w/ Ric Hanson

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Heavy rain has flooded some streets and basements in far western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. Standing water blocked streets early Monday morning in Council Bluffs and across the Missouri River in Omaha, Neb. Council Bluffs officials asked residents in the Playland Park neighborhood on the west side of the city to remain in their homes until the rain runoff had dropped to safe levels. No evacuations were ordered. The American Red Cross says it was opening a shelter at Community of Christ Church on the east side of the city so people have a place to stay.

In Omaha, some streets just north of downtown were closed, and golfball-sized hail was observed.  Two- to three-inch diameter hail which fell at around 3:45-a.m. ,broke out several automobile windows in the Bellevue, NE.,   No injuries or deaths have been reported.

The National Weather Service in Valley, NE, reports 2.79-inches of rain had fallen near Glenwood, with three separate waves of hail ranging from pea to quarter-sized having fallen, as well. In Carter Lake, 3.31-inches of rain had fallen by 5-a.m., and anywhere from two-to three-inches of rain had fallen in the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro area.

The Southwest Iowa Senior Golf event in Oakland is cancelled for today, due to the weather.

The trial in the case of a Griswold woman charged with vehicular homicide was set to begin Tuesday, in Atlantic, but Cass County Attorney Dan Feistner said today (Monday) it‘s instead been continued until December 13th. 45-year-old Christine Annette Riedemann was charged with Vehicular Homicide and Possession of Marijuana, following an investigation into a June 2010 accident near Atlantic, that claimed the life of 44-year old Katrina L. Christensen, of Atlantic.  Earlier this month, Judge Jeffrey L. Larsen denied the defenses’ motion to suppress evidence or testimony in the case.

Reidemann was allegedly behind the wheel of an SUV that went out of control the evening of June 4^th, 2010, as it was traveling west on Highland Road. The vehicle entered a ditch, hit a utility pole and overturned. Both women were brought to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, where Christensen died from her injuries. The State Patrol says both women were wearing their seatbelts.

Two separate blood-alcohol tests each indicated Riedemann was above the legal limit to drive. She was also found to have allegedly been in possession of marijuana.

Bryan Jensen with his biplane "The Beast"

The father of an Atlantic native who died over the weekend while performing aerobatic maneuvers at an air show in Kansas City, Missouri, says his son was fascinated by airplanes ever since he was about 10-years old. As we told you on KJAN.com and during our overnight news casts this weekend, 50-year old Bryan Jensen of Ponte Vedra, Florida, was killed, when the biplane he was flying crashed into the runway at the Wheeler Downtown Airport. The accident happened at around 1:45-p.m., Saturday.

Bryan’s father, Don Jensen, told WHO-TV in Des Moines, his son loved to fly ever since he took his first airplane ride. When Bryan was 13, his father says he found a “learn to fly” coupon in the Atlantic newspaper. He took his first flying lesson for just $5. Bryan got his flying license before his driver’s license. Family friend Gary Degeest told the tv station Bryan would explain what it was it was like to feel the g-forces push him back into the pilot’s seat, and the effect it had on the body.

Bryan had more than 23,000 hours of flight time experience. His website, www.beastairshows.com said that he soloed on his 16th birthday and as an adult flew jumbo jets for Delta Air Lines. Jensen, who graduated from the Atlantic High School in 1979, lived in Florida, and had been a stunt pilot the past 15 years. The accident which claimed his life took place in front of a stunned crowd of thousand, on the first day of the Kansas City Aviation Expo Air Show. Bryan’s girlfriend CC, also flew stunt planes. She had just finished her routine in Kansas City Saturday afternoon, and witnessed the crash.

According to eye-witnesses, Jensen’s custom-built, red biplane was performing aerobatic maneuvers, such as loops and spiral stunts, when it did a downward spiral but failed to pull up. The plane crashed nose-first into the pavement and burst into flames. The Kansas City Star says as the crowd went silent, emergency crews headed for the wreckage, and the show immediately was closed, but the performances resumed on Sunday. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the accident.

Air Show director Ed Noyallis read a brief statement in a hangar after the crash. “Our hearts go out to Bryan’s family and loved ones.” He went on to note that aerobatic flying can be very dangerous, although the public was never in danger. Don Jensen says he wanted his son to be a farmer, but his love of flying was too powerful. Still, he was proud of Bryan’s accomplishments. Funeral services for Bryan Jensen are currently pending at the Hockenberry Family Care Funeral Home, in Atlantic.

A telephone scam that cropped up in Iowa several months ago is resurfacing and reportedly cost a north-central Iowa man 25-thousand dollars. Webster City Police Chief Brian Hughes explains how the scam works.

“We’ve had numerous calls from citizens in the community that have received phone calls from people pretending to be their grandson or granddaughter, telling them that they are in need of money due to a variety of reasons,” Chief Hughes says. “They were arrested or they were in some kind of accident in a foreign country and they needed money.” He says the scam might seem unlikely to succeed but the con artists can be very convincing.

“They’ll actually have them talk to different people representing themselves as a police sergeant or a bail bondsman or someone in some type of official capacity,” Hughes says. “They’ll ask the grandpa or grandma to wire the money to an account so their grandson or granddaughter can be released.” Hughes has advice for those who may receive this type of phone call.

