The area’s top news at 7:05-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson
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The area’s top news at 7:05-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.2MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Today: Areas of fog this morning; Partly cloudy. High 52. S @ 10-20.
Tonight: Mostly cloudy w/scattered flurries. Low 24. NW @ 10-20..
Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy. High 30. NW @ 15-30.
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy. High 24.
Thursday: Mo. cloudy. High 22.
Sunday’s High in Atlantic was 40. The 24-hour Low ending today at 7-a.m. was 31. Last year on this date, our High in Atlantic was 49 and the low was 35. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 66 in 2001. The Record Low was -14 in 2005.
Voters in 13 southwest Iowa Counties will head to the polls tomorrow (Tuesday), to determine the fate of a $14.5-million Iowa Western Community College bond issue that’s designed to help pay for security upgrades at each of the college’s campuses and centers. A training exercise last year unveiled some flaws in how the buildings’ designs, and even things as simple as door locks, interfered with employees’ abilities to respond correctly and quickly to various situations. School officials have said the bond issue will also provide for a decrease in one of the school’s levies from .34-cents to 13-cents per thousand dollars valuation. On a $100,000 home, that would reduce the taxes about $20 per year.
The bond issue vote takes place in Merged Area 13, which covers Adair, Adams, Audubon, Cass, Crawford, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties. A 60% supermajority is necessary in order for the bond issue to pass. The polls will be open from Noon until 8-p.m., Tuesday. You may also vote absentee, in-person at the County Auditor’s Office at the Cass County Courthouse. ONLY FIVE VOTING CENTERS WILL BE USED FOR THIS ELECTION in Cass County:
The two VOTING CENTERS for the ATLANTIC COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT are: Voters living in Wards 1, 4 and 5 of the City of Atlantic will vote at Heritage House, 1200 Brook Ridge Circle in Atlantic.
Voters residing in the remainder of the Atlantic Community School District, being those voters residing in Audubon and Pottawattamie counties; Bear Grove, Benton, Brighton, Cass, Franklin, Grove, Pymosa and Washington townships of Cass County; the City of Marne; the City of Wiota; and Wards 2 and 3 of the City of Atlantic will vote at the Atlantic Public Library (507 Poplar), Atlantic, Iowa.
The two VOTING CENTERS for the CAM COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT are: In ANITA: Voters residing in that portion of the CAM Community School District lying in Adair and Audubon counties; Benton, Franklin, Grant and Lincoln townships of Cass County; the City of Anita; and the City of Wiota will vote at the ANITA COMMUNITY CENTER (805 Main St).
In MASSENA: Voters residing in that portion of the CAM Community School District lying in Adams County; Bear Grove, Edna, Massena, Noble, Union and Victoria townships of Cass County; the City of Cumberland; and the City of Massena will vote at the MASSENA PUBLIC LIBRARY in Massena (122 Main St).
The VOTING CENTER for the GRISWOLD COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT is: In GRISWOLD– at the Griswold Community Building, 601 2nd St, Griswold and all voters of the School District will vote there.
If you have any questions, contact the Cass County Auditor’s Office.
An unidentified Iowa State Patrol Trooper was injured during a collision Sunday morning, in northeast Iowa’s Buchanan County. The Patrol says the Trooper’s SUV was parked on the inside shoulder of Interstate 380 southbound, while he was assisting a motorist whose vehicle had gone into the median. A 2006 Toyota Camry driven by 22-year old Brittany Anderson, of Charles City, was traveling south on I-380, when the car went out of control and struck the rear of the Trooper’s 2015 Ford Explorer, causing the SUV to enter the median.
The Camry crossed both lanes of traffic and came to rest in the ditch. Authorities say Anderson was driving too fast for conditions when the crash occurred at around 9:20-a.m., Sunday. The Trooper, who was wearing a seat belt, was transported by private vehicle to St. Lukes Hospital in Cedar Rapids.
Anderson was not injured. The accident remains under investigation.
While Iowa farmers are still struggling with low commodities prices, Iowa consumers are seeing consistently lower prices at the grocery store. A review from the U-S-D-A finds prices at the supermarket fell over the past several months, prompting agency ag analyst Annemarie Kuhns to recalculate her food price forecast for 2017. Kuhns says, “We’re now expecting to pay half to one-and-a-half percent more for groceries in 2017 than we will in 2016.”
That projected increase is tentative and she says prices could actually go down next year, though food prices haven’t decreased for two years in a row in 63 years. The U-S-D-A’s initial prediction for this year was that food prices would rise two-to-three percent from 2015, but they dropped about one-percent overall for the year. Kuhns says there was one big factor that resulted in the reduction of food prices, something that shook Iowa’s poultry industry.
“Eggs, we’re now predicting them to decrease between 21 and 22% in 2016,” she says, “but that was after they had increased 17.8% in 2015 following the highly-pathogenic avian influenza outbreak.”
Prices on a host of products at the grocery store fell in recent months and Kuhns says the trend should continue for many of those same products in 2017. “Beef and veal we’re expecting to decrease one to two-percent,” she says. “Pork we’re expecting to decrease zero to one-percent, though previously we had been predicting a zero-to-one percent increase. We’re expecting eggs to decrease an additional 11 to 12-percent in 2017. And then, looking at fresh vegetables, we’re now expecting those to decrease two to three-percent.”
