The area’s top news at 7:05-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.7MB)
Subscribe: RSS
The area’s top news at 7:05-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.7MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Today: P/Cldy to Cldy. High around 45. S-W @ 10-20.
Tonight: P/Cldy to Cloudy. Low 29. NW @ 10-20.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy to Cloudy. High 38. N @ 10-15.
Wednesday: P/Cldy w/flurries. High 30.
Thursday: P/Cldy. High near 31.
Sunday’s High in Atlantic was 36. Our 24-hour Low (ending at 7-a.m. today) was 28. Last year on this date, our High in Atlantic was 46 and the low was 25. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 65 in 2012. The Record Low was -24 in 1965.
The Cass County Board of Supervisors will hold their regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, this week, instead of Wednesday, because it is the end of the month. During the meeting, a Public Hearing will be held beginning at 8:30-a.m., on a Development Agreement with Elite Octane, LLC, authorizing Tax Increment Payments, and Pledging Certain Tax Increment Revenues to the Payment of the Agreement. The hearing will be followed by action on a Resolution approving the Development Agreement.
Under the Development Agreement the County would provide financial incentives to the Company in the form of incremental property tax payments in an amount not to exceed $8.5-million. The Agreement to make incremental property tax payments will not be a general obligation of the County, but will be payable solely and only from incremental property tax revenues generated within the 2017 Cass County Agribusiness Urban Renewal Area.
Firefighters from Griswold were called to a report of smoke coming from several windows at a home located at 310 5th Street in Griswold, at 8:57-a.m., Saturday. A neighbor saw the smoke and called 9-1-1. Firefighters were able to quickly knock down the flames in the home, which was reportedly under renovation. No injuries were reported, and a cause of the fire was not immediately available. The home sustained extensive smoke damage.
The head of the board that governs Iowa’s three public universities says the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA’S athletic department may start financing scholarships for students who are NOT athletes. Board of Regents president Bruce Rastettersays the University of Iowa’s president and athletic director are having that discussion now.
“One of the things that isn’t often recognized is that athletic departments do contribute to the university in a significant way,” Rastetter says. “I mean first of all, they pay scholarship dollars on tuition, room and board to the university. Second, it becomes a huge fundraising opportunity at the universities to bring alums, donors in that results in significant investment in the university.”
But Rastetter says there is a “national trend” among premiere university football and basketball programs to help finance other campus priorities. “There are ways that it can enhance the student body, lower student fees, scholarship funds beyond that,” Rastetter says. “But at the end of the day, they need to be careful that they not limit their ability to compete by taking too many dollars and then they won’t have the revenue stream to give the dollars.”
Rastetter made his comments during a weekend appearance on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program. Rastetter says neither tax dollars or student tuition money is used to finance the athletic programs in Iowa City, Ames or Cedar Falls. Ticket sales and contributions from donors are the sources of income for the Iowa and Iowa State athletic departments. The University of Northern Iowa uses SOME student FEES along with ticket sales and donor money to run the Panther athletic department.
(Radio Iowa)
The president of the board that oversees the University of Iowa is stiff-arming a state legislator’s attempt to forbid the Hawkeyes from hosting a Friday night football game. “The University of Iowa is part of the Big Ten. The Big Ten’s going to have Friday night games. The University of Iowa probably needs to do that.”
That’s Board of Regents president Bruce Rastettter, who says there’s an important tradition of having high school football games on Friday nights in Iowa, but this is a unique situation. The Big Ten plans to schedule six Friday night games per season, though at least the 2022 season. State Representative Peter Cownie of West Des Moines has sponsored a bill that would forbid the Panthers, Cyclones AND the Hawkeyes from hosting home games on a Friday night.
Rastetter said during a weekend appearance on Iowa Public Television that each athletic department should make those kind of scheduling decisions. The bill, if it became law, would ban the Iowa-Nebraska game that has been held on the Friday after Thanksgiving for the past several years.
(Radio Iowa)
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is looking for eligible farm owners to apply for this year’s Century and Heritage Farm Program. The Iowa Department of Agriculture’s program coordinator, Becky Lorenz, says there are a couple of requirements to gain the designation. “They honor folks who have kept their farm — of at least 40 acres — in the same generational families for at least 100 years or more,” Lorenz says.
