The weekend ahead may be the coldest Iowa’s experienced in seven years, according to meteorologist Todd Heitkamp at the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls. The entire state is blanketed with winter weather watches and warnings, and parts of northwest Iowa will be seeing snow fly. “We do have a winter weather advisory out for snow that’s going to be developing around the area this afternoon and continuing into the evening and overnight,” Heitkamp says. “We’re expecting two to five inches of snow.”

More than a dozen counties across north-central and northeast Iowa are under a Winter Storm Warning as that region may get up to nine inches of snow by Sunday. Heitkamp says the wind chill factors will be exceptional through the weekend. “We’re going to be dealing with increasing winds later tonight,” he says. “As the snow begins to taper off, the winds will increase and gust up to 30 miles an hour during the day tomorrow, and as the winds start to increase, the cold will filter in along with those winds and we’ll be dealing with probably the coldest air we’ve seen around here in last four to seven years.”

By Sunday morning, air temps statewide will range from zero to 20-below, while wind chills could be 25 to 40-below. Iowans will need to take special care as they venture outdoors. “People need to understand the importance of dressing appropriately when dealing with adverse cold like this,” Heitkamp says. “There’s going to be a lot of people outside Saturday, clearing off the sidewalks and driveways. Limit the amount of time you’re doing that, take frequent breaks and dress appropriately by making sure all exposed flesh is covered.”

While the weekend weather sounds foul, there’s a turn-around coming in the forecast. “It’s going to warm up pretty quick on Monday,” Heitkamp says. “We’re looking at a high of 25 on Monday and then warming back up into the mid- to upper-30s on Tuesday so we’ll see almost a 60-degree temperature swing. It looks fairly nice next week but by Christmas, we may get hit with another shot of cold air coming in from the north.”

The first day of winter is next Wednesday, December 21st.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, IOWA – Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent in November. The state’s jobless rate was 3.5 percent one year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent in November. “The unemployment rate in Iowa is the lowest since March, which in part is due to holiday hiring and the great fall weather we have had this year,” said Beth Townsend, Director of Iowa Workforce Development. “The economy remains soft as we transition to seasonal unemployment during the winter months.”

The number of unemployed Iowans decreased to 65,000 in November from 70,400 in October. The current estimate is 5,300 higher than the year ago level of 59,700. The total number of working Iowans decreased to 1,655,000 in November. This figure was 200 lower than October and 10,600 higher than one year ago.

Seasonally Adjusted Nonfarm Employment
Iowa establishments shed 4,700 jobs in November and lowered employment down to 1,580,100 jobs. This drop marked the third straight month for job losses for the state. Private sector losses totaled 3,900 jobs and government pared 800 jobs. Public sector drops were primarily within local government (-600), although the federal sector shed jobs also (-200). Government trails last year’s level by 1,300 jobs. Private sectors remain up (+11,300), but the magnitude of the annual increase has been waning as the year comes to an end.

In November, the largest movement occurred in trade, transportation, and utilities which experienced a decline of 2,300 jobs. The majority of the loss was incurred in retail (-1,400), although transportation, utilities, and wholesale shed jobs this month as well. Iowa’s retail sector has not fared well through 2016 and is down compared to last November (-1,400). Iowa’s manufacturers lost 1,400 jobs with losses distributed evenly between durable and nondurable goods factories. This marks the second straight decline following a brief upsurge in the summer. Other notable losses included other services (-1,200), leisure and hospitality (-500), and information (-200). On the other hand, job gains were realized in three private industries and led by professional and business services (+1,400) and heavily fueled by hiring in administrative support and waste management services. All other gains this month were small and included education and health care (+300) and financial activities (+100).

Annually, total nonfarm employment is up just 10,000 jobs. Monthly declines over the past few months have reduced the annual growth rate considerably. Construction continues to sustain employment and leads all sectors with 8,300 jobs added. Education and health care is second in terms of growth (+4,200) followed by financial activities (+3,900). Manufacturing continues to trend down and lags behind last year’s mark by 7,300 jobs. The only other sectors down annually are professional and business services (-2,200) and information (-1,300).

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Omaha’s Eppley Airfield has installed two official cellphone waiting lots at a combined cost of $200,000, but word about the new lots has been slow to get out to the public. A cellphone lot is a space where people wait to receive texts or calls from arriving passengers who are ready to be picked up along the airport terminal’s front drive.

