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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Grant United Methodist Church will hold its annual Memorial Day Dinner from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on Monday, May 29, 2017, with a free-will offering. The menu includes: sloppy joe or ham sandwich, baked beans, assorted salads, pies and desserts, and coffee, tea or lemonade. All money raised by the dinner supports the Grant United Methodist Women and their work for mission projects and the Grant church. The dinner follows an 11 a.m. memorial service at the Grant Cemetery. Grant Community Preservationists (GCP) will hold the service to honor lost veterans with readings, song and an honor roll. Small individual flags will be available for families of veterans to place on their graves; GCP will be responsible for collecting them after the holiday. Following the dinner at 2 p.m., Jim & Kathy Wymore’s band, Rock N’ Country, will present live music at the Grant Park. The band includes the Wymores, Jerry Forney, Dave Reeves, Mike Jurey and Art Sellars. They will also feature talented young area musicians including: Josh Daniels, Joe Smith, Brandon Allee and Bailey Marie. Admission is $6, and GCP will offer concessions. The Grant United Methodist Church, founded in 1855, is a multigenerational church focusing on concern for its neighbors and providing a center of worship for all ages. Worship services are celebrated at 9:30 a.m. each Sunday.

Join the Lewis Town & Country Boosters and the Pancake Man on May 29th from 7:30 – 10:30 am at the Lewis Community Center. They will be serving pancakes & sausages, juice and coffee for a free will donation.

Exira Lions Memorial Day Breakfast will be held at the Lions Community Center on Monday, May 29th from 8 am to 1 pm. Serving waffles, sausage, biscuits and gravy, French toast, juice and coffee for a free will offering. Also, they will be serving lunch from 11 am to 1 pm of a hot sandwich with chips and a drink for $6.00.

Anita Congregational UCC Annual Memorial Day Dinner will be held on May 29th from 11 am – 1 pm. Dinner includes: ham balls, gourmet potatoes, corn, green beans, fruit salad, dinner roll, drinks and delicious homemade pies. Cost is $8 for adults, $4 for kids 12 and under. Carry-outs call Lynn Stephenson: 712-249-2392 or Tim Miller: 712-250-0307. Public is invited to attend.

Atlantic Memorial Day Service will be held on May 29th at the Atlantic Memorial Cemetery at 10 am. Atlantic High School band, local scouts and veterans will be involved in the ceremony. Featured speaker is Naval Reserve Commander Chaplain Michael Moreno of Norfolk, NE. Volunteers are need to help take down flags Monday at 5 pm. Ceremony will be broadcast on KJAN and on KJAN TV (link can be found in the Community Hub on the KJAN home page) or click here.

Griswold Memorial Day Service will be held on May 29th at the Griswold Cemetery at 10:30 am. Speaker is Mick Gutau of Treynor State Bank, a fly over is planned, bagpipper, Jenny Tritz will perform. The legion will be serving lunch following the service.

The Walnut American Legion invites the public to help honor the veterans of Walnut on May 29th at 9 am at the Legion Hall in Walnut. The Legion will be honoring 5 Legion membes with certificates for 70, 60 and 50 years of continuous membership. Following the certificate ceremony, Legion members will hold their Memorial Day services in the Layton Township Cemetery at 10 am, followed by the Catholic Cemetery at 10:30 am and finally at the city park at 10:45 am.

Shelby Memorial Day Services will be held on May 29th at 9:45 am at the Shelby Cemetery. The Shelby American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary, AHST Junior High band students, Boy and Girl Scout troops, and others wishing to participate are asked to meet at the gate of the Shelby Cemetery at 9:45 am.

Audubon Memorial Day Services will be held on May 29th at Arlington Heights Cemetery at 10:30 am. In case of bad weather it will be held at the Audubon High School.

Neola Memorial Day Services will be held on May 29th at 11 am in the Neola Cemetery. The Neola American Legion will host the event. St. Patrick’s Catholic Church will hold an outdoor mass prior to the service at 10 am. There will be the Avenue of the Flags, where the flags will line both sides of the road into the cemetery.

Police in Red Oak, Sunday evening, arrested 26-year old James Leroy Christensen, Jr., of Red Oak. Christensen, Jr. was taken into custody in the 300 block of S. 6th Street, for Disorderly Conduct. He was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 cash bond.

A man from Pottawattamie County was arrested late Sunday night near Lake Icaria, in Adams County, for Public Intoxication. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports 25-year old Jeremy Scott Dolph, of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody at around 11:35-p.m. after a Park Officer saw Dolph walking around the shoulder of Kale Avenue by a parked vehicle, following a traffic stop. Dolph was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $300 bond.

