The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) has awarded more than $599,920 to 27 historic preservation and country school projects in 22 communities across the state. Locally, the communities of Clarinda, Denison and Winterset have received a total of more than $14,000 for projects.

The Nodaway Valley Historical Museum in Clarinda was awarded a grant for $2,875 to restore and preserve the Page County Goldenrod Schoolhouse. The building is used throughout the year as an educational resource for area students and visitors to learn about the days of the country school. It educates over 5,000 visitors each year.

The Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts, in Denison, was awarded a grant amounting to $1,333, so the Donna Reed Museum/Archive can properly store and organize the vast collection of her personal artifacts and provide proper storage for a growing collection of items relating to the history of Denison.

And, the Madison County Historical Society, in Winterset, was awarded a DCA grant of $10,000, for a “Research Library” archive preservation project. The grant will be used to purchase archival supplies and engage a professional archivist to advise staff and train volunteers. The project will bring historically significant documents together in one location for safekeeping, making them easily accessible to researchers and preserved according to museum industry standards.

Several lowa police departments are warning players of the smartphone game Pokémon Go to be aware of their surroundings for hazards including muggers and traffic. The video game is fast-becoming one of the world’s most-downloaded apps, but Jim Hegarty, at the Better Business Bureau office in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says crooks have already found a way to rip you off.

“There’s a malware version of this,” Hegarty says. “Make sure you go to your actual app store to get the legitimate game. Do not try to download the game from a link you’ve received through an email or by text message. Those versions are the ones that contain the malware that can do all kinds of nasty stuff to you.” That “nasty stuff” may include locking up your mobile device or stealing your personal financial information. Hegarty also warns parents the game gobbles data.

“Most of the kids I see running around in our neighborhood playing the game don’t look like they’re at the age where they’re paying their own cell bill,” he says. “Parents need to be watching their data plans real carefully to make sure they’re not going to get some whopping bill.” The app is free to download but players might be tempted to click on some of the extras, which aren’t free.

“It does include in-app purchases,” Hegarty says. “If there’s a card attached to your account, you could be racking up some big charges without knowing it.” The game uses A-R, or “augmented reality,” where you switch on your phone’s camera, look at your screen and see virtual creatures which you’re trying to “catch” superimposed over the real world view.

(Radio Iowa)

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office says 32-year old Eddie Ray Mack, Jr., of Audubon, turned himself-in to the Sheriff’s Office, today (Thursday). Mack, Jr., was wanted on a warrant for Criminal Mischief in the 3rd degree, stemming from an incident that took place July 11th, in Hamlin. He was seen by a Magistrate, and then released from custody.

Neighborhoods and partners throughout Red Oak and Montgomery County are invited to join over 39-million people in over 16-thousand communities from all 50 State, U-S Territories, Canada, and Military Bases world-wide, in celebrating National Night Out. The August 2nd event is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch, A-D-T, Nextdoor, Associa, and co-sponsored by the Red Oak Police and Fire Departments, Montgomery County Emergency Management, and Montgomery County Crime Stoppers. It takes place from 6-until 8-p.m. August 2nd, at Fountain Square, in Red Oak.

National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes public safety-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie, to make communities safer, better places to live and work. The evening of August 2nd, residents are asked to lock their doors, turn on their porch and/or yard lights, and spend the evening at Fountain Square, in Red Oak.

The event features free hot dogs, chips and other goodies, along with kids’ games and prizes, and a kid’s Treasure Hunt. LifeNet Helicopter is scheduled to land in downtown Red Oak that night, the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital will have a mobile clinic, and BNSF (Burlington-Northern/Santa Fe) Railroad Police will be there, along with a Public Safety exhibit.

A dunk tank will feature some “local celebrity” targets. Numerous law enforcement, fire, EMS, 1st Responders and court officers that serve Red Oak and Montgomery County, will be on-hand as well. There’s also a meet-and-greet and photo opportunities with local public safety personnel and their vehicles.

The emerald ash borer (EAB), a destructive and invasive insect of ash trees has been discovered in Missouri Valley. Iowa’s growing number of counties with confirmed detections has now reached thirty-five. Native to Asia, EAB has spread to 27 states since first being identified in Michigan back in 2002. This exotic pest is responsible for the death of tens of millions of ash trees.

The Missouri Valley discovery was the result of an area certified arborist contacting the Iowa EAB Team after visiting some city owned ash trees that a resident had concerns about. After further investigation, an insect specimen was collected by members of the Iowa EAB Team and submitted to the USDA Systematic Entomology Laboratory which officially confirmed it as EAB.

