Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:50 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Thousands of people marched and cheered speakers in Des Moines in an event connected to similar gatherings in Washington and cities around the country. People gathered Saturday morning for the Women’s March at the state Capitol. The event was part of the national Women’s March, but speakers and protesters holding signs drew attention to a variety of issues, including rights for disabled people, Native Americans and gay, lesbian and transgender residents.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Vandals have damaged or destroyed about three dozen fruit and nut trees and plants at an eastern Iowa community orchard. The Quad-City Times reports that the vandalism at the Quad-Cities Food Forest in Davenport included breaking off about 30 trees at the base and pouring tar over other plants. Two years ago, volunteers planted 100 small plants that will bear edible fruits, including gooseberry and elderberry bushes and hazelnut and English walnut trees.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines man accused of killing two Des Moines residents who were living with him has canceled a plea hearing and will instead take his case to trial. The Des Moines Register reports that Michael John Wanchanic had been set to enter a plea on Friday.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Police say a Council Bluffs mother has been charged after leaving her 12-year-old son on a roadside when he threw a tantrum. The Daily Nonpareil reports that the 33-year-old woman is set to be arraigned Feb. 20 on child endangerment and abandonment charges. An officer found the boy walking along an Interstate 80 ramp at 6:30 a.m. in the morning last fall. The boy said his mother left him after an argument about which shoes to wear to his school in Omaha, Nebraska.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Police say a Council Bluffs mother has been charged after leaving her 12-year-old son on a roadside when he threw a tantrum. The Daily Nonpareil reports that 33-year-old Shameka King is set to be arraigned Feb. 20th on child endangerment and abandonment charges.

Shameka King

An officer found the boy walking along an Interstate 80 ramp at 6:30 a.m. in the morning last fall. The boy said his mother left him after he got out of the car over an argument about which shoes to wear to his school in Omaha, Nebraska.

Police say the boy had no phone, money for food or a key to the hotel room. Police say King initially verified the boy’s account, asking police, “What am I supposed to do? Be late for work?”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former BNSF Railway employee has won more than $1 million in a wrongful termination lawsuit. The Lincoln Journal Star says Daniel Monohon, of Ottumwa, Iowa, was fired from a Lincoln branch of Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF in 2014 for what the railroad said was insubordination.

Monohon says he was fired after he questioned BNSF’s policy of requiring employees to wear seatbelts while driving a vehicle that can operate both on rail tracks and a conventional road. Monohon’s attorneys, Corey Stull and Jeanette Stull of Lincoln, argued that his firing was a violation of the whistleblower provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act.

A federal jury in Iowa agreed and awarded Monohon $1,031,000 in lost pay and other damages.

MARATHON, Iowa (AP) – A northwestern Iowa town is considering turning to the sun to provide power to its nearly 250 residents. The Sioux City Journal reports that the town of Marathon in Buena Vista County is considering building a 1.42-megawatt solar project on city-owned land to supply power to residents. The more than 1,400 solar panels would be built on a former baseball field.

A study by renewable energy company Trusted Energy, based in Spencer, says the proposed project would save Marathon residents $2 million over 20 years in electric costs and produce 2 million kilowatt hours per year.  Currently, Marathon receives its electrical service from the neighboring city of Laurens.

The Marathon City Council agreed to look into the project at a meeting earlier this month.

The state’s top wine makers will be recognized at a conference in central Iowa next month. Nicole Eilers is spokeswoman for the Iowa Wine Growers Association which is celebrating the state’s best operations. There are nominees for several awards, including the top two. “For Vineyard of the Year, we have Corey Goodhue with North River Valley Vineyard and Victor Rose Vineyard in Indianola,” Eilers says. “For Winemaker of the Year, we have Terry Smith with Summerset Winery and Anne Zwink with Soldier Creek Winery in Fort Dodge.”

The winners of all categories will be announced at the association’s annual conference in Ames. Eilers says Iowa’s wine industry is growing and thriving. “Currently, we have just over 100 wineries and we have nearly 300 vineyards across the state,” Eilers says. “It’s been a time for research on new grapes that grow in the cold climate as well as just fine-tuning wine-making techniques.”

