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Brown bag lunch programs scheduled to take place in Elk Horn

News

September 17th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Officials with the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn say two Brown Bag Lunch programs have been lined up to take place at the Museum. The first will be this Thursday, September 18th with “It Takes a Village to Raise a Hausbarn.” Freda Dammann is the director of the German Hausbarn, a 350-year-old structure moved from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany to Manning, Iowa. She will be speaking about the Hausbarn and her experiences with the project.

Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, IA.

Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, IA.

Then, on September 25th, Tom Lundskær-Nielsen will present “Hans Christian Andersen: From the early fairy tales to the life parables.” Lundskær-Nielsen is a Senior Lecturer in Danish at University College London. He’ll discuss The Tinderbox, Little Claus and Big Claus, The Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, and The Fir Tree.

The programs begin at noon and are free and open to the public. As the name suggests, guests can bring a lunch to enjoy during the program. Programs are scheduled through the end of the year and can be found at danishmuseum.org.

Questions about the programs should be directed to Tova Brandt at 712-764-7001 or curator@danishmuseum.org.

NWS Forecast for Atlantic & the KJAN listening area – 9/17/14

Weather

September 17th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

(Updated 4-a.m.)

Today – Partly sunny, with a high near 76. South southeast wind around 5 mph.
Tonight – Partly cloudy, with a low around 55. East wind 3 to 5 mph.

Thursday – Partly sunny, with a high near 73. Southeast wind 5 to 11 mph.
Thursday Night – A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 59. Southeast wind 8 to 11 mph.

Friday – Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Breezy, with a south wind 9 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.
Friday Night – A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 68. Breezy. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Saturday – Showers and thunderstorms likely. Partly sunny, with a high near 79. Chance of precipitation is 60%

Biden visit to shut down roads in Des Moines

News

September 17th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Several roads around the Iowa Capitol will be closed Wednesday (today) due to a visit from Vice President Joe Biden, according to the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Biden will join with a Catholic social justice group called Nuns on the Bus on the Capitol’s West Terrace.

Between 7 a.m. and noon, Grand Avenue will be closed from East 12th Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, and Walnut Street will be closed from East Seventh Street to East 12th Street. For people attending the event, the entrance is at East Seventh Street and Locust Street.

Biden is considering running for president in 2016. His visit comes just days after former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed Iowa Democrats at Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual fundraiser. Clinton is also weighing a 2016 bid.

Court talks about Iowa Constitution in video

News

September 17th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court on Wednesday will offer a short video to high school students about the state constitution. The nine-minute orientation video will be available to social studies classrooms across the state. The high court is encouraging schools to show the video prior to two oral arguments that will be streamed live on the judicial branch website.

The video includes an explanation from Chief Justice Mark Cady on how the state constitution is used to resolve disputes between residents. Justice Daryl Hecht also explains the appeal process and what happens during oral arguments.

The court is releasing the video in partnership with the state Department of Education and the Iowa State Bar Association to celebrate Constitution Day, a national holiday honoring the U.S. Constitution.

UNI prepares for homecoming game

Sports

September 17th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Back from a long trip to Hawaii the UNI Panthers prepare for Saturday’s homecoming contest against Northern Colorado. The Panthers are 0-2 following a 27-24 loss to Hawaii. UNI coach Mark Farley who says the Panthers need to learn how to make plays at key times. There have been many positives in the first two games but the ground attack is not one of them. Senior running back David Johnson has only 80 yards of rushing to date.

Farley says the ground game needs to improve as the Panthers look down the road at the start of Missouri Valley Conference play. Northern Colorado opened with a 13-12 loss at UNLV and followed that up with a 28-20 win over Houston Baptist.

(Learfield Sports)

Iowa prepares for Pitt

Sports

September 17th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Three weeks into the season the Iowa Hawkeyes rank 92nd in the country in rushing and are tied for 89th in total offense. While those numbers may seem alarming for an offense that returned a number of starters from last year, they apparently aren’t to head coach Kirk Ferentz, who told the weekly Big Ten teleconference that he is not surprised by his teams lackluster start. The Hawkeyes are 2-1 as they get set to visit Pitt and Ferentz says the offense is trying to find the right rhythm and right mix.

