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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
A fire that destroyed a 102-year old apartment building in Harlan Wednesday evening, was apparently caused by a carelessly tossed cigarette. According to Harlan Fire Chief Roger Bissen, a resident in one of the apartments at 707 Durant Street was lighting a cigarette with a butane lighter when the cigarette flared up. The resident reacted by quickly tossing the cigarette, which rolled and ignited materials in the room.
The fire, which started just after 6-p.m. Wednesday, ended-up displacing at least eight residents, one of whom was treated at the local hospital, after suffering from smoke inhalation.
The State Fire Marshall’s Office investigated the fire Thursday, and ruled the cause as accidental.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A day of free admission has been scheduled at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. First National Bank is the sponsor. Gate admission will be free from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
The zoo is located just south of Interstate 80, off Exit 454, South 13th Street, in eastern Omaha. It is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through February.
Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) — After months of drought, companies that ship grain and other goods down the Mississippi River are being haunted by a potential nightmare: If water levels fall too low, the nation’s main inland waterway could become impassable to barges just as the harvest heads to market. The focus of greatest concern is a 180-mile stretch of the river between St. Louis and Cairo, Ilinois, where depths in drought-parched river channels have become dangerously shallow.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An administrative law judge will decide whether Governor Terry Branstad’s administration broke the law in July when he allowed state employees the option of paying 20 percent of their health insurance premiums. Three labor unions challenged Branstad’s executive order saying any changes in insurance benefits must be negotiated or agreed to by the unions. The unions want a judge to end the program and reimburse workers who participated. A hearing was held yesterday. A decision is expected by March 2013.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — University of Iowa officials have asked the Board of Regents next week to approve a plan to demolish flood-damaged Hancher Auditorium and the School of Art building. Both buildings have been vacant since the 2008 flood. The Regents heard the request on Wednesday.
WACO, Neb. (AP) — Monsanto is investing more than $100 million to expand four of its seed processing plants in Nebraska, Iowa and Indiana. St. Louis, Missouri-based Monsanto announced the expansion Wednesday.
The opening of deer season this weekend will also mark the start of another round of testing for Chronic Wasting Disease (C-W-D). The Department of Natural Resources will be particularly focused on a few select counties this year. The disease which is fatal to deer has not been found in 10 years of sampling of the wild deer population, but this year it was discovered in deer held at private hunting preserves in southern Iowa. D-N-R biologist Willy Suchy says they won’t be increasing the number of tests very much.
“Well, we have to keep the cost about the same, so we not going to take too many more. We sampled about 47-hundred last year. We’re going to do pretty much the same, we’re just going to shift some around to different areas to do our surveillance and to target where we think there’s the highest risk,” Suchy says. They will sample more heavily in Wapello, Davis, Pottawattamie and Cerro Gordo counties where the infected deer were found. Most samples of the deer tissue are obtained by wildlife staff.
A majority of the samples are taken received from hunters, but Suchy says they also take some sample from road-kill deer too. “And the most important thing is if anybody sees an animal that appears sick of emaciated, to contact one of our wildlife officers or wildlife biologists to get a sample,” according to Suchy.
The D-N-R has worked with the facilities to contain the infected deer, but Suchy can’t say if that has kept the disease from spreading to the wild population until the check the samples. The heaviest focus on samples in past years has been in northeast Iowa after cases of C-W-D were discovered in the border states of Wisconsin and Illinois.
The state has tested samples from over 42-thousand wild deer thus far and found not positive tests for C-W-D.
(Radio Iowa)
A central Iowa police officer and his K-9 partner have been honored with an award for a case that helped uncover a massive, nationwide drug operation. Urbandale Police Officer Shane Taylor and his German Shepherd, Sabre, were called to a weighing station along Interstate 80 in Dallas County on October 15, 2011. Officers were investigating what appeared to be a hidden floor in an enclosed trailer hauling a motorcycle. Sabre “alerted” on the odor of narcotics near the front of the trailer.
“Once we were able to get the floor pulled up, there was a duffle bag containing $180,000 (in cash),” Taylor said. “It was from the sale of narcotics on the East Coast and they were transporting the money back to California.” The man who was hauling the trailer was arrested. About a week later, a truck hauling a horse trailer – also traveling from the East Coast to California – was pulled over near Atlantic. Taylor said that trailer also had a false floor, but nothing was found inside. A tracking device was placed on the trailer, which went back to California and then to Reno, Nevada.
“She was pulled over by a state trooper (in Reno) who was made aware of what was going on with this trailer,” Taylor said. “There was 250 pounds of marijuana – over $1 million dollars worth – in this trailer.” The driver of the truck was identified as the mother-in-law of the man who was arrested earlier in Iowa. Taylor said authorities discovered the family-run marijuana operation in California financed the purchase of a $600,000 home and nearly a dozen expensive vehicles. Officer Taylor and Sabre were recently awarded the “2012 Case of the Year” during an annual conference of the Heart of America Police Dog Association.
Authorities have rescued six injured and malnourished horses from a southwest Iowa property. According to the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, the horses were being “significantly neglected” and were confined to a less than one-acre property in Lorimor, which is in Union County. The horses are now at what is called the “Rescue Ranch” in central Iowa. A “cruelty investigator” for the Animal Rescue League says the horses “had been living without food, shelter or veterinary care for an undetermined amount of time” and the animals “face a long road to recovery.”
Once they’re healthy, the horses will be available for adoption. There already are 13 horses available for adoption at the Animal Rescue League’s facility in Des Moines. In the past 12 months, the organization has been asked by law enforcement to care for two dozen horses.
(Radio Iowa)
The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three people were arrested Tuesday, on separate charges. At around 12:30-a.m., 21-year old Zachery Donaldson, of Glenwood, was arrested on a Possession of Drug Paraphernalia charge. His bond was set at $300. Later that day, 25-year old Shawn Patrick Nosekabel, Jr., of Malvern, was arrested on Main Street in Malvern, on a warrant for Failure to Appear on an OWI charge. His bond was set at $1,500. And, at around 8:30-p.m. Tuesday, 31-year old Toby Lynn Merritt, of Glenwood, was taken into custody at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a charge of Harassment in the 1st degree. Bond was set at $1,000.
An Atlantic woman apparently is becoming familiar with Cass County Jail facilities. On Monday, Police in Atlantic arrested 33-year old Essex Mullins, on a charge of shoplifting (Theft in the 5th degree). She plead guilty to the charge that same day and was ordered by the court to repay her victim.
Yesterday (Wednesday), Mullins was arrested on charges of Interference with Official Acts, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Disorderly Conduct. She was booked…again…into the Cass County Jail.
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad is ordering all flags in the state to be flown at half-staff from 5 p.m. Friday, November 30, to 8 a.m. on Monday, December 3, to honor 33-year old Sgt. Joseph A. Richardson, of Algona, who died while on patrol with the U.S. Army in Paktika province, Afghanistan, on November 16, 2012.
Sgt. Richardson’s funeral will be held Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Algona. Maj. Gen. Timothy Orr, adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard, will be in attendance to represent the Branstad/Reynolds administration.
The governor’s directive applies to all U.S. and state flags under the control of the state. H.R. 692, signed in 2007, requires federal government agencies in the state to comply with the governor’s executive order that the U.S. flag be flown at half-staff in the event of the death of a member of the Armed Forces.
Flags will be at half-staff on the state Capitol building and on flag displays in the Capitol complex, and upon all public buildings, grounds, and facilities throughout the state. Individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities, counties and other government subdivisions are encouraged to fly the flag at half-staff for the same length of time as a sign of respect.