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!
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!
(Radio Iowa) — The forecast calls for plenty of snow to fly over the next few days, but thousands of Iowans will be thinking of sunny, summer days ahead as they attend one of the biggest one-day bicycling shows in the “You’re going to see bikes, gear, destinations and events,” Wyatt says. “Really, people come there shopping for their summer. If you want to check out what the latest trail is, if you want to check out what the bike shops have as far as new gear to offer, this is the event for you.”
If you’re shopping for a new bike, whether it’s a traditional two-wheel road bike, recumbent, tandem or electric, Wyatt says there will easily be hundreds of options. “There’s a bike demo area,” Wyatt says. “We’ve got four or five vendors who will let you take a bike over and give it a short ride, right in front of the events center on the floor, so that’ll be pretty cool.”
There will be educational seminars to help riders get in touch with bike advocacy, a legal workshop, and new product launches at the event. While Iowa has hundreds of miles of paved trails, the expo features representatives from a host of “destination” bike rides in other states, including Minnesota and Kentucky. “There’s a lot of interest in the Iowa bicycling community,” Wyatt says. “Certainly, they see it as economic development that they can import to their states. We know that we’ve got to continue to develop that economic impact on bicycling here in Iowa.”
The Iowa Bike Expo is free and runs Saturday from 10 AM to 4:30 PM at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.
More info. at https://iowabikeexpo.com/
More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.2MB)
Subscribe: RSS
(Radio Iowa) — A new report from the Iowa Association of Realtors shows the state’s real estate market wrapped up 2019 with sales up — and prices up — compared to the year before. Association president Scott Wendl, a realtor in Clive, says more than 42-thousand-200 homes were sold statewide last year. That’s up about 500 homes from the previous year. “Home sales were up a little bit, actually 1.2%,” Wendl says, “and the nice byproduct of that also is the actual sales price went up almost 5%.”
The median home sales price last year was 168-thousand-500 dollars compared to about eight-thousand dollars lower in 2018. “One nice thing about the state of Iowa is, we are still one of the most affordable areas in the United States to purchase a home,” Wendl says. “A lot of that is just the cost of living is lower which reflects to a better median sales price compared to some of the other markets around the country.” The median sale price for single-family homes was higher each month in 2019 when compared to the same month in 2018. “With the interest rates still low, it is still driving prices up a little bit,” Wendl says. “Inventory is a little bit tight, especially in the first-time buyer price range. If you’re looking in the upper price range, inventory is a lot better. There’s more to choose from.”
Houses sold quickly in 2019 with an average of 63 days on the market. That’s two days faster than in 2018. Wendl, in his 24th year as a realtor, is optimistic looking ahead into 2020. “I’ve got a positive feeling about it. I know there’s rumors of a recession, but indications for housing isn’t really pointed towards that,” Wendl says. “With the election year, interest rates are predicted to stay relatively flat, where they are right now.”
New construction rose during 2019 and it’s expected to continue rising into 2020, although many experts say new homes aren’t being built quickly enough to meet demand. The year is starting out with brisk sales as he says realtors he’s talked with are experiencing a much busier January than is typical.
FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) – A board of supervisors in southeast Iowa has voted to forgo pay raises in the next budget year, citing budget constraints. The Fort Madison Daily Democrat reports that the Lee County supervisors voted Tuesday to pass on the 3% pay increase recommended by the county compensation board or accept the 2% hike that was included in the preliminary 2020-21 budget. Board Chairman Ron Fedler says he’d like the money to go to Lee County’s five libraries, adding that libraries benefit everyone. Directors of the five public libraries asked supervisors for an additional $10,000 in county funding at the board’s Jan. 14 meeting. The five libraries got $2,000 each from the county in the last budget.
The area’s latest and/or top news stories from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.0MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety said today (Thursday), that on Jan. 12th at around 3-p.m., the Marion County Sheriff’s Office requested the assistance of the State Fire Marshal Division to investigate suspected improvised explosive devices (IEDs) recovered from a fatal single-truck crash which occurred east of Knoxville around 12:04-a.m. that same day. Following an autopsy, the State Medical Examiner and Division of Criminal Investigation Criminalistics Laboratory identified the driver in the crash as Del Sorey of Arnolds Park, Iowa. Sorey was the only person in the vehicle. The truck Sorey was driving caught fire, and much of it and its contents were destroyed.
Search warrants related to the IED’s were served on Wednesday January 15th at three addresses in Milford and Arnolds Park, Iowa, in Dickinson County. The case remains under investigation.
Agencies involved in the ongoing investigation include the State Fire Marshal Division, Iowa State Patrol, Division of Criminal Investigation, Division of Intelligence, Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office, Milford Police Department, Arnolds Park Police Department, Okoboji Police Department, Local Drug Task Force, the Des Moines and Sioux City Offices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Omaha Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports two separate accidents took place Wednesday, but there were no injuries. The first accident happened at around 9:48-a.m. on Highway 34. Authorities say 22-year old Kendra Mykkel Top, of Villisca, was driving a 2008 Ford Escape, when the SUV went out of control and entered the north ditch, before striking several trees. Damage from the crash amounted to $8,000. No citations were issued, due to the road conditions at the time.
And, at around 4-p.m., a two-vehicle, property-damage accident happened near the intersection of 1st Avenue and 4th Street, in Villisca. Officials say a 1997 Ford snowplow owned by the City of Villisca – and driven by 45-year old Donald Lee Sexton, of Villisca – was traveling west on 4th Street, when the blade caught the pavement and forced the vehicle left-of-center. The plow struck a 2012 Ford F-250 pickup, which was eastbound on 4th. The plow sustained no damage, but the pickup – driven by 35-year old Aaron WIlliam Focht, of Villisca, sustained $7,000 damage. No citations were issued.
INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (AP) – A man has been found guilty of setting a fire that injured two people at his eastern Iowa home. A jury convicted 45-year-old Shane Heins on Wednesday of arson and two counts of attempted murder. He’d pleaded guilty June 16 to misdemeanor domestic abuse assault, second offense. The online court records don’t list a sentencing date. Investigators say Heins set the fire March 2 last year in Independence in an effort to kill his wife, Christina Heins, and her uncle, Nick Necker. Both were taken for treatment to University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City.
Dr. Jill Biden, the wife of Democrat Presidential Candidate & former Vice President, Joe Biden, will make stops in southwest/western Iowa this Friday and Saturday. Mrs. Biden will campaign on behalf of her husband in Sidney, Bedford, Corning, and Red Oak, on Friday, and in Logan on Saturday. Read more her area schedule below (Members of the public who wish to attend any of the events should RSVP via the Biden campaign website):
Friday, Jan. 24th Meet and Greet events:
Saturday, Jan. 25th Meet & Greet:
Dr. Biden will also make stops in Storm Lake and Humboldt, on Saturday.
Atlantic: 2 hour late start
Charter Oak-Ute: 2 hour late start
CAM/Nodaway Valley: 2 hour late start
Panorama: 2 hour late start
West Central Valley: 2 hour late start
**For more announcements as they come in, see the Cancellations page under Community Hub**