(Radio Iowa) The governor’s plan to provide five-thousand dollar state scholarships to cover private school or home schooling expenses is being debated in the Iowa Senate this week. The plan would also stop administrators in five school districts with voluntary diversity plans from denying open enrollment transfers out of those districts. Logan Shine is one of Governor Kim Reynolds’ policy advisors. “We’re empowering parents with the ability to choose what’s best for their children,” Shine says.

Trish Wilger is executive director of Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education. “This is about giving parents the ability to choose what they feel works best for their child,” she says, “…putting parents in the driver’s seat, giving parent options.” The new state scholarships would be available for students living in the 34 Iowa public school districts with the lowest student test scores and high school graduation rates. Chuck Hurley of The Family Leader says the proposal is targeted at schools that aren’t doing well.

“What we really need to do with education policy, in our opinion, is be first and foremost concerned with the students’ outcomes,” Hurley says. “We should fund children and not particular systems and any public school that’s concerned about this bill, that doing a good job with the children should not have anything to fear.” Opponents far outnumbered supporters during an online public hearing this (Monday) morning. Betty Andrews, the president of the Iowa-Nebraska N-Double-A-C-P, says the governor’s plan will hurt public schools.

“This bill will potentially finance a cycle that could lead to segregation of Iowa schools,” she said, “…allowing wealthier families to flee public schools for less diverse charter or private schools and reducing funds for poor and minority students.” Jesse Howard, a member of the New London School Board, is a southeast Iowa district director for the Iowa Association of School Boards. He calls the scholarships “vouchers.”

“Vouchers represent a rural to urban shift of resources,” he says. “The survival of rural schools depends on adequate state funding…As one parent told me this weekend, this bill is going to create the wild west of public education and be the death of what we look at for quality public education.” Anderson Sainci (SAN-see), a member of the Dubuque Community School Board, says shifting state dollars to private schools will have a negative impact on poor, middle class and racial minorities.

“I hope our legislators will truly live by our goals and missions to do what’s best for all Iowans, not some,” he said. A Senate committee will start debating this plan late this (Monday) afternoon. The expectation is the full Senate will vote on it as soon as Thursday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A major winter storm is threatening to blanket parts of the middle of the country with more than a foot of snow, promising to disrupt travel and even closing some coronavirus testing sites. The snow that began in some parts of the Midwest Monday morning was forecast to stretch from central Kansas northeast to Chicago and southern Michigan throughout the day. Some of the heaviest snow was expected in southeast Nebraska and western Iowa.

Officials are urging drivers to stay off the roads. Several coronavirus testing sites in Nebraska and Iowa closed early on Monday because of the storm. Elsewhere, a major highway in California was closed as a storm moving across the Southwest dumped snow in the Tejon Pass between Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports three arrests took place last week. Friday night, 31-year old Vincent Edward Long, of Stuart, was arrested on Adair County felony warrants for Child Endangerment with serious injury, and assault with injury. Long was released the following day on a $5,000 cash or surety bond. Also arrested Friday night, was 30-year old Andrew Virgil Martin, of Fontanelle. He was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense, following a traffic stop that occurred after an Adair County Deputy saw Martin’s vehicle cross the fog line on the shoulder of the road. After the deputy turned around and attempted to catch up with the suspect vehicle, he clocked its speed at 66 in a 55 zone. Further investigation determined Martin was over the legal alcohol limit to drive, at .112%. Martin was cited and later released with a summons to appear in court.

And, at around 2:11-a.m. Thursday, 35-year old John Lyle Vanscoy, of Afton, was arrested on Union County warrants for a Controlled Substance Violation (a Class-B Felony), driving while barred, and eluding. He was held in the Adair County Jail until released to Union County Deputies.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says a resident of the County has reported an attempted “Grandparent scam.”  That’s when someone calls and pretends to the potential victims’ grandchild, who is supposedly in legal trouble, or injured, and needs money immediately. Another scam asks for money to be sent so the scammer can come to America and live with the victim. And, the Sheriff’s Office reports a scam against an elderly person from a person, a stranger to the victim,  who claims she is from another part of Iowa and needs money sent to her to escape an abusive relationship and move back here to live with the elderly person.

Never give those individuals access to your funds or identification information without confirming the validity of their claims. Make sure an elderly family member is aware of these types of scams.  If in doubt about the validity of such calls, check with the grandchild’s parents, and/or the Cass County Sheriff’s Office. They can contact the agency responsible for detaining the person (if it is real), and verify the charges or situation is accurate.

For more information on grandparent/elderly scams, go to: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/grandparent.html

A West Central Valley Community School District bus sustained minor damage, but no students were injured during a collision at around 4:05-p.m., Friday. The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reports a 2012 Thomas School Bus with 15 students on-board, driven by 52-year old Christine Damstrom, of Dexter, was traveling north in the 3300 block of Wagon Road, just outside the northern city limits of Stuart, and stopped to make a legal discharge of a student at a driveway. The stop lights were activated, and stop sign arm engaged in the extended position. Once the student cleared the bus, the vehicle proceeded to the next stop a short distance away,

A 1994 Ford Ranger pickup was behind the bus. The driver, 24-year old Ryan Gross, of Linden, saw the first student being dropped off, and stopped. When he failed to see the bus stopped for the next student, the pickup struck the rear of the bus, causing a total of $4,000 damage. Gross told authorities he didn’t see the bus brake lights due to sun glare. He also admitted he was traveling too close behind the bus to see the flashing stop lights illuminated.

