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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Fourth District Congressman Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, wants President Joe Biden to address ag issues in tonight’s (Tuesday) State of the Union address. “I’m hoping the American President talks about we in the heartland, we’re Americans also that, you know, he can address agriculture that he can address, biofuels and then he can address how we can work together to save our main street businesses and our family farms,” Feenstra says. He also wants the president to address the economic problems facing the country.
“Inflation has really been catastrophic — to not only families but small businesses and agriculture — and I hope he can lay out a plan to how we can start reducing inflation and then also how we can start becoming energy independent by using things like ethanol and biodiesel,” he says. Feenstra says these things impact everyday Americans and the president needs to address them.
(Silver City, Iowa) – A chase that began in Omaha early this (Tuesday) morning, ended with a crash in Silver City, and the suspect taken into custody. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports at around 2:15-a.m., Mills County Deputies were advised Omaha Police helicopter “Able 1” was tracking a reported stolen vehicle that had fled from Omaha Police Officers, earlier in the morning.
A Mills County Sheriff’s Deputy located the vehicle traveling south on 287th Street through Silver City, prior to the vehicle crashing into an embankment at the intersection of Highway 34 and 284th Street. After a short foot pursuit, the suspect, later identified as 24-year-old Donovan Belt, of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody by the Mills County K9 Unit.
Belt was treated by medics and transported to the Mills County Jail, where he faces charges that include:
Donovan Belt
Disclaimer: “A criminal charge/citation is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.”
(uPDATED/Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has sent the governor a plan to provide Iowa’s public K-through-12 schools three percent more in general state support for the next academic year. Republican Representative Craig Johnson of Independence says it’s a nearly 107 million dollar increase. “I think it’s a good news story for Iowans and our educators and our families,” Johnson said. The plan cleared the Republican-led Senate Thursday. Democrats like Representative Eric Gjerde of Cedar Rapids say public schools dealing with escalating costs will have to cut staff and programs.
“The Iowans that I have spoken to say we need to do a lot of things and one major thing is stop strangling our public schools,” Gjerde says. Other Democrats object to providing public schools a budget increase that’s roughly identical to the amount private school parents will start getting in state-funded savings accounts next school year. Representative Sharon Steckman of Mason City says rural schools are in a financial crunch.
“People used to come back to Iowa because…they knew their kids could get a top notch education,” Steckman said. “Maybe that’s why we are the slowest growing state in the union right now.” House Speaker Pat Grassley says Republicans have agreed to spend three-point-seven BILLION dollars on school districts next year. “The total investment that we’re making in public education with the passage of this bill is about 45 percent of the state’s budget,” Grassley says. Four House Republicans joined House Democrats in voting against the bill. Three of them also voted against creating state-funded savings accounts for the parents of private school students.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Tuesday), approved local bids for a Bridge replacement project on Seattle Road. County Engineer Trent Wolken said there were three bidders for the projects: A.M. Cohron & Son, $112,400; Murphy Heavy Contracting, $159, 750, and one from Nelson & Rock, Contracting, for $193,000.
Wolken then provided the Board with an update on Secondary Roads Department maintenance and activities.
He said they’re just trying to get by until Spring. Board Chair Steve Baier had some words of advice for rural property owners with regard to keeping the secondary roads from being torn-up between now and this Spring…
Wolken said also, they have received two pickups, which is “good news.”
In other business, the Cass County Supervisors discussed and tabled action with regard to the County’s updated Investment Policy. Their reason for tabling is so that they can receive answers to some specific questions, especially with regard to a Return On Investment’s (ROI), and frequency of reports.
(Radio Iowa) – Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says President Biden should focus tonight’s (Tuesday’s) State of the Union speech on federal spending plans. “The Biden Administration must change course and move away from the fiscal insanity and partisan politics that dominate Washington,” Grassley says. Resetting the federal budget to pre-pandemic spending levels would be the place to start, according to Grassley.
“During 2020, there was about $3 trillion spent to get us back on track after the government shut down the economy,” Grassley says. “Then we go back to that level of spending in 2020 and add to it whatever needs to be added to it, but we don’t use the present baseline to continue spending.” As lawmakers craft the next federal budget, Grassley says more should be spent to replenish U.S. stockpile of weapons that have been shipped to Ukraine.
Grassley says Medicaid and Social Security benefits need to be restructured, but that should be a separate conversation. “You’ve got to tackle our entitlement programs by themselves and when we do tackle them, we’re got to make sure that people who are on retirement or close to retirement don’t get cut,” Grassley says. Grassley cites the reforms adopted 38 years ago as a guide, suggesting any changes for younger Americans’ Social Security and Medicare benefits be slowly phased in over several decades.
Janet has health issues that require medical care. She is considered to be an endangered Missing Person at this time. Please contact 911 or the Council Bluffs Police Department at 712‐890‐5400 if you have information regarding the her whereabouts.
Janet North
(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports a woman from Lenox faces a Possession of Contraband/Weapon – inside a Correctional Facility. 44-year-old Cassandra Marlena Davis, who is serving time in the Adams County Jail on other charges, was assessed the additional charge Monday evening. Davis’ bond was increased to $12,000 (cash or surety).
(Ottumwa, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports 36-year-old Ross Thomas Cobler, who was convicted of Domestic Abuse Assault-3rd or Subsequent Offense, in Wapello County, failed to report to the Ottumwa Residential Facility as required Friday.
Cobler is a white male, height 5′ 10″, and weighs 203 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on 10/26/22. Persons with information on Cobler’s whereabouts should contact local police.
Ross Cobler
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Board of Education for the Atlantic Community School District will meet in a regular session beginning at 6:30-p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2023, in the High School Media Center. Discussion items during their meeting include:
Action items on their agenda include:
ACSD Superintendent Steve Barber will remind the Board about the following dates of interest to the Board:
Immediately following the regular meeting, the Atlantic School Board will move into an exempt (Closed) session, for the purpose of negotiations with the Atlantic Education Association, representing the District’s Certified & Non-Certified Staff.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University researchers are part of an effort led by Purdue University to diversify the cornbelt. I-S-U sociology professor J. Arbuckle says farmers once planted many different crops on their land. “The long rotations with lots of different crops, spread risk, all around the farm, but they also took care of, you know ecological processes, agro ecological processes that took care of a lot of the, you know, the pest cycles and the weed cycles and that sort of thing,” he says. The crops became less diversified with the advent of chemicals to deal with the pests and weeds, and the use of mechanized farm machines. Arbuckle says farmers started specializing in soybeans and corn.
“We’re seeing a lot of problems stemming from that specialized system, right? So we’ve got a lot of tillage going on that results in reduction of soil health and soil erosion. We also have herbicide resistant weeds, we’ve got pesticide resistant insects,” Arbuckle says. There’s also a boom and bust pattern for the price of those commodities. He says this project is looking at ways to add some diversity back into the system. “To number one, provide more market opportunities for farmers, more ways to have more resilient cropping systems that use more agroecological processes to deal with those pest and weed cycles,” Arbuckle says. “But also to deal with some of the more extreme weather that we’re having.”
They hope to find some of the answers with the ten million dollar U-S-D-A grant. “This is a five-year project. So we don’t have any illusions that we’re going to change the system in five years,” he says. “So really, what we’re doing is looking at different options and pathways and potential creative visions for ways that we might open doors for diversification.”
The team includes more than 30 investigators who are working with farmers and other agricultural stakeholders in Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois to envision and evaluate more diverse agricultural systems for the Midwest.
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