w/ Ric Hanson

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A two-year old Red Oak boy suffered life-threatening injuries during a go-kart accident late Monday night. According to Red Oak Police, Ryan E. Soar and his 35-year old father Shawn Michael Soar, were riding a go-cart at around 9:15-p.m. Monday, when the machine hit a parked car in the 700-block of East Grimes Street. The child was flown by helicopter to a trauma center in Omaha. His father suffered minor injuries and was treated at the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital.
Red Oak Police say that alcohol appeared to have played a role in the crash, which remains under investigation.

The chief of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources parks bureau says he’s worried a reduction in summer employees over the past few years means fewer young people are getting the experience they need to eventually take on a bigger role with the D-N-R. Kevin Szcodronski says there’s so much competition for the jobs that are open, that they won’t even consider you unless you’ve worked several summers as a seasonal employee.

“It’s pretty common for us when we have one position open that we may have sixty to eighty applicants,” Szcodronski says, “So you can imagine out of eight people it really takes that four year degree and four to five years.” Szcodronski says when the economy improves the department will have a host of vacancies to fill but he worries the talent pool will be shallow.

He says since the cuts have been going on for two or three years, there’s workers that have gone elsewhere and gotten experience or have changed their career completely because they’ve gotten frustrated. Szcodronski says that’s the long term effect that they are not going to realize for years to come. Mike Howell has a Natural Resources degree from Northland College in Wisconsin with an emphasis on wildlife and fisheries ecology. The 26-year-old has spent the past four summers scrounging up any hours he can get in his field. But this summer the D-N-R had few to offer so he was forced to take a lower paying parks job with AmeriCorps. Eventually the state agency got clearance to add more seasonal employees and Howell jumped at the chance.

“Most of my friends that I graduated with in Natural Resources, most of them that I know of have already moved on to other jobs,” Howell says, “Certainly I’m in a lucky position that I have a wife who’s working at a pretty good job too. But if I didn’t, I definitely wouldn’t be able to pay the bills going from seasonal job to seasonal job.” Howell would eventually like to land a permanent position with the D-N-R as a fisheries biologist or technician. Another example of the problem is Brandon Pease. As a college senior in 2008, he interned at Waubonsie state park in Southwest Iowa. Pease got hired on for the summer but was let go when the D-N-R ran out of hours. He spent a few months as a security guard before landing a job with the U-S-D-A’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Page County. Pease says his old boss at the D-N-R is always trying to offer him summer hours but never enough to make ends meet.

“I’m sure there’s maybe kids that are more fortunate enough that are able to work for the D-N-R part time and not need a full time job. But unfortunately I don’t have that luxury so it’s either find a full time job somewhere else or starve to death basically,” Pease said, “So with the budget cuts and everything at the wrong time it just wasn’t a good fit for me.” Howell says he could soon face a similar decision. During the winter he works for a temp agency and each summer it gets harder to leave a decent paying job for seasonal work, especially as the D-N-R offers fewer and fewer hours. Howell figures he can hold out until his wife finishes her pediatric residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals. In the meantime state parks officials hope they can provide the seasonal work that’s necessary to keep people like Howell in the system long enough to join the D-N-R permanently in the future.

(Radio Iowa)

A new study shows 20-percent of children in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska are at-risk of going hungry. Susan Ogborn, president and CEO of the Omaha-based Food Bank for the Heartland, says the report contains alarming numbers, especially for those under 18.  “We have far more hungry children in particular than what we think is acceptable,” she says. The study, “Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity 2011,” indicates the most vulnerable people in our region — children — are the ones who are in the toughest situation. Ogborn says many children are facing hunger from the first day they’re brought into the world.

“One out of every two babies being born today is what we call WIC-eligible, that’s Women, Infant and Children, a feeding program for low-income women and their babies,” Ogborn says. “What it looks like is that our up-and-coming population is much hungrier and much poorer than our existing adult population and that’s concerning long-term.” Ogborn says the report shows the food bank will have to work harder to make sure children in the region get the food they need.  “What we will do is try to double our efforts and reach out to areas where we haven’t had contacts yet, particularly in the more rural parts of the state,” she says.

The report shows the most at-risk children for hunger in western Iowa are in Woodbury County, with about 64-hundred, and Pottawattamie County with 44-hundred. The Food Bank for the Heartland is the largest food bank in Nebraska and Iowa, encompassing 93 counties in the two-state region and distributing nine-million pounds of food a year. The agency serves more than 300 food pantries, emergency shelters, after-school programs, senior housing sites and rehabilitation centers.

(Radio Iowa)

Governor Branstad has issued an order which forbids most state workers from claiming their bill for lunch as an expense unless they’re spending the night away from home. David Roederer, the governor’s budget director, says the old rule allowed a state employee to be reimbursed for lunch if they ate outside the county in which their office was located.  “So if somebody were in Des Moines and went down to Indianola, just a few miles south, and it was over lunch time, since they were in different counties, then the state would reimburse them for that meal,” Roederer says. “What the new policy is is that you must be on a trip that at least requires one overnight before you would be reimbursed for a lunch.” The new policy on lunch reimbursement is “standard practice” in most private companies, according to Roederer.

“We’re estimating that it could save the state taxpayers up to $1 million a year,” Roederer says. There will be a few exceptions to the new policy. State troopers, for example, will still be reimbursed for the lunches they buy while they’re on the road, patrolling their territory. “There will be exceptions made on a case-by-case basis,” Roederer says. The I.R.S. has a complicated set a rules for businesses that reimburse meals for employees, requiring businesses to count some reimbursement as taxable income for the employee if it exceeds 52-dollars per meal. However, there are other rules which let that reimbursement price rise if the meal is consumed in an area where food costs more, like New York City or Aspen, Colorado.

