An attraction in Shelby County has been awarded the Iowa Tourism Office and Travel Federation of Iowa’s “Outstanding Attraction” award in the rural division. The award was presented to the Danish Windmill Thursday evening during the 2014 Iowa Tourism Conference at the Mid-America Center, in Council Bluffs.

Danish Windmill Mgr. Lisa Steen-Riggs (center) is presented with an award Thursday in Council Bluffs.

Iowa Tourism Office Manager, Shawna Lode said “The tourism conference gives us the opportunity to annually recognize the best of the best in our industry. All nominations are reviewed and scored by industry members, people who know and appreciate tourism in Iowa.”

Danish Windmill Manager Lisa Steen-Riggs was on-hand to receive the award. Steen-Riggs, who is also President of the Travel Federation of Iowa, said “The Iowa tourism industry is full of hard-working, dedicated and passionate individuals. These awards recognize their contribution to Iowa’s tourism economy.”

In other award categories, the “Outstanding Niche Marketing Initiative” in the rural division was presented to Living Loess, western Iowa. And, The Council Bluffs Convention and Visitor’s Bureau received the “Outstanding Website” award, in the Metro Division.

The annual Iowa Tourism Conference brings together more than 250 industry representatives from across the state to network, attend educational sessions and discuss emerging industry trends.

Tourism in Iowa generates more than $7.75 billion in expenditures, employs 65,400 people statewide and generates $353.9 million in state taxes. The Iowa Tourism Office is part of the Iowa Economic Development Authority. For more information, visit traveliowa.com, call 800.345.IOWA or stop at any Iowa Welcome Center.

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The owner of a medical waste company says it was an improperly secured truck door that sent hundreds of confidential medical records onto an Omaha street. Cellphone video taken Wednesday by Omaha business owner Jason Bucsis shows thousands of pages blowing on and around a southwest Omaha street. Bucsis says a back door of a Medi-Waste Disposal truck was open as it traveled, sending boxes of records into the street.

Omaha television station KETV reports that good Samaritans scrambled to try to help the driver recover the records, even reaching into sewers to grab papers. Medi-Waste Disposal owner Ryan Funk says he believes most of the records were recovered. He says new policies will be put in place to try to keep such an accident from happening again.

A traffic stop early this (Friday) morning in Montgomery County has resulted in an arrest. 31-year old Jason Leon Latham, of Grant, was taken into custody at around 12:50-a.m. following a traffic stop at 250th Street and Highway 71, near Villisca. Latham was charged with Driving While Suspended and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held on $566 bond.

A man and woman from Nebraska were arrested for Trespassing on Railroad Property Thursday. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports 28-year old James Dean Miller and 21-year old Jessica Anne Lewis, both of Auburn, NE, were taken into custody following a foot pursuit that began when a sheriff’s deputy saw two persons walking on the railroad tracks near the area of Monroe and D Streets, in Hamburg.

The pair from Nebraska fled when the deputy attempted to make contact with them. Following their arrest, they were released on their own recognizance.

(Updated 10/27/14)

Firefighters from Menlo, Casey and Stuart battled a tractor-trailer fire on eastbound Interstate 80 in Adair County overnight. The blaze at the 88-mile marker (the Menlo exit) was reported at around 10:15-p.m., Thursday.  The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office says the vehicle was a double-bottom Fed Ex truck. Guthrie County deputies assisted with traffic control at the scene.

Photo’s from the Stuart VFD’s Facebook page.

No other details are currently available. (https://www.facebook.com/StuartFireDepartment)

The two major party candidates in Iowa’s fourth congressional district engaged in a bit of verbal combat last night (Thursday) during a televised debate held at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake. Democrat Jim Mowrer of Boone criticized Congressman Steve King of Kiron for suggesting the American soldiers being sent into west Africa to deal with the Ebola epidemic should be volunteers, since Ebola is a “silent killer.”

“As a soldier I understand that you volunteer when you raise your right hand and you’re willing to sacrifice everything for this country. Soldiers follow orders. This is a job that needs to be done. That’s why Congressman King never volunteered for the military,” Mowrer said. As many in the audience murmured, King responded: “I think that this judgement to do this debate should speak for itself.” After the debate, King told reporters Mowrer’s remark was an act of “desperation.”

