The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.7MB)
Subscribe: RSS
The National Transportation Safety Board has scheduled an open public board meeting for 8:30-a.m. Central Time June 18th in Washington, D.C., to determine the probable cause of the fatal, Dec. 12, 2017, Oakland, Iowa, school bus fire. The crash occurred when 74-year old school bus driver Donald Hendricks turned from a rural gravel road onto a residential driveway for student pickup. After 16-year old Megan Klindt boarded the bus, Hendricks reversed out of the driveway and backed across the road continuing until the bus’s rear wheels ran off the road. The bus came to rest with its rear half in a 3-foot-deep ditch next to the road.
NTSB investigation photos of Oakland School Bus fire
While Hendrick attempted to drive the bus out of the ditch, a fire began in the engine compartment and spread throughout the school bus. Both Hendricks and Klindt died, when they did could not escape the burning bus. The meeting will be lived-streamed, and a public docket for this investigation is available from the NTSB website at https://go.usa.gov/xmVnE
For more information, including the preliminary incident report, go to: https://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/Pages/2019-HWY18MH003-BMG.aspx
(Radio Iowa) — We’re now at the halfway mark of tornado season in Iowa, and so far, there hasn’t been a single twister reported statewide this year. While tornadoes can strike during any month, April, May and June are considered the peak months. Meteorologist Chad Hahn, at the National Weather Service, says there is a reason why it’s been such a quiet period for the storms. “Of course, we’ve been experiencing a great deal of precipitation and certainly we’ve seen that with the ongoing river flooding across portions of the state,” Hahn says. “We’ve been cooler than normal over the past few weeks and because of that, we haven’t been able to get the thunderstorm activity going like we’d typically expect in the spring months here.”
After the prolonged cold spell, warmer weather should be moving in over the next few days. Hahn says that could bring a chance of thunderstorms, though likely nothing too rough. “At least at this point, the week looks fairly quiet, but we do see the mercury starting to rise off in the horizon,” Hahn says. “Of course, it’s not a matter of if, it’s when. We can’t let our guard down because we know when that switch flips, we’ll have to be ready to take the appropriate action if we have severe weather.” Hahn says Iowans should be prepared. “I encourage the public to know that we will get severe weather,” he says. “It’s not a matter of if, it’s when. When that does happen, it’ll likely go from zero to 60, so we need to battle the complacency bug and be ready for severe weather when it does strike.”
Last year, there were 69 tornadoes statewide with the most notable hitting Bondurant, Marshalltown and Pella on July 19th. Over the past decade, Iowa has seen as few as 16 tornadoes during all of 2012 and as many as 88 tornadoes in 2014.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials think a mountain lion seen in Des Moines likely has left town. The animal was spotted on security video last week west of downtown and on the city’s south side, not far from the airport. Des Moines police received two calls Wednesday morning from people who think they saw it, too, but the reports haven’t been confirmed.
Alex Murphy with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday night that agency officials think the mountain lion has made its way out of the city, because there’s been no video or picture evidence or a confirmed sighting in the last few days.
(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is issuing a warning about the dangers of an escalating trade war with China. “As I like to tell the president when he says he likes tariffs, I try to remind him that Smoot-Hawley brought about the Great Depression, brought about Adolph Hitler, brought about World War II, brought about 60 million people losing their lives as a result of it,” Grassley says.
The Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930 raised tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. by 20 percent and sparked retaliatory tariffs from other countries on U.S. goods. According to Grassley, half the world lived in poverty after World War II, but reducing tariffs and promoting international trade have led nearly 50 percent of the world’s population to be classified as “middle class” today. “I like to tell the president that globalism has helped everybody, freeing up trade has helped everybody and let’s move on,” Grassley says.
Grassley, a Republican, made his remarks to the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Fellow Republican Joni Ernst, Iowa’s other U.S. Senator, says Iowa farmers will suffer “permanent damage” if they lose access to the Chinese market. “We need free trade. We need fair trade and we are not seeing that from China right now,” Ernst says. “So I would say: ‘China, quit hemming and hawing. Let’s get back to the (negotiating) table. Let’s finish this deal.’ It will be good for China. It’ll be great for Americans.”
President Trump began imposing tariffs last year and is threatening to impose a 25 percent tariff on another 325-billion-dollars in Chinese goods next month if there’s no deal. Trump also has promised 15 billion dollars in federal aid to farmers to compensate for trade-related losses.
Today: Partly cloudy. High around 90. S @ 10-20.