One person was injured during a collision Saturday evening, in Creston. Authorities say a 2003 Ford Mustang driven by 76-year old Richard Kaster, of Creston, was traveling south on Lincoln Street and through the intersection with Townline Street, when his car was struck by an eastbound 2016 Chevy SUV driven by 85-year old Shirley Haag, of Orient. Witnesses said Haag ran the red light.

Kaster was transported by ambulance to the hospital in Creston, for treatment of suspected, minor injuries. Haag was not injured. Damage from the crash amounted to $18,000. No citations were immediately issued.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:20 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Gov. Kim Reynolds acknowledges growing more comfortable with her ascent to Iowa’s job following her mentor’s appointment as U.S. ambassador to China. Reynolds officially took over Wednesday from Terry Branstad, the nation’s longest-serving governor. She had been a county official, state senator and lieutenant governor but says that until recently, she’d been reluctant to pursue the governorship.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – Iowa officials hope to improve access to the Des Moines River with a plan that includes the removal of two dams. The Messenger reports that Fort Dodge city officials and Webster county officials held an open house Wednesday to review the Des Moines River and Lizard Creek Water Trails and Corridor Plan. The final report will be reviewed by city council in the coming weeks.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Des Moines’ Blank Park Zoo has seen a spate of new births in the past month. The Des Moines Register reports that the zoo’s south-side wildlife park has recently welcomed four new babies, including a Bactrian camel named Tootsie, an addax named Moana, and two common elands named Cotton and Indigo. he zoo is also awaiting the emergence of two recently-born wallaby joeys from their mother’s pouch.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A fourth person has died from injuries received in a Des Moines apartment fire. The Des Moines Register reports that a man being treated at a hospital died Friday from his injuries received in the Thursday fire that killed three others. Police have not yet released the names of those killed, only that a 57-year-old woman and a 71-year-old man were among the dead. Police say the other person killed will have to be identified using DNA testing.

The Atlantic Elks Lodge is holding a fundraiser to benefit Veterans of Cass County. Elks member Mark McNees says more specifically, the fundraiser is for a project in the Field of Glory area in the Atlantic Cemetery, to make it easier for people to access the Field of Glory.

McNees said the idea came about from seeing Veterans walk across the grass as their branch of service was called, to lay a wreath at the Field of Glory, which was dedicated on Memorial Day, 1944. The project will make it easier for the aging Veterans to walk toward the memorial area.

It would also make it more wheelchair accessible. An announcement will be made during Memorial Day services on Monday, that the Elks are looking for donations to help pay for the sidewalk project.

(He says their goal is to raise $5,000.)

Embedded along the concrete sidewalk, near where the wreaths are laid, will be brass, heavy duty medallions for each of the five branches of service. Any funds left over may be used for such things as temporary flag holders, lighting, landscaping, and perhaps even an “Eternal Flame.”

Donations may be mailed to the Atlantic Elks Lodge, P.O. Box 14, Atlantic, IA 50022. Mark your checks with “sidewalk project,” or “Veterans cemetery project.”   Donations will also be accepted at the Atlantic Armory, and during the Memorial Day service in the Atlantic Cemetery. Other fundraising plans are also in the works.

It’s hoped work on the project can begin later this summer or early fall.

Two separate traffic stops Saturday night resulted in two arrests. At around 10:30-p.m., 19-year old Ricardo Almaguer, Jr., of Lenox, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension. His bond was set at $300. And, at around 8:17-p.m., Saturday, 51-year old Lonnie Ray Schafroth, of Corning, was arrested for Driving While License Revoked (OWI related).  He was being held in the Adams County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Sheriff’s officials in Adams County say an investigation into a single-vehicle accident early this (Sunday) morning near the intersection of Quince Avenue and 190th Street, resulted in the arrest of the vehicles’ driver. Authorities say 23-year old Mario Pantoja, of Lenox, failed Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and registered more than three times the legal limit for intoxication (at .247%) on the Breath Test.

Pantoja was taken into custody at around 1:15-a.m. and booked into the Adams County Jail on a charge of OWI/1st offense, but once inside the jail, was found to be in possession of a Controlled Substance (Marijuana). He was subsequently charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd or greater offense, and faces he a felony, Possession of Contraband inside a jail facility, charge. His cash only bond was set at $8,000.

Sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County have arrested two people for Public Intoxication. At around 3:30-a.m. today (Sunday), 38-year old Devon Rene Diaz, of Omaha, was taken into custody, and 33-year old Chad Alan Raptis, of Kayenta, AZ., was arrested at around 8:45-p.m. Saturday. Both men were booked into the Montgomery County Jail for Public Intoxication. Their bonds were set at $300, each.