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

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The State Historical Museum in Des Moines is taking its show on the road. Museum spokesperson Jeff Morgan says an exhibit called “Iowa History 101” will be touring the state. “It’s going to be housed in a 38 foot long Winnebago RV that’s going to visit all 99 Iowa counties beginning next spring,” Morgan says. The traveling exhibit will also feature artifacts from each of Iowa’s 99 counties. Morgan identified a couple of the items.

“A 1917 prototype of Iowa’s state flag that was designed by Dixie Cornell Gebhardt of Knoxville,” Morgan said. Another feature will be a 1928 record of the song “Sugar” featuring jazz musician and Davenport-native Bix Beiderbecke. Mike Wolfe, star of the television show “American Pickers,” took part in an event Tuesday to announce the new exhibit at Antique Archaeology in Le Claire.

“Mike Wolfe is our exhibit partner and will be providing the voice and video talent for the multimedia components of the exhibit,” Morgan said. The Iowa Historical Museum RV will start touring in the spring and admission will be free. EMC Insurance Group is the exhibit’s presenting sponsor.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The board that oversees Iowa’s three public universities says it wants to use a new two-year budget system that would include some tuition increases. The Iowa Board of Regents announced Tuesday it wants the Legislature to support a plan that would increase state funding to the universities by two percent each year for the budget years that end in 2018 and 2019. Additional money would go to the University of Northern Iowa in the first year.

The plan would also increase tuition rates by two percent each year for in-state undergraduate students. The board will vote in September on a $12.7 million request in new dollars for the first year. That includes $4.6 million for the University of Iowa, $3.7 million for Iowa State University and $4.4 million for UNI.

Firefighters from Marne and Atlantic were called early this (Wed.) morning to report of two semi-tractors on fire at the exit 51 off-ramp of Interstate 80 eastbound. The call came in at around 4:50-a.m.   One of the semi’s was pulling another. Both were said to have been fully engulfed in flames and were a total loss. No one was in either cab when crews were dispatched. Flames were visible at least one-mile away, by law enforcement and fire fighters responding to the scene.

Images from the Marne Fire and Rescue Facebook page

In a separate incident, Griswold Fire was called to the scene of an overturned fuel truck at around 5-a.m. today (Wednesday). The accident happened near 650th and Wichita Road. No injuries were reported. Some diesel fuel was leaking from the vehicle after the crash. No other details are available.

A traffic stop in Red Oak Tuesday afternoon resulted in a man being arrested on OWI and other charges. Red Oak Police say 47-year old Michael Sean Colebank, of Red Oak, faces a felony OWI/3rd offense, charge, as well as Driving while revoked. He was also cited for having no insurance and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. Colebank was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $5,000 cash bond.

With school back in session, a new round of scams is surfacing that are targeting college students. Jim Hegarty, president of the Better Business Bureau in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says scammers are using social media to offer tempting deals on student loans.  “We’ve been warning for a few weeks about a scam that’s popped up on Facebook offering education grants,” Hegarty says. “We need our young people need to understand that they’re vulnerable and that they are being targeted just like seniors are and they need to be cautious.”

The first scam makes it sound very easy to get thousands of dollars in education grant money. “Kids are taking the bait on that, thinking they’re going to get access to some great college education money,” Hegarty says. “Of course, it involves processing fees, they’ve gotta’ get Green Dot money pack cards and send off some money in advance.” Any money they do send off in advance is usually lost.

Other scams offer students free trials on all sorts of programs which end up charging a monthly fee. The bureau is also warning students who may still be looking for a place to live near campus to watch where they click. Con artists are offering great apartments for rent and excellent prices, but the apartments either don’t exist or they’re not really owned by the advertiser. “It’s either individuals that are claiming that they’re looking for a roommate and they won’t be in the area for a few weeks,” he says, “or it’s scammers who have lifted legitimate properties that are on the market and they’ve just created their own ads on Craigs List.”

Hegarty warns that if a deal sounds like it is too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.

(Radio Iowa)

President Barack Obama has commuted the sentences of 111 people who’re doing time in federal prison for drug crimes, including two Iowans and four other people who were sentenced for crimes committed in Iowa. Mark Francis Glidden, of Clear Lake, was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison back in 2003 for making and selling meth. Kenneth Russell McCoy, of Council Bluffs, has been in a federal prison since 2007 after a meth-related conviction.

President Obama’s order sets August 30th of NEXT year as the end of the prison sentences for both men. But the president’s commutations come with the condition that both men enter a residential substance abuse treatment program as soon as they are released.

Duane Clasen of Evansville, Wisconsin; Jevon Gayden of Chicago; Emmanuel Herron of Stella, Missouri, and Raeanna Mae Paxton of Casper, Wyoming, were all convicted of federal drugs crimes that occured in Iowa and sentenced to lengthy prison time. The president commuted their sentences yesterday (Tuesday), as well.

(Radio Iowa)

Police officials in Council Bluffs late Tuesday night, identified a man who was the victim of a homicide. Authorities say the body 39-year old Larry J. Scott, of Council Bluffs,was found at around 4:20-a.m. Tuesday, after Council Bluffs officers responded to a report of a man lying in the middle of Avenue B, just west of North 10^th Street. A preliminary investigation determined Scott had been the victim of a shooting. An autopsy was tentatively scheduled to take place today (Wednesday).

Anyone with any information related to the incident is being asked to call the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division at 712-328-4728 or they can remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 712-328-STOP (7867).

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A 70-year-old Davenport man has been sentenced to five years’ probation and fined $5,000 for buying or trying to buy congressional military decorations and medals without proper authorization.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa says Robert Ellsworth Brooks was sentenced Tuesday after earlier pleading guilty under the Stolen Valor Act.

Brooks served in both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army in the 1960s and at times in the Army Reserves and Navy in the 1970s and 1980s. Prosecutors say Brooks earned a number of medals by 1970, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bronze Star Medal. But prosecutors say he claimed various other medals throughout the years, including Purple Hearts and Silver Stars, which he knew he had not earned and had bought.

Police in Harlan today (Tuesday) released a weekly report on arrests. Authorities say on Sunday, 24-year old Kolten Kobold, of Harlan, and 21-year old Jaykob Lewis, of Avoca, were arrested when officers were called to a fight in the 1000 block of 7^th Street. Lewis was charged with disorderly conduct and Kobold was charged with intoxication in public and disorderly conduct.

Also arrested on Sunday, was 31-year old Joseph Smith-Kidd, of Woodbine, who was taken into custody when officers were called to a report of a suicidal subject.  Smith-Kidd was taken to Myrtue Medical Center and when cleared, was taken to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with violation of a no contact order.

Last Saturday, 31-year old Ryan Carter, of Irwin, was arrested in Harlan, following a traffic stop.  Carter was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated (OWI).

And, on Aug. 25th, 47-year old Richard Draper, of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody following a traffic stop.  Draper was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with OWI.  Draper was also cited for failure to wear a seatbelt and operating a non-registered vehicle.