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

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Figures from a survey of supply managers in nine Midwest and Plains states have risen slightly but still suggest slow or no economic growth ahead. A report issued Thursday says the Mid-American Business Conditions index inched up to 47.8 in August from 47.6 in July. The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests economic growth. A score below that suggests decline.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says he expects the regional economy to underperform the national economy because of the region’s heavy dependence on manufacturers linked to the weak sectors of agriculture and energy.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Thirty protesters in Boone who tried to block access to construction equipment for the Bakken oil pipeline were arrested Wednesday afternoon. More than one-hundred other activists gathered to witness the arrests and show their support. Adam Mason of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement was a protest organizer. “The fact that there’s folks here from Canada, from New York, from Nebraska shows that pipelines like this impact not just us here in Iowa, not just the folks in North Dakota. This has global implications,” Mason says. “Folks realize that and across the country are standing up to say: ‘No more pipelines.'”

Carolyn Raffensperger, of Ames, provided free legal advice to the protesters who were arrested. “My commitment as a lawyer is to defend the right of future generations to inherit clean drinking water, a healthy climate, clean soils,” Raffensperger says. Raffensperger just returned from North Dakota, where protesters have joined members of the Standing Rock Sioux to try to block construction of the pipeline on tribal lands.

Frank Cordaro, a peace activist from Des Moines, conducted a training session for the IOWA protesters Wednesday morning in nearby Pilot Mound. “We’ll say a lot of words, but what’s really going on here is it’s a gut thing for these folks here to say: ‘We know how to step up our game,'” Cordaro says. Cordaro has been arrested many times for civil disobedience at federal facilities and he’s been sentenced to serve several months in prison on at least eight different occasions.

The protesters arrested Wednesday in Boone are being charged with misdemeanor trespassing.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge has suspended the prison sentence of a Sioux City woman serving 10 years for selling synthetic marijuana that caused the death of another teen. The Sioux City Journal reports that 19-year-old Rose Mouw, who was sentenced in May, had her remaining prison term suspended Wednesday. She was placed her on four years’ probation. For the death last year of 18-year-old Austin McCloud.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Linn County supervisors have taken a first step toward increasing the county’s minimum wage. KCRG-TV reports the supervisors voted Wednesday for a Linn County increase of the state’s current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to $8.25 on Jan. 1, 2017. The wage would increase by a dollar in January 2018 and another dollar in January 2019, when it would remain at $10.25 an hour. Officials must vote twice more at meetings Sept. 6 and 12 before the wage increase would become law.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Arrests have been made during protests against the construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota and Iowa. Authorities cut free a man who bound himself to construction equipment and arrested two protesters Wednesday near St. Anthony, North Dakota. The site is about 20 miles west of the main protest near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, where construction has been halted for days. In Iowa, arrests were made after protesters blocked access to a construction staging site.

EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say no one was injured in an Evansdale metal recycling business in eastern Iowa where a fire broke out. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that the fire started sometime after 6 p.m. Tuesday, after the business had closed for the day. No one was in the building at the time of the fire.

A man from Nebraska was injured Wednesday afternoon during a collision on Interstate 29, in Fremont County. The Iowa State Patrol says 26-year old Wilmer Hernandez Gonzalez, of Lincoln, NE., was a passenger in a 2007 Mazda that was rear-ended on I-29 northbound near Hamburg, just before 2-p.m., Wednesday.

A pickup, driven by 80-year old Charles Cook, of Sherwood, AR, was coming up from behind the car, when Cook misjudged the speed of the Mazda. His 2011 Chevy Silverado struck the car, causing the collision. The car came to rest on the traveled portion of the road, while the pickup ended-up in the north ditch.

Hernandez-Gonzalez, who was wearing a seat belt, was transported by Hamburg Rescue to Grape Community Hospital in Hamburg, for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. No other injuries were reported.

The Iowa State Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, along with Hamburg Fire and Rescue.

A motorcyclist from Marion County was injured during an accident late Wednesday morning involving a car, in Union County. The Iowa State Patrol says 64-year old Thomas K. Hostetter, of Pella, suffered a head injury and was in critical condition when he was flown by LifeFlight helicopter to Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines. The accident happened at the intersection of Highways 34 and 169 in Afton, at around 11:30-a.m., Wednesday.

Officials say Hostetter was eastbound on Highway 34 riding a 2008 Suzuki motorcycle and approaching the intersection of Highway 169, when a northbound 2005 Ford Taurus driven by 32-year old Amanda R. Ibbotson, of Afton, pulled away from the stop sign to make a left turn onto Highway 34. Ibbotson didn’t see the approaching motorcycle.

When she pulled into Hostetter’s path, he attempted to stop, but lost control of his cycle, causing him to lay it down on its right side.

Police in Council Bluffs said late Wednesday night that an arrest has been made in connection with an attempted homicide that took place nearly one and a half weeks ago. An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for 35-year old Derrick West- Jones, of Council Bluffs, and, Wednesday evening, uniformed officers took Jones into custody without incident, during a traffic stop in the 2200 block of the South Expressway, in Council Bluffs.

