LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The second annual Three-State Beef Conference is scheduled next month in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. Topics titles include “Financial Impacts of Fertility and Infertility in the Current Cattle Market.” The first conference session is in Creston, Iowa, at Southwestern Community College on Jan. 13.

The Missouri session will be held Jan. 14 in Albany at the University of Missouri Hundley-Whaley Learning Discovery Center. On Jan. 15 there will be two sessions in Nebraska. The first will be at the Gage County UNL Extension Center in Beatrice. An evening session will be held at the UNL Ag Research and Development Center near Mead.

The registration fee is $25 per person. For more information or to register, contact Paul Hay, phay1@unl.edu, 402-223-1384 or Lindsay Chichester, lchichester2@unl.edu, 402-624-8030 or go online at http://extension.iastate.edu/feci/3StBeef/.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A system that left close to 5 inches of snow in parts of central and northern Nebraska, as well as parts of northeast Iowa, came a day too late for a white Christmas. Snow began falling in Nebraska on Friday, sweeping up to the northeast and into Iowa overnight into early Saturday.
The National Weather Service says the system dropped 4 inches of snow at St. Paul in central Nebraska and nearly 5 inches in western Knox County on the South Dakota border.

In Iowa, a National Weather Service map shows an area around Northwood near the Minnesota border getting more than 4.5 inches of snow. Most other areas in northern Iowa saw anywhere from a dusting to 3 inches of snow, while parts of western Iowa got 1 to 2 inches.

In Atlantic, we received just two-tenths of an inch of snow overnight Friday into early Saturday morning, with some mixed precipitation preceding the light dusting of snow.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A western Iowa nature center is asking people for their discarded live Christmas trees. Sioux City television station KTIV reports that the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center will be collecting undecorated live Christmas trees through Jan. 11th.

The center plans to mulch the trees and use them for the nature center’s trails. The nature center is located on Highway 12 in Sioux City.

A fight at a rural residence early Friday morning near Prescott, in Adams County, resulted in one person suffering critical injuries from being stabbed. Authorities said Saturday, the unidentified victim was transported to Mercy Hospital in Corning before being flown by helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office became aware of the incident when they received a 9-1-1 call just before 2-a.m., Friday, about two vehicles trying to run one another off the road. Deputies made contact with both vehicles and discovered that in the second vehicle was a male subject who had suffered stab wounds. An investigation resulted in the suspect in the case, 47-year old Kirk Frederick, of Corning, being charged with Willful Injury causing Serious Injury, and Going Armed with Intent.

An investigation into the incident is being conducted by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI).

With Ric Hanson.

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With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Police in Red Oak arrested a man Friday evening on an assault charge. Officials say 45-year old Lynn Kenneth Houtchens, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 5:20-p.m. at a location on Market Street, and charged with Domestic Assault. Houtchens was being held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond while awaiting his trial.

The Council Bluffs Police Department has released the names of the Council Bluffs police officers involved in a Tuesday shooting. Sgt. Chad Meyers says Officers Jarrod Poore, a 13 -year veteran on the force, and Corey Woodward, who has been with the department for 14-years,were on the scene in the 100 block of Park Avenue when 33-year-old Jesse Wilkinson allegedly accelerated a stolen vehicle toward the pair, prompting the shooting.

The U.S. military is testing an Iowa State University psychology professor’s theories about which tactics work best when questioning terrorism suspects.  “We’re now in our fifth year and we’re actually doing a field validation study with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations in which we’re actually training more than 100 of their investigators with the new science-based methods.” That’s Christian Meissner, an Iowa State University professor who’s been leading an international team of researchers on this topic. He says they’ve discovered the “scientific approach” yields better results.

“To understanding what factors might be important in eliciting cooperation and eliciting information from individuals who would be reticent to provide it,” Meissner says. “With my colleagues here in the US and the UK and Europe and Southeast Aside and even the Middle East, we’ve conducted studies to understand the psychological and contextual factors that will determine whether people will provide information.” According to Meissner, the tactics that work best in these kind of interrogations are nothing like you see on T-V and the movies.

“Shows like Jack Bauer (in “24”) and movies like “Zero Dark 30″ — I think this do a disservice to the discourse around this topic,” Meissner says. Meissner’s research shows the locked, windowless room is the least effective setting for getting a terrorism suspect to reveal his or her secrets. Hostile or aggressive questioning isn’t effective either. “Who would you tell your deepest, darkest secret to?” Meissner asks.

“Somebody who came in the room, who you didn’t know, who demanded that you be truthful with them and told you the most embarrassing moments of your life or somebody who you got to know over time, developed a relationship with, had trust in and began to be willing to disclose that information?” Fruitful interrogations would “be very boring to watch,” according to Meissner.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Five people were treated and released from a Waterloo hospital after being stabbed in a fight early Friday. KWWL reports that police say a fight broke out outside of a convenience store. Police say the five who were stabbed took themselves to Allen Hospital and were let go later Friday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines plans to cut four jobs and adjust certain fees in an effort to erase a $405,000 projected deficit in the next fiscal year. The city will eliminate three vacant jobs and cut a fourth post according to a 2015 to 2016 budget plan presented at a town hall meeting last week. Dan Ritter, the city’s interim finance director, says the job cuts will save Des Moines just over $200,000. The Register reports the rest of the deficit will be shaved through increased fees for certain building permits and inspections and adjusted ambulance fees.

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa (AP) — The police chief in the northern Iowa town of Clear Lake has died from cancer. KIMT in Mason City reports that chief Rex McChesney died Friday morning, according to city administrator Scott Flory. McChesney was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer shortly after being appointed interim police chief in March. McChesney graduated from Clear Lake High in 1981.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governor Terry Branstad is scheduled to undergo outpatient treatment for a minor leg issue on Monday. Branstad will return to his regular schedule on January 6th.