Much of the country will see severe thunderstorms today and parts could even see a storm called a derecho (Dur-ray-shoh). But National Weather Service meteorologist, Frank Boksa, says don’t expect to see it here. “It would not be in Iowa, or if it was, it would probably initiate in very far eastern Iowa, but it would be more in the Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana area,” Boksa says. Iowa saw a derecho back in July of 2011 that did a lot of damage to homes, trees and power lines.

A derecho is basically a very widespread, long-lived line of thunderstorms. And they are very fast moving and they produce extreme damaging wind. By they I mean 65-70-75-miles-an-hour or more,” according to Boksa. Iowa won’t see anything like that, but will see some heavy thunderstorms. “Thunderstorms will develop kind of over northeastern and far eastern Iowa and then push off into Illinois and Indiana this afternoon,” Boksa says. “We should see some strong storms out of this, but it should be fairly short lived. We should pretty much be done with it in central Iowa by seven p-m and in eastern Iowa certainly by 10.” The weather is expected to continue a pattern of a few dry days followed by thunderstorms and rain through the next week. Boksa says that’s pretty much the norm.

“This is the time of year for thunderstorms. We do get a fair amount of rain and thunderstorms in May and June, so it’s not atypical by any stretch,” he says, “in fact I think the peak of severe weather in June is about the 15th.” The rains are not quite as welcome this June after a record wet spring that’s kept farmers out of the fields and led to flooding in many parts of the state.

(Radio Iowa)

The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday), approved increasing the fee for new or renewed licenses for concealed weapons permits. Sheriff Darby McLaren requested the $10 increase to help cover the cost of a laminating machine that will create a photo ID/permit, which will replace the current, paper permit for concealed weapon licenses. McLaren said he based the increase on what other area counties are charging for a similar service, and the service was based on demand. He said a lot of people have requested the laminated permits since the state law was changed to allow those types of permits to be issued in that form. 

McLaren said the new permits can also be used as a second form of identification, when it’s required. The Cass County Emergency Management Agency will use the machine to create IDs for firefighters at no charge. Part of the cost for the lamination machine will be absorbed by the EMA, the other part will be paid for by the increased license fee.

Currently concealed license fees run $50 and the license is good for 5-years. With the increase, anyone renewing or wishing to receive a permit for such weapons, will have to pay $60. And, if your current permit is in need of replacement due to age or damage, you can get a laminated version for the $10 fee, as well.

In other business, the Board of Supervisors approved the full-time appointment ofCathy Downy, of Atlantic, to the Veteran’s Affairs Commission, effective July 1^st. Her term will expire in three-years. Downy was serving in an interim capacity on the Commission, since Jerry Putnam resigned from the post in March, 2012.

A fire overnight about five-miles west of Atlantic completely destroyed a home and its contents, but no one was injured. Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees said no one knew it had happened until after sunrise. McNees said Dave Freund, who is a neighbor of Wayne Preister,who was renting the home, both notified the fire department the house had burned. When crews arrived there was nothing left to do but put out some hot spots.

Smoldering remains of the home on Indian Creek St., near Atlantic. (Cass Co. EMA/photo)

McNees said his department, along with the Cass County Emergency Management Agency conducted an investigation and notified the State Fire Marshal’s office. The cause of the blaze will be listed as undetermined, because there is so little evidence to go on.  He said it could have been caused by lightening or was the result of an electrical problem, but that’s not official. No one was home at the time. 

The call about the fire came at 56575 Indian Creek Street in at around 7:30-.am. No injuries were reported.

A Harlan woman was cited for striking an unattended vehicle, recently. The Harlan Police Department reports a 1998 Chevrolet driven by Kristen Hoffman, of Harlan, was traveling south on 9th Street on May 30th, when she noticed a truck owned by David Archibald, of Harlan. Hoffman however, failed to notice a trailer behind the truck, and struck the trailer, forcing it forward, where it collided with the truck. A wrecker had to be called-in to lift Hoffman’s car off the trailer.

Damage from the incident amounted to $7,500.

The Harlan Police Department reports an Avoca man faces drug charges following a traffic stop June 5th (last Wednesday). 44-year old Stephen Andrew Weber was charged with Possession of drug paraphernalia. Another person, 50-year old Christina Lynn Hansen, of Harlan, was arrested during the same traffic stop, on a charge of driving while barred.

The H-PD says also, they took a report last Thursday (June 6th), of a purse being taken from a car parked on Country Club Parkway. The incident remains under investigation. Officials say they have received many reports of that type of theft, and they remind people to take the keys from your vehicle and lock its doors, when it is not in use.

A Walnut High School and Iowa State University graduate has been named City Administrator for the City of Clinton, in eastern Iowa. According to radio station KROS, Jessica Kinser, who has served as the Interim City Administrator for the past five-months, was officially given the job during a meeting Tuesday night of the Clinton City Council. Prior to serving as the Interim Administrator, Jessica was hired as the city’s Finance Director. 

