The 3-State Beef Conference is designed to provide beef cattle producers and other agricultural professionals in Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska an update on current cow-calf or stocker topics. The topics are based on producer suggestions. The Iowa site is Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa, on January 12, 2016. Registration starts at 5:30 p.m., and the program runs from 6 to 8:45 p.m.

Craig Payne, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with the University of Missouri, will explain the Veterinary Feed Directive. Feed grade and water soluble antibiotics are moving from over the counter to prescription status. Dr. Payne will help participants think through the impacts this may have on their operations.

The use of cover crops as a source of forage is of interest, and producers asked for a presenter who could address establishment, yield, forage quality, and calf performance. Dr. Mary Drewnoski from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln will address the topic.

With crop prices lower there’s interest in converting low productivity crop ground to pasture. Joe Sellers, Iowa State University Extension Beef Specialists, will walk producers through the decision process. He’ll explain the use of a spreadsheet tool at the Ag Decision Maker website and address practical limitations.

Pre-registration is required for the 3-State Beef Conference by January 8. The registration fee is $25, which includes a meal and materials. To register, call Page County Extension at 712-542-5171. More Information is available at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/feci/3stbeef/.

Police in Council Bluffs are investigating the armed robbery of a bank. The incident took place at around 4:40-p.m. Thursday, at the Frontier Savings Bank, located at 509 South 23rd Avenue, in Council Bluffs. Upon arrival officers learned that the suspect, a white male, was last seen running westbound on foot from the bank.

Suspect, was described as being about 6-feet tall and weighing about 225-pounds. He wore an orange, hunting-style stocking cap, mirrored sunglasses, a gray sweatshirt, black knit gloves and faded jeans with work-style boots.

Surveillance still image of robbery suspect.

He entered the bank and as he approached the female bank teller, said “Are you all ready for Christmas?”. The suspect then handed the teller a hand written note which demanded all of their money and not to set off any alarms. He also produced what appeared to be a small caliber handgun, and laid the weapon down with his right hand on the counter towards the teller.

The suspect then pulled from his pocket what appeared to be some type of a retail store bank bag with a drawstring and the teller gave him an undetermined amount of U.S. currency. The man made no threats towards the teller or any other person in
the bank.

Anyone with any information regarding the identity of the suspect is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker is expected to release sometime today (Friday), the name of the pilot who died late Thursday morning, after his plane crashed into the median between the north and southbound lanes of Interstate 29, near the northwest side of Council Bluffs.

Sheriff’s officials told the Daily NonPareil Thursday, that the pilot, flying a Piper Malibu Meridian single-engine plane, left Eppley Airfield at 11:51 a.m. Shortly after takeoff, the man radioed back to Eppley that he was having plane troubles and requested an emergency landing. A motorist who witnessed the crash said the plane was flying low, parallel above the railroad tracks, when it pitched hard right and the wing clipped a power line. Authorities said three lines were cut during the collision. One of the lines landed across I-29 northbound, causing one lane to be closed for about an hour.

The witness, an off-duty police officer and former firefighter, said the elderly male pilot had no pulse when he checked him after arriving on the scene. He was believed to be the lone passenger in the plane. The pilot was still in the plane hours after the crash as authorities waited for investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board to arrive.

The U-S Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary report shows there were 90 fatal workplace injuries in Iowa in 2014, an increase of 18 from 2013. Bureau economist, Paul Laporte, says 32 fatal accidents involved transportation issues, the most in any category. He says transportation accidents were up by three, while there was also an increase for a category of in falls, trips or slips.There were 25 deaths in the falls, trips or slips category. Laporte says one of the key industries in the state had the most deaths.

“In Iowa, farming related occupations are still on top of the list. Construction and also, truck drivers as well,” Laporte says. The category of agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting had 28 deaths, up from 22 the previous year. Laporte says the construction industry saw an increase in deaths on the job. They experienced 12 workplace fatalities in 2013 and that edged up to 20 in 2014,” according to Laporte. He says many of the construction workplace deaths involved falls. Eighty-five of the 90 — or 94 percent — of those who died in workplace accidents in Iowa last year were men. Laporte says that is about the same percentage seen in the rest of the country.

“Women nationally accounted for eight percent of all fatal occupational injuries in 2014,” Laporte says. “So, nationwide, 92 percent of those who died on the job were men.” Iowa’s 90 workplace deaths are more than several of the surrounding states. “South Dakota 28, North Dakota dropped down to 38, and Nebraska was at 54. So, among some of the plains states Iowa did unfortunately experience the largest number of fatalities.”

The recent numbers for Iowa have ranged from a high of 110 in 1992 to a low of 54 in 1995. You can see more information on the workforce deaths at www.bls.gov/regions/midwest.

