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Ottumwa man charged with slaying accused of another shooting

News

September 7th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — An 18-year-old man already facing a murder charge has been accused of another shooting. Police have charged Jacob Heckethorn with attempted murder, saying he shot Clifford Collett Sr. on Aug. 16 in Ottumwa. Wapello County District Court records say Heckethorn already has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder in the original case. Police say he killed William Shettlesworth and shot at Dustin Greene on Aug. 23 in Ottumwa. Heckethorn is due back in court Sept. 17. He lives in Ottumwa.

Carstens Farm Days: A western Iowa Tradition

Ag/Outdoor, News

September 7th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

This Saturday and Sunday, the air near Shelby will be filled with smoke, steam and excitement, as part of the 36th Annual1880 Carstens Farmstead Days Show. One of the organizers, Terry Torneton, who’s been involved in the event as a volunteer for more than 25-years, says Farm Days is an event that aims to preserve and celebrate Iowa’s Farm History through live demonstrations of antique farm equipment and a blend of unique exhibits and crafts.

It’s a tractor and threshing show and so much more. The two-day show is held on the historic Carstens 1880 Farmstead just south of I-80 Exit 34, Shelby, Iowa. The hours are 6:30 am – 7:00 pm both days. Torneton says there are over 250 Vintage tractors and implements on display. Oliver tractors and implements, along with dozens of gas “hit and miss” engines will be featured at this year’s show. Nearly 100 carefully restored Oliver tractors will be on display. Anyone who would like to add his or her Oliver or hit and miss engine to the exhibit is welcome. Register at the registration building near the front gate when you arrive. 

Hit & Miss Engine

A parade of classic cars, implements, tractors and trucks also will take place both days beginning at 2-p.m. Joining the power equipment will be many antique/classic cars and trucks. Traditional demonstrations will be on-going throughout the weekend. Visitors can expect to see threshing machines in action, antique tractor plowing, corn picking, straw baling, blacksmithing, corn binding, and a working sawmill. Admission to Farm Days also allows visitors to wander through the four-acre corn maze which contains nearly two miles of pathways. There will be a number of musical acts under the shade trees. On the main stage near the Carstens’s family home, colorful and talented cloggers will kick up their heels to entertain the crowd.

Nearly 100 vendors are expected to be selling a wide range of crafts, tools, toys and novelty items. Raffle tickets for a beautiful hand-stitched quilt, which will be raffled during Farm Days will be available during the quilt show.  This (Friday) evening pulled pork sandwich dinner will be hosted by the Friends of the Shelby Stone Arch Trail Committee. Proceeds from the dinner will go to the trail committee. The dinner will be served from 5:30 – 7:30 pm.

All good days begin with a good breakfast and to start Farm Days off right, a pancake breakfast is planned at 6:30 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Snacks and lunch options will also be available. Various non-profit local groups will be offering refreshments and delicious desserts all weekend.  On Saturday beginning at 5:30 p.m. enjoy Staley’s Chicken for a delicious dinner at the farm.Proceeds from the dinner will go toward on-going maintenance at Carstens 1880 Farmstead.Admission to Farm Days remains one of the best values for any show of its kind. Admission is $5 per day for everyone nine years and older.

Heartbeat Today 9-7-2018

Heartbeat Today, Podcasts

September 7th, 2018 by Jim Field

Jim Field visits with Jessica Rundlett of the State Historical Museum of Iowa about the “History on the Move: Iowa History 101” mobile museum that will be coming to Atlantic next week.

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(Podcast) KJAN Morning Sports report, 9/7/18

Podcasts, Sports

September 7th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Jim Field.

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Taylor County search warrant results in drug-related arrest

News

September 7th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

Authorities in Taylor County executed a search warrant at around 12:45-a.m. today (Friday), at residence in the 600 block of East Ohio Street, in Lenox. Subsequent to the search warrant, 31-year old Kevin Jungers, of Lenox, was arrested on two Class-D Felony counts of Unlawfully Manufacturing Marijuana, A Class-D Felony charge of Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp, Possession of a Controlled Substance, a “Serious Misdemeanor”, and two counts of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, (Methamphetamine and Marijuana) both “Simple Misdemeanors.” Jungers was being held in the Taylor County Jail on $16,000 bond.

(Podcast) KJAN Morning News & Funeral report, 9/7/18

News, Podcasts

September 7th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Law firm sues clients for more than $2.5M contingency fee

News

September 7th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A law firm has sued two clients for more than $2.5 million the firm says it’s owed from the more than $7.6 million the clients have recovered from Sioux City for a 2016 collision with a city bus. The Sioux City Journal reports that the Munger, Reinschmidt & Denne firm sued Chad and Rosanne Plante on Tuesday, saying they’d agreed to pay a one-third contingency fee if their claims against the city pertaining to the collision were settled without filing a lawsuit against the city. They were. The firm’s Stan Munger says the Plantes told him the contingency agreement “is against public policy.”

Rosanne Plante says she and her husband have paid Munger’s firm $380,000, and “he has apparently determined that is not sufficient.”

