Area and State news from Ric Hanson.

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A man from Union County was arrested Saturday on a warrant out of California. Creston Police say 27-year old Christopher Harris Schell, of Creston, was taken into custody at around 1:18-p.m. on a warrant charging him with Theft in the 2nd degree. Schell was being held in the Union County Jail without bond while awaiting extradition to California.

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Members of the Griswold and Atlantic Community School District’s Boards of Education will hold their regular, separate meetings this (Monday) evening. The Griswold Board will gather for a 5:45-p.m. meeting in the Central Office at the Middle School/High School Building.

On their agenda is action on: an Early Retirement Policy; Nutrition Funds;s Allowable Growth with regard to Drop Out Prevention; and the 2015-2016 School Calendar.

The Atlantic School Board meets at 7:30-p.m. in the High School Media Center. During their session, the Board will receive a special presentation from Ginger Bechtold and the Atlantic Middle School Student Council. They’ll also act on approving Jim Swanson as Volunteer High School Wrestling Coach.

The Atlantic Board of Education will also hear from Gary Sinclair from the Financial Planning Program, with regard to district participation in the program, and they’re expected to act on approving an SBRC (School Budget Review Committee) Spending Authority Request for Bilingual/LEP Allowable costs for Fiscal Year 2012, Fy 2013 and FY 2014.

Discussion items include 2015-16 Supplemental State Aid/Tax Rate, and Legislative Activities.

DES MOINES, Iowa – For the hundreds of thousands of unpaid family caregivers across the state, the best gift this holiday season may not come wrapped in a bow. Many caregivers already may be overwhelmed with their daily responsibilities on top of helping keep loved ones at home and independent. And Ann Black, associate state director for communications for AARP Iowa, says during this busy time of the year, that stress is magnified even more.

“While they’re the first to say they wouldn’t have it any other way, caregivers really have an overwhelming, 24/7 job,” she stresses. “So offering to assist your neighbor or a coworker or a friend during this busy time is one of the best gifts you could ever give.”

Black says that assistance can include running errands, doing household chores or taking over the care-giving responsibilities for some time to give them a respite. For those who are caregivers, Black says they need to understand that it is OK to take the time out for themselves to manage their stress and to reach out for help and support.

“So that’s why AARP is launching a new initiative called I Heart Caregivers to help caregivers get the support they need and have a forum to share their stories and connect with others who are on this same journey of caregiving,” she says.

Currently, there are about a half-million people statewide providing care for a loved one, and that number continues to grow.

(Iowa News Service)

Sheriff’s officials in Adams County say a Corning man was arrested Saturday afternoon on alcohol and assault charges. 41-year old Carroll Flowers was taken into custody at around 3:30-p.m, after deputies in Adams County were called to 808 Adams Street in Corning, with regard to a domestic issue. Upon arrival, they found Flowers standing in the street. A further investigation determined the man was allegedly under the influence of alcohol. Flowers was placed under arrest and charged with Domestic Assault, as well as Public Intoxication. His bond was set at $500.

A spokesman for a beef jerky distribution facility in western Pottawattamie County says an accident at the facility Saturday, resulted in a female being transported to the hospital. According to Omaha television station KETV, the statement about the incident at Jack Link’s Beef Jerky in Underwood, says the unidentified woman was transported to Mercy Hospital, where she was last reported to be in critical, but stable condition.

Authorities say the accident involving a pallet that fell on the woman’s head, happened at around 5:30 p.m., Saturday. Officals with Link Snacks, Incorporated, said in a statement “..safety is our top priority,” and that they are “thoroughly investigating” the cause of Saturday’s accident.

As congress faces a Thursday deadline to pass a federal budget plan, Senator Tom Harkin is in the middle of the negotiations, focused on health-care-related spending, but he’s not regretting his decision to retire at year’s end. “Yeah, I’m going to miss it, sure, because I enjoy this. I enjoy being a enator. I love the senate, It’s dented a little bit, banged up a ittle bit, but it’s still functional,” Harkin said. “…But, again, it’s time for me to move on. It’s time for me to retire. It’s time for young people and new people to come in.” The current federal spending plan expires this Thursday, December 11th.

Harkin thinks congress may vote for a one-week delay that keeps the current spending levels in place, then vote next week on a long-term, comprehensive spending plan. Harkin’s voluntary exit from the senate comes 42 years after he first sought to enter congress. Harkin ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972, but lost. He ran again in 1974 and won. “In my first political campaign I spent $20,000. Now that was kind of a wave year. That was an anti-McGovern wave year. Two years later the wave went the other way with Watergate. I think in that year I spent a little over $100,000 in winning a congressional seat,” Harkin said. “Think about that compared to today.”

