LE GRAND, Iowa (AP) — Law enforcement officials say they found nine rifles and shotguns in a storage unit rented by a man accused of threatening reporters. The Des Moines Register reports that officials found the guns, as well as ammunition and drug paraphernalia, Thursday night in storage units rented by 27-year-old Chad Bryant, of Le Grand.

News crew members of Des Moines television station KCCI called police Thursday, saying Bryant poured water over a cameraman’s head and brandished what looked like a rifle outside of a Le Grand home.

Reporters were at the home following Bryant’s arrest Wednesday on a false imprisonment charge and various other crimes in connection with a claim that a 16-year-old boy was being held against his will at the residence.

Police are still searching for Bryant.

With KJAN News Director, Ric Hanson

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Several hundreds of  riders on horseback from across the state are saddling up for the journey to Camp Sunnyside near Ankeny this Easter weekend. For 47 years, the riders have traveled to the Easter Seals facility, bringing with them money from dances, toll roads and other fundraising activities. Tim Allen of Whittemore is the president-elect of the Pony Express Riders of Iowa.

“We start in different towns and we all end up at the John Deere plant in Ankeny,” Allen says. “We relay it, mile for mile, on horseback along the side of the road with pilot cars and escorts.” More than 280-thousand dollars was raised last year by the Pony Express Riders to help with the camp that has been in operation for 80 years. After the ride to the camp, Allen says there’s a celebratory dance.

“It’s just a big thank you to all of the volunteers,” he says, “because everything that the Pony Express Riders do, everybody that’s part of that is a volunteer. There’s no kickback. Their time, their fuel, everything is volunteered.” Allen expects between 200 to 300 people will be riding their horses as part of the event this weekend. The ride has been held every year since 1968. Allen has some advice for motorists this holiday weekend.

“If you see a horse out on the highway, respect it,” Allen says. “There are going to be a lot of horses throughout the whole state. They’re going to try to be as safe as they can be but they’ll also appreciate it” if motorists use extra caution. Learn more at: www.ponyexpressridersofiowa.org.

(Radio Iowa)

Two people from Pottawattamie County were arrested early this (Saturday) morning on drug charges, in Montgomery County. The Sheriff’s Office says 18-year old Kacie Christina Karbowski and 19-year old Adam Cleary Poff, both of Council Bluffs, were taken into custody at around 1:45-a.m., following a traffic stop near Highway34 and Ironwood Avenue. Karbowski was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond. Poff was wanted on two Pott. County warrants for Probation violation and a Controlled Substance violation. His bond was set at $11,000.

Authorities say the pair were traveling in a 2000 Ford Explorer that was pulled over for a traffic violation. During an investigation, the Montgomery County K9 unit was deployed to conduct a free-air sniff around the SUV. K9 “Rex” alerted to the odor of narcotics coming from the vehicle. A subsequent search of the SUV resulted in the confiscation of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. The Sheriff’s Dept. was assisted at the scene by officers with the Red Oak Police Dept.

The Sheriff’s Office reports also, that at around 2:50-p.m. Friday, 31-year old Matthew Wayne Echternach, of Pipecreek, TX, turned himself into the sheriff’s office on a bench warrant for Violation of Probation. Echternach was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 bond.

Iowans should be able to get a good view of a total lunar eclipse early this (Saturday) morning. Linda Burkhart is director of the Sanford Museum and Planetarium in Cherokee. She says the attraction is commonly referred to as a blood moon. “A lunar eclipse is caused by the shadow of the earth going across the moon. The sunlight will still come through that shadow and will reflect the light, so only the red-orange colored light rays will get through the atmosphere, so it’ll make the moon appear a reddish color,” Burkhart says.

This morning’s lunar eclipse should begin around 5:15 a.m., with the total eclipse lasting for just five minutes at around 7 a.m.

(Radio Iowa)

The annual Prairie Chicken Festival is underway today (Saturday) in central Iowa at the Kellerton Grasslands Bird Conservation area near Des Moines. The festival begins before dawn and puts the mating behavior of the prairie chicken on display. Pat Schlarbaum, a wildlife diversity technician with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says patrons can expect quite a show.

“They’re stamping their feet, they’re spinning, they’re leaping, basically doing everything they can to get the female’s attention,” he says. The second part of the free festival moves to Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, where the Yankton Nation of Greenwood, South Dakota — a Native American group — will present its version of the Prairie Chicken Dance. Schlarbaum says prairie chickens were once all but gone from Iowa’s prairies but they’ve been brought back.

“We have been actively relocating prairie chickens from Kansas to Iowa because they were extirpated or they were lost to the Iowa landscape back in the 1950s.” Schlarbaum says he and his team work to protect populations of animals, like prairie chickens, which he calls a “keystone species” of the grasslands.

(Radio Iowa)

AREA COUNTIES:CRAWFORD–MONONA-HARRISON-SHELBY-POTTAWATTAMIE-MILLS & SAC; 321 AM CDT SAT APR 4 2015

DANGEROUS FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS TODAY! TEMPERATURES WILL RISE INTO THE UPPER 60S TO LOWER 70S THIS AFTERNOON WHILE RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES FALL TO AROUND 15 TO 20 PERCENT. COMBINED WITH GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS AND DRY FUELS, EXTREME FIRE DANGER IS EXPECTED TODAY FROM LATE MORNING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON HOURS.