Local 24-Hour Rainfall Totals ending at 7:00 am on Friday, September 7

Ag/Outdoor, Weather

September 7th, 2018 by Jim Field

  • KJAN, Atlantic  .08″
  • Massena  .88″
  • Villisca  .25″
  • Corning .12″
  • Red Oak  .68″

UNI and Iowa see enrollment drops

News

September 7th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — The University of Northern Iowa is reporting a drop in fall enrollment. The school’s associate vice president for enrollment management, Matt Kroeger, says they anticipated the drop. “Total enrollment from last year is down 695 students and I want to say it’s 444 undergraduates and 251 graduate students,” Kroeger says. Kroeger says the number of new students was down. “And also our incoming transfer students were down around 85 or 90 or so. So, the number of new students definitely had an impact on the total,” according to Kroeger. The drop has been figured into their budget.

He says they anticipated the decline in new students and they had a record graduation rate for students who graduated in three years or less. The Cedar Falls school has struggled to keep its enrollment up and he says that will again be a focus. “We’re planning on doing that with both expanding our reach and increasing our market share of Iowa high school graduates. And those students coming from Iowa community colleges as well,” Kroeger says. “But also looking out of state. We feel that we have the opportunity to grow our non-resident freshmen and transfers as well — so it will take a combination of both of those.”

The University of Iowa also saw its enrollment drop. But had the U-I’s Brent Gage, says that was by design. “We had several years where we were bringing in some of the largest classes we had ever brought in in the history of the university,” Gage explains. “And as we developed our strategic plan we really looked to more right-size the university to where we felt we could provide the optimal student experience. The incoming freshman class has 48-hundred-six students and Gage says it falls in the range they’ve been working on. “Which is kind of between 47-hundred and five-thousand new incoming students. So, that is something that we’ve been kind of strategically working on doing the last couple of years,” Gage says.

The U-I saw a drop in international students, and he says the competition for those students has gotten tougher. “We’re also seeing that the dollar is just incredibly strong right now. So the buying power that the families had anticipated having — when it’s time for those students to leave — that’s not always the case that they thought it was going to be,” Gage says. Total enrollment this fall is 31-thousand-656 students — which takes some 13-hundred postdoctoral students out of the count from last year under a new counting system now used by the Board of Regents.

Gage, who is the school’s associate vice president for enrollment management, says downsizing a bit has advantages. He says it gives the students better course selection and more open beds in the residence halls, which allows for returning and transfer students to live on campus. “For our physical plant and for our resources and our faculty we want to make sure that with the resources that we have that we’re providing the best possible education experience for the people who choose Iowa.”

The third state school — Iowa State University saw a drop of one-thousand-and one students. A spokesperson says they saw a decline primarily in international and transfer students. I-S-U had seen eight years of record enrollments before a decline last fall of 339 students.

New book looks at life of Nile Kinnick

Sports

September 7th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — A new book chronicles the short life and hundreds of quotes from the University of Iowa’s most famous football player whose 16-foot-tall statue stands in front of the stadium named in his honor. This summer marks the 100th anniversary of Nile Kinnick’s birth and author Mark Wilson of Iowa City spent a full decade compiling the quotes from Kinnick’s letters, diaries, journals, essays and speeches. “My whole goal was to preserve his legacy,” Wilson says. “There’s new generations coming on every single year, new freshmen. I’ve met little children coming in for the first time. Dad or Mom might say, ‘Well, we’re here at Kinnick Stadium,’ and they’re obviously going to ask, ‘Who was Kinnick?'”

Wilson’s book is called, “The Way of Nile C. Kinnick, Jr.: Insights, Images, and Stories of Iowa’s 1939 Heisman Trophy Winner.” There are a total of 366 Kinnick quotes in the book, one for every day of a leap year, along with dozens of photos and stories. Wilson says Kinnick has been a personal inspiration in his own life and he hopes the book inspires others — as he finds the quotes are still useful decades later. “They are covering about every topic you can think of: government, war, poverty, race, religion,” Wilson says, “some of the things he thought about, his faith, education, football.”

Kinnick was an honors student and a superior athlete, Wilson says. The 5-foot-8, 170-pound Adel native broke 14 Iowa records his senior year. The quotes draw both from Kinnick’s time as a student and while he was in the military. Navy Ensign Kinnick died at age 24 during World War Two when his fighter plane crashed during a training flight in 1943. Kinnick’s grandfather was George Washington Clarke, who served two terms as Iowa’s governor. Many of Kinnick’s family members were involved in politics and Wilson is convinced had Kinnick lived, he would have eventually run for president. Wilson, a first-time author, is a retired Iowa City teacher and is an ambassador for the U-I Athletics Hall of Fame.

“All of my royalties on every book sold will go back to the six Nile Kinnick scholarships,” Wilson says. “There’s one for leadership, four that are memorial scholarships, and one for women. It’s my giveback. I was an elementary teacher and didn’t have a lot of money to give but I can sure give back the royalties from this book.” The book is being printed by Ice Cube Press, based in North Liberty. It’s available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the Hawkeye shops, and at icecubepress.com.