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

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Police in Creston say three people were arrested over the holiday weekend. Taken into custody Friday night for Driving While Suspended, was 20-year old Dakota Early, of Creston. And, Saturday night, 61-year old Richard Woosley, of Creston, was arrested for Simple Assault. Early and Woosley were released from the Union County Jail on $300 bond, each. Monday evening, 25-year old Nathan Vicker, of Creston, was arrested for Interference with Official Acts. Vicker remained in the Union County Jail on $300 bond.

Creston Police said also, a resident of the 800 block of W. Adams Street reported Sunday night that someone had broken a window out of his front door. The incident happened sometime between 7:15- and 7:45-p.m., Sunday. It’s unknown if there was anything taken from the home. Damage from the incident amounted to about $100.

(7-a.m. News)

Our region of the country is securing its popularity for renewable energy projects, according to a report from the Center for Rural Affairs. Lucas Nelsen, who authored the report “Link to Rural Development and a Renewable Future,” says 41-percent of the new energy generation projects that went online last year were specifically wind energy projects.

“It’s really important, primarily because of where that generation is being built,” Nelsen says. “That generation is most often built in the Midwest and Great Plains and especially near rural areas where there’s abundant resources and a lot of space to put those projects.” While the projects bring a host of benefits to rural communities, he says barriers remain to renewable energy.

“Those benefits can range from new tax revenue, new jobs in the community, new economic activity and some guaranteed income for landowners who host those projects,” Nelsen says. “There are some roadblocks to that development and one of those roadblocks has been new transmission infrastructure to connect those projects to the grid.” Nelsen says one key to solving those transmission problems lies in proper planning.

“The best thing people can do is make sure they’re helping to improve these projects, that they’re finding out what a project might mean for their area, that they’re looking at maps at community meetings with developers and pointing out areas of concern they want the developers to avoid,” Nelsen says, “and making sure that the process runs smoothly.” Nelsen says the report shows “wind turbine technician” is the fastest growing profession in the country and the Department of Energy estimates the wind industry could support up to 380-thousand jobs by 2030. The wind industry employs some seven-thousand Iowans.

(Radio Iowa)

DURANGO, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say one man was killed and another injured while repairing a tractor in Dubuque County. The accident occurred around 2 p.m. Monday at a farm in rural Durango. The Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office says the tractor slipped into gear during the repairs and ran over the two men.

One man was pronounced dead at the scene. The other man has been taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. Their names haven’t been released.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Soaring numbers in a monthly survey of business supply managers suggest economic conditions are improving in nine Midwest and Plains states. The Mid-America Business Conditions Index report released Tuesday says the overall economic index for the region jumped to 53.1 in December from 46.5 in November. The October figure was 43.8.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the December and November increases point to an improving regional manufacturing economy. The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth in that factor. A score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Several thousand Iowans are entering the New Year without a home. A longtime advocate for the homeless in Iowa says she’s seeing more people who are living out of their cars or tents. Joni Hansen is calling on community leaders across the state to find ways to help those who struggling rebuild their live

“There needs to be more transitional programs…where it’s not just offered on an emergency basis — programs that help them find employment, get some financial management skills, and build their life from that,” Hansen says. She’s also encouraging everyday Iowans to get involved — and not just by donating money or clothes.

“Volunteer and get to know the people. Perhaps you have a lead on a job someone could get, but I think the whole thing starts with volunteering and getting to know the needs in your own community,” Hansen says.

The state’s annual Homeless Memorial Day was held on December 21st and 32 Iowans who died in the past year after struggling with homelessness were remembered at the gathering on the grounds of the Iowa Capitol. Hansen is director of Hospitality House, a daytime homeless shelter in Waterloo.

(Radio Iowa)

The director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says there are fewer hunters, but more gun owners in Iowa these days. 1975 seems to be the high-water mark for hunting in Iowa. The state issued more than 416-thousand hunting and fishing licenses that year. This past year, the state issued nearly 60 percent fewer licenses than it did four decades ago. D-N-R director Chuck Gipp says his agency’s operations are financed, in part, by those license fees. “With revenue being flat or going down like that, it’s going to be a challenge,” Gipp says.

