While many government offices are closed today (Monday), LifeServe is open and holding blood drives at several Iowa locations on this Martin Luther King Junior holiday as blood supplies are getting dangerously low. Danielle West, spokeswoman for the Des Moines-based LifeServe, says December and January are typically the worst months of the year for donations as so many people are on vacation, traveling or the weather’s bad. “We want to remind people how important it is to give blood because the need at hospitals is still the same no matter how many donors are coming out,” West says. “We’re definitely seeing our blood supply go lower and lower than we’d like it to be so we’re reminding people to come out and donate if they can.”

While donations are needed of all blood types, West says a few types in particular are more urgently sought. “O-negative is the universal blood type so anyone can receive O-negative, and O-positive is the universal positive blood type,” West says. “Those are usually the most critical but really all of our blood types are lower right now than we’d like them to be.” Donating a single pint of blood may help save the lives of as many as three hospital patients. Iowans shouldn’t be too concerned about the amount of time they’ll have to commit to donating a pint. “You can be in and out in 45 minutes to an hour and that’s from start to finish,” West says. “Really, the donation process where you’re actually on the chair is five to ten minutes total. You start with registration, we do a short questionnaire, a mini-physical, you’re in the chair for five to ten minutes and then we have snacks and goodies at the end of every donation.”

LifeServe has offices in Ames, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Mason City, Marshalltown and Sioux City, and serves hospitals across Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. “We partner with around 120 hospitals which means we are their sole provider and they only get blood products from LifeServe,” West says. “If we don’t have what we need on our shelves to support them, we have to go find it elsewhere, which is not what we like to do or where we’d like to be.” To schedule an appointment, call 800-287-4903 or visit www.lifeservebloodcenter.org.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have accused a Coralville woman of beating her 11-year-old son. Court records say 33-year-old Joni Reed is charged with child endangerment causing injury and with two counts of child endangerment. Police say the two had been separated by the time officers arrived Thursday evening at a residence in Iowa City. The boy had a bruise above his left eye and scrapes on his arms. He also complained of pain in his head.

Officer say Reed had been drinking. Her blood alcohol content tested over at more than twice the legal limit, had she been driving.

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

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Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department today (Monday), report a suspect in the Dec. 30th carjacking incident at the Horseshoe Casino, was arrested Sunday after he turned himself-in on warrants. With assistance from the public the suspect was identified as 51-year old John Edward McAuliffe Jr., of Omaha.  Detectives were able to obtain Arrest Warrants for McAuliffe charging him with Attempted Murder, Robbery 1st Degree and Willful Injury.  McAuliffe remains held in the Pottawattamie County Jail after turning himself-in on the warrants.

John Edward McAuliffe, Jr.

The incident occurred at around 4:45-a.m., December 30th, 2017. Council Bluffs Police and Fire Departments were dispatched to the Horseshoe Casino on that date, for a report of a male party laying in the parking lot who had been shot. It was discovered the male party had been the victim of a robbery / car-jacking in the parking lot. The victim was shot by a suspect as the victim attempted to flee on foot from the vehicle. The suspect fled from the scene with the victim’s vehicle, a gray 2006 Ford F-150 Super-Crew.

The victim was transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. The victim’s vehicle was recovered by the Omaha Police Department in the area of the 2000 block of South 45th St. It had been burned.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa soon will require that ignition interlocks have cameras so drivers required to take breath tests don’t have other people start the drivers’ vehicles. The vehicles would still start, but the drivers could lose their restricted driver’s licenses and be charged with crimes after the ignition interlock company notifies the state that other people blew into the devices.

Patrick Hoye is chief of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, and he told The Des Moines Register that most nearby states already have the requirement. All repeat drunken driving offenders are required to install the devices in Iowa. First-time offenders must install the devices if their blood alcohol figures were higher than 0.10 percent when they were arrested or if they were involved in accidents.

The leader of the Iowa National Guard is suggesting the organization to broaden its outreach, in an effort to attract more recruits from non-military families. Adjutant General Timothy Orr says the Iowa Guard has “maintained its position in personnel readiness,” but recruiting “high-quality men and women” in the future could be a challenge. “With only three out of ten 17 to 24 year-olds eligible today for military service due to various reasons, there’s significant concern among civilian and military leaders about the future of our military and the readiness of our force to defend this nation in the years ahead,” Orr said.

The concern, according to Orr, is driven by the large percentage of U.S. service members who come from military families. “We are effectively creating a class in our society that is carrying the burden for the remainder of the citizens,” Orr said. It’s “critically important,” Orr said, to “broaden the scope” of those serving in the military to include people from different backgrounds. “According to the Department of Defense, since our country ended the draft in 1973, more than 80-percent of our service members come from a family where at least one parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, sibling or cousin has served, and more than 25-percent of our troops have at least one parent who has served,” Orr said.

The “centerpiece” of recruiting efforts in Iowa, according to Orr, is the Iowa National Guard Education Assistance Program. NGEAP (pronounced NEE-gap) is funded by the state. “This year, more than 1,200 of our members received up to 100-percent tuition paid at the State Regents’ rate to attend Iowa colleges, universities, and community colleges through this program, keeping our young people in the state and providing them with a high-quality Iowa education,” Orr said.

Orr made his comments in his annual Condition of the Guard address last week at the Capitol.

(Radio Iowa)

The City of Harlan is asking citizens to voluntarily utilize off-street parking wherever possible for today, Monday, January 15^th. This will assist the Public Works Department with snow and ice control on city streets.  The City of Harlan appreciates your cooperation.

Creston Police report two, recent arrests. Today (Monday), at around 1:45-a.m., Sebastian Gene Sweat, of Creston, was arrested at a residence in the 400 block of Wyoming Avenue, for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Sweat for being held in the Union County Jail on a $300 bond. And, at around 11:30-a.m. Friday, 48-year old Victor Robin Thatcher, of Creston, was arrested at Highway 25 and Russell Street, for Public Intoxication/2nd offense. Thatcher was being held in the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

Authorities said also, a woman residing in the 500 block of N. Birch Street reported Sunday, that someone broke the driver’s side of her vehicle, parked near her residence. The damage was estimated at $150. Later that same day, a woman residing in the 300 block of S. Division St., in Creston, reported that someone took a bottle of prescription medication from her home. The loss was estimated at $50.

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

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WEST BRANCH, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say two crew members were injured when their ambulance flipped while taking a patient to Iowa City. The accident occurred around 3:30 p.m. Sunday on Interstate 80 near West Branch in Cedar County. The Iowa State Patrol says the driver likely lost control of the vehicle on the icy roadway. All three occupants were taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and the two crew members already have been released. No names have been released.