The area’s top news at 7:05-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Voters in 13 southwest Iowa Counties will head to the polls tomorrow (Tuesday), to determine the fate of a $14.5-million Iowa Western Community College bond issue that’s designed to help pay for security upgrades at each of the college’s campuses and centers. A training exercise last year unveiled some flaws in how the buildings’ designs, and even things as simple as door locks, interfered with employees’ abilities to respond correctly and quickly to various situations. School officials have said the bond issue will also provide for a decrease in one of the school’s levies from .34-cents to 13-cents per thousand dollars valuation. On a $100,000 home, that would reduce the taxes about $20 per year.

The bond issue vote takes place in Merged Area 13, which covers Adair, Adams, Audubon, Cass, Crawford, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties. A 60% supermajority is necessary in order for the bond issue to pass. The polls will be open from Noon until 8-p.m., Tuesday. You may also vote absentee, in-person at the County Auditor’s Office at the Cass County Courthouse. ONLY FIVE VOTING CENTERS WILL BE USED FOR THIS ELECTION in Cass County:

The two VOTING CENTERS for the ATLANTIC COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT are: Voters living in Wards 1, 4 and 5 of the City of Atlantic will vote at Heritage House, 1200 Brook Ridge Circle in Atlantic.

Voters residing in the remainder of the Atlantic Community School District, being those voters residing in Audubon and Pottawattamie counties; Bear Grove, Benton, Brighton, Cass, Franklin, Grove, Pymosa and Washington townships of Cass County; the City of Marne; the City of Wiota; and Wards 2 and 3 of the City of Atlantic will vote at the Atlantic Public Library (507 Poplar), Atlantic, Iowa.

The two VOTING CENTERS for the CAM COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT are: In ANITA:  Voters residing in that portion of the CAM Community School District lying in Adair and Audubon counties; Benton, Franklin, Grant and Lincoln townships of Cass County; the City of Anita; and the City of Wiota will vote at the ANITA COMMUNITY CENTER (805 Main St).

In MASSENA:  Voters residing in that portion of the CAM Community School District lying in Adams County; Bear Grove, Edna, Massena, Noble, Union and Victoria townships of Cass County; the City of Cumberland; and the City of Massena will vote at the MASSENA PUBLIC LIBRARY in Massena (122 Main St).

The VOTING CENTER for the GRISWOLD COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT is:  In GRISWOLD– at the Griswold Community Building, 601 2nd St, Griswold and all voters of the School District will vote there.

If you have any questions, contact the Cass County Auditor’s Office.

An unidentified Iowa State Patrol Trooper was injured during a collision Sunday morning, in northeast Iowa’s Buchanan County. The Patrol says the Trooper’s SUV was parked on the inside shoulder of Interstate 380 southbound, while he was assisting a motorist whose vehicle had gone into the median. A 2006 Toyota Camry driven by 22-year old Brittany Anderson, of Charles City, was traveling south on I-380, when the car went out of control and struck the rear of the Trooper’s 2015 Ford Explorer, causing the SUV to enter the median.

The Camry crossed both lanes of traffic and came to rest in the ditch. Authorities say Anderson was driving too fast for conditions when the crash occurred at around 9:20-a.m., Sunday. The Trooper, who was wearing a seat belt, was transported by private vehicle to St. Lukes Hospital in Cedar Rapids.

Anderson was not injured. The accident remains under investigation.

While Iowa farmers are still struggling with low commodities prices, Iowa consumers are seeing consistently lower prices at the grocery store. A review from the U-S-D-A finds prices at the supermarket fell over the past several months, prompting agency ag analyst Annemarie Kuhns to recalculate her food price forecast for 2017. Kuhns says, “We’re now expecting to pay half to one-and-a-half percent more for groceries in 2017 than we will in 2016.”

That projected increase is tentative and she says prices could actually go down next year, though food prices haven’t decreased for two years in a row in 63 years. The U-S-D-A’s initial prediction for this year was that food prices would rise two-to-three percent from 2015, but they dropped about one-percent overall for the year. Kuhns says there was one big factor that resulted in the reduction of food prices, something that shook Iowa’s poultry industry.

“Eggs, we’re now predicting them to decrease between 21 and 22% in 2016,” she says, “but that was after they had increased 17.8% in 2015 following the highly-pathogenic avian influenza outbreak.”

Prices on a host of products at the grocery store fell in recent months and Kuhns says the trend should continue for many of those same products in 2017. “Beef and veal we’re expecting to decrease one to two-percent,” she says. “Pork we’re expecting to decrease zero to one-percent, though previously we had been predicting a zero-to-one percent increase. We’re expecting eggs to decrease an additional 11 to 12-percent in 2017. And then, looking at fresh vegetables, we’re now expecting those to decrease two to three-percent.”

