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2 arrests in Montgomery County Sat. night

News

May 4th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report two arrests took place Saturday night. An investigation into a reported disturbance at a residence in the 200 block of E. 4th Street in Villisca, resulted in the arrest of Eric T. Waldron and Chad W. Perkins, both of Villisca. Both men were charged with 4th degree criminal mischief, a serious misdemeanor. Waldron and Perkins were being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond, each.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Red Oak Police, Villisca Rescue and Red Oak Rescue.

Oversight panel ready for testimony under oath

News

May 4th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — With the legislative session, members of the Senate Government Oversight Committee are poised to renew an investigation into state employment issues aided by the authority to subpoena witnesses, place them under oath and fine or imprison them if they fail to comply. The committee gained that authority through a resolution passed as the last Senate action of the 2014 session on Friday.

The oversight committee wants to know who authorized payments for silence to former workers who signed settlement agreements. It’s also investigating hiring and employment practices and bidding, purchasing, and contracting policies. Senate Government Oversight Chairwoman Janet Petersen says she hopes to have the first hearing this month.

Petersen says the panel needs to question current and former officials and will see if they come willingly before issuing subpoenas.

Sunday Sports Wrap

Sports

May 4th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

NBA

UNDATED (AP) — The Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers have survived seven-game struggles in the NBA’s conference quarterfinals. Paul George poured in a playoff career-high 30 points and had 11 rebounds as the Pacers downed the Hawks 92-80. Lance Stephenson added 19 points, 14 rebounds and five assists for Indiana, which trailed 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 in the series before advancing to the conference semifinals against Washington.

Like the Pacers, the Thunder struggled early before earning a 120-109 win against Memphis. The Clippers concluded a tumultuous week that began with a disgraced owner being suspended for life and ended with a 126-121 win over Golden State. L.A. had four players who scored at least 20 points, but it was DeAndre Jordan’s game-high 18 rebounds, 15 points and three blocks while shooting 6-for-6 from the field. postseason withi three consecutive losses to San Jose.

KENTUCKY DERBY

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The 140th Kentucky Derby has been won by the favorite. California Chrome went off at 5-2 and pulled away down the stretch before beating long shot Commanding Curve by 1 3/4 lengths. The victory was the fifth in a row for California Chrome and made 77-year-old Art Sherman the oldest Derby-winning trainer. Owners Perry Martin and Steve Coburn bred an $8,000 mare to a $2,500 stallion to win the world’s most famous race with their one-horse stable. Jockey trainer Victor Espinoza completed the 1 1/4 miles in 2:03.66 for his second Derby victory, 12 years after guiding War Emblem.

MLB-SCHEDULE

UNDATED (AP) — The defending National League champions find themselves under .500 after losing for the ninth time in their last 13 games. Junior Lake snapped a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the sixth inning of the Chicago Cubs’ 3-0 shutout of St. Louis. Jake Arrieta allowed just four hits while striking out seven over 5 1/3 innings in his major league season debut before five relievers completed the combined seven-hitter. The Redbirds are 15-16 following their fourth shutout loss of the season. They’ve been held to two runs or fewer in seven of their last 13 games.

Also in the majors:

— Jon Lester struck out a career-high 15 and allowed just one hit over eight shutout innings of Boston’s 6-3 win against Oakland.

— The New York Yankees ended a three-game skid and pitcher Masahiro Tanaka improved to 4-0 after allowing three runs in seven innings of a 9-3 pounding of Tampa Bay.

— Minnesota whipped Baltimore 6-1 to end a four-game losing streak.

— The Angels beat Texas 5-3 in Anaheim.

— Seattle erupted for eight runs in the seventh inning, then gave up six runs before beating Houston 9-8.

— Detroit routed Kansas City 9-2.

— Cleveland was a 2-0 winner over the Chicago White Sox.

— Cincinnati has a 6-2 win over Milwaukee.

— San Francisco pulled off a 3-1 victory in Atlanta. Ryan Vogelsong allowed one run on five hits in six innings as the Giants won for the eighth time in nine games.

— Neil Walker supplied a tiebreaking, two-run double in the eighth inning of Pittsburgh’s 8-6 comeback win over Toronto.

