The first shotgun deer season opens this weekend on the heels of what has been a successful bow season. Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife research technician, Jim Coffey, says hunters have already reported taking more than 27-thousand deer. “We’ve had an excellent fall with weather conditions and the crops came out early, and the hunters have had some great days to be out there. So, I think that has helped increase the number of people in the field and also increase license sales,” Coffey says. Coffey says he doesn’t expect any drop in hunters taking to the field this season.

He says the license sales for the shotgun season have been right on track to be about the same amount as last year. With license sales doing well, he expects the harvest numbers to be right around last year too. “Reported harvest last year was right at about 100-thousand deer and that’s what we would expect this year — unless there’s some major phenomenon in the weather — we should track pretty similarly,” according to Coffey. The weather is expected to warm up this weekend and Coffey says the weather conditions can really dictate the success of the hunt.

“Weather impacts the hunters as much or more than it does the deer. And sometimes warmer weather is just a little more difficult because the deer can spread themselves out,” Coffey explains. “It’ll be an interesting weekend, it will be a little muddy in some places. It should be nice weather, but that can actually make it more difficult to deer hunt.” The D-N-R surveys the deer population to try and keep it under control. Coffey though doesn’t talk about deer numbers in specific areas.

“Populations are something that are very difficult to talk about across the entire state because there is so much difference in the habitat from north to south and east and west. So we talk about trends more than anything,” Coffey says. He says if you saw deer last year in the places you normally hunt, there should be plenty of deer in those areas again this year.

This first shotgun deer season begins Saturday and runs through next Wednesday. The second shotgun season is December 12th through the 20th. The archery season closes Saturday to allow for the shotgun season and will re-open on December 21st. The late muzzleloader season opens at the same time and both will run through January 10th.

(Radio Iowa)

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest today (Friday), of a man from southern Iowa’s Clarke County. 48-year old Ike Matthew Findley, of Murray, was arrested just after 5-a.m.  at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, for violation of a protection order. Findley was being held without bond in the Union County Jail until making an appearance before the Magistrate.

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

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Three of Iowa’s largest hospital-and-clinic systems have signed contracts to provide care to patients who will be enrolled in new Medicaid managed-care programs. Gov. Terry Branstad’s office announced Thursday that the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, UnityPoint Health and Genesis Health System have signed such contracts.

The Des Moines Register reports that Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern that Branstad’s plan to turn over administration of the $4 billion Medicaid program to private, for-profit companies is moving too quickly. The new system is to take effect Jan. 1st. Genesis spokesman Craig Cooper says his system has the same concerns, but that it signed up with two of the four managed-care contracts so as not to leave patients in the lurch.

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

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The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports an OWI arrest. 43-year old Todd Edward Kimpson, of Corning, was arrested for OWI/1st offense, following a traffic stop at around 11:15-p.m. Nov. 28th. Kimpson’s bond was set at $1,000.

Arrested Nov. 27th in Adams County, was 22-year old Jordan Alan Perrin, of Corning, who was also charged with OWI/1st offense. The arrest followed a traffic stop.

A one-million dollar state program that seeks to place interns in Iowa businesses so they can get experience in the science, technology, engineering and math or STEM fields got off the ground this fall. Mark Joyce is a lobbyist for the Technology Association of Iowa. “We have 216 interns across 26 Iowa companies,” Joyce says. “We know there’s appetite for more.”

The Technology Association of Iowa is asking the governor and legislators to set aside another one-million dollars for the program next year. This year’s funding was released in September. “And the million dollars was fully subscribed five weeks later,” Joyce says. The STEM Internship Program is run by the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Businesses that participate get one dollar from the state for every one dollar they pay the student intern, up to a maximum of five-thousand dollars.

State officials say the program’s goal is to get college students the internship experience they need to secure permanent employment once they graduate.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Republican Party of Iowa says it has confirmed all of its precinct locations for next year’s presidential caucuses. The party announced Thursday that caucuses will take place in 1,681 locations throughout the state on February 1st.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A petition signed by hundreds of people could spur Davenport’s outgoing mayor to veto an overhaul of the city’s bus service. The Quad-City Times reports Mayor Bill Gluba says the petition with 410 signatures indicates that “low-income riders are being ignored.” Gluba, who lost re-election and is in his last month as mayor, says he’ll decide this week whether to veto the plan.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A gas main break clogged streets in downtown Des Moines Thursday afternoon as police and firefighters block traffic while utility workers scramble to fix the problem. KCCI-TV reports the break made firefighters close stretches of Grand and Locust streets between Third and Fifth avenues about 4 p.m.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — The leader of a national Muslim-American organization has invited Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to come to Jersey City and meet with Muslims there. Last month Trump claimed he saw television reports of “thousands of people” in Jersey City cheering as the Twin Towers fell on September 11th, 2001. The city has a significant population of Muslim immigrants. Governor Chris Christie and other New Jersey officials say the celebrations described by Trump never happened in their state.

Police in Council Bluffs Thursday night reported their officers were involved in another pursuit this week, the third so far. Officials say at around 4:53-p.m., Omaha Police reported that the Nebraska State Patrol was in pursuit of a black Honda Civic. The vehicle was eastbound on I-480 approaching the state line. The vehicle was being followed by Omaha Police helicopter, Able 1.

The chopper continued to give updates on the vehicles location and reported that there were no active ground units behind the vehicle.

Joshua L. Long

Bluffs Police dispatched two units to the area to assist. Able 1 followed the vehicle to the area of 16th Street and Ave. “A”, where the driver, identified as 29-year old Joshua L. Long, of Council Bluffs, exited the vehicle and fled on foot eastbound.

Officers were in the area and were quickly able to apprehend Long, after a brief foot chase. The vehicle he was driving had been reported stolen out of Council Bluffs and it was recovered. Long was charged with Theft 2nd and was served a warrant for
Parole Violation. He is being held without bond in the Pottawattamie County Jail.

The Nebraska State Patrol also was on scene and will have additional charges in the State of Nebraska. Council Bluffs Police say the incident should serve as a reminder to the public that you should not to leave your vehicle running unattended.

One person was seriously injured during a single-vehicle accident Thursday night near the southwest side of Atlantic. Police Chief Steve Green says the driver of the vehicle lost control for reasons unknown just after 10-p.m, near 22nd and Palm Streets. His vehicle crashed into a power pole owned by the Atlantic Municipal Utilities. Green said the man, who was conscious and breathing when police arrived on the scene, was not wearing a seat belt.

He was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital before being transported to a separate trauma facility. The accident remains under investigation. No other details are available at this time.