Eight KJAN listening area communities have cleared a hurdle in their quests to become one of eight-to 10 “Blue Zone” Project communities in Iowa. Blue Zones sponsor Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield Thursday, released the list of 58 communities that were invited to submit a full application to become a Blue Zones demonstration site. The 58…which included Atlantic, Audubon, Carroll, Denison, Glenwood, Harlan, Manning and Red Oak…were selected from among 84 towns that had completed the first step in the process, by submitting a statement of interest.

A final list of 10 communities will be selected to host site visits from February 27^th 2012 through March 16^th. The selection process will culminate with the selection of the 1^st round of demonstration sites in May 2012. The winning community will gain the opportunity for better health, greater longevity, and receive $1-million to improve its recreational infrastructure and promote wellness.

The next step in the process though, is for cities which made the November 23^rd cut, to submit the full application, by no later than January 4^th. For more information on the Blue Zone Project, surf to http://www.bluezonesproject.com/

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — One person was injured in a house fire in Sioux City. Firefighters were called to the home Friday morning. Officials say three people were home. One resident suffered smoke inhalation but didn’t go to the hospital. The homeowner’s dog died. Heat and smoke damage were reported throughout the home.

SPENCER, Iowa (AP) — A Missouri man has been injured while pheasant hunting in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says Steve Nelson, of Independence, Mo., was shot in the upper thigh, hand and arm by a 12-gauge shotgun being carried by a juvenile walking behind him Friday morning near Spencer in northwest Iowa. DNR spokesman Kevin Baskins says the shotgun accidentally discharged as it was being carried.

Republican Congressman Steve King says he does not anticipate voluntarily going back into the business world. King, who is 62 years old, owned and operated a western Iowa earth-moving company when he was elected to the state senate in 1996. He’s been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2003.  “I don’t anticipate going back to the private sector. I’m all in on public service,” King says. “I love this work and I’ve told people a number of times that this is nine years in congress — it’s gone by like it was a single year.” King plans to seek reelection to congress in 2012 and he will likely face Democrat Christie Vilsack, Iowa’s former first lady whose husband is a cabinet secretary in the Obama Administration. King predicts the contest will be among the top five most closely-watched congressional races in the country.

“I take the reelection effort for the new fourth district very seriously,” King says, “…seriously enough to put out some effort to raise some money the last quarter.” King raised over 600-thousand dollars in the first three quarters of the year. Christie Vilsack raised over 750-thousand during that period. But there’s a major political event before the November 2012 election — the Iowa Caucuses. King sponsored a forum last February in Des Moines that featured a handful of politicians who said at the time they were mulling a race for the White House. King says there are a “couple of things” that are “holding him back” from endorsing one of the 2012 candidates.

“I don’t yet see a presidential candidate that’s laid out a financial plan for America, that fixes this financial problem that we are in. I am calling upon them to do that, put that plan out,” King says. “The second thing is I haven’t heard yet from any of them the ‘Shining City on a Hill’ speech that lets me understand that they have the vision for the destiny of America. Those two things are a couple of things that could settle me on a candidate, if I heard them.” King has been a long and ardent critic of the concept of “amnesty” for illegal immigrants and he says the views Newt Gingrich holds on that issue make it “hard” to think of endorsing Gingrich. King made his comments during taping of the Iowa Public Television program, “Iowa Press,” which airs tonight (Friday) at 7:30 or find a video link online at www.radioiowa.com.

(O.Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)