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KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
Shelby County Auditor and Election Commissioner Mark Maxwell announced that absentee ballot requests for the September 13th Harlan Community Schools Bond Measure are available starting today (July 5, 2022). There are a number of ways to obtain a request form. You may call 712-755-3831, Ext. 6., only one request per person per call is allowed. You can also obtain a request in the Auditor’s office which is open from 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. weekdays. You may also email mmaxwell@shco.org to receive a request form that may be printed at home. Producing copies of a blank absentee ballot request from is allowed.
Absentee voting will be available in person at the Auditor’s office beginning on August 29th and will run through September 12th. Absentee ballots will not be sent out after August 29th. Completed absentee ballots must be received in the Auditor’s office by 8:00 p.m. on September 13, 2022.
Auditor Maxwell suggests that voters that intend on voting absentee by mail to get their voted ballots to the Auditor’s office as soon as possible after receiving a ballot in the mail. If you have changed residence since the last time you voted, get your new address updated now to make your voting process more efficient on election day.
The Creston Police Department released details on four different arrests or citations.
On July 1st Creston Police arrested 24-year-old Taylor Duane Giles of Creston at 8:30 p.m. at Elm and Montgomery Streets. Giles was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Giles was later released on promise to appear.
Also on July 1st Creston Police cited and released 21-year-old Miranda Fargo for an Animal at Large.
On July 3rd at 12:09 p.m. Officers arrested 36-year-old Jackie Lee Marler of Creston at 1103 W Adair Street. Marler was charged with a Union County Warrant for Violation of a No Contact Order. He was later released on his own recognizance.
On July 4th at 10:50 p.m. Officers arrested 58-year-old Ricky Lee Kimball of Creston at 405 S. Sumner Street in Creston. Kimball was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, cited and released from the scene.
Cass County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections, Sara Harris, has announced that the filing period for candidates for Nonparty political organization (NPPO) and Non-Affiliated persons for the upcoming General Election, held on November 8, 2022, has changed.
Anyone interested in running as an NPPO or Non-Affiliated candidate in the General Election may pick up Nomination Papers and Affidavits of Candidacy in the Auditor’s Office, located at 5 W 7th Street, in Atlantic, from 8:00 a.m. till 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday or at https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/electioninfo/general/index.html
The first day for Non-Party candidates and Township Trustees to file for the General Election is Monday, August 8th, with a filing deadline of 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 31st. As a reminder, the last day to file for Soil & Water Commissioners and Ag-Extension is also 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 31st. If you have already filed papers to be on the General Election ballot, you do not need to refile.
County positions open are: Board Of Supervisors District 2 and District 3, County Treasurer, Recorder, Attorney, Auditor, Township Trustees, Soil & Water Commissioners (2), Hospital Board of Trustees (4) and Ag-Extension (5) candidates.
For more information and for the number of signatures required for each office, please contact the Auditor’s office at 712-243-4570.
The Red Oak Police Department has released details on two recent arrests.
On Monday evening at 8:25 p.m. Officers arrested 47-year-old Ian Joseph Haas of Red Oak following a traffic stop at the intersection of N 8th Street and Ratliff Road. Haas was arrested for Driving while License Revoked by the State of Iowa. Haas was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.
On Saturday, July 2nd Red Oak Police arrested 21-year-old Bailey Ann Poe at 6:25 p.m. for Domestic Abuse Assault- 1st Offense. Poe was booked in to the Montgomery County Jail and held on no bond.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council is set to meet 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, in their chambers at City Hall. Under their Consent Agenda, the Council is expected to approve street closure permits for: the Christian Motorcyclist Association’s “Chariots of Faith #301 Bike Night.” The event is planned for the second Thursday of each month, through October, beginning July 14th, in conjunction with Produce in the Park, on the east side of the downtown City Park. They propose naming the event “Thunder N2 (into) Atlantic,” and closing Chestnut from 7th Street to 6th Street during the hours of 4:30-to 6:30-p.m. (The same hours as Produce in the Park).
The Council will also act on approving a request for a street closure in advance of the Nishna Valley Family YMCA’s Food Truck Battle & Community Appreciation event, which takes place on September 10th, from 10-a.m. until 6-p.m., on 6th Street.
In other business, the Atlantic City Council will act on passing a Resolution approving the transfer of funds for the 4th Quarter of Fiscal Year 2021-22, that allows for two new, capital project funds that were not outlined in the FY2022 or FY 2023 budget: the Splash Pad Project Fund and Inclusive Playground Project Fund. City Administrator John Lund says he created the two new funds to allow for the reasonable transfer of resources to capital project funds from the General Fund, without resulting in a noticeable dip in that collective fund balance.
