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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
Police in Red Oak report the arrest Thursday night of a sexual assault suspect. Officials say 29-year old James Ray Gilvin, of Red Oak, was taken into custody a little after 10-p.m. at a residence on West Coolbaugh Street. He was charged with felony Sexual Abuse in the 3rd degree, and brought to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center, where he was being held on $10,000 cash bond.
Time is running out for Iowans who’ve yet to purchase Girl Scout cookies this year. The annual sale wraps up this Sunday. Antoinette Bernich, spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa, believes it’s been a solid year for sales. Girl Scouts in Iowa sold more than 1.8 million boxes of cookies in 2012 — which marked the first year of “direct” sales. “The direct sale format is a little bit different. Traditionally, girls would take orders for cookies. So, there would be a few weeks from the time that you ordered and paid for your cookies to the time that those cookies were delivered,” Bernich says. “Starting last year, we moved to a ‘cookies now’ format, which means a little more instant gratification for our consumers and I think overall it’s been very well received.”
Iowans can find locations where Girl Scouts are selling cookies by using the “booth locator” at www.girlscoutsiowa.org. Bernich says the top selling Girl Scouts cookie in Iowa is the Thin Mint. That’s also the best seller across the country. “In Iowa, we have a couple of areas where there are cookies that trend a little bit better. In Sioux City, for instance, the Peanut Butter Patty is the number one cookie,” Bernich says. There are eight cookie varieties available for sale from the Girl Scouts. That includes a new offering this year: Mango Cremes.
The annual Girl Scout Cookie Sale is designed to raise money for the organization and charities of each troop’s choosing. Bernich says the sale also teaches girls about financial literacy. “Girls are learning goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics from each box of cookies that someone buys,” Bernich said. More than 15,000 girls and 4,000 adult volunteers are part of The Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa — which covers 67 counties in central and western Iowa, plus one county in northeast Nebraska and two counties in southeast South Dakota.
(Radio Iowa)
A jury deliberating the case of a Pottawattamie County man accused of first-degree kidnapping, attempted murder and willful injury, has instead found the accused guilty of lesser charges. According to the Daily NonPareil, 41-year old Darion Love was convicted on felony and misdemeanor assault charges in connection with the alleged seven-hour beating of his girlfriend, Jennifer Pruett, on May 5th, 2012.
The jury’s verdict came following 8-hours of deliberation after an unusual three-day trial, during which Love was permitted by the judge to come and go from the proceedings as he pleased, and even allowed to watch witness testimony and the closing arguments of Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber, via closed-circuit television from inside a holding cell at the courthouse.
A bill that passed the Senate this week more than triples the charge for getting a duplicate Iowa driver’s license. It now costs just three-dollars to replace a lost or destroyed Iowa driver’s license. Senator Rich Taylor, a Democrat from Mount Pleasant, says the bill would raise the fee to 10-dollars. “The purpose is to recover actual state costs to produce the I.D.,” Taylor says. Senator Mark Chelgren, a Republican from Ottumwa, voted against the bill.
“I do not wish to stick it to the people of Iowa,” Chelgren said. “…We should not be putting additional fees, financial burdens on the hard-working people of Iowa.” Senator Taylor responded. “This bill does not raise the fee of obtaining your license,” Taylor said. “It raises the fee on replacing your license.”The bill passed the Senate by a 37 to 11 vote.
The proposal now goes to the House for consideration.
(Radio Iowa)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Census Bureau estimates Iowa gained about 10,000 residents between 2011 and 2012 but most counties lost population. Sixty-five of the state’s 99 counties lost residents and 55 counties counted more deaths than births. The biggest population gains were reported in Polk, Johnson, Dallas, Scott and Linn counties.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Senate Democrats are proposing a Medicaid expansion with an opt-out provision in case federal funding levels change. They say it would address the governor’s concerns that the federal government can’t keep its funding promises. Democrats argue that expanding Medicaid would provide better coverage to more low-income residents,
HAMILTON, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say a body pulled from the Mississippi River is that of a Mount Pleasant woman who has been missing for a month. Teresa Bruegge’s body was found about 50 miles south of Mount Pleasant. She vanished on Valentine’s Day.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad says Iowa is fortunate to have strong ties to the new president of China, which could create business opportunities. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds congratulated Xi Jinping on assuming the presidency of the world’s most populous country.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A group of students in high school and college want education officials in Iowa to recruit qualified teachers and improve testing standards. The Iowa Learning Council presented those recommendations and others during a meeting Thursday with state leaders. Other ideas included a push for schools to encourage careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The state Department of Education leads the council of young people, which formed last year to draft an agenda of education reforms. Other recommendations included raising teacher salaries and creating a diploma seal that signifies a student is college and career ready. Branstad supports such measures under his education reform plan. Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass says the agency plans to keep the council in the future.
The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported following a collision between two semi’s Wednesday evening. The accident happened on Highway 92 at the intersection with Highway 71, at around 5:10-p.m. Officials say a 2006 Freightliner driven by 33-year old Brandon Jay Frank, of Griswold, was eastbound on Highway 92 when it struck a 2005 Freightliner driven by 24-year old Stefan Dimoski, of Woodridge, IL, as Dimoski was traveling northbound on Highway 71.
Damage to the semi’s totaled $50,000. The Sheriff’s Departmetn says Frank was cited for Failure to Obey Stop Sign and Failure to Yield Right of Way.
The way severe weather warnings are issued in Iowa will be changing a bit this spring. Jeff Johnson, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in metro Des Moines, says watches and warnings will be accompanied by what he calls a tag, or a more descriptive statement. “The tornado tag will have an option between ‘radar indicated’ and actually a ‘tornado observed’ tag,” Johnson says. “With the damage threat tags, we’ll be able to say in terms of a large catastrophic tornado moving toward a metropolitan area, we’ll put that into the warning itself, that way decision makers can make quicker responses.”
The changes come, in part, following the fact 2011 was a historic year in terms of tornado deaths nationwide. Recent studies found some people don’t always understand what severe weather warnings mean, so the tags aim to make it more clear what’s coming down the road. “Nothing’s changing with our watches and warnings, all the coding will be the same, what a Tornado Warning means will be the same, and a watch,” Johnson says. “It will add a little more information on the bottom of the warning so if you just picked it up and saw the warning, you can quickly ascertain what the overall threat of that warning is.”
The changes in the warnings may seem minor, but Johnson says it’s hoped the slight differences may provide vital information that could ultimately save lives. “You might hear a sense of urgency in the announcer’s voice if it’s a ‘catastrophic’ tag, because it’s going to give that person knowledge that this is a significant, major tornado event and to go all out on the dissemination,” Johnson says. “Each tag has a corresponding call to action statement which will be placed in the warning for weather radio listeners.”
The new series of “impact-based” warnings were tested last year in Missouri and Kansas. Now, starting April 1st, they’ll be rolled out in Iowa and ten other states across the Midwest, encompassing 38 National Weather Service offices. Learn more at www.weather.gov.
(Radio Iowa)