Iowans who don’t have travel plans over the next few weeks are in the minority. Triple-A is predicting record travel, both in Iowa and nationwide, for the upcoming Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Gail Weinholzer, at Triple-A-Iowa, says more than 107-million Americans will be traveling at least 50 miles from home between December 23rd and January 1st. “There’s going to be a lot of people traveling and there’s been a lot people traveling all year,” Weinholzer says. “We’ve seen year-over-year increases for every major holiday this year, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and now Christmas/New Year’s. Clearly, Americans are traveling in robust numbers and we expect that to continue into 2018.”

This will be the highest year-end travel volume on record and 2017 marks the ninth consecutive year of rising year-end travel. Iowa’s interstates and highways will be busy, so Weinholzer says to plan accordingly. “Actually, we are seeing increases across the board, personal automobiles, planes, trains, buses, everything,” Weinholzer says. “We’re seeing a significant increase and overall, the increase is 3.1% over last year.”

Winter officially arrives next Thursday, the 21st, but Iowa’s already had a few minor bouts with wintry weather in recent weeks. Still, Weinholzer says most Iowans don’t let a little ice or snow get in the way of their vacation plans. “When it comes to something like the Christmas/New Year’s holiday, weather does tend to have a little bit of an impact as far as causing people to leave perhaps a day earlier or a day later, but it rarely cancels travel plans,” Weinholzer says. “People are pretty committed to visiting family and friends.”

Higher gasoline prices won’t keep people home either. The average price for a gallon of gas in Iowa is two-42, about three cents below the national average and 23-cents higher than a year ago. Iowa City has the state’s most expensive gas at $2.47 a gallon while Council Bluffs is the cheapest at $2.36.

(Radio Iowa)

A man from Polk County died in a rollover crash early this (Friday) morning, in Dallas County. The Iowa State Patrol reports the accident took place east of Redfield on Highway 6 near G Avenue at around  2:15-a.m. Officials say a 2014 Lexus LS 250 driven by 26-year old Ali Saquib, of West Des Moines, was traveling eastbound on Highway 6, when the car failed to negotiate a turn. The vehicle left the road and rolled several times, ejecting Saquib, who died at the scene. The man was not wearing a seat belt. The accident remains under investigation. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the accident scene.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources say beginning today (Friday), you can purchase your Iowa 2018 hunting and fishing licenses! Find a nearby Iowa license vendor, or get your license on the DNR’s online sales site.  A hunting or fishing license also makes a great gift for the holidays. You’ll just need the recipient’s social security number AND birthdate. Or you can call the DNR customer service desk at (515) 725-8200 for assistance looking up a person’s license information to make the purchase.

Here’s a list of popular licenses from which to choose:

Angler’s Special 3-Year License: $53.00 — save $4.00 compared to the price of three annual licenses
Hunter’s Special 3-Year License: $86.00 – save $10.00, and includes hunting with habitat fee
Outdoor Combo: $47.00 — annual hunting, fishing and habitat fee included
Annual Resident Fishing License: $19.00
Annual Resident Hunting License: $19.00 plus $13.00 habitat fee required
Visit the DNR’s license page for a complete list of licenses available. We hope you enjoy Iowa’s outdoors in 2018!

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Police in Creston, today (Friday), arrested 26-year old Dale Lee Anson, II, of Creston. Anson was pulled over and taken into custody for Driving While Revoked. He was later released on a $1,000 bond.

Iowans are being warned about a new high-tech scheme that may catch you off-guard while surfing the ‘net. Jim Hegarty, president of the Better Business Bureau in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says it’s a sophisticated scam. Hegarty says, “You could be sitting at your computer and all of the sudden, the computer starts talking to you, telling you: ‘This is Microsoft tech support. We’re shutting your computer down because we’ve detected a virus. Call this 800 number to resolve the problem.’ And it’s just a computer voice.”

Rest assured, he says, there’s nothing wrong with your computer but crooks are trying to dupe you into giving up your personal information. Also, he says don’t bother calling that toll-free number or you’ll hear more tall tales. “They claim to be with a subsidiary of Microsoft, they want to help solve the problem,” Hegarty says. “It’s going to be $199 to get everything cleaned up or you can buy their virus protection. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of individuals have given these people their credit card.”

Coincidentally, he says about 90-percent of the people who fall for the scam don’t even realize they’ve been victimized. “What they’ve done is given their credit card information to some bad actors, likely in India, and they’ve also allowed these individuals into their system where they can operate with malware, low and slow,” Hegarty says. “If you allowed them in to fix it, shut down your computer and take it to a reliable tech support company.” Have the pros clean up the problem correctly, he says, or any private information on your computer could be at risk.

(Radio Iowa)

CHEROKEE, Iowa (AP) — A northwestern Iowa man has agreed to serve a 10-year prison sentence in pleading guilty to causing a fatal crash last year. The Sioux City Journal reports that 23-year-old Casey Herron, of Quimby, Iowa, pleaded guilty Tuesday to vehicular homicide and operating while intoxicated shortly after his trial in Cherokee County District Court began. As part of the deal, Herron agreed to a 10-year prison term when he’s sentenced on Feb. 2.

Prosecutors say Herron was drunk when he crashed a pickup truck July 30, 2016, in rural Cherokee County, killing one of his passengers, 21-year-old Vitali Zhylka. Herron and two others in the truck were injured.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids has hired a new president. Television station KCRG reports that 59-year-old Lori Sundberg, the current president of Carl Sandburg College in Illinois, announced Thursday morning that she had been hired by the Iowa college. Sundberg will continue to serve as the Illinois college’s president through June 30. She’ll take over at Kirkwood Community College on Aug. 1. The Kirkwood board approved Sundberg’s hiring Thursday night.

A report of an individual acting strangely in the Adams County Courthouse, Thursday afternoon, resulted in the arrest of Rodolfo Morales, Jr., for Public Intoxication. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office says once Morales was in the Jail, he was found to be in possession of prescription drugs that were concealed on him. He was subsequently charged with three counts of Unlawful Possession of a Prescription Drug and Possession of Contraband. His cash only bond was set at $8,300.