With Ric Hanson.

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Two people were arrested over the weekend, in Creston. According to the police department, 48-year old Joel Alan Weeks, of Creston, was arrested Sunday afternoon for Driving While Barred. He was later released on $2,000 bond. And early Friday morning, 38-year old Sara Nicole Exline, of Afton, was arrested in Creston on a Union County warrant for Burglary in the 2nd degree. She was later released on $5,000 bond.

And the Creston P-D says a resident on north Walnut Street reported that sometime between Jan. 26th and 30th, someone entered his vehicle while it was parked at 401 N. Walnut. Taken from the vehicle was a black, Mossberg 500 12-gauge shotgun and a camouflage gun case. The loss was estimated at $320.

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa – Family caregivers and their supporters from across Iowa will converge on the state Capitol today (Monday), releasing a new voter survey about the experiences around family caregiving. The group will urge lawmakers to make sure those who are taking care of family members are better prepared to do so.

Anthony Carroll, advocacy director with AARP Iowa, says there are a number of unexpected challenges facing people who end up in caregiving roles that need to be addressed, such as having to perform medical duties. “Things like handling injections, IVs, managing medications, and doing wound care,” Carroll says. “What we’re looking at is makings sure people are equipped to do those sometimes complicated and often challenging medical and nursing tasks.”

One proposal in the Legislature, known as the CARE Act, requires hospitals to provide instruction on medical tasks the family caregiver may need to perform at home. Proponents of the bill say it would also help reduce hospital re-admissions. In addition, the Act would have hospitals record the name of a family caregiver when a loved one is admitted and keep that person informed of major decisions, including if the patient will be transferred or discharged. Carroll says that engagement is vital, as two-thirds of Iowa’s long-term, home and community-based care is being provided by family members, many of whom are also working.

“Unpaid loved ones. Mostly children, sometimes spouses,” says Carroll. “Mostly women, but some men, who volunteer to spend time out of the love and kindness of their heart to assist loved ones.”

Statewide, AARP says there are more than a half-million family caregivers and that number is expected to rise as the population continues to age.

(Iowa News Service)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A new report says a monthly economic survey index for nine Midwestern and Plains rose slightly in January. The survey report issued Monday says the overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index climbed to 54.8 last month from 54.4 in December.  Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, says growth for companies outside of energy and agriculture will more than offset expected declines in those sectors.

The survey results from supply managers are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests economic growth, while a score below that suggests decline.

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

The Iowa Department of Transportation reports Highway 6 between Council Bluffs and the Highway 48 turn-off to Griswold, remains closed early this (Monday) morning. The DOT closed the 48-mile stretch of road when blowing and drifting snow caused whiteout conditions and resulted in some vehicles becoming stuck on the pavement, in snow drifts.

The road will remain closed until crews can clear the drifts and remove vehicles currently stuck.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A group of athletes from Dakota Wesleyan University is challenging all the other male athletes in the Great Plains Athletic Conference to take a public stand against domestic violence. The Sioux City Journal reports the pledge idea began with a small group of students and a social justice class Luke Bamberg took.

Bamberg and four classmates decided to ask Dakota Wesleyan athletes to take the pledge. But the idea took off once Great Plains Athletic Conference Commissioner Corey Westra heard about it. So now the group is challenging the more than 2,500 male athletes at the conference’s 11 universities in South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa.

Bamberg acknowledges that signing a pledge may not make a huge difference, but he says it’s better than doing nothing.

Enrollment in Iowa’s public schools continued to increase this school year according to figures from the Iowa Department of Education. “For the fourth year in a row we’ve see the total number of students in Iowa public schools increase in the 14-15 school year. “It’s nice to see a continued climb after about 17 years of a decrease in student enrollment rates,” according to Jay Pennington, chief of the Department’s Bureau of Information and Analysis. School enrollment was up four-tenths of one percent to 480-thousand-772 students in grades K through 12.

Pennington says an analysis of census data and kindergarten enrollments indicate the upward trend in enrollment won’t continue. “I think we are going to see a slight decline, similar to what we’ve seen in the birth totals,” Pennington says. “But it’s not going to be a significant drop, unlike the 17-year decline, where we saw thousands of students leaving Iowa schools.” The increase in enrollment follows the slow, steady trend in population increases. Pennington says the overall population increase is showing in Iowa schools, as is the diversity of the student population. “This past year we saw the most minority students every in Iowa public schools So we are going to see about the same number of students in public schools, but a continuing change in the diversity,” he says.

Schools in suburban areas continue to show the most gains. “If we look at a five-year trend as an example, and we look at different size categories in which we classify schools, you can see smaller school districts overall — the likelihood that they are going to decline — is higher and the larger districts, the likelihood that they are going to see in creases is much greater.” The five schools with the largest increase in enrollment in the last five years were: Waukee (31%), Bondurant-Farrar (27%), Dallas Center-Grimes (21%), Ankeny (20%) and Seymour (18%). Four of the five are suburban Des Moines districts. Pennington says the continued declining enrollment in rural districts means more will look at consolidating.

“With the beginning of the 2014-15 school year, we saw eight consolidations compared to the year before. Beginning with the 15-16 school year, we are going to have two additional,” Pennington says. “But certainly with the those declining enrollments in those smaller districts, the way for them to stay financially viable — as well as provide adequate course offerings to their students — they need to consolidate.”

The districts that saw the biggest declines in enrollment this school year were: Ventura, which lost 33 percent; Walnut, which lost 25 percent; Corwith-Welsey, which lost 25 percent; West Harrison, which lost 20 percent and Northeast Hamilton, which lost 19 percent. The 2014-15 enrollment summary by school district is available online at the Education Department’s website.

(Radio Iowa)

Patrons of the Nodaway Valley School District will gather tomorrow (Tuesday) to vote during a school bond special election. The $8.8-million bond, if approved, would help to build a proposed, new elementary building.The current building is nearly 60-years old. Officials say it would cost $6.5-million to renovate the existing facility, which is not currently energy efficient, is difficult to maintain, and not ADA compliant.

Nodaway Valley Superintendent Casey Berlau has stated that the proposed, new structure would likely be  located north of the current elementary in the current parking lot. It would include a safe room/storm shelter. Parking would be moved closer to the high school building and parking would also exist south of the new elementary. If the bond issue passes, the board will make a final decision as to the location of the building and input from the public will be considered.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — More than 6 inches of snow fell across much of eastern Nebraska and Iowa Sunday. Des Moines observers reported 10 inches of snow there yesterday morning.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The winter storm has forced airlines to cancel some flights in Nebraska and Iowa, but the airports are operating normally despite the snow. The main problem area Sunday for airports in Omaha, Lincoln and Des Moines was flights headed to and from Chicago. Most of the cancellations involved one of Chicago’s two major airports O’Hare and Midway. Des Moines International Airport spokesman Andrew Wall says a few flights were cancelled Sunday, but those were mostly the ones that go back and forth to Chicago all day.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As Iowa’s modified Medicaid expansion hits the one-year anniversary mark, some enrollees will be asked to pay small monthly premiums because they haven’t completed a physical exam and health questionnaire. For Governor Terry Branstad, those health requirements were key provisions for expanding Medicaid in Iowa using funding from President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The only time of year Kevin Moreland eats meat is when he serves as a judge at the Des Moines bacon festival’s food competition. The Des Moines Register reports Moreland again served as a judge at the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival on Saturday. Moreland has only been a vegetarian since 2010, and he did it to help him meet his fitness goals.