According to a study by researchers at Columbia and Boston Universities, nearly 34 percent of adult Iowans own a gun. “People are physically using shooting as a sport or recreational activity, so they’re buying the weapons and there’s a great increase in the number of weapons that are out there,” Gipp says. “So our shooting sports and our ranges are critically important so they have a place to go and discharge that weapon.” The state owns and manages 10 shooting ranges. The rest are private or run by a county conservation board. In 2012, Gipp’s agency started awarding state grants for the development and improvement of shooting ranges around the state.

“The sale of weapons have increased. It’s incredibly important that if you’re going to use a weapon properly that you have the education and the opportunity to shoot it,” Gipp says. “Access to private lands for shooting, like when I was a kid you’d just grab a few bottles out of the county and city dump and you’d take them out to the old quarry and you’d shoot those. You can’t do that anymore and so shooting ranges are incredibly used.”

Earlier this year, more than 22-hundred Iowa kids participated in the annual “Scholastic Clay Target Program Trap Championship.” It was held near Cedar Falls, at the Iowa State Trapshooting Association Homegrounds. “The various shooting stands that they have, it’s about a mile long,” Gipp says. “And that’s not big enough, now, for some of the trap shoots that we have for the high school teams.”

The “Hunger Games” movies have spurred interest in another shooting sport — archery, but Gipp says finding shooting ranges for archers is difficult.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:39 a.m. CST

VIENNA, Ill. (AP) — Authorities in southern Illinois have identified the four people who died after a single-engine plane crashed in a wooded area on New Year’s Eve. Johnson County Coroner David Rockwell says 34-year-old Curt Terpstra, 35-year-old Jordan Linder, 26-year-old Jasmine Linder and 37-year-old Krista Green died in Saturday night’s crash. All four were from eastern Iowa.

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa police officer has been fined and ordered to complete a treatment program for drunk driving and weapons charges. Former Newton officer Dustin Hamell received the sentence last week in connection with an Aug. 30 traffic stop on Interstate 80 outside of Des Moines. Authorities said that his blood tested at nearly three times the legal alcohol limit, and that he had a loaded handgun and unopened cans of beer in his truck.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A University of Iowa benefactor has donated $5 million toward the renovation of Kinnick Stadium’s north end. The university announced Sunday, during Outback Bowl festivities in Tampa, Florida, that Ted and Deb Pacha had made a contribution to the $90 million project. The project plans include a second deck for seating and expanded concourses. The project is expected to be finished before the 2019 season.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A charity controlled by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has missed a deadline for disclosing the names of donors who paid for his 2015 inaugural celebration, keeping them secret even as he prepares to become the U.S. ambassador to China. Tax experts say the lack of disclosure potentially subjects the group to IRS penalties of $100 per day. It means the public doesn’t know the identities of those who wrote checks totaling $1 million to fund Branstad’s inauguration and namesake college scholarships.

A central Iowa program that primarily helps men released from prison be good parents is entering its 11th year. Dave Schwartz, the C-E-O of the Y-M-C-A of Greater Des Moines, says the men who ENTERED his organization’s fatherhood program in 2011 and 2012 were paying, on average, about 36 percent of their monthly child support obligations. “The year after our program, that number was 68 percent,” he says, “and even four years later they’re still paying 65 percent, which is still above the national average.”

That is FAR above the national average. The latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates men who owed child support in 2013 were paying about 40 percent of what they owed. About 10-thousand children in Iowa today are getting NONE of the child support their parent is supposed to pay. Schwartz says the Greater Des Moines Y’s program runs 12 weeks and he’s hoping to expand the program’s reach. “We do that in two ways: expand to another community and also provide statewide facilitator training,” he says.

For the past three years, the state of Iowa has provided money to finance this fatherhood program. Schwartz is asking lawmakers to boost the state funding by 20-thousand dollars for next year. According to the Y’s website, many of the Des Moines-area fathers who go through the program have been able to regain partial or full custody of their children. Organizers say the Fatherhood Outreach program aims to teach what is means to be a father and the important role a father plays within a family.

(Radio Iowa)

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said today (Monday), 18-year old Wyatt Dean Baldwin, of Villisca, was arrested at around 3:15-p.m. (Monday) for Operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Baldwin was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.