Ferentz defended third year offensive coordinator Greg Davis who has been heavily criticized for his love of the horizontal passing game. Ferentz says there is no obvious solutions to fixing the offensive woes. Since beating Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl after the 2009 season the slide to mediocrity has been steep. In the last four plus seasons the Hawkeyes are 29-25 overall and just 15-17 in the Big Ten and while the negativity has grown even louder in the wake of another loss to Iowa State Ferentz says it is something they need to put behind them.

The challenge this week is preparing for their first road test at 3-0 Pitt. Pitt’s James Conner ranks second in the nation with 544 yards of rushing. In his third year at the helm Paul Chryst has developed the Pitt offense into one of the best running attacks in the nation. The Panthers have averaged 344 yards on the ground in their 3-0 start, which ranks fourth in the country. Despite the gaudy numbers Chryst says there is plenty of room for improvement.

Chryst says the run game will get a challenge from an Iowa defense that has always prided itself on stopping the run under Kirk Ferentz.

(Learfield Sports)

Branstad: GPS tracking for subjects of some no-contact orders

News

September 17th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Governor Terry Branstad says it’s time to give judges the authority to order electronic surveillance of some of the men and women who are accused of stalking or domestic abuse in Iowa.  “I think it makes sense to have GPS tracking of people that have a no-contact order,” Branstad says. The governor doesn’t envision putting an electronic bracelet on every Iowan who is the subject of a “no contact” order, but he says judges should have the discretion to order it in certain cases.

“One of the big tragedies that we’ve had occur is when somebody that’s had a no-contact order violates it and then murders their estranged spouse or partner or whatever,” Branstad says. “And this would be a way to make sure that you knew where they were and that they were not violating the no-contact order.” There have been 253 domestic abuse homicides in Iowa in the past 19 years. Advocates for domestic abuse victims say electronic monitoring isn’t effective enough and accused abuser who are deemed a threat should be kept behind bars until trial. In addition to electronic monitoring for accused abusers, Branstad says those CONVICTED of violent sexual crimes should be required to serve out their full prison sentence, too.

“If they fall in that category of being a violent sexual predator, they would not be eligible for ‘good time’ and ‘honor time,'” Branstad says. Branstad cites the 2013 case involving Michael Klunder of Stratford. Klunder had been released early from prison after serving about half his sentence for kidnapping two toddlers. Klunder kidnapped two girls in Dayton and one escaped, but Klunder killed 15-year-old Kathlynn Shepard before hanging himself.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa home sales decline in August 2014 by 9.2%

News

September 17th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Home sales in Iowa decreased last month by 9.2-percent compared to August 2013, according to a new report from the Iowa Association of Realtors. I-A-R President Kathy Miller isn’t entirely sure why home sales dropped off so significantly, but she says the start of a new school year may offer some explanation. “The market slows down a little bit because everybody wants to be settled when the kids go to school,” Miller says, “people are still buying, it’s just a little bit slower.” The report shows 3,685 homes were sold in August 2014, while 4,059 homes were sold in August 2013. Miller also credits a low inventory, combined with buyers who are waiting for the right home.

“We are still selling homes, it just hasn’t been what it was in the past,” Miller says. “I think buyers are more choosy with what they’re going to buy and that’s just the way it’s going to be.” While home sales decreased, prices increased by 4.7-percent over the one year period. The average price of a home sold in Iowa last month was $168,316. That compared to $160,688 in August of 2013. The I-A-R report found that average home sold in Iowa last month spent 79 days on the market, up from 78 days compared to a year ago.

