SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Animal control workers have removed a total of about 50 cats and carcasses from a house in Sioux City.  Cindy Rarrat, of Sioux City Animal Adoption & Rescue Center, says conditions inside the house Monday were unbearable and unfit for humans or animals.  Law officers executed a search warrant around 4:30 p.m. Monday, and workers started removing the animals. No one was home.  Neighbors say no one has lived in the home for a couple of months.  The hungry, thirsty cats were taken to the rescue center.

A technology change coming early Wednesday morning by cable TV service provider Mediacom means viewers in the KJAN listening area may experience blank channels, but no loss in programming. Officials with Mediacom say their customers in a 10-county area of western and southwest Iowa will see channel location changes as a result of a digital upgrade. The upgrade affects Mediacom customers living in the following 15 communities located in western and southwest Iowa:  Atlantic, Audubon, Avoca, Bedford, Carroll, Glidden, Clarinda, Corning, Denison, Essex, Glenwood, Harlan, Red Oak, Shenandoah, Villisca. The changes will affect consumers using a direct cable connection to a digital television, and will require those viewers to re-scan their televisions using the remote control.

The company says there is no impact or re-scanning needed for televisions connected to either a Mediacom set-top box or one of the digital adapters widely distributed in recent weeks as part of the company’s digital conversion.  Throughout the upgrade, much of the attention has been directed to consumers using older, non-digital televisions and the use of digital adapters to provide reception for channels 23 and higher.

Mediacom Group Vice President Steve Purcell says their key message is for the majority of consumers who have digital-ready televisions.  Purcell says “If they don’t use Mediacom equipment – if their cable connection goes directly into the TV – those viewers will need to use their remotes to re-scan the TV for an updated channel set on October 3rd.” Purcell says “We don’t alter channel locations often, but we’re doing it now as part of a bandwidth conversion that includes adding 40 new high-definition channels on October 4th.”

Purcell emphasized that the changes in channel alignment are effectively “behind the scenes” for televisions connected to set-top boxes or digital adapters.  Without that equipment, channel locations displayed on digital-ready televisions will be altered and a blank screen will display on the old location.  Completion of the auto-scan function will ensure that all channels will display in their new locations.

The changes in Mediacom’s network will be made after midnight and prior to 6:00 am on Wednesday, October 3rd.  An expanded high-definition lineup will arrive the following day, October 4th. The main message the company wants to pass along to its consumers, is that you are NOT losing any channels. You will simply need to RE-SCAN or re-run the auto-tune feature for their TVs.  They will need to do this on Wednesday, Oct. 3rd, any time after 6:00 am.  If they don’t do this simple exercise, you will see blank channels.

Newer televisions manufactured since 2007 come with built-in digital tuners to receive digital signals.  Digital televisions do not need Mediacom’s adapter, just a cable connection to the TV. Digital adapters are available from Mediacom.  This is a rent-free lease for up to three adapters, effective through December 2013.  The equipment lease fee thereafter will be $0.99 per adapter.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Department reports one person was taken into custody Monday night, following a disturbance at 202 Church Street, in Audubon. 65-year old James Steven Nellor, of Audubon, was arrested on a charge of Public Intoxication. Officials say Nellor was brought to the Audubon County Jail, appeared before the magistrate and pled guilty to the charge, before being released. Sheriff’s deputies were arrested at the scene of the arrest, by officers with the Audubon Police Department.

The state task force examining the time kids spend in the classroom wants to require a new minimum number of classroom hours each school year, instead of the traditional 180 days. Superintendent Leonard Griffith with the Paton-Churdan School District, says schools would be required to offer one-thousand-and-eighty classroom hours each year regardless of the weather. “The snow days where you only got a couple hours in, that used to count as a school day even though we know that here wasn’t more than a couple hours, and now there will be, so that’s good. And it allows a lot of flexibility,” Griffith.

Districts that had added days to the end of the school year in the past to make up the days lost to snow or heat could adjust their schedules to get in the require school hours. “It leaves it up to the local district to direct their day to how they need. It even opens the window if you do have those weeks of heavy snow, you might go to four longer days the next week,” Griffith says.

The panel cites research suggesting student achievement increases when classroom time is extended. The change is one of several recommendations the panel will make to lawmakers to extend school time to boost student achievement. There are nine task forces that are making recommendations as part of the effort to reform the state education system.