The Council will also act on a resolution clarifying which meetings Council members will be paid to attend. Lund’s recommendation is for the City Council to move to a salaried system, as is done for the Mayor and City Department Heads, State Legislators, members of Congress, and the President. They will also act on approving the third and final reading of an Ordinance adopting the proposed amendments to the City’s Zoning Code, 2018. It is with regard to signage for a local church in a residential zone.
The Planning & Zoning Commission has recommended permitting “Two identification signs, per each street frontage, not to exceed 24-square feet in surface area, displaying information of churches, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, clubs, offices, libraries, similar uses, or conditional uses. Such signs may be illuminated.”
And, in his report to the Council, City Administrator John Lund will discuss matters pertaining to the Community Protection Committee, a Liability Insurance Increase, changes to LOST (Local Option Sales Tax) payments, and Council Work Session(s).
(Radio Iowa) – Large areas of Iowa remain abnormally dry or in moderate-to-severe drought, and Estherville Fire Chief Richard Beaver is urging Iowans to use extreme caution when it comes tonight’s (Monday) fireworks shows in backyards and driveways. “It’s still dangerous,” Beaver says. “The best thing I can say is if you’re going to light them, be very, very, very careful. Have a water hose handy and watch what’s going on.” For Iowans who intend to shoot off some bottle rockets and anything bigger, Beaver’s advice is to do so in an open area where you can see where they land.
“If you can’t see where they’re coming down at, they can land in the grass and lay there and smoke for a long time and then all of a sudden, you’ve got a fire after you’ve went to bed,” Beaver says. July 4th isn’t just the busiest day of the year in Iowa for fireworks, it’s also the busiest day of the year for fires. About 40-percent of Independence Day structure fires are the result of fireworks, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Fire prevention specialist Nick Hutchinson says safety concerns continue -after- the fireworks are used.
“Be cautious of disposal of them,” Hutchinson says. “That’s probably our biggest issue, putting hot fireworks into a garbage can and then the garbage can catches fire, which catches the garage on fire, the house on fire, that kind of thing.” Sparklers are considered to be safer than things that shoot off and go boom, but Hutchinson says sparklers can be dangerous, too, because they get very hot and stay that way long after the sparkle goes away.
“A lot of times, we just tell people just make a pile, cool them off with some water,” he says, “and then after they’ve cooled off for a while, then you can throw them throw them in the trash can and be okay.” According to the National Fire Protection Association, sparklers account for more than 25-percent of emergency room visits for fireworks injuries, as they can quickly ignite clothing and cause severe burns.
(Radio Iowa) – Well over half of the purchases for food, beverages and other items at last year’s Iowa State Fair were done electronically — and Gary Slater, the General Manager and C-E-O of the fair, says expects that to increase for this year’s event. “It was last year that we went to a system for every vendor to have a cash register to at least took credit cards,” Slater says. “because not every vendor took credit cards up until last year and so you have the option of paying cash or credit card or debit card.”
In 2014, there was significant push-back when the Iowa State Fair announced a cashless system for buying food during that year’s Iowa State Fair and the plan was abandoned eight years ago. Various surveys indicate at least 80 percent of Americans make cashless purchases today. And, according to Pew Research, a third of people under the age of 50 make no purchases with cash in a typical week. Slater says the pandemic accelerated that trend.
“We’re doing so much more online,” Slater says. “We’re buying our groceries online. All that’s with credit cards now.” People who’ve purchased tickets for shows during the 2022 Iowa State Fair have the option to show a Q-R code from their smart phone at the Grandstand entrance. The State Fair starts August 11th. COUNTY fair season is well underway. Tom Barnes is executive secretary of the Mighty Howard County Fair, which was held in June. He’s also executive director of the Association of Iowa Fairs.
“We’re seeing especially with the younger generations that we draw want some sort of credit card payment,” Barnes says. “The problem that we have with our county fairs is the infrastructure isn’t in place in many areas.” That lack of high-speed WiFi prevents vendors at many county fairs from processing electronic transactions. According to Pew Research, a third of people under the age of 50 make no purchases with cash in a typical week.
“But you look at the demographics that the county fairs pull…you’ve got grandma and grandpa in their 80s and their great grandkids in their teens and that’s quite a wide range of what these people expect and how they’re going to pay for their goods,” Barnes says. “Cash is still king at the county fairs.” Barnes and Slater made their comments during a recent appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S.
(Radio Iowa) – People from western Iowa and eastern Nebraska are being recruited to take part in what’s being described as a comprehensive post-COVID study. David Warren, co-principal investigator and a neurological sciences professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, explains the purpose of the research. “There’s not a good sense of how prevalent or what long-term side effects there are with long COVID or post-COVID syndrome,” Warren says. “The intent here is to try to figure it out.”