Nearly 62 million dollars was spent on this year’s battle between Joni Ernst and Bruce Braley to claim Harkin’s seat. After 10 years in the U.S. House, Harkin won the Iowa senate seat in 1984 and defeated three Republican congressman along the way to stay in the senate. He’s served as chairman of the Ag Committee and lead drafting the Farm Bill and he’s currently chairman of the committee that helped draft the Affordable Care Act, but Harkin says the “premiere” accomplishment of his political career is gaining passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“I’ve been very blessed and the people of Iowa have given me the opportunity to stay there long enough to see what it has done to this country,” Harkin says. “It’s amazing the changes that have been made.” Harkin plans to take a two-month long vacation, then return to Iowa in March for work at the Harkin Institute which was established at Drake University last year “The Institute at Drake is totally bipartisan. We have a bipartisan board. In fact, I have a former chair of the Iowa Republican Party on the board. I have Republicans on the board,” Harkin said. “I want it to be a totally non-partisan entity and Drake has set it up that way.”

One of the Harkin Institute’s panel discussions this past summer featured both Harkin and Republican Governor Terry Branstad. Archivists from Drake University and the U.S. Senate have been working in Harkin’s office over the past few months, starting the process of converting Harkin’s work papers from 40 years in congress to a digital forum.  “Once in a while they come across some very interesting tidbits, shall we say, of legislationa nnd letters and things like that that I had forgotten about long, long ago,” Harkin said. “I’m sure there’ll be some surprises.” All that material will be stored at Drake and a semi will transport between 400 and 500 boxes of documents from D.C. to Drake at the end of this year.

The Iowa Democratic Party faces big decisions after election losses last month, but Harkin — who has been the party’s top elected official — plans to focus on what he calls the “bipartisan” work at the Harkin Institute rather than steer selection of a new party chairman in January. “I am a Democrat and I love my party and I want them to have good policies and good candidates, so I hope to be supportive in some way, but I don’t intend to be any kind of ‘godfather’ or something like that,” Harkin says. Harkin’s annual “Steak Fry” fundraiser has been a launching pad for Democratic presidential candidates over the years. Bill and Hillary Clinton were the speakers this past September at what was billed at the time as the final Harkin Steak Fry.

“People are talking to me about maybe revisiting that, ‘Never again,'” Harkin said. “…Stay tuned on that one.” If Hillary Clinton runs for president in 2016, Harkin believes she’ll have competition from people like former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Harkin’s wife, Ruth, endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2008 and Harkin says he has offered Clinton some advice about running in the 2016 Iowa Caucuses. “I said: ‘Don’t just go to Des Moines or Waterloo or Cedar Rapids or Dubuque. Go to the rural areas. Start out in smaller communities in Iowa,'” Harkin said. “‘Let them know you care about rural America and small towns and communities. You can get to the cities later on, but plant your flag in rural Iowa.'”

Harkin ran for president himself in 1992. He says the experience taught him what a “complex country” we live in and it made him a “better senator.” “Honestly, I really wasn’t prepared to run for president. I hadn’t really spent a lot of time thinking about it before. I’d thought about being a senator or being a congressman and I was really just focused on Iowa,” Harkin said. “…I think I could have been a pretty decent president, but I wouldn’t have had another happy day in my life.” Harkin made his comments during a weekend appearance on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa’s drug czar says a new marijuana derivative is showing up on the streets in Iowa. Steve Lukan leads the Iowa Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) and says marijuana is reduced to a product known as hash oil or wax. He says it has a high percentage of the psychoactive compound known as T-H-C. “That then is used in the electronic cigarette, much like you might add a flavored nicotine product, instead they’d be adding the high-potency oil,” according to Lukan. Lukan says the hash oil is likely arriving in Iowa from states which have liberalized their marijuana laws:

“If you’re in states like Colorado there’s been an explosion of products with very little regulation, oil, food products, candies,” Lukan says. Iowa has approved the use of a low T-H-C cannabis oil for limited medical use, but the more potent oil is illegal in the state. Hash oil is produced by boiling down marijuana leaves. Lukan says some of the product is showing up in Iowa schools. He recently made his comments to the governor’s budget panel.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa cattle and hog producers are working to comply with new state rules that are designed to keep animal waste from polluting nearby waterways. The Sioux City Journal reports Craig Moss and his family created new concrete drainage systems with grates to ensure rain can leave their feedlot without carrying manure with it. Moss says his family wants to make sure that fresh water flows around the feedlot and dirty water from the feedlot is directed through terraces into a field.

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — Iowa authorities are investigating a suspicious death after a body was found this weekend, but two men have been arrested in connection with the case. Marshalltown Police say a deceased man was found inside a home around 8 p.m. Saturday. Police did not immediately release details of the death or identify the victim yesterday. Police arrested two suspects in the case on Sunday.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Waterloo police have identified the young man who was killed in a weekend shooting. Waterloo Police said yesterday that 23-year-old Orintheo Campbell was fatally wounded near a Prime Mart convenience store around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Tennessee and Iowa will meet January 2nd in the TaxSlayer Bowl in a matchup of Southeastern Conference and Big Ten foes. The game will be played at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. Tennessee is 3-2 all-time in the game formerly known as the Gator Bowl.