BLUE GRASS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have released the names of four family members killed by an early Christmas morning house fire in eastern Iowa. The blaze erupted a little after 12:30 a.m. Monday in Blue Grass. The Scott County Sheriff’s Office identified three of them as 71-year-olds Larry Loose Sr. and Rose Loose and their 36-year-old son, Steven Loose. They were pronounced dead at the scene. A second son, 35-year-old Michael Loose, escaped from the house and later was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The State Fire Marshal Division is still investigating the cause of the blaze. Blue Grass is a community of about 1,500 residents 150 miles east of Des Moines.

Sheriff’s Deputies in Adams County conducted a traffic stop just before midnight, Thursday, and upon further investigation, arrested a man from Union County. Noah Boykin, of Creston, was taken into custody for Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

Red Oak Police, Thursday night, arrested 40-year old Richard Allen Straw, of Red Oak. Straw was taken into custody at around 7:22-p.m. in the 100 block of W. Grimes Street, for Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was transported to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center on a $1,000 bond.

And, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 37-year old Luke Daniel Rinehart, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 300 block of 2nd Avenue a little after 7-p.m. Thursday. Rinehart was charged with Violation of a No Contact Order. He was being held without bond in the Montgomery Jail.

Egg prices are expected to increase in the coming months as other countries want to increase the number they import from the U.S. The heightened demand for U.S. eggs overseas comes as the Dutch egg supply was contaminated by misuse of an insecticide and Europe, Africa and East Asia deal with bird flu outbreaks. Iowa State University professor Hongwei Xin directs the Egg Industry Center. “These AI (Avian Influeza) outbreaks in other countries, it’s very unfortunate for them, but it does benefit our industry somewhat,” Xin says.

Iowa is, by far, the top egg producing state in the nation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts a dozen eggs will cost about 30 cents more at the start of 2018 compared to the first quarter of 2017. Xin says another factor in the price spike is Americans are eating more eggs. “We are at about 274 eggs per capita, per year. This is the highest of the past 38 years and it is, actually, anticipated to continue to increase into 2018,” Xin says.

According to Xin, the growing demand is prompting producers to add hens to their flocks. That will eventually mean more eggs — lowering the price. Xin adds that egg prices are seasonal and usually reach their peak during the winter holidays and again around Easter.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)