The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.3MB)
Subscribe: RSS
FOREST CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Forest City man accused of shooting a pellet gun at a school bus has been given five years of probation. The Globe Gazette reports that 33-year-old Martin Tindall also was sentenced last week to five years in prison, suspended, and told to pay $510 restitution to the Forest City school district. He’d entered an Alford plea to the felony charge of intimidation with a dangerous weapon. In an Alford plea, a person doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a likely conviction.
No one was injured in the Jan. 5, 2018, incident. A pellet shattered one of the bus windows .
The Iowa Dept. of Transportation reports numerous area highways are partially covered with ice this morning, creating slick driving surfaces, especially on bridges. Some affected roads include:
The National Weather Service reports several weather impacts are coming in the days ahead, across Iowa…The first one is a light dusting of snow possible Wednesday night into early Thursday. This could cause some slick spots during the Thursday morning commute. The second one is a larger storm system taking aim at the region for later Friday into Saturday. This system will likely spread snow and blowing snow across much of the area. Travel impacts are anticipated by Friday afternoon into Saturday. Lastly, bitter cold arctic air will surge into the state Saturday and remain into early next week. Wind chills will drop into the teens below to around 35 below zero by Sunday morning. (Click on the graphics to enlarge>>>)
(Radio Iowa) — Operators of big rigs traveling through Iowa and seven other states are starting to take advantage of a new system designed to make it easier for commercial drivers to locate parking in rest areas and private truck stops. Phil Mescher, with the Iowa DOT’s Office of Systems Planning, says the effort was launched several years ago and went “live” earlier this month. “People can travel all across our interstate system and at certain times see overcrowding of trucks in our rest areas and truck stops,” Mescher said.
Truck drivers can get information on available parking spaces along select interstates through various smart phone apps that access a data feed provided at trucksparkhere.com (trucks park here dot com). Officials in each of the eight states that are part of the “Trucks Park Here” system chose their own state-specific plans. In Iowa, the information is focused primarily on parking spots located along Interstate 80. “In Iowa, we picked the Interstate 80 corridor because that is where most of our truck traffic is. Mescher said also, “We have some sites that are very close to I-80. They go up I-29 and we also have one off of I-235. We go up Intestate 35 all the way to the rest areas that are south of Story City. We go up Interstate 380 as well, up to the Cedar Rapids area.”
Information on the available truck parking spots in Iowa will eventually be included on the state’s 511 system (www.511ia.org). The system should help truckers who need to find a parking space before reaching limits on how many hours they can be on the road. “It will never say that there are no spots available, it will just say the availability is low. But that at least gives them advanced information to make a decision…if they know their hours of service are about up, then they should probably go ahead and park in that first one rather than trying to risk getting to the next one,” Mescher said.
The Trucks Park Here system uses a variety of in-pavement and parking lot entrance/exit sensors. The effort was funded by a $25 million federal grant and involves the states of Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
WAUKEE, Iowa (AP) — The superintendent of the embattled Waukee Community School District will be leaving her post at the end of the school year. The school board voted Monday to accept Superintendent Cindy McDonald’s resignation, effective June 30. The third year of her three-year contract will be voided. A special state audit report released last month said administrators improperly used state credit cards and spent nearly $129,000 on items and services that “were not in the taxpayers’ best interest.”
The report says the items included nearly $28,000 for lounge chairs and furniture for the superintendent’s office and more than $83,000 on district administrators’ retreats. The district’s former chief operating officer, Eric Rose, is charged with two counts of solicitation to commit a felony and one count of felonious misconduct in office. Dallas County court records say Rose has pleaded not guilty.
(Radio Iowa) — Cattle producers from across Iowa will be attending today’s (Tuesday) Feedlot Forum in Sioux Center. Beth Doran, the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Beef Specialist for Northwest Iowa, says the event will address some of the many changes being seen within the cattle industry. “We know that consumer trends have changed, both at retail in terms of supermarkets but also in restaurants,” Doran says, “We also know that there’s been trade tariffs and those are still going on and wondering how those are going to effect our ag commodities, and we have record meat supplies.”