Gross was cited for Following too close.

Atlantic School District Superintendent Steve Barber, Monday, said they received great news last week, that all individuals working with the district’s children will be eligible for vaccinations in the 1b Phase rollout, which begins on February 1, 2021.  “In Atlantic schools,” Barber said, “we are fortunate to have four health service providers who were eligible in the 1a rollout phase and some employees who are also volunteer firefighters and paramedics that have had the chance at being one of the first groups to get vaccinated.”

Mr. Barber added, “Obviously, this will add to our already effective mitigation  efforts and get us one step closer to the new normal. Throughout the holiday break we keep our weekly COVID numbers.  Our number of positive cases are down along with the number we require to quarantine.  The last few days our County has seen lower positivity rates and I hope that continues as we continue to fight COVID in our community.”

The following are the numbers from the past month:

Barber concluded by saysing “It is my hope that we continue to see small numbers affecting staff and students and that they all experience a fast recovery!”

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests over the past few days. Late Sunday night, 28-year old Ryan D. Edward Todd, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Pott. County Jail on two valid warrants. Todd was brought-in to the facility by several bondsmen. He booked-into the jail on warrants for Possession of a controlled substance/marijuana-1st offense, and Violation of Probation. Bond was set at $1,000. That same night, 22-year old Elijah Emmanuel Bennett was arrested near Crescent, for Driving While Barred/Habitual Offender.

Sunday evening, 43-year old Kaylynn Lynn Hirsh, of Omaha, was arrested for Theft in the 1st Degree/Possession of Stolen Property. Her bond was set at $10,000. Hirsh was taken into custody after deputies were advised a stolen vehicle was traveling east on I-680 from 34th Street, in Council Bluffs. The vehicle was located on I-29. And, Friday evening, 63-year old James W. Creason was arrested near Carson following a single vehicle, property damage accident in the vicinity of Highway 92 and 350th Street.  Creason was charged with OWI/1st offense.

(Radio Iowa) – Experts say the approaching snowstorm has the potential to be the worst to hit Iowa in nearly a decade and forecasters say we need to prepare for very heavy snowfall. Meteorologist Rod Donavon, at the National Weather Service, says a Winter Storm Warning is posted for the southern two-thirds of the state today (Monday) and into tomorrow morning, adding, the snow may fall at the rate of two inches per hour. “Expect conditions to quickly deteriorate. Overall snowfall amounts are forecast anywhere from eight to 13 inches across a large portion of central and southern Iowa,” Donavon says. “It will taper off towards the Highway 20 corridor where we could have anywhere from four to seven inches, and much lighter amounts to the north of that.”

Iowa’s most populous city could get the worst of the snowfall, as the forecast for Des Moines calls for up to nine inches of snow this afternoon and up to seven more inches tonight. That’s the potential for 16 inches of snow. “We’re right in line where that heavier snow band will be developing across the I-80 corridor,” Donavon says. “We’re expecting more, lighter amounts to continue into Tuesday which will add on to those totals.” Iowans who have to drive are advised to consult the Iowa D-O-T’s Traveler Information website, 5-1-1-i-a-dot-org, before heading out, and be flexible as you may need to stay in since snow plows might not be able to keep up with this heavy snow.

“Travel is going to be quite difficult to near-impossible at times as we have those heavier snowfall rates,” Donavon says. “In addition, we are expecting a fair amount of blowing and drifting snow as we have northeast winds, increase to 15 to 25 miles an hour, gusting over 30 at times.” He says the looming storm could easily be the worst yet this winter — and the worst in several winters. “Certainly, it’s one of the biggest snowfalls, especially this widespread, too, across this large portion of the area,” Donavon says. “Certainly, for this season, certainly, for the past several years. Really, for this widespread of a heavy snowfall, you’d need to go back to 2012.”

The forecast is being updated frequently as the storm approaches.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Officers with the Creston Police Department arrested four individuals over the weekend. Sunday night, 26-year old Matt Hamm, of Creston, was arrested on a simple misdemeanor charge of Domestic Assault and Interference with Official Acts. Hamm was being held in the Union County Jail while awaiting a bond hearing. At around 2:30-a.m. Sunday, 29-year old James Hamill, of Lubbock, TX, was arrested in Creston for Reckless Driving. Hamill was cited and released from the Union County Law Enforcement Center on a Summons to Appear.

Saturday evening, 19-year old Jessie Martin, of Creston, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Paraphernalia. She was later released from the Union County Jail on a $1300 bond. And, at around 2:40-a.m. Saturday, Cedric Sanders, of Rockford, IL, was arrested in Creston on a simple misdemeanor charge of Domestic Assault. He was later released from the Union County Jail on a $300 bond.