DAVENPORT, IA – A Davenport woman was sentenced Thursday to six months in federal prison for providing false statements during federal grand jury testimony. According to court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, 30-year LaRhonda Dawnielle Jenkins, was present at a shooting at the Dam View Inn in Davenport on March 9, 2021, where an individual was shot multiple times. When Jenkins was called to testify at federal grand jury proceedings, Jenkins lied about her knowledge of the identified shooter.

After completing her term of imprisonment, Jenkins will be required to serve three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Davenport Police Department.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In May 2021, the Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak say no injuries were reported following a collision between a 2006 Freightliner semi pulling a hopper-style trailer, and a 1992 Ford Tempo. Authorities report the car, driven by 92-year-old Wallace Keith Jones, of Red Oak, was traveling west on W. Market Street at around 5:45-p.m. He stopped at the intersection with S. Broadway Street, and then pulled away from the stop sign, before his car was hit on the front by the right front passenger side of the semi. Jones told police he didn’t see the semi before pulling out into the intersection.

Jones, and the driver of the semi, 48-year-old David Lee Rydberg, of Essex, were checked-out by medics, but refused transport to the hospital. The car was a total loss. Damage to the semi was estimated at $2,000. Red Oak Police issued Wallace Jones a written warning for Failure to Yield to a Passing Vehicle.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department say there were two arrests Thursday night. At around 9:50-p.m., 34-year-old Kayla Sue Hoffman, of Creston, was arrested for Theft in the 3rd Degree. Hoffman was taken to Union County Jail and later posted a $2,000 cash or approved surety bond.

And, at around 10-p.m., Thursday, 22-year-old Jerimiah Lee Whitney, of Creston, was arrested for assault, at a residence on W. Summit Ave. He was taken to Union County Jail and later posted a $300 cash or surety bond.

(Radio Iowa) – A significant, new advance in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is being unveiled at a medical conference in Amsterdam, and a central Iowa physician who’s there calls it a very exciting development.

Dr. Yogesh Shah, a geriatrician at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, says a simple, finger prick blood test, much like what diabetics do daily, shows promise in the ability to detect Alzheimer’s. “It will have to go through the regular checks, regular confirmations and approvals,” Dr. Shah says, “but the way I feel, the field is moving very fast, that this will happen soon and will be available for patients all over, including in Iowa.”

In a Radio Iowa interview from the Netherlands, Shah says this streamlined finger-prick test may help detect Alzheimer’s at home or in the doctor’s office, and indications are the blood test is more than 80% accurate. How soon will it be available?   “I would say and hope that it’s not years,” Shah says. “What I would also can say it’s not going to be available next week. I feel in months, so hopefully, in early to middle next year.”

Once it’s available, Shah says only people with a family history of dementia, or those who are showing symptoms, should need to take the test. If the test is positive, preventative measures could start much more quickly. Still, the drugs that are approved for helping to slow the progress of Alzheimer’s are expensive.
“It can cost up to $26,000 per year, so it’s a significant cost, and side effects, so we have to be careful,” Shah says. “It’s not for everybody. It’s only for patients with very early stage of Alzheimer’s.” A statement released by the Iowa chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association says this new blood test, once verified and approved, “would offer a quick, noninvasive and cost-effective option.”

It’s estimated there are 66,000 Iowans living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia, and another 98,000 Iowans are their caregivers. A report out this week says the average Alzheimer’s prevalence rate in Iowans age 65 and older is 11%, while the rate is even higher in northwest Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Fourth District Congressman Randy Feenstra says he’s focusing part of the new Farm Bill on the cost of crop insurance.

Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, says the expense of crop insurance is a major barrier to young farmers who are just getting started in production agriculture.
“There’s this big push where China and other countries are buying our farmland and the reason that’s happening is because that next generation cannot afford or cannot buy that land from their parents,” Feenstra says. “One of the big problems is the input costs.”

Feenstra says he and the other members of the House Agriculture Committee are considering discounts on crop insurance for those farmers who are just starting off. “A new beginning farmer for the first five years, you get up to a 15% discount on their crop insurance to lower that input, so we can keep that farmland in Iowa and with the Iowa farmer,” Feenstra says, “and then it slowly ratchets down after five years, four years, three years, it goes from 15% down to 10%.”

Crop insurance is one of the biggest input costs farmers pay each year and he says some may choose 85% coverage, or even as low as 70%.
“Because of the costs, a lot of farmers are going down to that lower amount and that’s where operational loans from the bank, they get a little concerned,” Feenstra says. “You have a big hail out or a catastrophic event, then all of the sudden, you put yourself in peril because you only have X-percent of coverage for that crop.”

