April is “Window Safety” month in Iowa and a Des Moines couple is leading the effort to spread this safety message. Four-year-old Hannah Geneser died after falling from a third floor window in March of last year. Her father, Jamie Geneser, is urging parents across the state to check window screens and talk with their kids about being careful around windows. 

“For me, personally, it’s a way to kind of channel all the grief and pain that we have, that I have, and channel it in a positive manner,” he says. “It’s really a coping mechanism for myself and I just have this drive to make sure that other parents don’t have to go through what we have gone through.” The Genesers have started a non-profit foundation to spread their child safety message.

“We already have talked to several different people that have already made changes to how their home is set up, how their windows function, different guards, different precautions they’re putting in place,” Jamie Geneser says, “so we’ve had an overwhelming response to this thing that we’ve brought to people’s attention.” The Iowa House this morning (Tuesday) passed a resolution to mark Window Safety Awareness Month and Jamie Genezer was there, along with his wife, Shanda Boone.

“It’s very important for us and I’m overwhelmed,” Shanda Boone says. “I didn’t expect to be this overwhelmed with emotion, but it just means so much to us and it helps us to continue you on.” Every year, about five-thousand U.S. children are taken to emergency rooms after falling out of windows. Last year in the Des Moines area alone, five children fell out of windows in the spring and summer.

Go to www.radioiowa.com to learn more about window safety and the child safety foundation created to honor Hannah, the child who died after falling out of a window. 

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

An elderly Griswold woman suffered minor injuries after being hit by a car Monday morning. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says Joann Dean was knocked to the ground after she was hit by a vehicle which was backing out of a private driveway. The accident happened at around 11:30-a.m., near 507 1^st Street, in Griswold.

 Officials say the driver of a 2002 Dodge, 59-year old William Lee Peebles, of Griswold, was cited for Unsafe Entry Onto a Sidewalk. Following the accident, Dean was transported by Griswold Rescue to Montgomery County Hospital in Red Oak where she was treated for her injuries, and released.

w/ Ric Hanson

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A man who was wanted on a misdemeanor warrant will likely face additional charges, after he held authorities in Council Bluffs at bay for about 9-hours before finally being taken into custody early this (Tuesday) morning. According to media reports, officers went to the home on South 13^th Street in Council Bluffs at around 5:30-p.m. Monday to serve a warrant for 56-year old Donald Shamblen.

Shamblen was said to be near his garage when officers arrived. The stand-off began when he allegedly told officers he had a gun and a knife, and wasn’t going to jail. A Council Bluffs Emergency Response Team (ERT) and negotiators arrived on the scene, and the area was cordoned-off.

At around 2:30-a.m., police knocked down a door and took Shamblen into custody without incident. He was transported to a hospital for evaluation before being taken to the Pottawattamie County Jail.

An Audubon woman turned herself in to authorities Monday morning.

Cynthia Rae Bates (IA Sex Offender Registry photo, Sept. 2011)

 The Audubon County Sheriff’s Department said 54-year old Cynthia Rae Bates faces a felony charge for Failure to Report a Change of Relevant Information, with regard to the Iowa Sex Offender Registry/2nd offense.  Bates was seen by the magistrate and released. Her preliminary hearing was set for April 19th. The incident remains under investigation.

Bates was convicted in Audubon County in April 2004, of having Lascivious Acts with a male child under the age of 13.  The woman was 44-years old at the time.

(Story 1st aired 3 & 5pm Mon., April 2nd)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The National Weather Service says the lack of winter weather and some record high temperatures helped make March the warmest on record in Iowa. The service says there were several date records and entire weeks of record warmth.

Some examples:  The high of 84 in Des Moines on March 16 broke the 1930 record of 77. The high of 82 in Waterloo on March 17 broke the 2003 record of 78; The average temperature of 66.6 degrees in Waterloo from March 16 through March 22 was nearly 30 degrees above normal for that span; For the month in Des Moines, the average temperature of 55.7 broke the 1910 record of 51.5; For the month in Dubuque, the average temperature of 50.2 degrees broke the 1910 record of 47.7 degrees.

In Atlantic, the average High for March 2012 was 67-degrees, or 22-degrees above the normal average High of 45. The average Low last month was 39, which was 14-degrees warmer than normal.  Rainfall for the month was 1.91-inches, which was nearly four-tenths of an inch below normal.

The month of April started out with a near record high in Atlantic. On Sunday, we topped out at 86 degrees, which was just 1 degree shy of tying the record for that date. On Monday, we broke our record high of 85 set in 1981, when we hit 88-degrees.

A 4-year old southwest Iowa boy is recovering from serious head injuries following an ATV accident Saturday night, in Mills County. According to Omaha television station KETV, Kolbe Klindt, of Henderson, was flown from the scene of the accident near Treynor, to Creighton University Medical Center, where he was listed in stable, but critical condition.

The boy’s father, Erik Klindt, told the television station the family was spending the evening with friends on a farm in Mills County and enjoying a barbeque, when four-year old Kolbe suddenly darted in front of a 4-wheeled ATV, which hit the boy and flipped him into the air.

While his injuries were severe, the boy is expected to recover. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident. Donations to help the family with Kolbe’s medical expenses, are glady being accepted in the name of Kolbe Klindt, at all Rolling Hills Bank and Trust locations.

All 15 Republicans in a House committee have approved a bill designed to limit the ability of Iowa cities and counties to create special taxing districts that have been used to finance everything from sewers to swimming pools. Representative Chuck Soderberg, a Republican from Le Mars, says the aim is to get a handle on just how much property tax money is being diverted from general purposes to these special projects. “There needs to be more transparency, more accountability, more auditing,” Soderberg says.

Developers say the districts help cities, because the property taxes in those districts are used to pay off bonds that finance the improvements, like new sewers and roads, that lure businesses to the area. Critics say cities have abused the concept and officials in at least 22 Iowa cities have declared all property in their city as one of these special districts. The bill would no longer let cities use this financing tool to pay for things like swimming pools or hospitals, but it could be used to finance police and fire stations.

Representative Dave Jacoby, of Coralville was one of the 10 Democrats who voted against the bill. “Why is this any of the state’s business in the first place?” Jacoby asked during Monday afternoon’s committee meeting. Others argued the bill would create too many limits on communities, making it impossible to quickly come up with a deal to lure a new business to town or to keep an expanding business from leaving. The issue has flared this year due to a situation in eastern Iowa, as Coralville is trying to lure a department store out of Iowa City, using this particular tax gimmick.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)