The U-S-D-A is also projecting several items will be more expensive in the year ahead, including: milk, chicken, bread, cereal, fish and prepared foods.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Donald Trump’s election and Republicans’ firm grip on Congress have raised the National Rifle Association’s hopes of seeing a sweeping expansion of gun rights. The gun lobby’s priorities include eliminating gun-free zones at schools and allowing anyone with a concealed carry permit issued by one state to carry the weapon into any other state.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Iowa and Nebraska legislators are preparing a new push for gun-rights laws next year, and they may be in a good position to succeed after past failures. Republicans will soon control both the Iowa House and Senate, and in Nebraska, a leading gun-rights advocate said he’s hopeful newly elected conservative senators will support a proposal that could overturn local gun restrictions in Omaha and Lincoln.

CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — Oil pipeline protesters are pledging to remain camped on federal land in North Dakota, despite a favorable government ruling and an imminent deadline to leave. Monday’s government-imposed deadline for the protesters to depart the property comes a day after the Army Corps of Engineers refused to let the company extend the pipeline beneath a Missouri River reservoir. Despite the deadline, authorities say they won’t forcibly remove the protesters.

FOREST CITY, Iowa (AP) — Arson and burglary charges against a former Forest City officer have been dismissed. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that prosecutors have determined that without a confession and other evidence thrown out by state courts, they cannot get a conviction against Thaddeus Ellenbecker, who was convicted in 2012 of arson and burglary. In 2014, the Iowa Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Ellenbecker because officers didn’t read him his Miranda rights before the questioning.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office has launched a review of the operations of Goodwill Omaha in the wake of an Omaha World-Herald investigation showing the charity’s top executives have been paid more than Goodwills nationwide.

The Omaha World-Herald reports state law empowers the attorney general to protect the financial assets of Nebraska charities. The newspaper reported in October that longtime Goodwill Omaha CEO Frank McGree received total compensation of $933,444 in 2014.

Also, 13 of the nonprofit’s executives were paid more than $100,000 in 2014, siphoning a significant portion of the $4 million generated from Goodwill’s stores in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa from job-training programs. McGree, who had led the Omaha charity for 30 years, announced his resignation in late October.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Iowa and Nebraska legislators are preparing a new push for gun-rights laws next year, and they may be in a good position to succeed after past failures. Republicans will soon control both the Iowa House and Senate, and in Nebraska, a leading gun-rights advocate said he’s hopeful newly elected conservative senators will support a proposal that could overturn local gun restrictions in Omaha and Lincoln.

In Iowa, numerous attempts to pass gun-rights legislation have stalled in the Democratic-led Senate. That could change, however, once Republicans officially take the majority in January.

In Nebraska, gun-rights advocates will push again for a bill that would prohibit local governments from imposing gun restrictions that go beyond state law. A similar measure was narrowly defeated by a filibuster earlier this year.

Officials with the Cass County Health System (CCHS) report a Public Hearing will be held Tuesday morning (Dec. 6th) in Atlantic, with regard to the issuance of Revenue Refunding Bonds in an aggregate amount not to exceed $21-million . The Cass County Memorial Hospital (CCMH) Board of Trustees Special Meeting takes place in CCMH Conference Room 1, beginning at 8-a.m.

The purpose of refinancing, according to officials, is to take advantage of the current low interest rate. Following the Public Hearing, the Board will act on approving a Resolution “Authorizing and Approving Supplements to an indenture of Trust Providing for the issuance of Revenue Refunding Bonds in an Aggregate Amount not to Exceed $21,000,000 (21-million dollars), Bond Purchase Agreement Providing for the Sale of Bonds and Other Documents Relating to the Bonds.”

Sheriff’s Deputies in Montgomery County arrested a woman early this (Sunday) morning, on a warrant out of Page County, for Providing False Information on a permit to acquire a firearm. Authorities say 59-year old Patricia Lee Graham, of Villisca, was taken into custody at around 1:25-a.m., in Villisca. Graham was turned over to Page County authorities. She was being held at the jail in Clarinda on a $5,000 bond.

(Updated 5:26-a.m. 12/4/16) A 39-year old Council Bluffs Police Officer was injured, and another person died, when a vehicle struck the officer’s cruiser as he was handling traffic control Saturday afternoon. According to Bluffs’ Police, Officer Josh Horner, a seven-year veteran of Council Bluffs, was conducting traffic control on southbound Interstate 29 near 25th Street at around 3:30-p.m., when his vehicle was rear-ended. The officer was transported to the Creighton Hospital Emergency Room for treatment. The driver of the vehicle that struck his car was transported to Nebraska Medicine, where he died.

The victim was identified as 72-year old Bertram Ellis, of Houston, TX. The accident is being investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department Traffic Unit.