Iowa’s secretary of state predicts “millennial” voters will decide this year’s election. “Specifically the 18-to-26 year olds. That’s my prediction. Watch that group.” That’s Paul Pate, the state official who oversees elections in Iowa. Pate says most voters above the age of 26 have become allied with either the Republican or Democratic Parties, but not millennials. That means in a close election where undecided voters are key, millennials who haven’t been disillusioned by politics have an outsized role according to Pate.

“They are still fresh,” Pate says. “They have not been tainted. They have a passion still because they want a piece of the American dream and as I go visit with them on the campuses of our colleges, they haven’t made their mind up. They haven’t said: ‘I’m a Republican’ or ‘I’m a Democrat.’ They’re listening — so candidates, go! Listen!” Iowa State University political science professor David Andersen says turn-out is “the big unknown.”

“Who’s going to show up to vote? We have an electorate unlike any we’ve seen before,” Andersen asks. “It continues to get more diverse, but it seems like this year the normal partisan groupings are breaking down. Donald Trump may attract some Democratic voters. Some Republican voters may turn out for Hillary Clinton. We really have no idea what the election’s going to look like on November 8.”

Andersen and Pate made their comments during taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program that airs at 7:30 tonight (Friday).

(Radio Iowa)

An Iowa lawyer connected to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case has died. Dan Johnston was just 30 years old in 1969 when the Supreme Court issued its ruling on the so-called Tinker case. Johnston represented two students who were suspended from Des Moines Public Schools for wearing black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court ruled school officials had violated the free-speech rights of John and Mary Beth Tinker.

Johnston is a native of Montezuma who got his law degree from Drake University. He had just graduated from law school when he took on the Tinker case. Johnston died this (Friday) morning at a Des Moines hospice. He was 77 years old.

(Radio Iowa)

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa said today (Friday), a Shelby County man was sentenced to prison on a Child Pornography charge. A District Court Judge Thursday, sentenced 55-year old Michael Charles Garreans, of Harlan, to 60 months in prison for possession of child pornography. Garreans’ term of imprisonment is to be followed by seven years of supervised release.

On June 9, 2016, Garreans entered a guilty plea to a federal indictment, charging Garreans with possessing child pornography on or about July 18, 2014. The charge was the result of an investigation into the posting of a video, which contained images of two unclothed minor girls, on a web site being monitored by law enforcement. Law enforcement followed up with a search warrant of Garreans’ residence and located a computer that contained hundreds of images of child pornography.

The investigation was conducted by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Harlan, Iowa Police Department and the United States Marshal’s Service. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

(12-p.m. News)

An investigation is underway after fire heavily damaged a livestock feed plant in southeast Iowa. Firefighters were called to the Church & Dwight plant south of Oskaloosa on Highway 23 shortly before 6-a.m. Thursday, morning where a livestock feed dryer caught fire. The fire caused extensive damage to one of two production lines, estimated at $2 million. There were no injuries reported.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in September at 4.2 percent. Iowa Workforce Development announced Friday that the rate didn’t change even as the number of people with jobs increased, due to an expanded workforce.

The rate was up from 3.6 percent a year ago but remained beneath the national rate of 5 percent in September. The state estimates there were 1.65 million people working during the month.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says a Creston woman was arrested Thursday night on an OWI charge. 46-year old Catherine Ann Scadden was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense, at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. She was later released on $1000 bond.

Two people in a semi tractor trailer were transported by Medivac Ambulance to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, after their rig caught fire this (Friday) on the Olive Street Exit from Interstate 80 eastbound (Exit 57/Cass County Road N-16). Atlantic Firefighter Gene Schmeling told KJAN News the driver of the semi had pulled-off the road to check on the trailer “Reefer” (the refrigeration unit), when he discovered flames. Atlantic Fire was notified of the incident at around 1:24-a.m. and was back in town by around 4:30.

The truck and its load of beef were a total loss. The cause of the fire was not immediately known, and no other details are currently available.

(Updated 11-a.m.)

TEMPLETON, Iowa (AP) – Templeton Rye plans to distill whiskey at its bottling facility in west-central Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports that the company is adding distilling equipment and warehouses at its plant in Templeton, in Carroll County, a town of about 360 residents.

In 2015 the company settled lawsuits over labeling the whiskey as “small-batch rye” made in Iowa when it actually was a stock whiskey made by MGP Ingredients in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. It’s unclear whether the expansion project means all of the Templeton Rye will be distilled in Templeton.

On Friday (today), the Iowa Economic Development Authority approved the company’s request for around $1.6 million in tax credits and refunds to help the expansion project. The expansion is expected to create 27 jobs.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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

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