Airport police Chief Tim Conahan tells the Omaha World-Herald many people are still using old, nearby parking lots. Conahan says the name of the new lot may be part of the issue.

The new lots were announced in September along with other parking initiatives, including a new app that has a feature to help you find your vehicle if you return home and forget where you parked.

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

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

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Creston Police say a Creston business, CHS, Inc., reported Thursday afternoon, that someone had stolen a portable welder from their storage building at 1310 E. Howard Street. The theft happened sometime between Sept. 1st and Dec. 15th, and resulted in a loss of about $4,500.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A state board has ruled that an Iowa casino does not have to follow the state’s open records laws because it no longer owes a debt to the county where it operates. The Iowa Public Information Board issued the opinion in response to a request from the Des Moines Register. Prairie Meadows casino in Altoona lost its federal nonprofit status earlier this year and has declined to release records related to contracts of its top executives.

The casino’s board is appealing the IRS decision on its nonprofit status. The casino had argued it no longer has to abide by Iowa’s open records laws because it’s no longer indebted to Polk County.

Iowa is joining 19 other states to sue the six largest generic drug makers. State Attorney General Tom Miller says they are alleging two illegal actions by the companies. “One is sort of a failure to compete, to use the time period and the mechanisms when a drug leaves its patent and gets into the generic category. And secondly, to allege that they manipulated and fixed prices of generic drugs.”

He says there are two specific drugs involved. “One is an antibiotic and the other is an oral diabetics medication,” Miller explains. “So two pretty important and well-used drugs that we are alleging antitrust activity on behalf of the six generic drug companies.”

The antibiotic is doxycycline hyclate, the oral diabetes medication is glyburide. Generic drugs currently account for approximately 88 percent of all prescriptions written in the United States, so Miller says many Iowans could have been impacted. “We don’t know how many Iowans have been affected, but we think it is significant.  Generally as a rule — we assume that Iowans use about one percent of whatever the consumer product is — because we are one percent of the population,” according to Miller.

The states are seeking two things in the federal lawsuit. “An injunction that would prohibit any of this antitrust activity in the future, and then we would want damages for the sales that have taken place,” Miller says. Miller says it is a complicated legal case that could take awhile, although there’s a good possibility they could reach a settlement. “In antitrust cases — like most civil cases — they are settled. Some are tried, but the majority of the cases are settled,”Miller says.

The lawsuit was filed in the U-S District Court for the District of Connecticut. The lawsuit is against the following companies:  Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc., Auribindo Pharma U-S-A Inc., Citron Pharma L-L-C, Mayne Pharma (USA) Inc., Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals U-S-A Inc.

(Radio Iowa)

The director of the Iowa Department of Education has filed an ethics complaint against an eastern Iowa superintendent who’s tapped into the district’s cash reserves rather than lay off teachers. Staci is a spokeswoman for the department. “We have a lot of respect for the fact that the superintendent of the Davenport School District is trying to do the right thing for kids,” Hupp says. “However, it’s illegal for a school district to overspend its authorized budget and we have an obligation when that happens to file a complaint.”

A couple of years ago, Davenport Superintendent Art Tate began calling on lawmakers to change the formula for distributing state aid to schools. He argues it’s short-changing his district and others. Tate and other Davenport officials appeared before a state panel on Tuesday, seeking permission to spend more than the current legal limit.
“Ultimately, the School Budget Review Committee wasn’t comfortable with granting additional authority to a school district that is intentionally breaking the law,” Hupp says, “so the request…was unanimously denied.”

Hupp says spending cash reserves is not against the law. “But it’s a violation to overspend your authorized limit when you’re a school district,” Hupp says. The ethics complaint against Tate has been filed with the Iowa Board of Education Examiners. Last year, Tate said he was willing to risk losing his license to be an educator to make the point that the formula for distributing state school aid should be changed.

(Radio Iowa)

Red Oak Police early this (Friday) morning, arrested a man on an assault charge. 22-year old Jacob William Avery, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 1:15-a.m. for Domestic Assault. The victim of the assault suffered minor physical injuries during the incident. Avery was being held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond, pending an appearance before the magistrate.