— Ryan Howard belted a three-run homer in the first inning and Cody Asche added a solo shot in Philadelphia’s 7-2 victory against Washington.

— The Los Angeles Dodgers beat Miami 9-7 on Carl Crawford’s two-run homer in the 11th inning.

— Brandon McCarthy scattered three hits in seven shutout innings to pitch Arizona past San Diego 4-3.

— Charlie Culberson capped a wild game by smacking a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to give Colorado an 11-10 thriller over the New York Mets.

BOXING-MAYWEATHER/MAIDANA

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Floyd Mayweather remains unbeaten after winning a majority decision in a tough bout against Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas. Maidana threw far more punches, but Mayweather was more accurate with his as the two battled into the late rounds with the fight still very much in doubt. Cheered on by a large contingent of Argentine fans, Maidana took the fight to Mayweather, who was cut by the right eye in the fourth round by an accidental head butt. Mayweather retained his welterweight title by winning 117-111 on one scorecard and 116-112 on another. A third judge had it even at 114-114.

NASCAR-AARON’S 499

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Brian Scott has claimed the pole for today’s Aaron’s 499 Sprint Cup race in Talladega, Ala. He led a 1-2-3 sweep of cars on the starting grid for Richard Childress Racing drivers. Scott will be making just his fifth career Sprint Cup start. Paul Menard will start alongside Scott on the front row, just ahead of A.J. Allmendinger and Casey Mears. The winner a year ago was David Ragan, who finished first in a rain-delayed race. The winner last week at Richmond was Joey Logano.

GOLF

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Phil Mickelson has worked his way back in contention for another PGA title. Mickelson followed Friday’s 75 with a 9-under 63 to get within two shots of leader J.B. Holmes through three rounds of the PGA event at Quail Hollow in Charlotte. Holmes shot a third-round 6-under 66 to finish play at 13-under, one stroke better than Martin Flores.

IRVING, Texas (AP) —There is a two-way tie for the lead after three rounds of the LPGA’s North Texas Shootout. Both Meena Lee and Stacy Lewis will start the final round Sunday at 9-under, one shot in front of Julieta Granada, Dori Carter and Suzann Pettersen.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) — Bernhard Langer has a three shot lead after two rounds of the Champions Tour Insperity Invitational. He completed Saturday’s play at 10-under-par, three in front of Colin Montgomerie and four in front of Gary Hallberg, Bart Bryant and defending champion Esteban Toledo.

Five GOP candidates in Cedar Rapids for IBNA forum

News

May 4th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

The five Republican candidates who are seeking their party’s nomination for Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat support continuing federal subsidies for American farmers. The candidates appeared Saturday afternoon at a forum in Cedar Rapids sponsored by the Iowa Broadcast News Association and one of the questions they faced was whether federal farm subsidies were “the best use of taxpayer dollars.” Sam Clovis said farmers need a “catastrophic back-stop” for crop failure.

“That’s one thing that we have to do, because we have to protect the food supply and we have to protect that aspect of the industry,” Clovis said. “As far as other subsidies go, all subsidies should be suspect. All subsidies should be examined because they interfere with the market.” Joni Ernst of Red Oak said she is “philosophically opposed to subsidies” but supports continuing the subsidy farmers get to buy crop insurance. “But reality is that with the subsidies, unless we’re eliminating all of them across the board at the same time for every sector out there, then I’ll go ahead and support those subsidies,” Ernst said. Mark Jacobs said farm subsidies are “absolutely” good public policy.

“My concern is if we didn’t provide that backstop, we would have a lot of family farmers go out of business. This land would not be planted. At the end of the day it would result in lower amounts of food being produced and an increase in food prices for everybody across this country,” Jacobs said. Matt Whitaker says there should be an upper limit or cap on farm subsidies of 250-thousand dollars, so big corporations don’t get huge farm subsidy pay-outs from the federal government.

“I am frustrated beyond example as to how many times corporations go to the federal government with their hand out,” Whitaker said. “…I didn’t support the Farm Bill because 85 percent of it was food stamps.” Scott Schaben, of Ames said farmers face risk that no other industry faces. “Farmers cannot control when and when it does not rain and that is a massive variable that they have in their part of the economy that no one else can match,” Schaben says.

