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!
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — With Election Day just around the corner in the competitive Iowa Senate race, Republicans are requesting information from state and local voting officials about polling places, voting rules and recount procedures.
The GOP says it just wants to be prepared in case there is any question about the outcome between Republican Joni Ernst and Democrat Bruce Braley. The National Republican Senatorial Committee recently requested materials from the Iowa secretary of state’s office and the Ernst campaign has reached out to county auditors, seeking information.
The NRSC has made similar requests to secretary of state offices in 10 other states with tight Senate races. Democrats have not made such extensive record requests of Iowa officials. They say they are focused on winning, but will be ready for a recount situation.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Citigroup says it plans to lay off 370 employees in the Des Moines area by the middle of next year. The company tells The Des Moines Register the decision came from “ongoing efforts” to increase efficiency of its operations.
Affected employees come from the company’s consumer banking business section. They represent more than two-thirds of Citigroup’s workforce in the Des Moines area. Employees were told of the layoffs last week.
Police in Red Oak arrested a local man today (Thursday). 55-year old Darwin Eugene Schurr, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 11:40-a.m. on a valid Red Oak P-D warrant for Indecent Contact with a Child. Schurr was arrested at a residence on east Hammond Street and held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.
(12-p.m. News)
Rick Stewart (Independent for US Senate) is visiting area communities today (Thurday) for his “Let’s Talk, Iowa” Tour, which is his second campaign trip around the state (the first time was on his bicycle).
Stewart is bringing his mobile ‘living room’ to every county in Iowa to sit down and eat homemade cookies with voters and discuss real issues. His colorful campaign trailer was designed by an award winning Iowan cartoonist, Kira Layli.
Stewart will make stops at the following county courthouses today:
12:00 Guthrie Center (200 N 5th )
2:00 Greenfield (400 Public Square)
4:00 Atlantic (5 W 7th)
6:00 Audubon (318 Leroy)
A traffic stop Wednesday night in Page County resulted in a passenger in the vehicle being arrested on warrant. The vehicle was pulled over by a Page County deputy about a mile east of Shenandoah on Highway 2, just before midnight.
A passenger, 22-year old Cory Joseph Smith, of Shenandoah, was arrested on a warrant for being Absent from Custody. The warrant was issued out of Woodbury County. Smith was transported to the Page County Jail where he is being held without bond until Woodbury County makes arrangements to transfer him to their facility.
A Shelby County road that was closed more than two months ago for a bridge replacement project, is now open. Emergency Management Director Bob Seivert reports the bridge in the 400 block of Redwood Road which was closed August 15th, is open to traffic. The bridge is over the Dutch Branch of the East Branch of the West Nishnabotna River, between Monroe Townships 16 & 17.
Police in Creston say a man from Adair County was arrested late Wednesday morning on four Union County warrants charging him with 15 counts of Identity Theft (under $1,000) and three counts of Identity Theft (over $1,000). 37-year old Corey Davey, of Orient, was being held in the Union County Jail awaiting a bond hearing.
Earlier in the day, Wednesday, 23-year old Aaron Turlock, of Lenox, was arrested at the Union County Jail in Creston, on a warrant for OWI/1st offense. Turlock was released from custody after posting a $1,000 bond.
The Walnut Community School District has officially begun the process of reorganizing with the AHST Community School District. The Daily NonPareil reports the Walnut school board approved beginning the process at its Monday meeting. Superintendent Jesse Ulrich says circulating a petition to collect signatures from 400 eligible electors or 20 percent of the district’s registered voters, whichever is smaller, is the first step toward holding a special election, with a reorganization vote taking place in June, 2015.
Walnut already whole-grade shares seventh through 12th grade students with AHST, as well as sharing Ulrich as superintendent. The Green Hills Area Education Agency has recommended Walnut look at reorganization as it and several other smaller districts are “facing a trend of declining enrollment.”
The reorganization process begins with a petition, which has to receive enough support from the community to generate a hearing before the Green Hills Area Education Agency. The AEA board confirms requirements are met and provides an opportunity for residents to object to the proposed combined district.
Iowa requires school special elections to be held on certain dates. According to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, opportunities for special elections next summer would include June 30 and Aug. 4.
Ulrich said the district plans to announce details on the reorganization plans today. He said reorganization is a community action – not a board action – so while the AHST school board will mutually consent to the petition and can support the petition, the board itself is not involved in the process.
While Walnut has maintained an independent school district for the past 142 years, it’s likely the 2015-16 school year would be its last. The Walnut district saw the largest enrollment decline in the state – a 25-percent plummet – over the past five years, Ulrich said. Ulrich wrote that reorganization would keep representation for Walnut on a new combined school board, allowing Walnut residents to continue to have a voice in educational decisions. He said in an interview Wednesday that he does not expect the reorganization will meet with much resistance.
However, the name of a consolidated district could prompt some debate, Ulrich said. The district currently calls its secondary facilities AHSTW as a nod to the grade sharing. Two other southwest Iowa school districts are currently asking voters to approve a reorganization. Voters in Hamburg and Farragut will decide Dec. 2 whether to approve a merger forming the Nishnabotna Community School District.
Last year, the Elk Horn-Kimballton and Exira school districts came together. The Iowa Department of Education lists six other districts that consolidated and one that was dissolved last year. Other than Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton, the last merger of local districts was in 2011 when Nishna Valley and Malvern formed the East Mills Community School District. That year also saw Manning and IKM (Irwin, Kirkman and Manilla) form IKM-Manning and C&M (Cumberland and Massena) and Anita form CAM.