Derrick D. West-Jones

He was booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail on charges that include Attempted Murder, Willful Injury, and Burglary in the 1st Degree.

His arrest stems from an investigation into in an incident of assault that took place during the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 21st, when 27-year old April Stout, of Council Bluffs, was struck with a blunt object and suffered a severe laceration to her neck. At that time, an unknown, black male suspect allegedly forced his way into the residence after knocking on the door, and was apparently looking for a person unknown who did not live at Stouts address. The suspect then became upset over Stout’s dog being too close to him, and got into an altercation with Stout before allegedly striking her with a sharp object and fleeing on foot. Stout  was treated at Mercy Hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

Officials say the incident remains under investigation.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge has suspended the prison sentence of a Sioux City woman serving 10 years for selling synthetic marijuana that caused the death of another teen. The Sioux City Journal reports that District Judge Patrick Tott on Wednesday suspended 19-year-old Rose Mouw’s remaining prison term and placed her on four years’ probation. Mouw was sentenced in May after pleading guilty in Woodbury County to involuntary manslaughter and delivery of a controlled substance.

Mouw admitted to buying the synthetic marijuana in Nebraska, then selling it to 18-year-old Austin McCloud, who was a senior at West High School in Sioux City. He died in April 2015 after smoking the drug with three other boys, who were also hospitalized, but recovered.

With the filing period for nomination papers to be turned into the Cass County Auditor’s Office having ended at 5-p.m. Wednesday, the stage is now set for the November 8th General Election. Their were a total of four new candidates that filed their papers either late Tuesday or prior to the deadline on Wednesday, with those persons filing for seats on the Soil and Water Conservation District Board, an Edna Township Trustee Vacancy and Griswold School Director 4 seat.

The following names will appear on the ballot in Cass County for the respective County Offices: (I=Incumbent) (R= Republican) (D= Democrat) (NP= No Party affiliation) (*=latest candidate to file)

Board of Supervisors – District 1: Steve Green, (R) from Atlantic.

Board of Supervisors – District 4 (elect 1): Dana Kunze (D) from Griswold; Steve Baier (R) from Griswold.

Board of Supervisors – District 5 (elect 1): (I) Frank Waters (R), from Cumberland; Randy J. Pollock (NP), of Anita, & J. Ford Lillard (NP), of Wiota.

Cass County Auditor: (I) Dale Sunderman, (R) from Atlantic.

Cass County Sheriff: (I) Darby McLaren, (R) from Atlantic.

Agriculture Extension Council (elect 4): (I) Julie Aupperle (R), of Wiota; (I) Darrin Petty (R), of Atlantic; (I) Marcy Jo Dorsey (R), of Anita; Jody Steffen (R) from Massena.

Soil and Water Conservation District (elect 3): (I) Curt Behrends, (R), from Wiota; *Ray Wilson, of Griswold; & *Chase Wheatley (R), of Massena.

Hospital Board of Trustees – NW District: Jody Lorence (D), Atlantic.

Hospital Board of Trustees – SE District: Mike Klocke (R), of Massena.

Edna Township Trustee – Keith W. Nelson (R), from Massena.

Edna Township Trustee (to fill a Vacancy): *Kevin Stender (R), from Massena.

Union Township Trustee: (I) Delmar South (R), from Cumberland.

Union Township Trustee (to fill a Vacancy): (I) Richard Hoffman, from Cumberland.

Griswold School District – Director 4: *Donald K. Smith (R), from Griswold.

Mostly clear skies are forecast as the 14th annual Iowa Star Party starts tomorrow (Thursday) night in west-central Iowa as sky gazers pack in their telescopes to gaze into the heavens. Deb Bonser, of the Ames Area Amateur Astronomers, is coordinating the annual event which draws in space-watching enthusiasts from all over the Midwest.

“On Friday night, we have a public night that is free to everybody who wants to come out,” Bonser says. “They get a chance to look through different kinds of telescopes and see different objects up in the sky and learn a lot about what’s up in the sky.” The Star Party is being held at the Whiterock Conservancy, southeast of Coon Rapids, and she says there’s an obvious reason. “It’s one of the darkest spots in Iowa,” Bonser says. “We’re not bothered by street lights, city lights that are lighting up the sky and we can see things much more clearly.”

If the skies remain cloud-free, there will be a chance to see numerous nebulas and stars millions of light years away, as well as some of the planets in our cosmic back yard. “I am going to be putting a camera on a tripod. I do Milky Way photography and I’m going to see if I can get a galaxy in one of my photos and see what I can get,” Bonser says. “It depends on the weather.”

The Star Party runs nightly for the serious astronomers, tonight through Monday night, while Friday’s open public viewing begins at 7:30 P-M and runs into the wee hours.

(Radio Iowa)