The Iowa Aviation Museum/Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame, in Greenfield, has announced Dr. Burns M. Byram and Philip Larry Turner are the 2020 inductees into the Hall of Fame. Biographies are included below. Nominations to the Hall of Fame are made by the public and selection is made by independent judges. Neither the Board nor employees of the Iowa Aviation Museum make nominations or selections.

Burns Maxwell Byram II was born June 1, 1924, near Chariton. After graduation from Toledo High School in 1942, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and participated in 30 missions over France and Germany during WWII as a B-24 navigator/bombardier. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Iowa in 1951. He and his family moved to Marengo where he began medical practice and was instrumental in establishing the hospital. He was named Family Physician of the Year in Iowa in 1961. After obtaining his private pilot’s license in 1954, he attained multiple ratings and acquired several aircraft including a P-51 Mustang, Tangerine.

Dr. Byram became a FAA Airman Medical Examiner and was a member of numerous aviation and professional organizations. He became known in Iowa as the “flying physician.” On June 4, 1978, Dr. Byram was killed, when a P-51 he was ferrying for a friend from Guatemala to the United States, crashed in Mexico. After funeral services at Marengo, his ashes were brought to Spring Hill Cemetery in Lucas County. His tombstone bears the image of a P-51 Mustang.

Philip Larry Turner was born in 1938 at Red Oak and grew up on a farm near Elliott. After graduation from Stennett High School, he attended Iowa State University and University of Nebraska, Omaha. After graduation, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps. He soloed in a T-34 on April 24, 1963 and began rotor wing training, ending with a helicopter solo in a Bell TH-13M on March 5, 1964. He was also trained to fly the Sikorsky UH-34D helicopter that he would eventually fly in Vietnam. He earned his Wings of Gold on April 28, 1964, and was deployed to Vietnam in August 1965.

First Lieutenant Turner flew Sikorsky UH-34D helicopters with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron Three Six Two, “The Ugly Angels,” until December 1966. He was shot down 8 times and awarded 29 Air Medals and a Purple Heart. In July 1967, he retired from the military and moved his family to Elliott. He began Turner Copter Services, Inc. doing crop spraying and later offered heavy-lift operations with a helicopter similar to the one he flew in Vietnam. In 1977, he purchased a Sikorsky S-58J. He did hundreds of jobs lifting equipment all over the Midwest, used his helicopters to transport entertainers and politicians, and flew into local hospitals as Santa Claus to visit sick children.

Larry’s flying continued until 2013 at an Ugly Angel Reunion in Oklahoma when he piloted for the last time in a refurbished Sikorsky UH-34D helicopter that he had flown in Vietnam. Larry Turner logged more than 20,000 flight hours in multiple aircraft and donated time and money to refurbish helicopters to be displayed in museums.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ Wednesday press conference on COVID-19. We will have live audio on KJAN as well with the presser set to begin at approximately 11:00 a.m.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines school officials will join with Drake University to build a $19.5 million stadium for high school and middle school sports. The city’s school board unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday to pay $15 million for construction costs, using sales tax revenue. Drake will donate land, pay remaining costs and be responsible for maintaining the stadium. It will be built near the university’s basketball arena. The 4,000-seat stadium will be the home field for four of the district’s five high school football teams and will be home for all of the district’s soccer teams. It also will be available for other school uses and middle school football and soccer games. Drake also will use the field for its soccer teams.

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

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(Updated) – The Cass County Landfill and Recycling Center have issued a statement with regard to improper recycling in Lewis. The statement says “Over the last few months, we have seen a disturbing problem when we empty the recycling containers located in Lewis. An abundance of trash (That in no way could be confused as recyclable material) has been found in the bins. The most grotesque material” they said, “Has been human/animal feces and used toilet paper.” Landfill Manager Brandi Mericle says it’s been very frustrating.

When trash and biohazardous material is mixed in with the legitimate recycling, the entire load is contaminated and is landfilled. The bins are for RECYCLABLE MATERIAL ONLY. Brandi says it’s not just a problem in Lewis.

If trash and hazardous waste continues to show up in [The Lewis recycling containers, Mericle says the landfill “We will pull these bins from the Lewis Community. This is a drastic action that we would rather avoid, so we are asking for your help.” Another problem area is in the northwest corner of the Atlantic Shopping Plaza, where continued dumping of trash outside the bins puts that location at risk of being removed.

Brandi says people have asked why cameras can’t be installed to catch the violators.

(She said because that’s private property, the landfill has no right to set up cameras.)

It would be up to the property owner to install security cameras if they chose to do so. The only solution for Atlantic, she says, would be for the City to find a permanent location for the bins.

Mericle says if people are confused about what is recyclable material, call her office at 712-243-1991. And, please report illegal dumping to the Cass County Sheriff’s Office at 712-243-2206. Fines for the offense can range from $625 to as much as $3,000.