“I think what’s going to happen is that people review this debate and they’ll go back and look at the facts and they’ll find out that we had a really good debate tonight and he had a really bad night of desperation,” King said. Mowrer accused King of inciting panic about Ebola.  “We need to confront this outbreak in a calm, concise, deliberate way. We need to stop it from spreading here in the United States,” Mowrer said. “We need to confront it at the source in Africa…but Congressman King again has a TV ad up on the air telling people that they should be afraid.”

King, meanwhile, challenged claims in one of Mowrer’s ads that King had voted to raise his own pay “by 20-thousand a year.” “If you do the calculation on his rational, it comes to $2610, not $20,000 and my pay again has been frozen since 2009, so many of those statements are completely, blatantly, fabricated-from-thin-air false,” King said.

Last night’s (Thursday’s) debate aired live on Iowa Public Television and is the only face-to-face meeting of the two candidates this election season. The fourth district is the state’s largest, geographically, covering 39 counties in northwest and north central Iowa.

(Radio Iowa)

Joni Ernst, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, has declined invitations to speak with a handful of Iowa newspaper editorial boards, decisions that became public Thursday after The Des Moines Register revealed Ernst had cancelled a Thursday appointment with the paper’s editorial writers. Sarah Benzing is the campaign manager for Bruce Braley — Ernst’s Democratic opponent — and Benzing spoke during a conference call arranged by the campaign.

“We don’t hide from questions or fail to have an open and honest debate,” Benzing said. “We talk about the issues, we lay out where we stand and that’s exactly what voters deserve from Joni Ernst and Bruce Braley.” Braley’s campaign manager suggests Ernst is trying to avoid unscripted moments.

“It’s one thing to stick to talking points at events,” Benzing said. “It’s another to sit down with an ed board and answer tough questions.” Ernst answered questions from Radio Iowa and other media outlets twice this week after campaign events in Boone and Des Moines. Ernst campaign spokesperson Gretchen Hamel says “recent editorials in The Des Moines Register make their position in this race perfectly clear” and the Ernst campaign decided with less than 12 days to go, Ernst “wants to spend every minute talking to undecided voters.”

Ernst also declined to meet with editorial writers for The Cedar Rapids Gazette, The Dubuque Telegraph Herald, The Quad-City Times and The Waterloo Courier. Ernst won The Des Moines Register’s endorsement during the Republican Primary in June, but the Ernst campaign cites five recent editorials in the newspaper that criticized Ernst’s past statements or positions on issues for leading to their decision to cancel a meeting with the paper’s editorial board.

The Des Moines Register endorsed Mitt Romney late in the 2012 campaign after Romney met with the paper’s editorial writers in a barn on a farm near Adel. President Obama had granted the paper an off-the-record interview that became public after the paper’s lead editor concluded Obama’s statements about his post-election agenda were newsworthy and merited publication.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst cancelled a meeting with The Des Moines Register’s editorial board Thursday, saying her time was better spent campaigning in Iowa. Editors at the newspaper say Ernst notified them Wednesday night that she wouldn’t attend the Thursday meeting. Publisher Rick Green says he was disappointed.

WEST UNION, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say three men who walked away from a residential correctional facility in northeast Iowa last Friday are back in custody. The state Department of Corrections says Shaun McBride and Taylor Oakes were arrested Wednesday night in Mitchell County. Tyler Roe was arrested Tuesday in Howard County.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Supporters of a proposed historic district in downtown Cedar Rapids say the designation would enable property owners to get big tax breaks when renovating their buildings. Cedar Rapids television station KCRG-TV reports the Cedar Rapids Community Development Department hosted two meetings to discuss the idea yesterday.

WAVERLY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 67-year-old woman has died in a single-vehicle crash in northeast Iowa. The Bremer County Sheriff’s Office says Kathleen Kerr of Tripoli, Iowa was driving Wednesday afternoon on a county road near Waverly when her car drifted off the road and struck a tree.