The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports a Clarinda teen was arrested Tuesday night on arson and other charges. 18-year old Bryson Sean McAlpin was taken into custody at around 8:20-p.m. during a traffic stop for an outstanding warrant. The warrant charged McAlpin with Arson, Intimidation, and Possession of an Incendiary Device. The charges are the result of an investigation into an incident which occurred on April 1st, during which McAlpin allegedly threw two Molotov cocktail-type devices at a vehicle occupied by two people in the 100 block of west Washington Street in Clarinda.

He was unable to post $25,000 bond, and was being held in the Page County Jail. McAlpin faces additional charges of Possession of Alcohol by a person under legal age.

State labor officials say Iowa has an abundance of good-paying jobs in a wide range of professions and too few workers trained to fill them. There are plenty of openings in what are considered “middle-skill” jobs. Kerry Koonce, spokeswoman for Iowa Workforce Development, says those jobs require at least a high school diploma and additional training or schooling.”So it’s some kind of a certification, maybe an apprenticeship, up to a two-year degree,” Koonce says. “While people don’t always think about those jobs as being high-paying jobs, those jobs can be anything from a dental hygienist to a welder to everything in between and they are very good-paying jobs.” 

She says there’s a “mismatch” of job opportunities and worker skill sets in Iowa right now. Koonce says, “We have these middle skill jobs, which amount to about 50% of our overall jobs in the state right now, but only 33% of the individuals out there in the workforce meet that skill set.” There is a way to fix the problem, she says, as parents can encourage their children to pursue training beyond high school, if not to a four-year college, then to a community college or an apprenticeship. She also looks to Iowans who’ve already been in the workforce for years who are looking for a new avenue.

“We need people that have been unemployed to be taking advantage of the re-training dollars that are available to them,” Koonce says. “Maybe they’ve been laid off from a manufacturing company and they’re looking at re-skilling. They need to take advantage of the opportunities that are out there to fund training, to go back to school, to bring their skill sets up to meet the demand that’s out there now.” 

As for Iowa’s low-skill jobs, about 18% of the state’s current openings are in that category, requiring a high school diploma or less, yet 38% of the current workforce is considered low-skilled. Koonce says high-skill jobs, those requiring at least a four-year college degree, are about evenly matched with workers.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

The National Weather Service in Des Moines has extended the number of counties included in a Wind Advisory. The advisory now includes: Cass, Adair, Adams, Audubon, Crawford, Carroll, Guthrie, Greene, Madison, Union, Taylor and Ringgold Counties. This advisory is in effect until 7-p.m.

Gusty winds will increase throughout the day before diminishing late this evening. Southerly winds of 25-45mph can be expected in the Advisory area. Loose objects may be blown around, and small tree branches may break.

The National Weather Service in Valley, NE., has issued a Wind Advisory for parts of western and southwest Iowa, and eastern Nebraska, until 6-p.m.  In the KJAN listening area, the advisory includes: Monona, Harrison, Shelby, Pottawattamie, Mills, Montgomery, Fremont and Page Counties.

Strong winds are expected to last throughout the day, with gusts out of the south at up to 45-mph. Winds of that strength can make driving difficult, especially for light weight and high profile vehicles, and motorcycles. Use extra caution on the roads today.

A Wind Advisory means that sustained wind speeds of between 30-39 miles per hour or gusts of between 45-and 57-mph can be expected.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors approved a Fiscal Year 2012 budget amendment during their meeting this (Wednesday) Morning, in Atlantic. The budget amendment was required due to the receipt of funds from Mid-American Energy by the Secondary Roads Department, for damage done to County roads during the installation of wind turbines in the Massena area. County Engineer Charles Marker says the County expended money for road rock and work on the roads above and beyond his original budget. The budget needed to be amended, he said, to offset those costs. The entire amount of the money received was incorporated into this year’s budget. The money stays within the Secondary Roads’ fund for supplies and work to be conducted next Fiscal Year, beginning July 1^st. 

Auditor Dale Sunderman said the only other reason, although not required in the amended budget, is to change the amount appropriations for transfers from an unexpected increase in Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) revenues, and Iowa Department of Transportation. Sunderman said the County Budget was amended to reflect $382,467 for Secondary Roads, and increase in transfers from the Local Option Sales Tax in the amount of $15,000.

Several road and bridge projects in Cass County are complete or are wrapping up soon. Engineer Charles Marker says the bridge south of Highway 92 by Steinbeck’s is now open and all work is complete on that project. Marker says the bridge on South Olive Street is nearly finished, with final dirt work being conducted on the south approaches to the bridge. Some seeding and guardrail work is also planned, but the bridge is expected to be opened with the next week or so. In addition, pavement patching work on the Marne Road is complete, but the project will be put on hold until an overlay is ready to be applied sometime between now and this fall, when the contractor is free from other projects.

w/ Ric Hanson

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A custodian with the Creston Community School District charged with the felony Sexual Abuse of a person between the ages of 12 and 13, has been fired from his position. 36-year old Eduardo Medina was released from his employment with the district at Monday night’s meeting of the Creston School District’s Board of Education. Medina was suspended last week after school officials received word he may have had improper contact with a former student.

According to on-line court records, Medina was arrested May 15th on a Class C felony charge of Sexual Abuse in the 3rd degree. His court appointed attorney waived Medina’s Preliminary Hearing. Medina was ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim. The man was being held in the Union County Jail on $10,000 bond.

w/ Ric Hanson

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After record run-off and flooding on the Missouri River last year, it appears river flows this year will be below-normal. Jody Farhat is chief of the Missouri River Basin Water Management Office for the U-S Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha. Farhat says their predictions will be welcome news to those who had flood damage last year. “Our run-off forecast for the 2012 calendar year above Sioux City, Iowa, is 21.6-million acre feet which is 87% of normal,” Farhat says. “This is based on the lack of Plains snowpack, the lower-than-average mountain snowpack and the unusually warm and dry conditions we’ve had so far this year.” Farhat says the Corps will be able to maintain normal flows on the river until at least July first. “We’re currently providing full-service navigation flow support,” she says. “If the total system storage falls below 57-million acre feet on July first, flow support will be reduced for the second half of the navigation season.”

Farhat says some normal signs of life are also returning to the river, including two types of endangered birds.”To date, 51 piping plover nests have been located, with the highest number of nests on Lewis & Clark Lake and on the river reach below Gavins Point Dam,” she says. “Very few nests have been found on the new habitat that was created below Gavins Point Dam due to last year’s flood. The first interior least tern was spotted in the basin this week but no least tern nests have been found.” Last year’s flooding of the Missouri River in eastern Nebraska, western Iowa and northwest Missouri caused hundreds of millions of dollars damage to homes, businesses, farmland and infrastructure. The high water lasted months.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)