The Creston Police Department reports two people were arrested on drug charges, Monday morning. 30-year old Tonya Tindle, and 34-year old Michael Walton, both of Creston, were taken into custody at their residence at around 9-a.m. Tindle faces a Possession of Paraphernalia charge. She was released from the Law Enforcement Center on a Summons to Appear. Walton was charged with of Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd or Subsequent. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $5000 Bond.

Late Tuesday morning, 36-year old Travis Woollums, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on a Union County Warrant for Theft in the 2nd Degree. He was released from the Union County Jail on a $5000 bond. And Tuesday afternoon, 29-year old Samuel McKinney, of Eldora, was arrested in Creston on two Hardin County Warrants for the charges of Failure to Appear on the original charge of Failure to Maintain Control, and, Operating While Under the Influence 3rd Offense. McKinney was released from the Union County Jail on $5,300 bond.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Police in Red Oak arrested two men overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning. Today (Wed.) at around 2:20-a.m., 31-year old Thomas Allen Daffer, of Red Oak, was arrested for Public Intoxication. His bond was set at $300. And, at around 10:30-p.m. Tuesday, Red Oak Police arrested 31-year old Stuart Duane Haley, of Red Oak, for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond at the Montgomery County Jail was set at $1,000.

(Radio Iowa) — Congresswoman Cindy Axne is asking for an investigation of how the IOWA Occupational Safety and Health Administration handled a complaint about working conditions at the pork processing plant in Perry. Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says it’s clear the agency’s review was “severely lacking” since the plant later was the site of a COVID-19 outbreak. Republican Governor Kim Reynolds says her staff has reviewed Iowa OSHA’s actions.

“It appears that they followed a normal and their appropriate process,” Reynolds says. According to documents obtained by the Associated Press, no state inspectors were sent to the Tyson plant in Perry and the case was closed nine days later following an email response from the company. Governor Reynolds says the complaint was made on a weekend, on a federal website, and state officials handled it within five business days after getting it — as they were visiting with Tyson about outbreaks at other plants in the state.

“And actually, at the time they were talking to them, they had already proactively made the decision to shut down the facility, do some extensive cleaning and start to implement different practices,” Reynolds says. Congresswoman Axne has written a letter to the state Labor Commissioner, asking for answers to several questions, including what conditions in a plant would trigger an on-site inspection. The governor discussed the agency’s check list during her daily news conference on Tuesday.

“They do have a process that they go through that determines the seriousness of the complaint and therefore how they respond to the complaint,” Reynolds says. “…They do this on a case-by-case basis.” Congresswoman Axne says Iowans need to be assured that issues of workplace safety will be taken seriously by state officials. On May 5th, the Iowa Department of Public Health announced more than 700 workers at Tyson’s Perry plant tested positive for COVID-19. The complaint about conditions inside the plant was made about three weeks earlier, on April 11th.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Republican donor was awarded millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to supply personal protective equipment to Iowa’s executive branch, despite facing a pending felony charge alleging he brutally beat a woman last November. David Greenspon, owner of Competitive Edge, Inc., is charged with willful injury causing serious injury in the November 2019 assault at his West Des Moines mansion. Police say he kicked and struck the 37-year-old ex-lover numerous times in the head and face, chipping her front tooth and bruising her ribs.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds says Iowa regulators acted appropriately when they declined to inspect a Tyson Foods pork plant in Perry before hundreds of workers tested positive for the coronavirus. Iowa Occupational Safety and Health records show the agency received an April 11 complaint alleging the virus was spreading on the production floor and in the cafeteria. The agency didn’t contact Tyson until April 20 and closed the inquiry April 28 after determining Tyson’s safety efforts at the plant were satisfactory. Iowa OSHA declined to inspect the plant, citing federal guidance at the time that said most coronavirus complaints don’t require on-site visits.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The coronavirus has sparked concerns about how private medical information is being used. An Associated Press review shows that health officials in at least 35 U.S. states are sharing the addresses of those who test positive for coronavirus to first responders who request it. Ten of those states also share names. Law enforcement officials say first responders use the information to take extra precautions that help them avoid contracting and spreading the disease. But civil liberty and community activists have expressed concerns of potential profiling in African American and Hispanic communities that already have an uneasy relationship with law enforcement.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is considering whether to allow additional activities to resume as her current proclamation prohibiting large gatherings and operation of some businesses expires next Wednesday. Reynolds recently allowed restaurants, fitness centers, malls and hair salons to reopen with limits but she continued the closure for many other businesses. They include bars, casinos, movie theaters and amusement parks. Reynolds said Tuesday she’ll make some announcements on Wednesday and more next week. State data shows more than 300 new positive coronavirus cases and 12 additional deaths bringing the state totals to 15,296 known positive cases and 367 deaths.