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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!
(Radio Iowa) – The state Board of Regents will vote on an increase in tuition and mandatory fees undergrad and graduate students at their meeting today (Thursday) in Iowa City. Graduate students spoke out against their increases Wednesday during a public comment period. Amanda Kozar is a grad student in history, and says they can’t afford increases. She says between moving expenses, security deposits, university fees, the U-bill and the monthly payments, the current pay scheme is unsustainable for graduate students. Noah Neibor is also a history grad student and he called for the fees be abolished altogether. Nicole Yeager says other universities have recognized this and taken steps to help and keep graduate students.
(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says a man from Red Oak was arrested early this (Thursday) morning, following a traffic stop at Highway 34 and Evergreen Avenue. 37-year-old Jesse Ray Nelson was taken into custody at around 12:36-a.m., on a warrant for Violation of Probation. Nelson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.
Sheriff’s Deputies were assisted by Officers with the Red Oak Police Department, in making the arrest.
(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak say a man was arrested Wednesday afternoon, following a traffic stop. 29-year-old Tylor Daniel Fine, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 1:35-p.m. and charged with Driving While Under Suspension, and Interference with Official Acts. Fine was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $491.25 bond.
(Omaha, NE) – The National Weather Service in Omaha reports hail the size of baseballs or larger pummeled parts of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, Wednesday evening. In western Iowa, golfball-size hail ( 1 3/4″ in diameter) fell at around 6:50-p.m. along the Interstate 29 corridor in Monona County, about three-miles west of Whiting, and covered the roadway. Other reports include:
Hundreds of people in eastern Nebraska and parts of western Iowa also lost power during the storms.
(Lake Mills, Iowa) – A vehicle being pursued by law enforcement in northern Iowa’s Winnebago County, crashed Wednesday night and ejected the driver, who died at the scene. According to the Iowa State Patrol, authorities were chasing a 2005 Lincoln LS at around 10-p.m., when the vehicle failed to negotiate a curve on Highway 69 at 212th Avenue, near Lake Mills.
When the car entered the ditch and rolled over, the driver was ejected. Their name was being withheld pending notification of family.
The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Lake Mills Police, Fire & EMS Departments, and the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office.
[UPDATED 6/13] (Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Community School District’s (ACSD) Board of Education, Wednesday evening, discussed and then voted to approve, a request to advertise for a shared-position with the City of Atlantic, for a School Resource Officer (SRO). Atlantic School District Superintendent Dr. Beth Johnson..
Prior to the Board’s vote, Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue mentioned he had applied for a COPS (Community Oriented Policing Service) Grant. He expects to be notified in late September, about whether or not the grant is approved.
He said the nationwide federal grant is for a three-year program.
Chief Hogue said since the Atlantic P-D has previously never applied for the grant, he hopes that works in their favor.
In the meantime, a 28-E cost sharing agreement between the City and the School District would have to be approved by both entities. Superintendent Beth Johnsen said Middle School Principal Casey Pelzer was exploring the possibility as well, of the District applying for a similar type of, or other grant opportunities, to share in the cost of hiring an SRO. 
In her report to the Board, Superintendent Johnsen said the District received $50,000 per district building, in the form of a School Safety Grant, for a total of $200,000.
She said also, the District’s new web page will be coming on-line in the next week or so.
Additional information will be released on social media, including the ACSD Facebook page. The Board, Wednesday, approved the resignations of:
They also approved 2024-25 School Year Contract Recommendations and/or Letters of Assignment for:
The Board approved 2024-25 Substitute Wage Rates (affecting two positions), in the amount of $150/day and $190/day, respectively. They approved PLC Supplemental Contracts, and by a vote of 3-to 2: Administrative, Director and non-union Employment, Contracts. The dissenting votes came from Jodi Stowater-Goodrich and Josh McLaren. In other business, the Atlantic School Board approved Fuel Bids as presented, Transportation Routing Software, and the renewal of Liability & Workman’s Comp Insurance, along with 2024-25 Membership renewals pertaining to: The Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB); Iowa School Finance Information Service (ISFIS), and Rural School Advocates of Iowa (RSAI).
(Radio Iowa) – The Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain reports decreased revenue but a 12% increase in net income for the fourth quarter compared to last year.
Casey’s President Darren Rebelez says that’s due in part to continued growth in their prepared food sales. He says they’ve been able to keep costs under control by closely tracking supply. “The digital production planner provides the stores with clear data on what quantities of prepared foods need to be made at certain times throughout the day,” he says.
Prepared food sales have increased 14 percent in the last two fiscal years as they have added new items to the menu. Rebelez spoke during a conference call for investors and says they have avoided the large inflationary cost increases that restaurants have been having trouble with. “A lot of those franchisees don’t have places to turn to, or other levers to pull to absorb a lot of the operating cost inflation that they’ve experienced over the last couple of years and that’s why you’re seeing menu prices expand as high as they have,” he says.
(Casey’s photo)
Rebelez says he doesn’t see the higher menu prices for their restaurant competitors dropping anytime soon, which helps Casey’s food sales. “Franchisees have to decide that they can absorb the inflation and really take a haircut in their profitability to be able to drop their restaurant prices,” he says. “I’d really don’t anticipate that happening. I think you’ll see what you’re starting to see now with some spurts of promotional activity for a month at a time, which is I think what some of these guys have been doing, but I don’t know that that’s very sustainable over the long term given their the franchise dynamic.”
