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KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Radio Iowa) – A Sioux City man died during an apparent burglary attempt at a business early Wednesday morning. Police officers arrived at the scene and found 37-year-old Jerrod Schweitzberger had been electrocuted while apparently attempting to steal copper wire. 
A second person at the scene, 39-year-old Denair Byars of Sioux City was charged with third-degree burglary. The initial investigation indicates Schweitzberger was attempting to remove copper wiring from the property when he came into contact with a live electrical source, resulting in his fatal electrocution.
NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa (KCRG) — A North Liberty woman is facing charges after police found a body inside her car after a crash in Minnesota, KCRG reports. Margot Lewis, 32, is charged with interference with a dead body. Authorities said they found the body of 35-year-old Liara Tsai, of Minneapolis, inside Lewis’s car following a crash near Rochester, Minnesota on Saturday, June 22. Tsai had reportedly died before the crash happened.
No one has been charged in Tsai’s death yet. KTTC in Minnesota reports authorities are still trying to determine the connection between the victim and the suspect in this case. Tsai had blood coming from a neck wound and had been wrapped in a blanket.
KTTC reports Tsai loved music and had moved to Minneapolis from Iowa City at the beginning of the year because of its strong transgender community.
LENOX, Iowa – On June 26, 2024, the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office conducted a forensic autopsy on the male suspect involved in the robbery of the Iowa State Savings Bank in Lenox, Iowa, on June 24, 2024.
The suspect has been identified as Steven Trent Sapp, 45, of Hooper, Nebraska. Sapp died as a result of a single gunshot wound and his death has been ruled as a suicide.
Previous Iowa Department of Public Safety statement:
June 24, 2024
LENOX, Iowa – At approximately 1:30 p.m. today, the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office responded to a bank robbery call at the Iowa State Savings Bank in Lenox, Iowa.
Reports indicated that a male subject entered the bank demanding money and then left on a motorcycle. The subject was pursued into Adams County, but fled at a high rate of speed. The subject lost control and crashed into a farm field. The subject then fled on foot.
Several law enforcement agencies, including the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Adair County Sheriff’s Office, Cass County Sheriff’s Office, and the Iowa State Patrol, converged on the area and attempted to locate the subject.
As law enforcement narrowed in on the subject’s location, the male fired one round, causing a fatal self-inflicted wound.
DES MOINES, Iowa, June 26, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director in Iowa Theresa Greenfield today announced that USDA is investing $1,842,725 in 23 projects across the state to lower energy bills, expand access to clean energy, and create jobs for Iowa agricultural producers and rural small business owners with funding through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). USDA also unveiled the “Rural Energy Resource Guide” to make it easier for rural communities to identify federal funding for clean energy, including programs made possible by President Biden’s historic Inflation Reduction Act.
“The investments we’re announcing today demonstrate how producers and small business are embracing clean energy systems to address the impacts of climate change and save money,” said Director Greenfield. “These investments are at the heart of President Biden and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack’s commitment to create jobs, lower consumer costs, and strengthen Iowa’s rural communities – building the economy from the middle out and the bottom up.”
The REAP project grants are part of a larger nation-wide announcement today.
REAP grants in Iowa
A full list of today’s REAP awards in Iowa may be found here and include these:
-Remington Seeds LLC, owner of a seed processing operation in Belle Plaine, Benton County, received a $553,351 grant to help install a 412 kilowatt solar array. This project is expected to save $97,782 per year. It will replace 570,666 kilowatt hours (82 percent of the business energy usage) per year, enough energy to power 52 homes.
–Dalton Ag Enterprises received a $575,000 grant to help install a 639.5 kilowatt solar array at its farm machinery and equipment manufacturing operation in Lenox in Taylor County. This project will realize $96,972 per year in savings and will replace 764,794 kilowatt hours per year (65 percent of previous use), which is enough electricity to power 70 homes.
-Schumacher Company LC, a farm machinery and equipment manufacturing business, received a $255,600 grant to install a 255.6 kilowatt solar array in Durant in Cedar County. This project will generate 347,249 kilowatt hours per year, saving $54,581 per year. This is enough electricity to power 32 homes.
(Radio Iowa) – Record numbers of travelers in Iowa and nationwide are expected to venture at least 50 miles from home over the long Independence Day weekend, according to AAA. Brian Ortner, the motor club’s Iowa spokesman, says it’s a happy coincidence that as the number of travelers is rising, the price of travel is falling. “It’s a 7% increase on numbers,” Ortner says, “and then cost-wise, it’s about 2% lower than we were last year.”
AAA projects almost 71-million people will be vacationing during the Fourth of July holiday, including more than five-million people in the seven-state region that includes Iowa. The majority of travelers — about 60-million nationwide — will be going by motor vehicle, as Ortner says gasoline prices are down. “Last year, the state average in Iowa on Independence Day was $3.35 a gallon,” Ortner says. “If we look at where we are currently, we’re at $3.18. That is a great number to see, that the average is lower.”
AAA graphic
The projections show nearly six-million people will be traveling by air over the holiday, which would also set a record. “Prices for air travel have decreased a little bit. They’ve gone down about 2% from last year,” Ortner says. “The other good sign is that hotel costs are going down and rental car costs are going down, so those longer trips are becoming more affordable as we move through the summer.”
Despite concerns about inflation, AAA estimates consumers will be boosting their spending over Independence Day weekend by five-and-a-half percent compared to a year ago.
(Radio Iowa) – While the flood fight and recovery continues in western Iowa, the eastern edge of Iowa is bracing for more rain and a rising Mississippi River.