A RED FLAG WARNING WILL BE IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY UNTIL 8 PM, FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST IOWA.

* AFFECTED AREA…ALL OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND MUCH OF SOUTHWEST IOWA.

* WINDS…SOUTHWEST 15 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH. * RELATIVE HUMIDITY…AS LOW AS 16 PERCENT.

* IMPACTS…CONDITIONS THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR EXTREME FIRE BEHAVIOR…WITH A HIGH POTENTIAL FOR OUT OF CONTROL BURNS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS… A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW…OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS…LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY…AND WARM TEMPERATURES CAN CONTRIBUTE TO EXTREME FIRE BEHAVIOR.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says his age won’t slow him down as he runs for a 7th term. The 81-year-old said yesterday that age “isn’t a factor or I wouldn’t be running.” The six-term Republican held the first fundraiser for his 2016 campaign earlier this week and is nearly halfway through his annual tour of all 99 Iowa counties.

LE GRAND, Iowa (AP) — Police say they’re searching for a man accused of threatening reporters with what appeared to be a gun and assaulting a photojournalist. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that its news crew called law enforcement Thursday after 27-year-old Chad Bryant poured water over a cameraman’s head and brandished something that looked like a rifle outside of a Le Grand home. Bryant and several others then left the area, prompting the search.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A 43-year-old Council Bluffs man accused of kidnapping connected to the abuse of his developmentally disabled son has been sentenced to prison. The Daily Nonpareil reports that James Beyer pleaded guilty on Thursday to neglect of a dependent person. He was sentenced to 10 years, but a prosecutor says Beyer’s plea agreement includes a provision that the court review the sentence in a year.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines woman has been convicted on several counts of bilking federal and state welfare programs out of thousands of dollars. A federal jury on Thursday found 48-year-old Julia Nguyen guilty of 22 felony counts.

Officials with the Iowa West Foundation say local artist Charley Friedman used community input to help create signage for Council Bluffs’ biggest park. The “I” in the new Big Lake Park signage is officially dotted. The majority of the new signage was installed last month, but just recently a fish that serves as a nod to nature as well as the “I” in “Big” completed the look.

One of Council Bluffs’ largest parks, Big Lake Park stretches 200 acres around a bend in the Missouri and rests in the shadows of the Loess Hills. It contains four lakes, one large one to the north and three smaller ones to the south. The south side also includes two playgrounds, a large covered picnic shelter, a fishing dock, a baseball diamond, a soccer field and jogging/biking trails. The lakes are stocked with trout, bluegill, bass and catfish.

Big Lake Park is just one of the local parks receiving new signage as part of the Iowa West Foundation’s “Art in the Park” Initiative.” Funded in 2014, the $200,000 initiative allows for the replacement of weathered park identifications signs in six community parks. All signs were designed by local artists, as a way for them to showcase their work to the region.

Pete Tulipana, President and CEO of the Iowa West Foundation, said “The park signs were also designed using input from the community. They contributed concepts and ideas at public meetings that the artists took to heart and it reflects in the Big Lake signage.”

Charley Friedman, of Lincoln, Neb., is the artist who fabricated the sculpture with naturally rusting COR-TEN steel and cast aluminum animals. Friedman said “Art and nature are two sides of the same coin in that both inspire creativity and imagination. Signage can be droll, but the signs that I’ve seen by the other artists give a specificity and individuality to each park.” Friedman said also, “I wanted the Big Lake sign to have a Jellystone Park/Yogi Bear kind of esthetic.”

Of the other five parks, Roberts Park (1000 N. 25th St.) and Kirn Park(100 ½ 5th Ave) signs were completed in July and August, respectively. Larry Foster, Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Council Bluffs, said he expects Cochran Park (100 S. 21st St.) and Westwood Park (1200 S 35th St.) signs to be complete in April.

The last park sign to be completed will be Sternhill Park (1031 N. 8th St.). “Art in the Park” is coordinated by the Council Bluffs Parks, Recreation and Public Property Department, with assistance from the City Public Art Commission, and overseen by art curator Joel Damon.

Officials with the Shelby County Public Health Department say they recently received multiple reports of a gastroenteritis illness (GI) in the community. It is not known yet what germ is causing the symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea. Testing is underway. The illness has affected all ages, from infants to the elderly.

Health officials say ,any GI illnesses spread from person to person when people fail to wash their hands after going to the bathroom. It is also spread when people prepare food while ill with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea. Shelby County Public Health Nurse Rachel Birks says “Anyone with diarrhea or vomiting should not be handling any food items, regardless of how well they wash their hands. That rule is important no matter if you’re cooking for 2 or 200, whether it’s a regular family meal or dining out.”

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) encourages consumers to take an active role in preventing the spread of infection by following safe food-handling and preparation tips. Always wash your hands with soap and water before preparing food and after using the restroom. Assume that raw chicken and other meat carry bacteria that can cause illness, and do not allow these foods to cross-contaminate surfaces and other foods. Cook chicken and other meats to the right temperatures. It is always best to cook seafood thoroughly. Chill leftovers promptly and reheat foods thoroughly.

For more information on avoiding illnesses from food, visit www.foodsafety.gov.
For more information, call Shelby County Public Health at 712-755-4422 or contact your medical provider.