The National Weather Service says there is a slight risk of severe thunderstorms in the KJAN listening area this afternoon and tonight. The main threat at this time appears to be from large hail and damaging winds, and, although heavy rain is also possible (1-2″), the flooding threat remains low.  Spotter activation may be needed today and tonight across portions of west central and southwest Iowa.

Periods of showers and thunderstorms can be expected Tuesday through Thursday. The Weather Service says there is a low chance of an isolated thunderstorm across southern Iowa Tuesday, but the widespread threat for severe weather remains minimal.

The former publishers of a Denison Newspaper who died in 2009 bequeathed more than $600,000 to seven western Iowa communities and several area organizations.  According to the Omaha World-Herald, the monies were left in a trust by the estate of Richard and Deloris Knowles, who owned the Denison Bulletin & Review, which they sold in 1998, and is now owned by the Omaha World-Herald Company.

Among the towns which received the private funds in February, was: Charter Oak…$26,389; the town of Rickets, $51,000. Other communities benefitting from the trust fund include: Manilla, Dow City, Westside, and Manning.

Several organizations also received a share of the funds, including: the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church of Denison; the Donna Reed Foundation; the Denison Community School District; the Iowa Newspaper Foundation; and, First United Methodist Church of Denison.

The match-ups for Iowa’s June primary voting have been set, but a general election show-down in a congressional race heated up over the weekend. Christie Vilsack is unopposed in her race to win the Democratic Party’s nomination in Iowa’s fourth congressional district and Steve King, the Republican Congressman she hopes to defeat in November, has challenged Vilsack to six debates. “I have a long record and it’s full of thousands of votes and probably thousands of public positions that I’ve taken over the years — no shortage of figuring out where I stand and it’s not going to change, by the way,” King said last Thursday. “This is going to be a long process to try to figure out where she stands. That’s what I expect and so there’ll be a lot of questions to ask her.” Christie Vilsack’s campaign manager says it’s “refreshing” that King “has acknowledged…that Iowans deserve a debate, something he has avoided since taking office.” King has not debated a Democratic opponent since he became a congressman in 2003.

(by O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

The CAM and Elk Horn-Kimballton School Boards of Education will hold their separate, regular meetings Monday evening. In Elk Horn, the EHK Board will hold a special, closed-session at 6:30 to review or discuss student records which are required or authorized by State or Federal law, to be kept confidential. Once the board returns to open session, they will discuss and/or act on matters pertaining to student records. Their regular session begins at 7-p.m.  Action items include: Approving a budget guarantee resolution; the publishing of the 2012-2013 budget, along with the setting of the date and time for a public hearing on the budget; a Special Education agreement with the Johnston Community School District; and, approval of the 2012-2013 District Calendar.

In Anita, the CAM School Board will gather at 7-p.m., to hold public hearings on: an application to the Dept. of Education for a 2012-2013 school year early start date; and, the 2012-2013 budget. Other discussion and/or action items on their agenda include: the presentation of final plans and specifications for the Multi-Purpose Building (MPB); acting on a resolution setting the bid date and public hearing on the MPB, and, a resolution approving the contract and bonds for the bleacher project; action on approving a budget guarantee resolution; and, the 2010-2012 Anita Community School District Audit report.

The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department’s Board of Directors will meet Monday evening in the Council’s chambers at City Hall. During their 5:15-p.m. session, the Board will receive updates on their Capital Improvement Projects, discuss Summer Recreation Programs, programming and fees at the Sunnyside Pool, adding mileage charts for the Schildberg Quarry Trails, and other matters pertaining to the Quarry Rec Area. Other topics include the opening of streets and restrooms at Sunnyside Park, and Sunday concerts at the Sunnyside park.

 ONAWA, Iowa (AP) – A 24-year-old Wyoming man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for kidnapping and raping a 19-year-old woman at knifepoint in a rest stop bathroom near Onawa.  The Sioux City Journal reports that Mark Bitzan was sentenced Friday for his January convictions of first-degree kidnapping and second-degree sexual assault.  The Monona County Attorney says Bitzan took the victim to a bathroom stall at an Interstate 29 rest stop in 2010, threatened her with a knife and sexually assaulted her.  Bitzan was convicted in 2006 of a sexual assault in Natrona County, Wyoming.

The temperature in Atlantic this (Sunday) afternoon reached 81-degrees, which is a record for this date. The old record of 80, was set 94 years ago, in 1918. Saturday’s high was 82, which was only two-degrees shy of tying the record set back in 1894. The near week-long string of record breaking highs appears to have come to an end. The forecast for the work week calls for showers and thunderstorms Monday through Thursday, with highs starting out in the low 70’s, and ending in the mid-to upper- 60’s.

An SUV carrying six people from Smyrna, Tennessee overturned Sunday morning in Fremont County, killing two and injuring four others. The Iowa State Patrol said the accident happened near the 18-mile marker of I-29 northbound, just after 7-a.m, north of Percival. Officials say a 2004 Chevy Suburban driven by 26-year old Ricardo Osori-Torres went off the road for reasons unknown, and into the median, before re-entering the northbound lanes of travel, where it rolled several times, ejecting at least two of its six occupants. One of the persons who was ejected was then stuck by a northbound semi. The Patrol says no one in the SUV was wearing a seat belt.

24-year old Maria Ledezma and 15-year old Alex Ledezma died at the scene. 10-year old Carlos, 14-year old Victor, and 8 year old Jacklyn Ledezma were injured, along with the driver. Jacklyn and Victor Ledezma, along with Ricardo Osorio-Torres, was transported by helicopter to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha, while Carlos Ledezma was taken to the UNMC by Sidney Rescue.

The accident, which resulted in I-29 being closed for nearly4-hours Sunday in both directions, remains under investigation.

The Adams County Sherrif’s Office reports the arrest on Thursday (3/15) of 37-year-old Susan Elaine Barnes of Griswold.  Barnes was stopped by Adams County Sherrif’s Office deputies around 8:30pm Thursday and was taken into custody for Driving While Suspended.  No further details are available.