United Group Insurance

Final defendant sentenced in death of Council Bluffs man

News

April 20th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – The last of three defendants has been sentenced in the death of a Council Bluffs man. On Tuesday 23-year-old Christopher King, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was given five years in prison. He’d pleaded guilty to theft after prosecutors lowered the charge.

Iowa authorities say King, Caine Petersen and Sarael Duncan robbed 20-year-old Jacob Combs of marijuana on Aug. 15 last year in Council Bluffs. Authorities say Combs jumped onto Petersen’s vehicle as the three men fled but then fell or was thrown, suffering head injuries. Combs died in a hospital later that day.

Petersen, of Council Bluffs, and Duncan, of Omaha, Nebraska, were given 10 years in prison after making their plea deals.

(Podcast) KJAN Morning News & funeral report, 4/20/2016

News, Podcasts

April 20th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

Play

Rainfalls Totals at 7:00 am on 4-20-2016

Ag/Outdoor, Weather

April 20th, 2016 by Jim Field

  • KJAN, Atlantic  .36″
  • Massena  .55″
  • Missouri Valley  .76″
  • Logan  .57″
  • Irwin  .11″
  • Council Bluffs  .61″
  • Bedford  .67″
  • Sidney  1.9″

Skyscan forecast & weather data for Atlantic: 4/20/16

Weather

April 20th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Today: Showers & occasional thunderstorms. High 60. East winds becoming westerly @ 10-15 late.

Tonight: Light rain. Low 49. W @ 5-10.

Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy w/light rain or showers in the morning. High 66. NW @ 10-20.

Friday: Partly Cloudy. High near 70.

Saturday: P/Cldy. High around 73.

Tuesday’s High in Atlantic at the KJAN studios, was 62. The 24-hour Low thru 7-a.m. today was 44. Rainfall this morning (through 7-a.m.), amounted to .36″.  Last year on this date, our High in Atlantic was 56 and the low was 35. The All-time Record High in Atlantic on this date was 90 in 1902. The Record Low was 18 in 1956.

Creston man arrested on drug charges in Adams County

News

April 20th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Sheriff’s officials in Adams County say a Union County man was arrested early Tuesday morning on drug & other charges, following a traffic stop near the intersection of Highway 34 and Sycamore Avenue.

Chevy Van Sauer

Chevy Van Sauer

26-year old Chevy Van Sauer, of Creston, was placed under arrest at around 2:25-a.m., for Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Deliver (Methamphetamine), Driving While License Revoked, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Sauer was being held in the Adams County Jail on $25,000 bond.

All Iowa school districts to implement ‘teacher leadership’ program this fall

News

April 20th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

One-quarter of Iowa’s school teachers will be instructional coaches or mentors to other teachers in their district during the next school year. All 333 Iowa school districts will be splitting 150-million dollars in additional state funding for this teacher leadership initiative. Mike Sherwood, superintendent of the Webster City and Northeast Hamilton School Districts, says putting the focus on instruction is important.

“It is at the classroom level and directly supports the work teachers do at the classroom,” Sherwood says. “It provides another layer of support as teachers move from isolated teaching environments to collaborative environments.” Governor Branstad invited Sherwood to speak about the program Tuesday morning, during Branstad’s weekly news conference. Sherwood is using the extra state funding to pay teachers on staff extra to be mentor teachers, plus he’s hiring an expert in the latest digital technology.

“It will be somebody that will work directly with classroom teachers on integrating that directly into their lessons,” Sherwood says. Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa will have “the most extensive teacher leadership system” in the country next fall when all 333 districts are participating in the program. “With higher expectations for all students today, Iowa is better at supporting the work that teachers must do,” Reynolds says. Governor Terry Branstad says rewarding teachers who take on more responsibility will hopefully keep some teachers from leaving the profession. And Branstad says measuring student achievement is part of the process.

“We want to make sure that we’re preparing Iowa students and the future Iowa workforce for quality careers and jobs in the future,” Branstad says. Branstad convened the “Future Ready Summit” yesterday (Tuesday), in Des Moines. More than 750 teachers and administrators as well as business and labor leaders attended, to discuss ways to equip students with the right skills.

(Radio Iowa)

Proposed new deer hunting season will have few changes

Ag/Outdoor, News, Sports

April 20th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

The Iowa Natural Resources Commission has given preliminary approval for the 2016-2017 deer hunting seasons. D-N-R spokesman, Kevin Baskins, says the proposed season will look much like this year’s. “We really are not seeing any changes, we’re looking at a status quo type season compared to last year. And I think that reflects that we have a herd population that is stabilizing over a great part of the state,” Baskins says.

