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

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A blend of fuel that’s been off the market in Iowa during the summer driving season is returning today (Friday). Gasoline that has 15 percent ethanol blended in it is now available again. Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) Executive Director Monte Shaw says federal regulations are to blame as the newer E-15 fuel blend wasn’t given the same summer driving allowance that the commonly used E-10 blend was given 30 years ago.

“As a result of that, you actually have to have two different types of gasoline to blend — one for E-10 and one for E-15. Oil companies use this quirk in federal regulations and only supply Iowa with the blendstock that is suitable for E-10, thereby freezing E-15 out of the market for three-and-a-half months,” Shaw explains. Shaw says the E-15 can be used on a majority of vehicles on the roads. “It’s approved for use in all 2001 or newer vehicles. It is not approved for smaller off-road engines. But if you have a 2001 or newer vehicle, you can use E-15 and you are going to be getting a cleaner product, a higher octane product, and it’s going to cost you less while providing the same mileage and probably a little bit of increased power,” according to Shaw.

He says the inability to sell E-15 year round has kept some retailers from selling the blend, but he says they’ve been working to increase it’s availability. Shaw says 69 stations now offer E-15 across the state, which is a big jump from last year. Shaw says retailers have to stop selling E-15 on June 1st when the so-called summer driving season starts. “We are going to be working very hard between now and next June to try to get the E-P-A to fix this or Congress to fix this. We need one of those two entities to step up and say ‘this is ridiculous,’ there is no scientific basis for treating these fuels differently. It is preventing a legal fuel from being available in the marketplace,” Shaw says.

He says the oil companies want to block anything that will cause more renewable corn-based ethanol and less oil to be used. Shaw says another tactic used by those who are against ethanol use is to say that drivers won’t be able to decide which fuel to use if there are too many choices at the pump. “Somehow you’re smart enough to drive a car 80-miles-an-hour down the interstate, but you’re not smart enough to choose between more than two fuel options,” Shaw says, “I just don’t buy into that.”

He says you can go to a restaurant and choose between thousands of different kinds of flavor mixes for you pop and that doesn’t cause any problems for customers. Shaw says having choices is a good thing. “We support consumer options and consumer choices. No one is forced to buy E-15. In fact in most of Iowa no one is even forced to buy E-10. You can pay quite a bit more money and get a non-ethanol blend,” Shaw says. “I think you are silly if you do — but it’s there. So, we like the fact that consumers can choose E-10, E-15 and in some stations they can choose an E-30 and E-85 if they are driving a flex fuel vehicle.”

Shaw believes E-15 would be a top choice of drivers if they all had access to it. “If we could make this universally available and consumers said ‘hey yeah I’d like to save five or ten cents a gallon, I’m gonna use E-15,’ it could make up 80 percent of our fuel market,” Shaw says. “Now that is going to take some time. Right now what we’re seeing is that it generally makes up anywhere from 15 to 25 percent of the sales of the stations that actually offer it.”

Shaw says stations in Minnesota that offer E-15 have seen it move to 50 percent of their sales. Retailers in the Des Moines and surrounding metro areas are selling the E-15 for one dollar, 15 cents a gallon at times today (Friday) to promote its return to the market. You can find a station that sells E-15 by going to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association website http://iowarfa.org/

(Radio Iowa)

A traffic stop northwest of Coburg early this (Friday) morning in Montgomery County, resulted in an arrest. The Sheriff’s Department reports 59-year old Micheal Dean Ohnmacht, of rural Essex, was charged with OWI/1st offense, and Possession of a Controlled Substance, after his vehicle was pulled over at around midnight, near the intersection of 250th Street and Evergreen Avenue. Ohnmacht was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Creston Police say no injuries were reported following an accident late Thursday morning. Officials say a 2004 Acura RSX driven by 21-year old Brittany Ann Taylor, of Creston, was traveling south on Elm Street at around 11:30-a.m.  A 2011 Ford Edge driven by 80-year old Roberta Arlene Sobotka, of Diagonal, was traveling eastbound on Adams, and had pulled up to and stopped at, the intersection of Elm and W. Adams Streets. When Sobotka proceeded into the intersection, her SUV hit the car.

Sobotka then panicked and backed up, causing her SUV hit an eastbound 2006 Chevy Uplander driven by 35-year old Amie Jo Jackson, of Creston. Sobotka was issued a warning for Failure to Yield the right of Way. Damage from the collisions amounted to $5,000.