The U-S-D-A is also projecting several items will be more expensive in the year ahead, including: milk, chicken, bread, cereal, fish and prepared foods.
(Radio Iowa)
Early This Morning: Mostly cloudy. Patchy fog. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Today: Partly sunny. Breezy. High in the upper 40s. South wind 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.
Tonight: Mostly cloudy. Low in the mid 20s. Northwest wind 5 to 15 mph.
Tuesday: Sunny, breezy, colder. High in the lower 30s. Northwest wind 15 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear through midnight then becoming mostly cloudy. Low 15 to 20. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of light snow in the afternoon. High in the lower 20s. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.
Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy. Low around 10.
Thursday: Mostly sunny. Breezy. High 15 to 20.
Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Donald Trump’s election and Republicans’ firm grip on Congress have raised the National Rifle Association’s hopes of seeing a sweeping expansion of gun rights. The gun lobby’s priorities include eliminating gun-free zones at schools and allowing anyone with a concealed carry permit issued by one state to carry the weapon into any other state.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Iowa and Nebraska legislators are preparing a new push for gun-rights laws next year, and they may be in a good position to succeed after past failures. Republicans will soon control both the Iowa House and Senate, and in Nebraska, a leading gun-rights advocate said he’s hopeful newly elected conservative senators will support a proposal that could overturn local gun restrictions in Omaha and Lincoln.
CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — Oil pipeline protesters are pledging to remain camped on federal land in North Dakota, despite a favorable government ruling and an imminent deadline to leave. Monday’s government-imposed deadline for the protesters to depart the property comes a day after the Army Corps of Engineers refused to let the company extend the pipeline beneath a Missouri River reservoir. Despite the deadline, authorities say they won’t forcibly remove the protesters.
FOREST CITY, Iowa (AP) — Arson and burglary charges against a former Forest City officer have been dismissed. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that prosecutors have determined that without a confession and other evidence thrown out by state courts, they cannot get a conviction against Thaddeus Ellenbecker, who was convicted in 2012 of arson and burglary. In 2014, the Iowa Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Ellenbecker because officers didn’t read him his Miranda rights before the questioning.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office has launched a review of the operations of Goodwill Omaha in the wake of an Omaha World-Herald investigation showing the charity’s top executives have been paid more than Goodwills nationwide.
The Omaha World-Herald reports state law empowers the attorney general to protect the financial assets of Nebraska charities. The newspaper reported in October that longtime Goodwill Omaha CEO Frank McGree received total compensation of $933,444 in 2014.
Also, 13 of the nonprofit’s executives were paid more than $100,000 in 2014, siphoning a significant portion of the $4 million generated from Goodwill’s stores in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa from job-training programs. McGree, who had led the Omaha charity for 30 years, announced his resignation in late October.
DARRELL ROSS ADAMS, 78, of Griswold, died Sunday, Dec. 4th, at the Cass County Memorial Hospital, in Atlantic. A Memorial Reception for DARRELL ADAMS will be held from 2-until 4-p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11th, at the Elliott Community Building. Duhn Funeral Home, in Griswold has the arrangements.
DARRELL ADAMS is survived by:
His wife – Deloris, of Griswold.
His children – Denise Crabtree, of Phoenix, AZ; Nikki Carlson, of Red Oak, and Deb (Doug) Foote, of Red Oak.
His sisters – Patricia Thorton and husband Alan, of Avoca, and Janet Nelson and husband Doug, of Griswold.
11 grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren, other relatives, and friends.
ATLANTA (AP) — Eric Berry returned an interception for a touchdown, and then brought back another pick for a 2-point conversion that gave the Kansas City Chiefs an improbable 29-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. The Falcons, rallying from a 27-16 deficit, went ahead 28-27 on Matt Ryan’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Aldrick Robinson with 4:32 remaining.
Atlanta decided to go for 2, looking to stretch the margin to a field goal. But Berry stepped in front of Ryan’s pass and ran 99 yards the other way to give the Chiefs (9-3) their winning margin. It came after Denver won a game in similar fashion last month, returning a blocked PAT for the winning points at New Orleans.
Berry had another huge play with less than a minute to go in the first half, picking off Ryan’s pass over the middle and bringing it back 37 yards for a touchdown. After reaching the end zone, the suburban Atlanta native handed the ball to his mother sitting in the stands at the Georgia Dome.
Forty-one-year-old Matt Bryant closed out the first half with the second-longest field goal of his career for the Falcons. Barely across midfield, Bryant booted a 59-yarder that easily clear the crossbar, cutting Kansas City’s lead to 20-16 at the break. The only longer kick for Bryant was a 62-yarder with Tampa Bay in 2006. He also tied Atlanta’s franchise record for longest field goal. Morten Andersen made a 59-yarder in 1995.
Kansas City was again missing Jeremy Maclin, its leading receiver. He returned to practice Wednesday and it was thought he’d be able to play after sitting out three straight games with a groin injury. But he didn’t dress against the Falcons.
UP NEXT: The Chiefs return home for a huge Thursday night game against AFC West rival Oakland, the first of three straight games at Arrowhead Stadium before the season finale at San Diego.