The national study is being launched through a 450-million dollar, four-year grant from the National Institutes of Health. It will study up to 20-thousand adults and children to better understand the full scope of post-COVID symptoms. “It’s important that we understand what post-COVID looks like,” Warren says. “Doing so will help us understand the future of American health care since most Americans now have had COVID, more than half of American adults and still more children have had COVID, so understanding post-COVID will help us understand how to treat people better in the future.”
The study is part of a consortium led by West Virginia University and is called RECOVER, for Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery.“We’re recruiting people who’ve had COVID, people who know they’ve had COVID, people who think they might have had COVID,” Warren says. “We’re also recruiting people who haven’t had COVID or at least don’t think they’ve had COVID.” Dr. Andrew Vasey, the other co-principal investigator and an infectious disease physician at U-N-M-C, says the duration of so-called long COVID varies greatly from person to person.
“A lot of people will get better with time so whether it’s three months, six months, nine months, it’s hard to say, you can’t really tell that,” Vasey says. “We’re seeing people that got infected in early 2020 that are still having issues, so some people have not gotten better yet.” Participants may make two to four visits a year to Omaha and involvement could include anything from being asked for information about their health, symptoms, physical activity and sleep. Some may be eligible to receive medical tests.
For more information, send email to: recover.study@unmc.edu.
(Radio Iowa/KJAN) – State Climatologist Justin Glisan says the month of June ended up being a little on the warm side. “The statewide average temperature, we were about 71point-seven degrees, and that’s nearly two degrees above average,” Glisan says. He says it took about half of June before the heat really took over. “We started the month off actually near normal to slightly cooler than average and then we get into the middle of the month and the atmospheric furnace turned on,” Glisan says. “And we had a stretch of days in the 80s and 90s with dew points up in the 70s and 80s. So triple-digit heat indices, So very warm as we ended the month.”
June went against the norm in many areas of the state when it comes to precipitation.” June is the wettest month climatologically for the northern two-thirds of the state. And we were about an inch and a half below average, the statewide average was about three and three-quarters of an inch,” according to Glisan. “So that’s pretty dry when you’re considering it’s the wettest month and hence we saw drought expansion, D-one D-two, and even the introduction of D-3 drought in the northwestern corner, and then some abnormally dry conditions creeping into the southwest and in eastern Iowa.” July is off to a warm start and Glisan says that’s the signal right now.
“We do have high probabilities of warmer temperatures for the month and then for the first half of the month if you look at those short-term outlooks six to 10, and eight to 14-day outlook,” Glisan says. “Now coupled with that, on the precipitation side though, we are seeing an elevated signal for wetter conditions. So that’s a good signal to see when you do see the probability of warmer temperatures.” He says wetter conditions could help with some of the expansion of the drought conditions we saw in June.
Weather data compiled at the KJAN Studios for the month of June, show we were a little warmer than normal temperature-wise, but below normal for rainfall, despite two days when we received over 1.5-inches of rain. The average High last month was 85 (two-degrees above normal). The average Low was 61 (also two-degrees above normal). Rainfall amounted to 3.9 inches, as compared to the normal 4.98-inches. We had two significant, separate hail events, on the 7th and 14th.
The hottest June day was on the 13, when we reached 100 degrees. Looking at the norms for July, the High averages 86, the Low 63, and rainfall typically totals just under 5-inches (4.62″).
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State Patrol spokesman, Sergeant Alex Dinkla, says slowing down is one of the biggest things you can to do ensure your safety as you wrap up your Independence Day celebrations and head home. “We are seeing a lot of people still at what we call those egregious speeds, people traveling at over 100 miles an hour. And some of the speeds are just out of this world that we are seeing out on our roadways,” Dinkla says. He says they’ve clocked drivers at speeds on public roadways which should only be found on a race track.
“We’re not just talking about 100 101 miles an hour, we’re talking about 120 130 140 miles an hour we’re seeing out here on our roadways, the dangers of that and being killed in a crash or increased significantly. So we cannot stress enough to please obey that speed limit as you’re driving anywhere around our state of Iowa,” according to Dinkla. He says it’s not uncommon for someone to be celebrating the holiday and they end up impaired by alcohol and drugs.
“If you choose to use some of those alcohol or different items, we want you to go find that sober driver, we want you to make sure that you are safe not only for yourself, but others that are on our roadways,” he says. There will be extra troopers and county and local officers out on the roadway today (Monday) as part of a special holiday enforcement.