Kinser served as the City Manager in Griswold from Feb. 2010 through October, 2011, before accepting the Finance Director’s job in Clinton. She was also a Financial Analyst for Ottawa County, Michigan and served as a Program Assistant at ISU.  Kinser graduated from ISU with a Masters in Public Administration in 2007. She also has Bachelor of Science Degrees in Political Science and English.

In a statement released to the media, Kinser said “I am honored and humbled to be selected as the City Administrator for the City of Clinton, and would like to thank the Mayor and City Council for the opportunity to serve.  I have worked for the City for a year and a half, and I have seen how quickly things change and opportunities arise, and I am excited for the known and unknown that lies ahead.” 

The latest area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson…

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One of NASA’s best-known astronauts from the moon mission era was in Omaha/Council Bluffs last (Tuesday) night. Jim Lovell was commander of the doomed Apollo 13 flight, which had an oxygen tank explode two days into a trip to the moon, crippling the spacecraft far from home and threatening the lives of the three-man crew. “The odds were against us in the beginning because we didn’t know really what was wrong or what was happening,” Lovell says. “Consequently, we were concerned until we tried to figure out what the story was. There wasn’t an immediate explosion that violated the integrity of the spacecraft so we still had some time to think about it.”

Engineers on the ground were able to instruct the astronauts in how to bring the badly-damaged ship home. The dramatic mission in April of 1970 was the subject of the 1995 film, “Apollo 13,” which starred Tom Hanks as Lovell. The events depicted in the Oscar-winning movie were very accurate, Lovell says, and he was an advisor for the film. Lovell remains a huge supporter of the space program and hopes the U-S will once again be a world leader in space exploration. 

“I think it was one of the greatest inspirations for improving technology in this country and the STEM (science, technology, education, math) education of our young people,” Lovell says. “We won’t be a leader but I have to tell you, there will be other leaders, either Russia or China or even India.”

Lovell was in Omaha to speak at an event sponsored by the Immanuel Foundation. His talk was called, “Apollo 13; A Successful Failure.” At age 85, Lovell still pilots his own airplane but his wife made him promise to get a co-pilot this year — or sell the plane.

(Radio Iowa)

Authorities in Montgomery County arrested a Pottawattamie County man Tuesday evening, after he was caught speeding 120-miles per hour in a 55-mph zone. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, 25-year Skyler Lee Baker, of Council Bluffs, also faces OWI/1st offense, and open container charges, in addition to being cited for having no proof of insurance. Baker was taken into custody following a traffic stop at the intersection of E Avenue and Highway 34, west of Red Oak.

The Montgomery County K-9 unit and Red Oak Police assisted during the incident.

The Iowa Utilities Board begins hosting eight public meetings Thursday on the proposed electric rate increase requested by MidAmerican Energy. I-U-B spokesman, Rob Hillesland, says the first meeting is in Iowa City at the public library. “MidAmerican filed a petition to increase its permanent base rates to generate approximately 135-point-six million dollars additional revenue annually. And they are proposing that that be phased in over three years, and so the board has 10 months — or until March 17th of 2014 I believe — to make a decision that permanent rate proposal,” Hilllesland says. The process allows MidAmerican to start collection a temporary rate pending the approval of the board.

“Temporary rates are approved and then if the final rate decision is a lower amount, customers could be refunded temporary rates plus interest,” Hillesland says. He says the board has three months to make a decision on approving the temporary rate — which would be August 15th of this year. The request for the permanent rate increase is NOT connected to MidAmerican’s decision to refund money to customers that was not used in its study of the feasibility of building a new nuclear power plant. Hillesland says it is also not related to MidAmerican’s announcement that it will lower rates as the company builds new wind power turbines. The upcoming meetings are for comment on this proposed rate increase.

“And customers are also welcome to talk generally about the quality of service that they feel the utility provides to them, or to other customers, or to their business or whatever,” Hillesland says. If you can’t make one of the public meetings, you can provide written comments.You can e-mail comments to customer@iub.iowa.gov or you can leave comments on the I-U-B’s website comment form at:www.iub.iowa.gov. Or you can send regular mail with comments to : Iowa Utilities Board,, Docket No. R-P-U-2013-0004, 1375 E. Court Avenue, Room 69, Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0069. All of the public meetings begin at 5:30.

Here are the schedules for some of the other meetings:
Council Bluffs: Monday, June 24, 2013, Council Bluffs Public Library, Room B, 400 Willow Avenue.
Sioux City: Tuesday, June 25, 2013, Briar Cliff University, Stark Student Center, Clare Room, 3303 Rebecca Street.

(Radio Iowa)