A ceremony is held at the Iowa State Fair to recognize those who’ve had the farm for 100 years as Century Farms, and those who hit 150 years are named Heritage Farms. Lorenz said the programs were started in 1976. “Over 19-thousand Century Farm awards have been issued and we are up to 940 heritage farms,” Lorenz says.
There were 320 Century Farms and 103 Heritage Farms were recognized last year. Lorenz has been involved in the program the last six years. “It always amazes me, we always have over 300 Century Farms each year, and now our Heritage Farms are starting to increase in numbers too. The last two years we’ve been over 100.” Lorenz says.
She says it’s a fun day to share the recognition with the farm owners. Lorenz says applying for the Century and Heritage Farm program is easy. She says you can go to the Iowa Department of Agriculture’s website at www.IowaAgriculture.gov to apply online on call Lorenz at 515-281-3645.
The recognition ceremony this year will be Thursday, August 17th at the Iowa State Fair in the Pioneer Livestock Pavilion.
(Radio Iowa)
The president of the board that oversees the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa says a few ideas coming out of the legislature aren’t that “brilliant.” Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter says “The reality is everyone, just on some of those bills, needs to take a deep breath…It might even be a stupid bill, but you know what? They have the right to do that and we don’t the right to control that, so we’ll all just deal with that and we’ll have reasonable conversations.”
One bill Rastetter has criticized would end tenure for professors at the state’s public universities. Republican Senator Brad Zaun says he’s frustrated by some of the sabbaticals professors take and the number of classes taught by graduate students. Rastetter says Zaun’s bill is “not the appropriate way” to deal with those concerns. “He should know that the universities are focused on, and the faculty is, on wanting high-quality people that work every day and are there to make the university better and the student experience better,” Rastetter says, “and that learning experience better.”
Tenure is “an important part” of the universities, according to Rastetter. “Tenure should be maintained…It’s a part of the national system,” Rastetter says. “For us to have high-quality professors, we’re going to have to have tenure. That’s a reality and we’re going to have to pay people well that are very good at their job.”
Another high-profile proposal targeting the universities came from State Representative Bobby Kaufmann, the son of Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann. In December, the younger Kaufmann vowed to send a “suck it up, buttercup” message by cutting the budgets of universities that had set up counseling for students upset by Donald Trump’s victory. Kaufmann later announced he’d scale his bill back, to impose tougher penalties on political protesters who shut down interstates. Rastetter says it WAS “inappropriate” for protesters in the Iowa City area to close down Interstate 80.
“We will all win some in life. We lose some in life and we all try to move forward together,” Rastetter says, “so I think that’s the key message that I heard being sent that I’d continue to support.” Rastetter made his comments during a weekend appearance on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program. Rastetter, an agri-businessman from Alden, served on Trump’s ad advisory group before and after the election.
(Radio Iowa)
EDWARD G. JOHN, 94, of Harlan, died Sunday, Jan. 29th. Funeral services for EDWARD JOHN will be held 2-p.m. Friday, Feb. 3rd, at the Burmeister-Johannsen Funeral Home in Harlan.
Friends may call at the funeral home from 2-until 8-p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2nd, with the family greeting friends from 4-until 6-p.m.
Burial will be in the Harlan Cemetery.
EDWARD JOHN is survived by:
His wife – Donnabelle John, of Harlan.
His daughter – Deborah John, of Timnath, CO.
His brother – Harold John, of Council Bluffs.
His sisters – Phyllis Hardisty, of Las Vegas, NV; Margaret Hough, of Des Moines, and Marjories Adair, of Mondamin.
Other relatives and friends.
Early This Morning: Mostly cloudy. Patchy fog. Southwest wind near 5 mph.
Today: Partly sunny in the morning then clearing. Breezy, warmer. Patchy fog through mid morning. High in the lower 50s. Southwest wind 5 to 15 mph increasing to west 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight: Partly cloudy until early morning then becoming mostly cloudy. Breezy. Low in the lower 30s. West wind 15 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy. Colder. High around 40. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of light snow through midnight. Low in the mid 20s. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday: Partly sunny. High in the lower 30s. Northwest wind 5 to 15 mph.
Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy. Low around 15.
Thursday: Mostly cloudy. High in the mid 20s.