The Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency late Friday night, reported that an accident involving a train and a pedestrian had claimed the life of a teenaged Caucasian female. Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Hamman said at around 5:24-p.m., the Montgomery County Communications Center received a call from Burlington Northern Santa Fe reporting a train versus pedestrian accident at the Halland Ave railroad crossing on the southern edge of Stanton. Crews arriving on scene determined the teen had been fatally struck by a BNSF freight train just east of the railroad crossing. As of late Friday night, the name of the female is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

So-called “perversion files” kept by the Boy Scouts of America indicate at least 75 adults with ties to Boy Scout Troops and units in Iowa were expelled from the organization on suspicions of child sexual abuse. One allegation in Iowa dates back to 1958, with the most recent incidents reported in Knoxville and Anamosa in 2004. Robert Hopper is the executive director of the Mid-Iowa Council of the Boys Scouts in America based in Des Moines. He says the files were kept to “keep information on people who should not be in a program for kids.”

“In my 34 years of working for the Boy Scouts I’ve been trained to be very aggressive about this,” Hopper says. “When these situations arise we go through the protocols to make sure that those individuals are not in our program and we do our very best to block them from ever being in our program again.” According to Hopper, these paper records were crucial. “Say that Mr. Smith would move away from Iowa and want to be in a youth program in Oklahoma,” Hopper says. “Well, before electronics we needed those files to help us try to compare and make sure that didn’t occur.”

Scouts keep electronic membership records today, and conduct background checks on troop leaders. “When we encounter people who should not be around kids, we make sure they’re blocked from our program,” Hopper says. The Boy Scouts were founded in 1910 and within the organization’s first decade scout leader began collecting data on alleged cases of child molestation. The files were part of a case in Oregon courts and that state’s Supreme Court ordered their release to the public. In more than a third of the cases, the allegations of abuse were not reported to police. The president of Boy Scouts of America yesterday said the organization was “profoundly sorry” for failing to protect all of its members.

The executive director the Mid-Iowa Council of the Boy Scouts says a series of “natural barriers” were put in place several years ago to prevent abuse, like requiring two leaders for every scouting unit. “We should and we have focused on this very intently,” Hopper says. “We have thousands of great leaders, thousands of great kids and families who are in our program and are just doing a wonderful job for kids.” According to the regional office, there are 30-thousand active Boy Scouts today in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.

(Radio Iowa)

The effects of a hot, dry and windy summer are finally coming to an end, it appears. Three more counties in the KJAN listening are rescinding their bans on open burning, as a result. Effective at Noon today (Friday, Oct. 19th), the Burn Ban in Page and Audubon Counties will no longer be in effect. Those bans had been in-place since July 19th. And, Montgomery County Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Hamman announced on his department’s Facebook page, that the Burn Ban which had been in place since July 18th, will be rescinded effective at 5-p.m. today (Friday). After today’s bans expire, only Cass, Crawford and Mills Counties will remain in a Burn Ban.

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers reminds residents that even though the ban on open burning is rescinded in Page County, the City of Clarinda’s Recreational Fire Ordinance and other burn related laws, remain in effect.

The Shelby County Emergency Management Agency said today (Friday), that the Fire Danger Index in Shelby County will remain in the “Moderate” category, through Monday morning, Oct. 22nd. The field and grassland fire danger conditions will be reassessed at that time, and another report issued accordingly.

A 45-year old auctioneer from Atlantic arrested last weekend on a Class-D Felony charge of Willful Injury Causing Bodily Injury, and a Serious Misdemeanor charge of Domestic Abuse Assault Causing Bodily Injury/Mental Illness, was released from the Cass County Jail Thursday, on $6,000 bond. According to online court records, Rex Dean McDermott is scheduled to appear in court for his preliminary hearing, on October 23^rd.

McDermott was arrested October 15^th, following an incident which allegedly occurred at R&B Feeds in Atlantic.

Another County in southwest Iowa is seeing a ban on open burning instituted over the summer, rescinded. Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers says the burn ban in Page County is being lifted effective at Noon today (Friday, October 19th). Brothers reminds residents that the City of Clarinda’s Recreational Fire Ordinance and other burn related laws, remain in effect.

Forecasters are projecting Iowa could be in for another mild winter. Meteorologist Kevin Skow, at the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center, says the long-range forecast for December through February calls for a season ahead that echoes last winter. Skow says, “It looks like we could see temperatures that are near-normal or slightly above-normal and precipitation also below-normal so after last year’s low snowfall, it looks like there might be a chance for a repeat of last year.”

While the forecast says rainfall and snowfall will likely be below-normal across the entire state during the upcoming winter months, but Skow says one part of Iowa could face an especially dry season. “The better chance looks to be across northern Iowa but it’s a broad outlook so this could easily change over the next couple of months,” Skow says.

The report says the only part of the country that’s expected to see below-normal temperatures this winter is Florida, while the Gulf Coast is the only area expected to see above-normal precipitation. See the complete maps at: www.cpc.noaa.gov

(Radio Iowa)

Officials with Travel Iowa say the Iowa Tourism Office and the Travel Federation of Iowa presented 12 awards recognizing excellence in the tourism industry during the 2012 Iowa Tourism Conference Thursday night. Among the award recipients, was the Manning Hausbarn/Heritage Park in Manning, which won for having an “Outstanding Niche Marketing Campaign,” and, the Council Bluffs Convention and Visitors Bureau, which picked up the “People’s Choice Award,” during a vote by the conference attendees.

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 billion in expenditures, employs 63,400 people statewide and generates $328 million in state taxes. The Iowa Tourism Office is part of the Iowa Economic Development Authority. For more information about Iowa tourism, visit www.traveliowa.com, call 800.345.IOWA or stop at any Iowa Welcome Center.

A new report from a motor club finds teen drivers in Iowa are much more likely to be involved in deadly crashes if they have another teen riding along in the car. Rose White, spokeswoman for Triple-A-Iowa, says the statistics from 2005 to 2010 are startling and emphasize the need for more training and discipline for younger drivers. “The prevalence of risky behaviors generally grew for 16 and 17-year-old drivers as the number of teen passengers increased,” White says. “Among 16 and 17-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes, it showed the prevalence of speeding increased from 30% to 44% just with another additional passenger in the vehicle.”

The study found the risk of death doubled with two teen passengers and quadrupled with three or more passengers. White says about one-third of all fatal crashes are caused by speeding, but for teen drivers, it’s nearly half. “Drivers aged 16 to 17 are involved in about seven times as many crashes per mile driven compared to drivers in their 40s, 50s or 60s,” she says.

In Iowa, teens between the ages of 14 and 19 have a higher death rate in crashes than any other age group. White urges Iowa parents to get involved in the driving process, especially during the early driving years, and to restrict the number of passengers allowed inside the vehicle. “In 2011, teenage drivers were involved in 21-percent of all crashes while only representing 7.3-percent of the driving population,” White says.

The study found teen drivers were also involved in 25-percent of all nighttime crashes, while in accidents where speeding was a factor, they were involved in 33-percent of all crashes. This is National Teen Driver Safety Week.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – An index of economic conditions in 10 Midwest and Western states jumped this month after three months of drought-induced doldrums.  The Rural Mainstreet survey of rural bankers rose to 56.6 for October from 48.3 in September. It was the first time since June that the index rose above growth neutral 50.  Survey organizers say any score above 50 on the 100-point scale suggests the economy will grow in the months ahead.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the effects of the drought are being more than offset by high incomes from high agriculture and energy prices. The survey covers Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.