The conference is being held on February 5th and 6th at the Gateway Hotel & Conference Center in Ames. There will be speakers and sessions focused on improving practices and knowledge in enology — the study of wine — as well as viticulture, marketing and business, and industry exhibitors showcasing the latest tools, products and services.

Learn more at : www.iowawinegrowers.org

(Radio Iowa)

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Democrats across the country are regrouping after the 2016 triumph of Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans. Iowa Democratic Party leaders will convene today (Saturday) to elect a new chairperson. Eight people are competing for the job to lead the party as it prepares for 2018, when Iowans will hold an election for governor. A state senator who many party insiders had hoped would run for governor announced this week she would not. Liz Mathis of Cedar Rapids says it was a family decision.
“We just concluded in the end that we weren’t in a place right now where that would be something that we could do,” Mathis says.

Mathis, a former T-V anchor in eastern Iowa, says she cannot afford to quit her current job at a social service agency in Cedar Rapids to run for governor full time, plus her husband has started a business and worried about the impact of a campaign.
“When I was a reporter, he moved to a couple of different cities with me and then he established roots in starting a business. He was gravely concerned about how that would affect him personally, how it would affect his business and the prying that happens sometimes by people who want to destroy you instead of champion you…

“Thinking through all this,” she said, “I guess the cons were more personal in how that would shape my life and my personal life and I really love my husband and I want to keep him around, because he’s a big supporter.” Mathis was concerned about the impact a campaign might have on her two daughters, plus she’s run three expensive campaigns for her state senate seat in the past five years. “And that’s pretty rigorous,” Mathis says. “The first one…in 2011….was a free-for-all….It was kind of like a congressional race compressed into seven weeks.”

After winning that special election in November of 2011, she was reelected in 2012 to a full term. She calls her 2016 a “hollow victory” since so many Democrats elsewhere suffered losses. Mathis says she hopes to help OTHER Democratic candidates run and win in 2018. Another Democrat from Cedar Rapids has taken HIS name out of the mix for the 2018 gubernatorial campaign. Rob Hogg says he will run for reelection to the state senate. Hogg also has the new responsibility as leader of Senate Democrats to help recruit candidates for the state senate. Hogg must also raise campaign money for all the Democrats running for senate seats next year, not just himself.

(Radio Iowa)

An Iowan who has been an advisor to Donald Trump during the presidential campaign is moving into the job in the U-S Department of Agriculture. Sam Clovis of Hinton, Iowa was sworn after Trump was sworn in so he can begin his duties.Clovis says they are setting up what they call a beachhead team to ensure they have a smooth transition between the administrations.

Clovis did not go into detail about his specific U-S-D-A duties, but says the Trump administration will be marked by a very conservative agenda. “I’ve been personally involved over the last several weeks of making sure the policy implementation that we are going to see from day one — starting this afternoon forward — I will say without qualification it is the most conservative agenda I have seen come from a Republican presidency in a long time,” Clovis says. “I may be more conservative than Ronald Reagen’s was.”

He does say that President Trump has assured him that biofuels will continue to be a major part of America’s energy plan. “It is our distinct guidance that we keep to an all of the above energy plan,” Clovis says. He says he’s already talked with incoming Energy Secretary Rick Perry about the issue.

Clovis formerly supported the former Texas Governor when Perry ran against Trump early in the G-O-P presidential race. Thousands of protesters opposing Trump lined the streets of Washington today, with some clashing with police. Clovis says he has never seen protests to this level after an election but thinks he partly knows why so many have come to the capitol. He says people are coming to get attention through social media and other media. “And this is why I think they are motivated to do it more than anything else, because it allows them to get the attention across the world,” Clovis says.

Clovis added that he’s disappointed by the number of those who don’t want to reconcile with the fact that Trump is now president. “I honestly don’t think I’ve every seen anything in our history like this where we’ve seen such adamant digging in on the part of the opposition over anything,” Clovis says. “Because I think a lot of has to do with the American people decided — and not the elites in Washington.”

Clovis is a veteran who has run for the U-S Senate, state treasurer, and was also a former professor and radio talk show host.

(Radio Iowa)

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

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