Officials with TS Bank in Treynor have announced Tysen Christensen as the new Market President for the bank’s Corning branch. TS Banking Group recently entered into a purchase agreement with Blue Grass Bancorporation, Inc., Corning, Iowa, to acquire Okey-Vernon First National Bank, with banking assets of $85 million.

Christensen’s work experience includes nearly 12 years within the banking industry. He first served at Union Bank in Corning, then in 2006 was hired at Okey-Vernon First National Bank as the Assistant Vice President, and later in 2011 was named Vice President Senior Loan Officer.

Tysen Christensen

Christensen is a native of Lenox, Iowa, where he graduated from Lenox High School, then graduated from Buena Vista University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business management with a concentration in finance. He is also a 2014 graduate of the Iowa School of Banking. Christensen and his wife, Erin, reside in Lenox with their two daughters Hadlee and Jesa. In his free time he enjoys coaching his daughters’ sports teams and golfing.

Police in Red Oak report a traffic stop for an equipment violation early this (Saturday) morning, resulted in the arrest of 44-year old Christopher David Draman, of Lenox. Draman was arrested for Driving While Barred and brought to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center, where his bond was set at $2,000. And, late Friday evening, 23-year old Bradina Sky Gary, of Red Oak, was arrested in Red Oak, on a charge of Harassment in the 3rd Degree. Her bond was set at $300.

One of the first ceremonies in Iowa on Memorial Day will be held at 8 a.m. at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery in Van Meter. Retired Colonel Robert King says “We have over 2900 of Iowa and America’s veterans and their eligible family members interred at the cemetery.” King leads the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs and he’ll be at the ceremony on Monday morning. King occasionally presides over burials at the cemetery.

“It’s an honor to serve in this capacity, to give back, to serve our veterans and to help the families through the difficult times that they have,” King says.The Iowa Veterans Cemetery opened in the summer of 2008. The first U.S. soldiers to be buried in Iowa are from the Civil War era. the Keokuk National Cemetery is the final resting place for 600 Union soldiers, eight Confederate soldiers and 27 unidentified soldiers.

The commander of the “Grand Army of the Republic” declared May 30th,1868 as “Decoration Day” to mark the graves of the Union soldiers who died in the Civil War with flowers, but ceremonial days to mark the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers had been occurring for a few years before that. In 1967, a federal law officially named the holiday “Memorial Day.”

(Radio Iowa)

Governor Terry Branstad took final action Friday on 30 bills, ending his review of all the legislation that cleared the 2016 Iowa General Assembly. Many of these bills outlined spending plans for state agencies. In an unprecedented move, Branstad did not use his authority to item veto any individual spending proposals. It means the 12-month spending outline legislators drafted remains intact and will go into effect July 1st.

Branstad did reject the legislature’s proposed study of charging a “park user fee” for visitors at state-owned parks and recreation areas. Park user fees were charged briefly in the 1980s, during Branstad’s first run as governor, and Branstad says state officials discovered Iowans “greatly disliked” the fees.

(Radio Iowa)

Governor Terry Branstad has approved a new state requirement that Iowa teenagers get the meningitis vaccination before enrolling in school. It’s one of the actions Branstad took Friday, in completing his review of all the bills that cleared the 2016 Iowa legislature.

Iowa students will have to show they’ve been vaccinated against meningitis before they can enroll in the 7th and 12th grades. Branstad says he visited with medical experts and people who have had relatives die of meningitis and became “convinced” this new requirement “will save lives.” As with all required vaccinations, though, Iowa parents may seek an exemption due to religious or medical reasons.

The meningitis vaccination requirement was included in a massive budget bill that also outlined a series of new oversight measures for the state-run Medicaid program. Critics in the legislature said the new steps were necessary after Branstad ordered the half a million Iowa Medicaid patients into privately-run “managed care” plans.

Branstad says he was “proud” to approve “every one” of the new oversight measures. He says it will make Iowa’s Medicaid system “one of the most transparent, accountable and outcome focused” programs in the country.

(Radio Iowa)