Rebelez says they continue to add more stores to their mix. “During the fiscal year we built 42 new stores and acquired another 112 for a total of 154 new and acquired stores,” Rebelez says. “We are ahead of our pace for adding at least 350 stores by the end of fiscal 2026.”
Casey’s now has 2,658 stores in 17 states, including the addition of stores purchased in Texas.
(Radio Iowa) – An exhibit at the Sioux City Public Museum features the photos, instruments and personal memorabilia of a local rock legend. Museum curator Matt Anderson says the “Gypsy Soul” exhibit features guitarist Tommy Bolin, who was known for his solo session work and for playing with the James Gang and Deep Purple.
“If you look up Tommy Bolin online you’ll find numerous very influential guitarists and rock musicians that cite him as an influence and an inspiration. He is just a highly regarded historically for his talent,” Anderson says. Anderson says Bolin was born in 1951 and taught himself to play the guitar and seem to have an aptitude for it. “And also just the desire to work hard at it. And so at 16 years old, he went out to Denver, Colorado where there was a burgeoning music scene, and he got involved with a band called Zephyr,” Anderson says. “And that was actually kind of his first national touring act, they recorded two albums with him. And they were kind of a blues rock ensemble with the lead singer, a female lead singer that was kind of the Janis Joplin mold.” 
Bolin went on to become one of the most talented and versatile hard rock guitarists to emerge during the first half of the 1970s. It started with him being asked to play on Billy Cobham’s Jazz Fusion album called “Spectrum.” Anderson says it was big step. “He is self-taught, doesn’t read music, and he was in a room with a bunch of veteran jazz musicians, you know virtuoso musicians who all read charts and things like that and he would just listen to what they were going to play and then improvise the lead guitar and on this album, his guitar playing is really the driving force,” he says. Bolin then replaced Joe Walsh in the James Gang in 1973 and Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple in 1975. He released a solo album “Teaser” in 1975, while his 1976 album “Private Eyes” earned him opening concert slots with Peter Frampton, Jeff Beck, Rush, and ZZ Top.
His life and career were cut short by a drug overdose on December 4th of 1976. Many of the items on display are from the collection of Bolin’s brother Johnnie, who was the drummer in the original Tommy B
(Radio Iowa) – Some Iowans own just one chicken, while the state’s large operations may house thousands of the birds, and for everyone in between, there’s what’s being called Murray Fest Midwest. Coordinator Tom Watkins says the event in Webster City later this month is designed for keepers of backyard chickens, hobby farmers, and budding homesteaders. Watkins works at the Murray McMurray Hatchery, which hatched the idea for a festival.
“Fourth of July falls in the middle of the week, so we’re not actually able to ship chicks that week, so we said, ‘Let’s have a quick sale’ and that kind of evolved into how do we get people into town to purchase chicks?” Founded more than a century ago, the hatchery offers all sorts of tiny feathered creatures via mail order, including chickens, ducks, geese, pheasants, quail and turkeys. “In this kind of market, we say chickens are the ‘gateway animal’ that gets you started,” Watkins says, “and then you end up with a goat and a cow or some other critters well.” 
Watkins says a range of speakers and demonstrations are scheduled for the three-day fest. “We’re trying to cover all the bases,” Watkins says. “It’ll be a lot of chicken information but it’ll be a lot of gardening information, we have speaker on sheep, we’ve got milk cows, we’ve got pigs, we’ve got dog training and stuff like that, just a little bit everything.”
Watkins says there are multiple live music acts that will be performing during the fest which runs June 29th through July 1st at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds in Webster City.
(Radio Iowa) – State officials have approved the purchase of an industrial property about two miles northwest of the Iowa Capitol, to consolidate Iowa Department of Public Safety facilities. Once the two building complex is occupied, two district offices for the Iowa State Patrol in Des Moines will be closed. A vehicle storage facility, a warehouse for supplies and the shop where squad cars are put together will also be relocated to the new site.
Governor Kim Reynolds and other statewide elected officials who serve on the state’s Executive Council approved spending 10-point-eight MILLION dollars to buy the centrally located property. This is one of several moves over the past few years that are changing the footprint of state government operations in Iowa’s Capital City.
Last August the Executive Council spent 21 MILLION dollars to buy a two-story office building on the south side of Des Moines — for staff from two state agencies who’ve been working in the Wallace Building across the street from the statehouse. In 2019, the state acquired an office building near the Des Moines Airport and it’s where the Iowa Economic Development Authority and Iowa Finance Authority are located.
This spring, the Iowa legislature approved spending five MILLION dollars to complete renovations of the Lucas State Office Building, which is directly east of the Iowa Capitol. The 45-hundred employees of the Department of Health and Human Services will work in the building once that project’s done. In 2011, the Iowa Utilities Board moved into a new building constructed on the southeast side of the Capitol Complex. And, in 2007, a restored building to the southwest of the Iowa Capitol became the headquarters of the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
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