“We have had one person file a police report for a large sum of money and we’ve had several others call,” he says. “A few, we’ve had to plead with them to call their grandson or granddaughter and check with their son or daughter to see what the situation is before they go ahead and forward any money.” He strongly urges people not to give out financial information to someone they don’t know over the phone.

The scam has been reported in southwest Iowa, as well. Most recently, this past June, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office warned residents about similar calls residents had been receiving. The same scam popped up about a year ago in this area, as well.

(Radio IA/KJAN News)

Law enforcement officers from throughout the state will join their comrades across the nation beginning this Thursday, in an effort to crack down on impaired drivers, leading into the Labor Day weekend. The Special Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) runs August 25^th through September 7^th, and will be an intensive crackdown on impaired driving and other offenses.

Across the country, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 (point-oh-eight) or greater. According to the latest data, nearly one-third of the fatalities in motor vehicle crashes involved a driver or motorcycle rider with a BAC above the legal limit, or an average of one fatality every 48-minutes.

Officials say while the number of alcohol-related fatalities dropped from 2008 to 2009, the number of fatalities related to impaired driving, are still too high. In Iowa, 92 out of the 371 fatalities recorded in 2009, were the result of an alcohol-related crash. Nationwide, the age group with the highest percentage of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities, were those who were 21-to-24.

During last year’s Labor Day STEP period, there were seven fatalities in Iowa, two of which were alcohol-related. And, nearly 35,500 traffic violations were recorded by law enforcement officers throughout the state, during the reporting period.

For more information on the STEP program, or how to stop an impaired driver before they get behind the wheel, log on to www.stopimpaireddriving.org.

SAC CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska woman has pleaded not guilty in a 2001 shooting death in Iowa. A trial was ordered for 45-year-old Tracey Richter-Roberts, of Omaha, Neb., although no date has been set. Richter-Roberts is charged with first-degree murder in the 2001 shooting death of 20-year-old Dustin Wehde.

Richter-Roberts shot Wehde – a family friend – multiple times in her home on Dec. 13, 2001. She had told authorities at the time that she and her three children were in the home when Wehde and another man broke in and attacked her. No charges were brought against Richter-Roberts at the time but the investigation was reopened in 2009.

Richter-Roberts was arrested last month and is being held in the Sac County jail on $1 million bail.

Bryan Jensen, with his custom biplane

An Atlantic native with more than 23,000 hours of flight time experience, died over the weekend at an air show in Kansas City, Missouri. 50-year old Bryan Jensen, of Ponte Vedra, FL.,  was killed, when the biplane he was flying crashed into the runway at the Wheeler Downtown Airport. The accident happened at around 1:45-p.m., Saturday.

Jensen grew up on a farm near Atlantic, and took his first flying lesson when he was 13, according to his website www.beastairshows.com The website says he soloed on his 16th birthday and as an adult flew jumbo jets for Delta Air Lines. Jensen, who graduated from the Atlantic High School in 1979, lived in Florida, and had been a stunt pilot the past 15 years. The accident which claimed his life took place in front of a stunned crowd of thousands, on the first day of the Kansas City Aviation Expo Air Show.

According to eye-witnesses, Jensen’s custom-built, red biplane was performing aerobatic maneuvers, such as loops and spiral stunts, when it did a downward spiral but failed to pull up. The plane crashed nose-first into the pavement and burst into flames.

The Kansas City Star says as the crowd went silent, emergency crews headed for the wreckage, and the show immediately was closed. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the accident.

Air Show director Ed Noyallis read a brief statement in a hangar after the crash. “Our hearts go out to Bryan’s family and loved ones.” He went on to note that aerobatic flying can be very dangerous, although the public was never in danger. Air show officials said they spoke with other pilots after the crash and all agreed the show would continue today (Sunday). Funeral services for Bryan Jensen are currently pending at the Hockenberry Family Care Funeral Home, in Atlantic. (www.hockenberryfamilycare.com)

Officials with the Iowa Department of Transportation are hoping they don’t hear the word “flood” for years to come. Iowa D-O-T spokeswoman Dena Gray-Fisher says they are still in the process of surveying the damages done to roadways across western Iowa that have been underwater for more than two months.  “An inventory of all of the assets that we have in the areas that are flooded,” Gray-Fisher says. “Those could be signs that might be damaged, the roadway, culverts, bridges. That’s kind of the first step.” Gray-Fisher says there is bridge damage at Hamburg Iowa along Interstate-29. There’s also a report of an 11-foot hole under a section of pavement that eroded. She says it’s too early to see if there’s damage to the Mormon Bridge between Omaha and Council Bluffs and to the bridge between Onawa, Iowa and Decatur, Nebraska, further to the north.

She says, “That is one area that we already know there’s a serious problem with some bridges there and that’s going to take some major repair work and it will likely prolong us getting back to a recovered state.” Gray-Fisher says the DOT is continuing to monitor the situation by air as the flood water is preventing crews from getting a close-up look at the damage.  “Some of the aerial visuals we’ve seen, we do know that damage has occurred, we just don’t know the extent until the waters go down and that will begin, more significantly, by the end of this month,” she says. Along with I-29, there are seven major Iowa roads closed due to flooding.

The Iowa side of the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge that connects Council Bluffs and Omaha also remains closed.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)