The latest area news with KJAN News Direector Ric Hanson.

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Republican Congressman Tom Latham — speaking publicly for the first time about his decision not to run for reelection in 2014 — says he made the move for personal, not political reasons. “Last weekend my wife and I decided that, you know, there’s no perfect time, there’s no right time, but for us this is the time,” Latham said. “We will have been married 39 years. Half of that time I was on the road with the family business. The other half I spent on the road in congress, gone, and it’s just the right time for us. It’s a personal decision…I’ve got five grandchildren, a great family. I just look forward to a change.”

Latham, though, was emotional as he talked about his long career in congress. “I love the job. I still get a chill every time I walk across the street in Washington and see Miss Liberty on top of the dome. You know, for a kid from Alexander, Iowa, (with a population of) 168 people, to have that honor — it’s really something, ” Latham said, his voice breaking. “And so it’s an emotional thing. It’s a job I love, but it’s the right time.”

Latham jokes that he’s been fielding lots of phone calls from fellow Republicans who are considering running for the seat. Latham will not endorse a candidate in the primary, but he will help the Republican nominee campaign through the fall election. Latham says he’d consider taking another job after his term is up, including a lobbying position, but he intends to live in the Des Moines suburb of Clive, close to his grandchildren. “It has been the honor of my life to represent now a total of 56 counties in Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Latham said. “Certainly there’s a relief as far as going through an election process, but I expect to stay totally involved to represent the folks here.”

Latham was criticized by some conservatives and Tea Party activists for his recent votes for the budget deals that ended the government shutdown in October and will prevent a shutdown in 2014. Latham says that criticism had no impact on his decision. “You know, my votes are my votes and I’ve always thought in this job that if you do the right thing for the right reasons, you don’t worry about it,” Latham said. “And I was probably, politically, in the strongest position I’ve ever been my career so, no, this is a purely personal decision.”

Latham was first elected to congress in 1994. In 2012 Latham faced off in Iowa’s new third congressional district against incumbent Democrat Leonard Boswell and won by nearly nine percentage points. Latham made his comments late Friday morning during taping of the “Iowa Press” program that airs Sunday, on Iowa Public Television.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Red Oak report the arrest on Friday of a man charged in connection with an incident which occurred earlier this week. 29-year old Zachariah Michael Holland, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10:30-p.m. Friday on a charge of Trespassing, for an incident which allegedly occurred on Wednesday (Dec. 18th).

Holland was being held in the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center on $300 cash bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — Fire officials and witnesses say a man jumped from a Muscatine bridge that spans the Mississippi River and couldn’t be found despite a quick response by rescuers. The Muscatine Journal reports authorities received reports yesterday morning of suspicious activity at the Norbert F. Beckey Bridge, a more than 3,000 foot bridge between Muscatine and Rock Island County, Illinois. A search continued through Friday afternoon without success.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governor Terry Branstad has appointed Stuart Palmer Werling as a judge in eastern Iowa’s Seventh Judicial District. Branstad announced yesterday he’d appointed Werling to fill a vacancy by Judge Gary McKenrick.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Waterloo Community Schools has hired its first woman as superintendent of 10,000-student district. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports the district’s Board of Education unanimously approved Jane Lindaman on Friday as superintendent. Lindaman, a 46-year-old associate superintendent in the district, will replace Gary Norris, who will retire on June 30th.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Educators from Des Moines and Shell Rock were among 102 teachers given a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The White House made the announcement yesterday, giving the award to teachers from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In Iowa, the winners were Josie Burg, a math teacher in Des Moines, and Mason Kuhn, a science teacher in Shell Rock.

Students in the Atlantic Middle School recently participated in a monetary fund raiser to help support the Atlantic Police Department and Reserve Department’s “Family Dreams Christmas” and “Shop with a Cop” programs.Officer Devin Hogue said a group of sixth grade students in Mrs. Reilly’s English classes were reading the book “Homecoming” by Cynthia Voight.  In the story there are children that are in great need and students were tasked by their teacher to come up with a project for the school to participate in a benefit for those who are less fortunate.

6th graders who participated in the benefit reading program. (Atl. P-D photo)

The students in these classes requested that officials with the Atlantic Police Department come and explain how their two programs work. After they were presented with the information they then put together skits, and presentations to give to all the “home bases” in the school. The presentations explained the two programs facilitated by the Police and Reserve Departments. They then challenged the students to see which “home bases” at each grade level could collect the most funds to be donated towards the two programs.

Once the challenge was accepted by the students they were given until December 17^th to collect as much as they could for their “Home Base.” On December 18^th Officer Devin Hogue went to the school to present certificates to the winning classes. In 6^th Grade the winning class was Mrs. Reilly’s class with $92.60. In 7^th grade, Mrs. Oglebee’s class with $51.64. In 8^th grade, Mrs. Leiferman’s class with $78.98. Another awesome aspect to their fund raiser was that Hy-Vee store manager Amy Jordahl agreed to pay sixth grade students a penny for every minute they logged reading over this time. Between around 60 students they logged a little over 19,000 minutes of reading either in school or at home. This would total out to more than 11 days of reading by the students. This lead to Hy-Vee contributing $191.64 towards the total amount collected by the school. The overall amount collected and donated by the “Home Bases” in 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grades was $824.38!!