The program will include speakers and an industry trade show featuring a range of topics from animal health and nutrition, to buildings, financial services and record keeping. Doran says the keynote speaker is Jessica Dunker, president of the Iowa Restaurant Association. “She has an interesting topic that we need to listen to,” Doran says. “She’ll talk about restaurant and culinary trends and will explain to us how patron palates and tastes are evolving and our menus need to follow suit, so it will effect the kind of beef products we’re going to be marketing.”
Doran says ag economists from I-S-U recently completed a study on the impact of trade tariffs and how they’re affecting Iowa commodities and there will be a discussion on that. The Feedlot Forum is being held at the Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center.
Today: Areas of fog & patchy freezing drizzle this morning; Partly cloudy to cloudy. High 38. SW @ 10-20.
Tonight: P/Cldy to Cldy. Low 20. N @ 10-15.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy to Cldy. High 32. NE @ 10-15.
Thursday: Mostly cloudy w/a chance of light snow. High 32.
Friday: Cloudy w/snow, especially during the afternoon. High 28.
Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST
WASHINGTON (AP) — Iowa Republican congressman Steve King is losing his place on House committees after GOP officials condemned his comments about race. The nine-term congressman had lamented in a recent interview that white supremacy and white nationalism have become offensive terms. House Democrats are pursuing censure and other punishments for King, who has been criticized for his remarks about race over the years.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s top elections official has acknowledged that his office mistakenly derailed a long-sought plan to grant residents more expansive gun rights by forgetting to notify the public of the proposed constitutional amendment. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate cited a “bureaucratic oversight” for his office’s failure to publish notice of the proposed amendment in newspapers before the November election, which the state constitution requires.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republicans who control the Iowa Legislature are vowing to continue building the state’s workforce while reducing taxes and government dependence, the kind of reforms they say voters had in mind when returning them to power. Both parties pledged bipartisanship as the legislative session opened but largely laid out priorities unlikely to foster much agreement.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — House Democrats appointed to a committee to review the results of a contested northeast Iowa House seat are vowing to fight any attempt to rush to judgment on whether to count 29 absentee mail ballots. Kayla Koether trails Republican incumbent Michael Bergan by nine votes in the Iowa House district 55 seat. The dispute is the result of a conflict between state law and current practices of the U.S. Postal Service.
Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa tight end T.J. Hockenson is leaving school early for the NFL. The Hawkeyes announced that Hockenson, a redshirt sophomore, will join teammates Noah Fant, Anthony Nelson and Amani Hooker as early entrees in the draft. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Hockenson won the Mackey Award, given to the nation’s top tight end, in 2018.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Glynn Watson Jr. scored 15 points and Isaiah Copeland added 14 to help Nebraska upset No. 25 Indiana 66-51. The Cornhuskers have won two straight overall and three straight in the series. They never trailed Monday. Romeo Langford had 18 points and Juwan Morgan finished with 17 on a miserable shooting night for the Hoosiers, who have lost three in a row. Indiana’s 10-game home winning streak also ended.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Break out the parkas for Sunday night’s AFC title game at Arrowhead Stadium. The National Weather Service is projecting an arctic blast to settle over Kansas City for the Chiefs’ game against the New England Patriots. Temperatures at kickoff could range from 10 degrees to well below zero, potentially making it the coldest game in Arrowhead Stadium history.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs coach Andy Reid is trying to turn the page on a resume filled with postseason flops this season. No coach has ever been in more playoff games without winning a Super Bowl, let alone reached just one of them. But if the Chiefs beat the New England Patriots on Sunday, it would be a big step toward shoving all those disappointments into the shadows.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Following a regular season in which the Patriots lost five games, Bill Belichick recognized the need for his team to lean even more on its collective offensive strength. The result has been a team that has rediscovered its ability to run the football that doesn’t rely so heavily on huge games from 41-year-old Tom Brady. It will be needed to upend a formidable Kansas City team in the AFC championship game.
UNDATED (AP) — C.J. Anderson is shining in the playoffs just as he did in 2015 for the Denver Broncos. Anderson has topped 100 yards in all three of his games for the Rams and now he gives Los Angeles a 1-2 punch with Todd Gurley back healthy. Anderson was jettisoned by the Broncos, Panthers and Raiders this season, three teams sitting out this playoff party.