(Radio Iowa)

A new report (issued Thursday) shows Iowans rank 10th in the country when it comes to volunteering. In 2014, 33-percent of Iowa residents volunteered their time helping others. In total, nearly 808-thousand volunteers across the state gave over 69 million hours of service worth an estimated 1.6 billion dollars.

The data comes from the Volunteering and Civic Life in America report released by the Corporation for National and Community Service. In addition to volunteering, more than half of Iowa residents donated $25 or more to charity last year.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, A Republican from Red Oak, says stopping terrorist attacks like the one in California requires the Obama administration to come up with a comprehensive plan. “We have to address the root of this problem, why we have the refugees and why we have expanding terrorism with ISIS,” Ernst says. “And we have an administration that refuses to address this issue of terrorism and the spread of terrorism in the Middle East.” Ernst says the plan has to have one goal.

“We need to have a strategy that will completely, completely defeat ISIS. Not contain them, not degrade them, but defeat them,” Ernst says. She see several issues that need to be in the strategy. “Enhancing intelligence capabilities, that would be part of that, both here at home and abroad. Making sure that we do have a secure border, that would be very important, so again protecting Americans. “But then Congress needs to be engaged as well, we can’t completely rely in the administration. We need in Congress to debate the use of force in Syria We need to do that through an authorization of the use of military forces.”

Ernst says she does not support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposal to block Muslims from coming into the country. She says America has great relationships with Muslims and cites the work of U-S troops as an example. “In Kosovo you will probably see as many American flags flying as you will Kosovo national flags. They adore the United States of America. These are great partners for us,” according to Ernst. “So, I do not support or subscribe to the comments that were made about banning all Muslims, I don’t agree.” She says you can’t make blanket statements like that about one group of people.

“Especially when it comes to religion, so I think we need to focus on what the real problem is,” Ernst says. Ernst was asked if she should be sending a stronger message about Trump’s statement by endorsing one of the other Republican candidates for the Iowa Caucuses. She says she will keep with her pledge to not endorse a candidate, and says the number of people who have spoken out against Trump’s statements in the party in Iowa and across the country is pretty telling in itself.

Ernst has this advice for Iowans on the candidates. “What I encourage our constituents to do is really dig into policies. And we can’t just grab onto something that sounds very provocative out in the media — which is exactly what’s happening right now. We have to dig into policy and really understand how is it that we defeat terrorism? How is it that we keep Americans safe?,” Ernst says. Ernst made her comments during her weekly conference call with reporters.

(Radio Iowa)

(DES MOINES) – Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise today (Thursday) announced the next group of school districts chosen to launch local teacher leadership plans through Iowa’s Teacher Leadership and Compensation System. Ninety-seven school districts have been added to the state system, bringing the total number of districts in the teacher leadership system to 295 (88 percent of Iowa districts).

Among the 97 newly accepted districts is:

Ar-We-Va; ; Bedford; Boyer Valley; Coon Rapids-Bayard; Corning; Denison; Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton; Griswold; IKM-Manning; Logan-Magnolia; Missouri Valley; Mount Ayr; Shenandoah; Sidney; South Page; Treynor; Tri-Center; Villisca; Walnut; West Harrison and Woodbine.

Director Wise said “This system is about supporting teachers to do their best work so that our students can do their best work. Students and schools today face higher expectations, and we must support the critical and complex work of teaching in order to improve instruction. We’re doing that through Iowa’s teacher leadership system, and it’s exciting that so many school districts share this commitment.”

Iowa’s teacher leadership system, which taps into the expertise of top teachers to improve classroom instruction and raise student achievement, is the centerpiece of Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds’ landmark education reform package passed by the Legislature in 2013. It is the nation’s most comprehensive teacher leadership system. About 25 percent of Iowa teachers will be in leadership roles when the system is fully phased in.

As of this fall, all 336 Iowa school districts had applied to join the teacher leadership system. The 97 newly accepted districts will implement their teacher leadership plans in the 2016-17 school year. The remaining 40 school districts will have an opportunity to refine and re-submit their plans for approval in the next two months.

School districts are chosen for the system based on recommendations of the Commission on Educator Leadership and Compensation, which evaluates applications. The teacher leadership system cost nearly $50 million in fiscal year 2015. That amount is expected to grow to about $150 million annually by fiscal year 2017, which would enable all districts to participate.

(Update 12:55-p.m.)

Authorities are on the scene of a plane crash off of Interstate 29 near the 58-mile marker, north of Council Bluffs. The Iowa DOT says the plane crashed into the median not far from Omaha’s Epply Airfield. All lanes of I-29 were blocked as of 12:45-p.m.

Video from the scene shows the plane is a small, single engine aircraft. There is no official word on injuries.