Feenstra says the largest part of the Farm Bill is food programs, including SNAP. He says farm state members of the committee want to make the program more efficient as SNAP payments have exploded in recent years.

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(Radio Iowa) – The new map from the U-S Drought monitor show some slight improvement following rains across the state.  All of the state still has some sort of drought rating, but the area that was in extreme drought dropped below four percent in the last week. The severe drought areas dropped from nearly 39 percent to less than 14 percent. With those percentages dropping, nearly 60 percent of the state is now in moderate drought, and around 22 percent is abnormally dry. The worst drought conditions remain in northwest and southeast sections of the state.

(Radio Iowa) – The severe drought in eastern Iowa has had an impact on the Christmas tree crop that will likely show up several years down the road. Mark Banowetz started the Cedar’s Edge Evergreen Market in Ely seven years ago, and told K-C-R-G T-V he is looking forward to the first season of sale. “These trees that we put in that were a foot or 16 inches, they’ve grown to 9 feet or so,” Banowetz says. He says the drought isn’t impacting the bigger trees, but the 500 seedlings he planted this year that have struggled.

“We’re losing a lot of seedlings,” he says. Iowa Christmas Tree Association President Bob Moulds, says Banowetz isn’t alone. He said a lot of newer farmers were also struggling, and there isn’t crop insurance for Christmas trees. “If they die, they die,” he said. “There’s no insurance, there’s nothing.” Moulds is the owner of the Wapsie Pines Tree Farm in Fairbank, and says he started changing his ways after the 2013 drought. He tells K-C-R-G- T-V he started watering and mulching each of the four-thousand trees he planted this year.

“If we had not mulched all these trees and individually watered them three times while it was dry, a large percent of them would not have made it,” said Moulds. As the Association’s new President, Moulds said he wanted to show other new farmers like Banowetz, what he learned over the years. So, they too can make it through droughts like the one we’re seeing right now.

KCRG-TV photo

Moulds says when tree farmers have bad drought years they can usually plant twice the number of seedlings the following year to make up for the ones they lost. But he said that can also be a risk if there’s another drought the next year.

DES MOINES, IA – Iowa’s 2023 daily traffic fatality count is over 20% higher than the 5-year average: an alarming trend. The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau is teaming up with law enforcement to keep drivers and passengers safe by raising awareness about the dangers of speeding and urging drivers to obey speed limits.

On July 26, Iowa will join Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas for a Speed Awareness Campaign. Law enforcement in your community will be on heightened alert for speeding vehicles and motorcycles.

Much like impaired driving, speeding is a selfish choice with deadly consequences for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around another vehicle, a hazardous object, or an unexpected curve. Even the safest cars with the newest technologies are limited in how much they can help reduce the odds of a crash.

Tragically, Iowa experienced a dramatic 25% increase in speeding-related fatalities from 2020-2021. In 2021, speeding-related crashes killed 84 people on our roads, accounting for almost one-quarter of all crash fatalities.

“We are asking drivers to please slow down,” said GTSB Bureau Chief Brett Tjepkes. “Our goal is to save lives, and we’re putting all drivers on alert — the posted speed limit is the law. No excuses. On July 26 drivers will notice extra law enforcement on Iowa’s roads. If drivers choose to exceed the posted limit, they can expect a citation.”

The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau works with city, county, state, and local organizations to develop and implement strategies to reduce deaths and injuries on Iowa’s roadways using federally funded grants.

(Radio Iowa) – A food bank serving nine eastern Iowa counties hopes to raise the equivalent of 50-thousand meals September. The Hawkeye Area Community Action Program has already raised 27-thousand meals. With schools out of session and cafeterias empty, many children and their families turn to food pantries for assistance, but that increased demand coincides with a lull in donations.

The program’s Chris Ackman says people remember to donate during the year-end holidays but donations often drop off during the summer. He says the food is essential for the 150 food sites across the region. The facility covers Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Linn, and Washington counties.

Feeding America estimates that one in 13 people in the service area struggles with food insecurity. Last year, H-A-C-A-P distributed 9.2 million pounds of food.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A teen from Red Oak was cited for a turning at an intersection violation. Red Oak Police say 16-year-old Cameron Durbin was driving a 2004 Ford F-150 pickup southbound on N. Broadway Street and had attempted to turn east onto W. Coolbaugh Street, from the incorrect lane. A 2019 Ford Escape SUV driven by 68-year-ol Patricia Long, of Red Oak, who was also turning southbound onto Broadway.

Police said Long was in the appropriate left turning lane, turning east onto Coolbaugh. The driver’s side rear tire and box of the pickupmade contact with the front passenger side of the SUV, causing $1,500 damage to each vehicle. The accident happened at around 1:17-p.m., Wednesday.

No injuries were reported.