“This find marks the westernmost site that we have found EAB in Iowa to date,” said Mike Kintner, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship EAB and gypsy moth coordinator. “Six new counties have been detected with EAB in Iowa this year.”

The adult beetle is metallic green and only about one-half inch long and slender making it difficult to recognize in the landscape. The larvae stage of this wood-boring insect tunnel under the bark of ash trees, disrupting the flow of water and nutrients, ultimately causing the tree to die. EAB infested ash trees include canopy dieback beginning at the top of the tree and progressing downwards, S-shaped feeding galleries under dead or splitting bark, D-shaped exit holes, water sprouts (along the trunk and main branches), and increased woodpecker activity to the bark.

The Iowa EAB Team urges Iowans to use locally sourced firewood, burning it in the same county where it was purchased. Firewood is a vehicle for the movement EAB and other tree-killing pests.

At this calendar date, the treatment window for soil-applied preventive treatment measures (soil injection, soil drench, or granular application) and basal bark sprays has ended. Trunk injections can be done now through the end of August, provided there is good ground moisture. Landowners interested in protecting a valuable and healthy ash tree within 15 miles of a known infestation, should have landscape or tree service companies bid on work and schedule a treatment.

The State of Iowa will continue to track the movement of EAB on a county-by-county basis. Before a county can be officially recognized as infested, EAB must be collected by a member of the Iowa EAB Team and verified by USDA entomologists.

To learn more about EAB and other pests that are threatening Iowa’s tree population, please visit www.IowaTreePests.com.

Police in Glenwood arrested a man on an assault charge Monday. Officials report 43-year old Dwayne Rollins, of Glenwood, was arrested for Assault Causing Bodily Injury. His cash-only bond at the Mills County Jail, was set at $15,000. And, early this (Thursday) morning, Glenwood Police arrested 26-year old Alan Baburek, of Omaha, for OWI/3rd offense. Baburek was being held in the Mills County Jail on $5,000 bond.

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

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The Iowa Department of Corrections reports one inmate at a work release facility has been apprehended, but another has been reported missing. Dept. spokesman Fred Scaletta said 29-year old Michael Cowden, who was listed as escaped from the state work release facility in Des Moines, Wednesday, has been captured and was being held in the Clarke County Jail.

Robert Lee Garrett

Another man remains on the lam, though. 46-year old Robert Lee Garrett, was listed as escaped, Wednesday, after he failed to return to the Ft. Des Moines Work Release Facility (WRF). Garrett is a black male, 6-feet one-inches tall, and weighs about 197 pounds. He has a left ear piercing and scars on his right calf and left wrist.

Garrett was serving a sentence for conviction on numerous charges, including 1st degree robbery, 1st degree theft, child endangerment and assault on a peace officer, causing injury. He began serving his sentence in June, 1990 and was transferred to Work Release on Feb. 26th, following a decision by the Iowa Board of Parole.

Anyone with information on Garrett’s location should call the Des Moines Police Department or Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

The area’s top news at 7:07-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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The Atlantic School Board, Wednesday, approved the language for a proposed Special Election ballot pertaining to a Voter-approved Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (V-PPEL) and combined Income Surtax. The election will be held Sept. 13^th, 2016. Information sessions are planned for district patrons, to further explain how the combined regular PPEL and Income Surtax will reduce the tax amount property owners pay on their assessed valuations, yet still maintain the 85-cent per thousand dollars the district receives from taxes.

Business Manager/Board Secretary Mary Beth Fast explained the Income Surtax cannot exceed 20-percent, but that it’s unlikely that it will never be that high.

Superintendent Mike Amstein says state law allows the district to use a combined property tax and income surtax for the PPEL, but the district hasn’t done that since 2012. Only property tax assessments are currently used to support the PPEL.Board Vice President Kristy Pellet reminded the Board and informed the public, that because there is a limit of 85-cents, “Even with that combination of Income Surtax and Property Tax, we can’t generate more than 85-cents per thousand (dollars of assessed valuation.)”

Mary Beth Fast said if the Income Surtax had been in-place for the current school year, it would have cut the property tax rate about 60-cents. Kristy Pellet said the combined PPEL and Income Tax Surtax would essentially make it fairer, because more people would contribute to the PPEL, not just property owners.

Fast told the Board the amount of the Income Surtax would be determined each year in March, when the District’s budget is being formulated.