The river has been steadily rising over the past week due to heavy rainfall, prompting flood warnings in parts of southeastern Iowa. Northeast Iowa has mostly been spared, giving Emergency Management Coordinators like Sarah Moser in Clayton County time to prepare.
“What’s always a concern for us is more rain and especially for the McGregor area because with what Wisconsin’s getting, it’s hard for the National Weather Service to predict then what the level will be,” Moser says, “so that always has us on our toes.”
The ground in the area is already saturated. “Not only do we’ve got to be worrying about the river rising, like the Mississippi, but also we would have some of those internal rivers like the Turkey River or Volga River, those quick rising ones,” Moser says, “as opposed to the Mississippi which is that slow rise.”
The river is forecast to reach 20 feet in Clayton County by the start of July, which would be near the levels reached during flooding in 2019.
The City of Davenport has deployed temporary barriers and water pumps along the Mississippi River in preparation for flooding.
Nicole Gleason, Davenport’s Public Works director
Nicole Gleason, Davenport’s Public Works director, says spring floods due to melting snow in the Mississippi River basin are easier to predict. Summer floods depend on the timing of rainfall.
“We can’t tell you exactly how much rain a storm is going to dump or where exactly that rain is going to go and if it will contribute to the Mississippi watershed or not, so at this point it’s really kind of a 24 hour (by) 24 hour basis,” she says. “We’ll just have to keep watching it daily and act accordingly.”
The city is offering sandbags to impacted residents. A number of parks and streets near the river have been closed. The Mississippi crest in Davenport is expected around July 4 and current forecasts indicate it will be far below the record set in 2019.
(Reporting by Grant Winterer and Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)
NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa (KCRG) — A North Liberty woman who reportedly got cold feet just before meeting someone she met through a dating app was arrested after police said she falsely reported the man was threatening to assault her, leading to the man being detained for over an hour. KCRG reports, in a criminal complaint, police said 18-year-old Sumaya Thomas called 911 just after midnight on June 16 to report that her abusive ex-boyfriend was texting her, threatening to hit, punch, kick and stab her. She also allegedly reported that she was pregnant with the man’s baby.
However, officers found the man leaving the scene. He reportedly told officers he had only just met Thomas about a week ago on a dating app. They then changed from talking via the app to exchanging text messages. The man showed police the text conversation, which officers said corroborated his story. When officers interviews Thomas, they said she reported having known the man for two years and that she was pregnant with his baby, and that he had been abusive to her and wouldn’t leave her alone.
After a third interview, police said Thomas admitted to making the false reports because she got cold feet before meeting him and no longer wanted to. During the interview, Thomas reportedly told police she didn’t think officers would help, so she made up the events.
(Radio Iowa) – Work on the new Mississippi River bridge from Lansing to Desoto, Wisconsin has stopped. D-O-T engineer Clayton Burke says high water made conditions unsafe. “The contractor is completely leaving the site until the water goes back down,” he says. “There’s very little they could possibly do to overcome the water levels that we’re seeing so yeah it’ll it might be a while before you see those cranes swinging around.” Burke says Mother Nature will determine when the work gets underway again.
“We’re seeing about a week out the river gauge is going to be over 16 and a half feet. And we need that to get back down to about 12 before we can keep working on the bridge again,” Burke says. “And we’ve seen in the past when the Mississippi goes up, it goes up fast but it stays there for a long time. So we might be losing weeks to a month of scheduled time here.”
Burke says the contractor will likely bring in multiple crews once the water goes down so they can work nights and weekends to make up for lost time. The new bridge is was scheduled to be completed at the end of 2026. Burke says around 29-hundred people cross the Lansing bridge each day. The bridge that’s being replaced at Lansing was closed for a time in February after two piers shifted and they had to be repaired.
Des Moines, IA – State Auditor Rob Sand today (Wednesday) urged Iowans and their community leaders to be on alert for people preying on victims of the flooding in Iowa. Sand says “Iowans are known for rallying around victims of natural disasters. Communities come together to help with clean-up and provide for people who have lost everything. Unfortunately, natural disasters are also calling cards for con artists.”
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the most common fraud following a natural disaster includes fake housing inspectors and building contractors, phony disaster donation efforts, and calls or texts requiring account information in exchange for financial assistance. Sand says “These scammers are not stupid. They’re sneaky. They’ll use all means to try to steal personal and public funds – phone calls, texts, emails. They’ll even pose as government officials to get account information or social security numbers.”
Sand offers these tips for avoiding scams in the wake of natural disasters:
(Radio Iowa) – The president of the North Iowa Area Community College is predicting enrollment at community colleges will grow in the years ahead. Dr. Steven Schulz is retiring at the end of the month. “Let’s be honest, the methodology’s changing. There’s going to be more people in this sector, people looking for skills, not four year degrees,” Schulz says. “There’s lot of change going on.”
Schultz has been president of NIACC in Mason City for the past decade. Schulz, who’s retiring after a 42 year career as an educator, says he worries about the future for students in rural areas of the state. “I think it’s going to be up to communities and local school boards and local community colleges to really tell their story and express their needs in way that the legislature can see we’re still here,” Schulz says, with a laugh, “and we want to do the work of our communities.”
NIACC president Dr. Steven Schulz is retiring at the end of this month. (NIACC photo)
Schultz is a native of Geneva, a small town in Franklin County. He holds degrees from Wartburg College, the University of Northern Iowa, Drake University and Iowa State University. Schulz previously worked at Des Moines Area Community College and U-N-I, He served as the superintendent of Carroll Community Schools from 2000 to 2004.
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