While he says the population is stabilizing, it’s not uniform across the state. “We still have parts of the state that have an abundance of deer, and the antlerless quotas we have that we have reflect that,” Baskins says. “We still see an area of northwest Iowa where we’ve probably gone a little too far in terms of reducing deer. Up there we still have some buck only restrictions for some of those counties during the early muzzle loader season and the first shotgun season.” Baskins says the D-N-R has a variety of different ways to keep track of the deer population.

“We do it through surveying our hunters, through looking at road kills, and also right now we are still kind of wrapping up some of our spotlight surveys where we go out at night and run some routes to determine what we are seeing out on the countryside,” Baskins says. He says they also talk with landowners about any damage that may be done to crops by deer. Baskins says they have a deer task force that helps set up the hunting

“That includes people who are deer hunters, obviously the agricultural production groups, and also insurance companies,” Baskins says. “And one of the goals that was established by that task force was to get kind of to where we were in the 1990s when everything seemed to be in balance in terms of not having too many complaints from any of those three groups.”

There is a hearing on the proposed seasons on June 1st. You can send written comments to the Department of Natural Resources, Dale Garner, Wildlife Bureau Chief, Wallace State Office Building, 502 E. 9th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0034; by e-mail at Dale.Garner@dnr.iowa.gov or by Fax at 515-725-8201. You can see the full proposal on the Iowa D-N-R’s website at: www.iowadnr.gov/hunting.

Here are the proposed dates for the deer hunting seasons.
DEER SEASONS
Regular Gun 1 Dec. 3-7
Regular Gun 2 Dec. 10-18
Bow Oct. 1-Dec. 2 and Dec. 19-Jan. 10, 2017
Early Muzzleloader Oct. 15-23
Muzzleloader Dec. 19-Jan. 10, 2017
Youth Sept. 17-Oct. 2
Disabled Hunter Sept. 17-Oct. 2
Holiday Antlerless-Only Dec. 24-Jan. 2

(Radio Iowa)

NWS forecast for Cass & area Counties, 4/20/16

Weather

April 20th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

347 AM CDT WED APR 20 2016

EARLY THIS MORNING…CLOUDY WITH A 50 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS. NORTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

TODAY…SHOWERS UNTIL LATE AFTERNOON. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE LATE MORNING AND AFTERNOON. SHOWERS LIKELY LATE IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE UPPER 50S. NORTHEAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH SHIFTING TO THE WEST IN THE AFTERNOON. GUSTS UP TO 25 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION NEAR 100 PERCENT.

TONIGHT…SHOWERS LIKELY AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH MIDNIGHT…THEN LIGHT SHOWERS LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOW AROUND 50. WEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH. GUSTS UP TO 25 MPH THROUGH MIDNIGHT. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 70 PERCENT.

THURSDAY…CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF LIGHT SHOWERS IN THE MORNING…THEN PARTLY SUNNY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF LIGHT SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE UPPER 60S. NORTHWEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH. CHANCE OF SHOWERS 40 PERCENT.

FRIDAY…SUNNY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 60S. NORTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

SATURDAY…SUNNY. HIGH IN THE MID 70S.

Cardinals launch campaign to honor Brock

Sports

April 20th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals have launched a season-long campaign, #STLisLou, to honor Hall of Famer Lou Brock and raise money for children with diabetes. Brock’s left leg was amputated below the knee last fall. Wearing a prosthetic device, he threw the first pitch before the home opener.

The 76-year-old Brock toured the warning track on a golf cart in a pregame ceremony Tuesday before a game against the Cubs, waving to fans, and his uniform No. 20 was etched in the infield dirt behind second base. The team is encouraging fans to share videos, written messages and/or photographs about what Brock means to them.

 

Hammel leads Cubs past Cardinals with arm, bat

Sports

April 20th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jason Hammel worked six sharp innings and had both RBIs for the Chicago Cubs in a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night. The Cardinals stranded two runners against the Cubs bullpen in the seventh and eighth. Yadier Molina was at second base when Hector Rondon struck out pinch hitter Jedd Gyorko to earn his third save in three chances.

Chicago leads the majors at 11-3 and goes for a three-game sweep Wednesday over the defending NL Central champions. They last swept St. Louis in three games on the road Sept. 13-15, 2010.