The 7:06-a.m. report w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Farm income is falling for many growers in Iowa and across the region as credit conditions weaken. Nathan Kauffman, the Omaha branch executive with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, says lower crop prices and high input costs have cut profit margins and raised concerns about the ability of farmers to repay loans down the road. “In the last several years, profits have been so good in agriculture that a lot of people have been making pretty good money,” Kauffman says. “Now, a lot of bankers and other lenders are looking at where the risks are, wanting to understand what level of working capital do their borrowers have, is it sufficient to get them through these times?”

Recent years have brought many producers across the Midwest severe droughts and flooding while commodity prices rebounded only slightly after dramatic drops, while facing higher costs for seed, fertilizer and chemicals. It’s left many farmers short on cash. “Operating loans have picked up because of lower incomes,” Kauffman says. “There has been a need for more financing of some of those short-term expenditures and I think we’re seeing more lenders that just want to be cautious and recognizing things are still pretty good overall and they have been very good, but being cautious about what that means for the next year or so.”

Kauffman says cropland values edged down in the first quarter this year while pastureland values held firm. “The land that’s very high quality still does seem to be selling quite well,” Kauffman says. “The land that is maybe not quite as good, we do see some variation there. There are stories of no sales at auctions, we see other weaknesses in that side of the land market but overall, there has been a bit of downward pressure because of the lower incomes.”

Profit margins in the livestock industry have remained stable, but he says most bankers don’t think farm income or credit conditions will improve in the next three months.

(Radio Iowa)

Opponents of Governor Branstad’s push to close the two state-run Mental Health Institutes in southern Iowa delivered 25-hundred petitions signatures to the governor’s office Thursday morning. Matt Sinovic is executive director of Progress Iowa, the group that organized the online petition drive. “This happened over the last week or so, so it’s been a very quick turn-around for these signers and we expect more to sign,” Sinovic told reporters. “But we saw Governor Branstad was signing this proclamation today and thought this would be an appropriate time to make these voices heard.”

Branstad held a brief midday ceremony to sign a “Mental Health Month” proclamation. “Frankly, the governor signing this proclamation is laughable,” Sinovic says. “He’s putting these policies in place that hurts Iowans and now he’s taking a curtain call, pretending to be in favor of quality mental health care. I mean, it’s ridiculous.” Sinovic says there is currently no plan in place to care for the acutely ill Iowans who depend upon the state-run Mental Health Institutes for care they cannot get elsewhere at privately-run facilities.

Branstad says his critics just want to “protect the status quo.” “What we’re doing in Iowa is really long overdue,” Branstad says. “Many other states have done it before.” Branstad’s state budget plan released in January did not include any operating funds to keep the Mental Health Institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant open past June 30th.

Legislators are still wrangling over budget details, but it’s unlikely Branstad will accept any plan that keeps the two facilities open indefinitely.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Red Oak report a man from Pottawattamie County was arrested Thursday on a Red Oak P-D warrant for Burglary, stemming from an incident that took place in Sept., 2013. 22-year old Timothy Gene Humphrey, of Council Bluffs, at a residential correctional facility in Council Bluffs. Humphrey was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $5,000 cash bond.

A traffic stop Thursday evening in Villisca, resulted in the driver of the vehicle being arrested for Driving While Revoked. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department reports 39-year old Jason William McCollum, of Villisca, was pulled over at around 7:30-p.m. and following an investigation, was taken into custody. McCollum was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office says an investigation into tires slashed Wednesday afternoon on a vehicle at the Southwest Valley High School in Corning, has resulted in an arrest. 18-year old Jaden Deanna Lynn Baker, of Villisca, was taken into custody at around 8:20-p.m. Thursday, and charged with Criminal Mischief in the 3rd degree. Baker was arrested after security camera video showed her allegedly punching holes in all four tires of a vehicle. Her bond was set at $1,000.

Mills County officials are putting together a campaign to educate the public on the avian flu as the county prepares to bury chickens affected by the disease. The remains of chickens killed by the flu will be buried in a landfill outside Malvern. The County said in a news release “Any risk to humans from this influenza is very low. No human infections have been detected, and there are no food safety risks for the consumer.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The police chief of Nebraska’s largest city says an Omaha police officer killed in the line of duty was shot just above the top of her protective vest. Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer gave more details Thursday of the shooting that killed 29-year-old Officer Kerrie Orozco on Wednesday. The chief said Orozco, a native of Walnut (IA) and another officer, had responded to a call for backup from officers who came under fire from the heavily-armed suspect.

Schmaderer says 26-year-old Marcus Wheeler fired on police who tried to arrest him Wednesday afternoon. Orozco and another officer soon arrived and chased after Wheeler, who turned and fired on them, too. Orozco was hit, and died at a local hospital. Wheeler was also shot and killed. Schmaderer says Orozco did not fire her gun.

Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert has ordered flags in city to be lowered to half-staff in honor of Officer Kerrie Orozco. Stothert says flags should remain at half-staff until dusk Monday on Memorial Day. Stothert said Thursday the move is a sign of respect for Orozco and her service to the city. The city also plans to turn lights at the Heartland of America Fountain and on the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge blue beginning Thursday night through Memorial Day.

Officer Orozco will be laid to rest Tuesday. Visitation will be held Monday at St. John’s Catholic Church at Creighton University, in Omaha. Omaha police officers and close friends will be invited from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friends and the public will be invited from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The vigil will follow at 7 p.m.

The funeral will be held at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday at St. John’s Church. Additional seating will be provide at the CenturyLink Center with a large-screen video feed. Burial will be at St. Joseph Cemetery in Council Bluffs.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — There will be no chickens or ducks at the Iowa State Fair this summer and no poultry shows at county fairs in Iowa this year as the bird flu continues to infect birds. Iowa Department of Agriculture officials on Thursday prohibited all live bird exhibitions at fairs and live bird sales at livestock auctions and swap meets. The order lasts through the end of the year.

Iowa has more than 25 million birds and more than 60 farms infected with the H5N2 virus. Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey says the scale of the current outbreak is unprecedented and it’s important to take every step possible to limit the spread of the disease.

Other states to take similar steps include Minnesota, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.