Police in Red Oak say no injuries were reported following an accident that happened at around 6-p.m., Thursday. Authorities say 35-year old Jessica Danielle Blocker, of Red Oak, was cited for Driving While Suspended and Failure to hold insurance. The crash happened at the intersection of Cherry and Broadway Streets, when  a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan driven by 45-year old Carrie Sue Gray, of Red Oak, was rear-ended by a 2004 Dodge Dakota pickup driven by Blocker. Damage from the collision amounted to $3,100.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — A prosecutor in the case of an Iowa teen who was given a suspended 10-year prison sentence for molesting a 1-year-old girl says the teen was duped into the act by child pornographers posing online as a teenage girl. The suspended sentence for 19-year-old Kraigen Grooms issued Monday has stirred outrage on social media and led to an online petition calling for an Iowa judge’s removal.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An attorney for the family of a woman mistakenly killed by an Iowa police officer is lashing out at the Iowa Public Information Board for “unconscionable” delays and errors in her case. Adam Klein, an attorney for Autumn Steele’s family, accused board members of mishandling complaints alleging that police have illegally withheld public records in her January 2015 shooting. Klein said their actions were hurting a grieving family.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Law enforcement officials have revealed the identities of two Cedar Rapids police officers who fatally shot a man earlier this week who was suspected of stabbing his children’s mother. The Iowa Department of Public Safety said Thursday in a news release that Officers Jeremiah White and Ashleigh Steil fired their weapons Monday, killing 25-year-old Markell Bivins. Hiring records show both joined the Cedar Rapids force in June 2008.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Thirty protesters arrested last month at a central Iowa petroleum pipeline construction site have appeared in court on a trespassing charge. All but one protester took responsibility for the action and will pay just over $270 in fines and fees.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports two women were arrested Thursday in association with the theft of a motor vehicle. At around 8:20-p.m., deputies arrested 37-year old Tamara Lynn McCoy, of Villisca, on an Adams County warrant for Theft of a Motor Vehicle. McCoy was being held in the Adams County Jail on $5,000 bond. And, at around 7:40-p.m., 27-year old Katherine Coleman, of Corning, was arrested for Possession of a Stolen vehicle.

Her arrest stems from an investigation into a vehicle stolen out of Villisca. At around 3:40-a.m., Thursday, Coleman was cited for Driving While Suspended and the vehicle was impounded. Later that day, the Mongtomery County Sheriff’s Office informed Adams County authorities the same vehicle had been reported stolen from Villisca.

Coleman was being held in the Adams County Jail on $5,000 bond.

High school students in a northwest Iowa school staged a walk-out on Wednesday after the proposed merger of the Battle Creek-Ida Grove and Odebolt-Arthur School Districts failed. On Tuesday, voters in the Battle Creek-Ida Grove district overwhelmingly voted in favor of the merger, but 57 percent of voters in the Odebolt-Arthur School District voted against it. Terry Kenealy is the superintendent for both districts. He says teachers were going to have some professional development time Wednesday afternoon, so an early dismissal had already been planned for the high school.

“We had become aware that this was going to happen and our principal worked well with the students to try to make sure that it was done in a respectful manner,” Kenealy says. “They walked out to the football field and kind of had a rally and a discussion.” Students who didn’t want to participate left for home or stayed in the school cafeteria. The majority of students, though, chanted, “Ask the students!” as they left the school.

“My impression since I got here is that students for the most part — we’re not perfect, but for the most part — they get along really very well and they’ve enjoyed this experience as a whole-grade sharing school,” says Kenealy, who’s been superintendent for both districts for two years. “There’s many of them that were upset that the vote failed and they feel that students were not the primary concern that people were focused on when they went to vote…They feel like if they’d focused on the students, it would have passed.”

The two districts have had a whole grade sharing arrangement since 2009. High school students in both districts go to school in Ida Grove. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders to go school in Odebolt. There’s also an elementary school in Odebolt and an elementary school in Ida Grove. The superintendent says school boards in both districts will meet next week to discuss what’s next. Kenealy says the Battle Creek-Ida Grove School Board will discuss ending the whole grade sharing agreement with the neighboring district — and that decision must be made by November 1st.

“My point, in my discussion with board members, is students, families and staff members need to know what we’re going to do sooner rather than later because this impacts them more than anybody else,” Kenealy says. “The quicker we can let them know what’s going to happen, the better.” If the school boards decide to seek a second vote on a merger, that can’t happen for at least six months. Critics in Odebolt-Arthur who voted against the merger this week objected to the make-up of the merged school board. They argued it would give too much control to the Battle Creek-Ida Grove side of the district.

About 3900 people live in the Battle Creek-Ida Grove district and about 2000 people live in Odebolt-Arthur’s district. The merged district would have covered 259 square miles and included more than a thousand students.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bankers say weak farm income continues to weigh down the economy in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states. The overall rural economic index for the region remained in negative territory and declined to 37.3 in September from August’s 41.1. Survey officials say any score below 50 on any of the survey’s indexes suggests a decline in that area.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says farm income is expected to decline 12 percent over last year. That is limiting spending by farmers and hurting the economy in rural areas. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

Goss says the number of farm loan defaults hasn’t increased significantly over the past year, but more loans are being restructured.

Officials with the Atlantic Police Department are asking for your help in solving an incident of field vandalism. Authorities say last Sunday (September 11th), a person reported that a bean field had been mowed through, causing several paths of damage. Officials say it appears that the field was mowed with a bush hog.

The land is located on the southeast corner of Buck Creek Rd. and Iowa Ave., in between the railroad tracks and the Schildberg Recreation Area. Anyone having information about the incident is encouraged to contact the Atlantic Police Department.

Area where a bean field was vandalized.