(Radio Iowa)

In an update to a story we first posted on KJAN.com early this (Tuesday) morning, and broadcast on our news reports, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office says deputies and emergency crews responded just after 3:30-a.m., to a report of a two-vehicle accident on westbound I-80 east of mile marker 61. Officials say a 2007 Ford Edge driven by 33-year old Michael Paul Miller, of Glendale, AZ, was westbound on I-80 when it collided with the rear of a 2011 International semi driven by 41-year old Abdikarim Hamud,  of St. Paul, MN. Following the collision, the SUV slid into the median.

Miller and three passengers were transported to Cass County Memorial Hospital by Anita Rescue and Medivac Rescue with various injuries. Hamud was not injured. Damage to Miller’s vehicle is estimated at $10,000, while damage to the semi was estimated at $1000.

After Miller was checked at the hospital, he was arrested on charges of OWI 1^st Offense, Carrying a Concealed Weapon, and two counts of Child Endangerment Causing Bodily Injury. Miller was also cited for Failure to Maintain Control. In addition he received  citations for Failure to Secure a Child, Driving While Suspended, and having No Insurance. Miller remains at the Cass County Jail awaiting hearing before the magistrate. His bond was set at $5000.

A pickup traveling through a field in Shelby County Monday afternoon, started a grass and field fire that consumed the truck. Harlan Fire Chief Roger Bissen told KJAN News the incident, which took place about three-miles west of the Harlan Municipal Airport, was reported at around 3:30-p.m.

Bissen said the truck, registered to Boeck Construction, out of Manilla, was on the scene while terrace work was underway, when it became stuck in a grassy ditch. Bissen says the truck started the grass on fire, before the flames spread to a partially combined corn field. He says they were able to get the fire contained before it spread to any standing corn.

Bissen said the pickup truck was totaled destroyed by the fire. The loss was estimated at $10,000 to $12,000. Firefighters from Harlan and Shelby were on the scene near 630th and Ironwood Road for about two-hours. No injuries were reported.

Bissen reports also, fire fighters from Harlan were called out early this (Tuesday) morning, with regard to a fire alarm at the Elm Crest Retirement Community. Crews were cancelled en route, because it turned out to be just a faulty smoke detector in the kitchen of the nursing home.

Sheriff’s officials in Fremont County say foul play is not suspected in connection with the death of a Shenandoah man, whose body was found in a ditch Monday. Authorities received a report about a person lying in a ditch in the 39-hundred block of 180th Street. When deputies arrived, they found the body of 58-year old Ronald Gene Nelson, of rural Shenandoah. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death. Deputies were assisted at the scene, by Shenandoah Rescue, and the Fremont County Coroner’s Office.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today (Tuesday), announced that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will be awarding $244,000 in grants to Iowa organizations to help enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops grown in Iowa. Among the recipients is: The Southern Iowa RC&D in Creston – which received $23,928 to gather economic and social impact data in rural southwest Iowa to support specialty crop production; and, the Golden Hills RC&D in Oakland –  which received $24,000 to support creating, marketing and promoting the Iowa Loess Hill AVA Wine Trail.

The IA Dept. of Ag and Land Stewardship received $271,296.81 through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service to support the program. Iowa agricultural non-profit organizations, cooperatives, specialty crop industry associations or organizations, and producer groups were eligible to apply for funding to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops.

“Specialty Crops”  eligible under the program are fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits and horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.  The funds not passed through to Iowa organizations will be used by the Department to administer the grant. The maximum grant award from the Department to sub-grantees is $24,000 and administrative and indirect costs are not allowed. The Department received 29 proposals requesting assistance and the 11 chosen were selected by an independent review committee of nine industry stakeholders.

Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey said “Specialty crops are a very important part of Iowa agriculture as they allow farmers to diversify and give customers access to locally grown products. ” Northey says “These federal funds will support a variety of efforts that will make these Iowa grown crops more available and encourage Iowans to choose fruits, vegetables, nuts and flowers that are produced right here in our state.”

w/ Ric Hanson

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The Cass County Republican Party has announced the opening of the county Republican headquarters, located at 319 Chestnut St. in downtown Atlantic (formerly the U.S. Army Recruiting Office).  The headquarters will be open beginning on Wednesday, October 3rd.  Its hours of operation will be from noon to 4:30 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays, and from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays through Election Day.

Yard signs for the candidates will be available for pick-up at the headquarters, in addition to other materials that detail information about the candidates.  A grand opening event is pending.  Contact Party Chairman David Wiederstein at 712-249-8417 for inquiries about the headquarters and for other volunteer opportunities.  The County Party extends a special thanks to the former party chairman, Jim Field, for his assistance in securing the location of the headquarters.