(Radio Iowa)

Grassley blasts Braley for no vote on bill to reign in EPA

Ag/Outdoor, News

September 17th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has issued a carefully-worded written statement that takes aim at a vote Democrat Bruce Braley took in the U.S. House last week. Last week, Republicans in the U.S. House voted to block the E-P-A from imposing rules that farmers fear would give the agency authority to regulate water in ditches, farm ponds and tile lines. Grassley called that House bill “a thoughtful approach to the problem” and an “easy” yes vote for “anybody who has talked to Iowans in the last couple of months.” Braley, who is running for the U.S. Senate this year, voted no.

Grassley didn’t mention Braley by name, but Grassley said in the statement that it’s “too bad the entire Iowa delegation didn’t get the message” to vote yes. In a written statement, Braley’s staff noted Braley had supported an amendment to the bill instead. It would have barred the E-P-A from adopting rules that would change the Clean Water Act exemptions currently on the books for farmers.

A spokesman for Braley said that approach would have protected farmers, but ensured polluters “like Big Oil” are held accountable for Clean Water Act violations. Bruce Neiman, a livestock farmer from Manchester who is president of the Delaware County Farm Bureau, says based on an email he got from Braley’s congressional office, he had expected Braley to vote yes. “It was just the opposite of the way he voted,” Neiman says. “and so after the second time reading it, I said: ‘Well, I guess an actual political flip-flop right in front of me.'” Neiman lives in Braley’s congressional district, but has not supported Braley in the past.

Neiman is backing Joni Ernst, the Republican running for the U.S. Senate this year and he believes Ernst would join those who are trying to reign the E-P-A. “Anymore, there’s a very limited ag population let alone rural population so if we don’t find people that we can count on then we’re in a very difficult position because there’s been a lot of EPA — I’m going to call it static,” Neiman says. “I mean, when they’re concerned about dust coming out of a field, they’ve gotten everybody’s attention in production agriculture.”

Ernst told a group of farmers in Independence, Iowa, last Friday that the E-P-A was “overreaching” and she accused Braley of voting no on the bill because Braley has the backing of an “extreme environmentalist” from California. The E-P-A is one of the federal agencies Ernst has said she’d like to see eliminated and Braley’s spokesman calls that a “radical Tea Party” idea that would get rid of rules that “keep Iowa drinking water clean.”

(Radio Iowa)

Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors’ News

Ag/Outdoor, News

September 17th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors headed to the country to visit Zellmer Farms and A-Z Feeders on Highland Road.

Pictured are: Gerry Ludington, Kathie Hockenberry, Janet Cappel, Sharon Ludington, Nancy Zellmer, Jolene Roecker, Joanne Mueller, Sue Muri, Pat McCurdy, Jane Kay, Tara Jennerjohn, Jim Skartvedt, Gerald Brink, Doug Harris, Josh Dvorak, Sara Nelson, Darlene Ellsbury ,Rita Willmott, Kerry Jepsen, Carole Schuler, Tammy Waters, Russ Joyce, Chrystal Christensen, Chip Hansen, Carol Seddon, JoAnn Runyan, Lucas Mosier, Rich Perry, Lana Westphalan,  and Dolly Bergmann

Pictured are: Gerry Ludington, Kathie Hockenberry, Janet Cappel, Sharon Ludington,
Nancy Zellmer, Jolene Roecker, Joanne Mueller, Sue Muri, Pat McCurdy, Jane Kay, Tara
Jennerjohn, Jim Skartvedt, Gerald Brink, Doug Harris, Josh Dvorak, Sara Nelson,
Darlene Ellsbury ,Rita Willmott, Kerry Jepsen, Carole Schuler, Tammy Waters, Russ
Joyce, Chrystal Christensen, Chip Hansen, Carol Seddon, JoAnn Runyan, Lucas Mosier,
Rich Perry, Lana Westphalan, and Dolly Bergmann

Alan and Brenda Zellmer began their farming career in the mid 1970’s. Alan and his two sons, are the 5th and 6th generation of Zellmer farmers. Zellmer Farms focuses on crop farming and Wagyu and Angus cattle production. The business is family owned and operated. Jim Skartvedt (son-in-law) explained the difference between Wagyu and Angus cattle.