The three winning classes will be treated to a pizza party on Friday January 10^th. The pizza will be donated and brought to the school by Pizza Ranch. Officers from the Atlantic Police Department will also attend the party as a way to say thank you and give an overview of how the two programs turned out.

The Atlantic Police and Reserve Departments want to send a very big THANK YOU to all the students in the Atlantic Middle School who helped this project be so successful. Their efforts are greatly appreciated and really goes to show how great and giving the community they are growing up in is.

Snow and a wintery mix is expected for much of Iowa beginning Saturday afternoon into Sunday. The Iowa DOT recommends the following tips for safe winter travel during the impending storm:

Is the trip necessary? Trips during severe winter weather can take three or four times longer than normal. Often, delaying a trip by a few hours can give snow removal crews time to get the roads back to normal winter driving conditions. For traveler information, now available via the web, Twitter, Facebook or on your mobile device, visit www.511ia.org. Or simply call 511 (within Iowa) or 800-288-1047 (nationwide).

Before you go, let someone know when you are leaving, when you expect to arrive and your intended route. Allow extra time to reach your destination. Use your vehicle’s safety equipment . Make sure you and your passengers are wearing their seatbelts or are in a child safety seat. Your vehicle’s headlights are a valuable asset when driving in winter weather. Turn them on to see and be seen.

Use your winter driving skills. Do not use cruise control, it can make it difficult to maintain control if you hit a slick spot. Allow extra stopping distance by keeping distance between your vehicle and the one ahead. Avoid abrupt steering maneuvers. Slow down, accelerate more slowly and apply the brakes in an even, controlled manner. Carry an emergency survival kit and other supplies. Carry a mobile phone for making an emergency call; do not use it while driving.

Use caution when approaching, following or passing a snowplow. Snowplows generally operate at much slower speeds than other traffic. Snowplows can be forced sideways when clearing hard-packed drifts and generate a “snow cloud” that may reduce visibility for nearby vehicles. Remain a safe distance behind the snowplow, pass only when clear and never continue to drive alongside a plow. Allow plenty of space when passing a snowplow because the wing of the plow blade extends out to the side of the truck and the front blade extends well ahead of the truck.

Police in Council Bluffs are looking for a man who allegedly robbed a bank Friday morning. Sgt. Chad Meyers said officers were called to the Bank of the West, located at 531 30th Avenue, at around 11:30-a.m.  Meyers said a white man – who appeared to be in his 30s – entered the bank, approached a the teller counter and demanded money. The suspect left with an undetermined amount of money and fled the bank eastbound on foot toward a nearby Office Max.

Bank robbery suspect. (Photo from surveillance camera, courtesy Council Bluffs P-D)

The suspect was described as being as 5-feet 9-inches tall, and about 160 pounds. He had facial hair on his chin, wore a black leather jacket, light blue shirt, light blue pants, a black stocking cap, yellow or tan gloves and dark rimmed glasses. The man did not display a weapon.

Anyone with information about the robbery is urged to call the Council Bluffs Police Department at (712) 328-5737.

An election misconduct charge was filed today (Friday) by Pottawattamie County Attorney Matthew Wilber in a potential case of voter fraud. A charge of election misconduct in the 1st degree was filed against Margarita Abrego, of Denison, on December 20, 2013. Abrego is accused of registering to vote and voting in the December 4, 2012 special election regarding a bond issue for Iowa Western Community College while being a non-citizen.

Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz said “I want to thank County Attorney Wilber for taking election integrity seriously. Every vote cast by ineligible voters cancels out the legitimate vote of eligible Iowans. Each vote can make a big difference and Iowans expect nothing less than fair and honest elections.”

The Iowa Secretary of State’s office referred the potential voter fraud cases to Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) to investigate. After the investigation, DCI then referred the potential voter fraud cases to Wilber for prosecution.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas company that owns casinos in four states including Iowa, says a data breach has compromised customer credit and debit card information. Affinity Gaming said Friday that its system was infected with malware that compromised card data from customers at its 11 casinos, including five in Nevada, three in Colorado, two in Missouri and the Lakeside Casino in Osceola, Iowa.

The company recommends that customers who visited the casinos between March 14 and Oct. 16 check their card statements for suspicious activity and put a fraud alert on their accounts. Affinity also announced a separate breach at Primm Center Gas Station, located in Primm, Nev., near the California state line. Company officials say skimmers that read card data were placed on three gas pumps on an unknown date. The situation was cleared Nov. 29.

EARLY, Iowa (AP) — Two men died and another was injured when the minivan they were riding in crashed near the western Iowa city of Early. The Sac County Sheriff’s Office says the crashed happened just before 5 a.m. Friday on U.S. Highway 20 west of Early when the driver of a minivan lost control. The vehicle entered the median and then started to roll.

The driver and a backseat passenger were killed. A front seat passenger was taken to a Storm Lake Hospital and was in critical condition Friday. The sheriff’s office didn’t release the names of those involved until relatives could be notified.

Slick roads don’t appear to have been a factor in the crash.