(Radio Iowa)

Five Republican presidential candidates gathered in South Carolina yesterday (Monday) for a forum and Iowa Congressman Steve King was on the panel, asking questions.  “Hopefully we filled some of the pieces in in the jigsaw puzzle,” King told reporters after the forum. “I was also impressed by the depth of the candidates. When I listened to them talk…even though I know all these candidates, things came out of these candidates that I’ve never heard in the time that I’ve had to be around them.” King posed questions about foreign policy and immigration. King has not endorsed a candidate for 2012 and he told reporters in South Carolina that yesterday’s event didn’t steer him toward or away from a candidate.

“I know I couldn’t stand here and say I didn’t think when Newt Gingrich said the best, first thing to do is pass my repeal of ObamaCare bill, I’m going to fall for that one. That was a good answer,” King said, laughing. “But, not from a substantive way, nothing made it real clear to me.” In addition to Gingrich, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, businessman Herman Cain, Texas Congressman Ron Paul and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney attended the event. Governor Rick Perry dropped out at the last minute, returning to Texas to deal with the wildfires there. King hosted his own candidate forum in Iowa back in February and invited South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint to speak as that event’s closer. DeMint returned favor Monday and invited King to be part of the candidate forum DeMint hosted in Columbia, South Carolina.

(Radio Iowa)

A retirement party was held Friday, for a man whose voice has been heard from time-to-time by many in western Iowa, on KJAN and elsewhere, and whose service to the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department has spanned more than 30-years.  Chief Deputy Jim Matthai officially turned in his badge, August 31st. Matthai, who worked with the FBI, U.S. Marshals, Iowa State Patrol, Council Bluffs and Omaha police departments, Douglas County, Nebraska, Sheriff’s Office and other agencies during his career, told the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil, that “It’s been a great ride,” and that he’s “Been lucky.”
When he was hired by former Pott County Sheriff Lynn Ford in February of 1980, the 23-year old Matthai was assigned court security as a bailiff, protecting judges. He says that allowed him to work closely with the County Attorney’s Office, learn what they expect law enforcement, and  how the legal system was handled by the courts.

One of the toughest jobs he’s had to handle, was being a traffic accident investigator from 1986 to 2001, especially those which involved serious injuries or death.  He says he saw so many deaths, where if a seat belt would have been used, lives most likely would have been saved. During his career with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department, Matthai also worked in the sheriff’s office investigations unit, and  on the SWAT team. He’s served on a bicycle patrol unit.

Matthai rose through the ranks in the sheriff’s department, until January 2001, when current Sheriff Jeff Danker promoted him to Chief Deputy. Danker credited Matthai for his work in making the Sheriff’s Office a progressive, professional agency.  The Sheriff says he hates to see Matthai retire, and that he will be missed.

John Reynolds, a 24-year member of the Sheriff’s Office, will replace Matthai as Chief Deputy.

A western Iowa man is dead after authorities say he had a fight with a roommate. It happened Saturday afternoon in Coon Rapids. The victim, 28-year-old Bill Smith, was taken to a hospital in Carroll before being flown to a Des Moines hospital where he died Sunday evening. Coon Rapids Police Chief Joel Roetman says Smith had been fighting with a roommate when he was injured. Smith’s mother, who live across the street, called 911. “Nobody has been arrested in the case yet,” Roetman told Radio Iowa. “We’re still interviewing the people who were at the residence at the time. There were five people in the home when the altercation began.” The names of the other people in the home are not being released. It’s unclear how the fight started. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

“If the cause of death is relating to an injury (Smith) sustained, then we’re looking at some kind of charges being filed in the case,” Roetman said. Alcohol was “not a contributing factor” in the incident, according to Roetman. He says it appears the altercation was limited to a fist fight. “It’s believed at this time that there were no weapons involved,” Roetman said. The Carroll County Sheriff’s Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation are assisting the Coon Rapids Police Department in the investigation.

(www.radioiowa.com)

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is putting out a call for volunteers to help clean up five state parks tomorrow (Tuesday). Linda King is volunteer coordinator for the DNR. She says the work will involve picking up trash and sticks and possibly some painting. The state park clean up is part of the national “9-11 Call to Service” — an effort to unite one million Americans through volunteering in honor of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. King expects the parks will need a lot of attention. “We’re hoping for a big turnout. Over the last few three day holidays, our state parks have had a lot more garbage and litter left behind,” King said. “That’s why we’re doing it on Tuesday after the long Labor Day weekend to help our park rangers pick up the parks.” Volunteers are urged to come prepared for some serious labor.

King suggests volunteers bring gloves, wear closed toed shoes and bring something to drink. The five parks involved in the volunteer effort are Lake Ahquabi near Indianola, Big Creek in Polk County, Backbone State Park near Dubuque, Lake of Three Fires in southwest Iowa’s Taylor County and Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area near Cedar Rapids.  Persons wanting to volunteer for the  Lake of Three Fires State Park clean-up should meet at the park office. The clean-up will take place from 9 to 11 a.m., Tuesday.

(Radio Iowa)

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Farmers in Nebraska and Iowa whose cropland has been covered all summer by Missouri River floodwaters can get help dealing with the damage to their land. Experts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension and Iowa State University Extension are planning a Sept. 12 workshop for farmers. The event from 9:30 a.m. to noon will be broadcast to 14 different locations along the river in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota that day.

Some flood damage, like erosion and sand deposits, will be obvious once the floodwaters recede. But some damage to the soil won’t be so easy to see or repair. Experts from both universities will offer advice on dealing with flood damage, and farmers will have an opportunity to ask questions. Details are available online at http://flood.unl.edu or http://bit.ly/qBTnfF .