DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A report says Iowa’s largest public employees’ pension fund has a long-term shortfall of about $5 billion. The Des Moines Register reports that Gov. Terry Branstad was briefed Tuesday on the status of the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System (IPERS), which has 346,000 members. The report says the pension fund’s assets total about $28 billion and is nearly 84 percent funded, slightly up from a year ago.

The system serves current, former and retired employees of state government, cities, counties and school districts. The contribution rate by local government and state public employees to the main pension fund has increased in recent years to almost 15 percent of an employee’s earnings.

Donna Mueller, the fund’s chief executive officer, says the report shows progress and stability. Mueller said the system’s $5 billion in unfunded liabilities could be paid off in 23 years.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says a woman and a child suffered unknown, possible injuries during a single-vehicle, rollover accident this (Wednesday) morning. 27-year old Lindsey Weber, of Kent, was traveling north on Clover Avenue at around 8-a.m., when the 2008 Ford F-350 Super Duty pickup she was driving went out of control on the slick road. The pickup slid sideways before entering the east ditch and rolling once, coming to rest on the driver’s side. Weber, who was wearing her seat belt, was transported by ambulance to the Greater Regional Medical Center, in Creston. A passenger in the truck, 6-year old Karleen Kruse, of Lenox, also suffered possible/unknown injuries and was transported to the hospital, by ambulance.

Damage to the pickup the was estimated at $10,000.

The Harlan Police Department today (Wednesday), released a report on recent arrests and an accident. Officials say 19-year old Gage Johnston, of Harlan, was arrested Nov. 24th on an active warrant for failure to appear on a charge of possession of a controlled substance. Johnston was transported to the Shelby County Jail.

Also arrested Nov. 24th, was 32-year old Malcolm McDonald, of Harlan, who was taken into custody following a traffic stop. McDonald was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with driving while suspended. And, on Nov. 27th, Harlan Police arrested 34-year old Michael Wiser, of Harlan, following a traffic stop. Wiser was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with driving while suspended. Wiser was also cited for failure to wear a seat belt.

And, no injuries were reported following an accident Nov. 23rd, in Harlan. Authorities say a 2008 Ford driven by Ruth Weaver, of Harlan, was hit by a 2000 VW, driven by Rufino Martinez, also of Harlan. The accident happened when Martinez turned right out of a trailer court driveway at 3002 12th Street. In doing so, police he he failed to yield to Weaver, who was traveling north on 12th Street. Damage from the collision amounted to $3,500. No citations were issued.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A former Sioux City high school soccer coach has gotten three years of probation and a suspended five-year prison term for having sex with a student. Thirty-year-old Erick DeLeon was sentenced on Tuesday after being convicted in October of sexual exploitation by a school employee.

DeLeon was in charge of the iJAG program, a nonprofit program that works with at-risk students at West high School. He also coached soccer at the school. Prosecutors say DeLeon, of Sioux City, exchanged inappropriate text messages with one of his 16-year-old iJAG students and had sex with her at her home in October and November last year.

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

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AREA COUNTIES: SAC-CRAWFORD-CARROLL-AUDUBON-GUTHRIE-DALLAS-ADAIR-MADISON-UNION (713 AM CST WED DEC 2 2015)

…LIGHT SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE MORNING COMMUTE…

LIGHT SNOW WILL CONTINUE IN A SWATH FROM ALGONA…TO DES
MOINES…CHARITON AND OTTUMWA AND THEIR SURROUNDING AREAS THROUGH THE MORNING COMMUTE. ACCUMULATIONS SHOULD BE AN INCH OR LESS WITH VARIED ROAD CONDITIONS.

OUTSIDE OF SECONDARY ROADS AND BRIDGES…ROADS SHOULD MAINLY REMAIN WET FROM DES MOINES SOUTH. HOWEVER ROADS WILL BE MORE SNOW COVERED TO THE NORTH TOWARD THE MINNESOTA BORDER.

MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO SLOW DOWN AND DRIVE DEFENSIVELY WITH
EXTRA TRAVEL TIME POSSIBLY NEEDED.

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

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FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Corrections Department says a Fort Dodge prison inmate serving two life sentences for the death of two western Iowa residents, has died at a local hospital.  A department news release says 62-year-old Jerimiah Connolly died Saturday of end stage emphysema. He was being taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City when he was diverted to the local hospital.
He had been serving his sentence at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility.

The life sentences stem from two convictions for first-degree murder in Pottawattamie County. In November 1980 he was arrested and charged with killing 80-year-old Alanson Beach and 83-year-old Mina Beach. Connolly began the sentences on Nov. 3, 1981.

A man from Adair County was arrested Tuesday evening in Creston. Creston Police say 26-year old Zachary McNeeley, of Greenfield, was arrested in the Highway 34/Industrial Parkway area, for OWI/2nd offense and Driving While Suspended. McNeeley was being held in the Union County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee visited a biorefinery in Corning Tuesday to highlight his support of the Renewable Fuels Standard — and his criticism of the Obama Administration’s decision to scale back ethanol production levels. “The government says they’re going to implement standards, implement a plan. They need to stick with it not only because there are thousands of jobs at stake, but also because they were the ones that created the mandate causing people to make huge investments,” Huckabee says. “They’ve made those investments and they shouldn’t have the government now pull the rug out from under them.”

The Environmental Protection Agency’s guideline for 2016 ethanol production is below 2007 levels. Huckabee says billions of dollars has been invested in the ethanol industry and it’s working. “Fuel costs for the average American are down by 16 percent due to the Renewable Fuel Standards. The enviromental impact has been significantly improved because of RFS,” Huckabee says. “Now you have the very government that urged people to get into renewable fuels trying to dial the whole program back. That, frankly, makes no sense.”

Huckabee is also questioning President Obama’s focus on climate change. Huckabee says the country “needs a commander-in-chief, not a weather-obsessed meteorologist.” Huckabee says Obama might take ISIS more seriously if he learned “they didn’t recycle.”

(Radio Iowa)