Tonight: Partly cloudy w/isolated showers & thunderstorms late. Low 67. S @ 5-10.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy to Cldy w/scattered shwrs & tstrms. High 84. S @ 10-20.
Saturday: P/Cldy w/scattered shwrs & tstrms. High near 84.
Sunday: Mo. Cldy w/showers & thunderstorms mainly in the morning. High 66.
Yesterday’s High in Atlantic was 82. Our Low was 51. Last year on this date our High was 85 and the Low was 55. The record High in Atlantic on this date was 93 in 1939. The Record Low was 25 in 1907.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is announcing he’s been endorsed in the 2020 Democratic presidential race by Iowa’s attorney general. It makes him the first 2020 candidate to receive the endorsement of a statewide elected official in Iowa. Attorney General Tom Miller says, “For 10 years since we first met, I have watched Governor Bullock proudly carry a progressive vision across every community in Montana, successfully take on the Koch Brothers and win, and prove that America is stronger when we unite together.”
Miller was one of the first Iowa elected officials to endorse Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential caucuses, and he is a longtime friend of the Montana governor’s.
The endorsement, announced Thursday, comes ahead of Bullock’s first visit to the state as an official candidate.
Two women were injured during a single-vehicle accident in Fremont County, Wednesday evening. The Sheriff’s Office reports the accident happened at around 7:15-p.m. on Highway 59, between 250th Street and 260th Street. Deputies determined a 2009 Saturn Aura driven by 39-year old Michelle Rene Graham, of Fairfax, MO., was traveling south on the highway, when for reasons unknown, Graham lost control, causing the vehicle to cross the centerline to the left. The car entered the northbound ditch, and continued south before sideswiping one tree and then striking a second tree head on.
Graham became trapped and was extricated from the vehicle after over an hour and forty-five minutes, by Shenandoah Fire and Rescue using the Jaws of Life. She was air lifted from the scene by LifeNet Helicopter to Nebraska Medicine in Omaha with life threatening injuries. Her passenger, 56-year old Teresa Amthor, of Rock Port, Missouri, was also air lifted from the scene by LifeNet Helicopter with unknown injures. Both women were wearing seat belts. In addition, the car’s airbags deployed as designed.
Shenandoah Fire and Rescue, Page County Sheriff’s Office, LifeNet, and the Iowa DOT assisted the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office with the call. Neither alcohol nor speed are believed to be factors. The vehicle was a total loss. The accident is still under investigation.
Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have agreed to terms on a deal with defensive back Amani Hooker, their fourth-round draft selection. Hooker was the No. 116 draft pick overall out of Iowa. He was the Big 10 Defensive Back of the Year last season, and he played 36 games with six interceptions, 3 ½ tackles for loss and a sack over three years with the Hawkeyes. His deal makes him the third of the Titans’ draft picks to agree to terms, leaving the team’s top three draft picks still unsigned.
NEW YORK (AP) — Two people with direct knowledge of the deal say the New York Jets have agreed to trade linebacker Darron Lee to the Kansas City Chiefs for a sixth-round draft pick. The deal is pending a physical, according to the people who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither team had announced the move. It also comes on the same day the team fired general manager Mike Maccagnan and installed coach Adam Gase as the acting GM.
BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Browns running back Kareem Hunt knows only his actions will help him outrun a violent past. Hunt spoke for the first time since Cleveland signed him in February after he was released by the Kansas City Chiefs late last season when video surfaced of him shoving and kicking a woman during an argument. Hunt says he’s changed and hopes he can earn back the trust of teammates and fans. He says he’s grateful to get a second chance with the Browns, his hometown team.
ATLANTA (AP) — Austin Riley made quite a splash in his big league debut, homering off Michael Wacha to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Mike Soroka turned in another strong start with three-hit ball over seven scoreless innings, but this night belonged to the 22-year-old Riley. He was called up from Triple-A before the game and homered in the second at-bat of what the Braves hope will be a long career.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Ronald Guzman and Willie Calhoun each hit a two-run homer, and the Texas Rangers cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Shin-Soo Choo added a solo shot in the ninth inning and Nomar Mazara matched a career high with four hits as the Rangers snapped a five-game skid.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — For a minor-league team that plays its home games in flood-ravaged Iowa on the swollen banks of the Mississippi River, the season so far has presented some unusual challenges. The Quad Cities River Bandits have been forced to lug their equipment everywhere they go because they don’t yet have lockers. Worse than that, the players sometimes don’t even know where they’ll be playing the next day. The River Bandits will play 40 of their first 43 games away from their home in Davenport.
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