On foreign policy, all the candidates said it was important to take whatever action may be necessary to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. P-B-S NewsHour co-anchor Judy Woodruff interviewed each candidate individually at the start of the forum, asking the candidates their opinions on portions of the Iowa Republican Party’s platform.

You can listen to that portion of the 90-minute-long forum on www.radioiowa.com.

NWS Forecast for Cass & area Counties in Iowa – 5/4/2014

Weather

May 4th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

416 AM CDT SUN MAY 4 2014

EARLY THIS MORNING…PARTLY CLOUDY. NORTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

TODAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. BREEZY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 60S. EAST WIND 15 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30 MPH.

TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY THEN BECOMING MOSTLY CLOUDY BEFORE MIDNIGHT THEN BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY. BREEZY. LOW IN THE MID 40S. EAST WIND 10 TO 20 MPH.

MONDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 60S. NORTHEAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

MONDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW IN THE UPPER 40S. EAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

TUESDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. BREEZY. HIGH IN THE MID 70S. EAST WIND 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30 MPH.

TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. BREEZY. LOW IN THE LOWER 60S. HIGH 74 TO 87.

 

Convicted sex offender arrested in Red Oak

News

May 4th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Police in Red Oak report a convicted sex offender who was listed as one of Iowa’s most wanted sex offenders, was captured in Red Oak, Saturday afternoon. Thanks to tips from the public, officials say 34-year old Travis Lynn Sickels, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 4:30-p.m. in the 300 block of E. Market Street.

Travis Lynn Sickels

Travis Lynn Sickels

Sickels, who was convicted in Sept. 2003 of having indecent contact with a female between the ages of 14 and 17, was also wanted on a Cass County warrant for failure to pay child support. He is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 bond for failure to register as a sex offender, and a separate $2,000 bond for failure to pay child support.

Officials say an investigation is on-going, with additional criminal charges possible.

Iowa woman found guilty of torturing stepson

News

May 3rd, 2014 by Ric Hanson

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A western Iowa woman has been found guilty of torturing her mentally disabled stepson. The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reports that a judge found 46-year-old Rebecca Beyer guilty Friday of first-degree kidnapping and willful injury. She faces up to life in prison when she’s sentenced

Authorities say Beyer routinely abused the victim, now a 21-year-old man, severely burning him with heated eating utensils and a clothes iron and keeping him tethered to a wall in the garage with a dog leash.

Beyer’s attorney denied that his client abused her stepson, saying his injuries were caused by poor hygiene.

This is Your Nishna Valley 05-03-2014

Podcasts, This is Your Nishna Valley

May 3rd, 2014 by admin

w/ Jim Field and Stacie Linfor

Play

Award Winning Projects and Volunteers Honored

News

May 3rd, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Main Street Iowa hosted the 27th annual Main Street Iowa Awards celebration on Friday, May 2 at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center (Iowa Events Center) in downtown Des Moines. The event to recognize local Main Street projects, activities and volunteers was attended by approximately 500 individuals representing communities across the state. Competitive nominations were submitted for 77 projects and activities within the five categories of design, economic restructuring, organization, promotion and overall program. Nineteen were recognized with awards and two received honorable mention.

Among the winners, from western and southwest Iowa: In the Design Award category, was: the Community of Greenfield, for the total rehabilitation of more than 5,000 square feet for the Hotel Greenfield Project; and, an Organization Award was presented to the community of Manning for the MSM Family Feud fundraising event.

The honors were presented by Governor Terry Branstad, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds and Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA). In addition to the competitive nominations, 51 individuals or couples who were selected by their community for outstanding dedication and volunteer service benefiting the local Main Street program were recognized during the awards ceremony.

Volunteer of the Year awards were presented to: Sandy Petersen, with Avoca Main Street; Bert Peckham, with Main Street Corning; Jim & Bonnie Stalder, with Main Street Greenfield; Ken Laughery, with Main Street Guthrie Center, and Ron Reischel, with the Main Street Meeting group. The Program Director Award for years of service to their respective communities, was presented to: Doug Mullen, from Bedford; Colleen Nelson, from Manning, and Stacie Hull, from Greenfield.

In its 27-year history, Main Street Iowa has tracked over $1.3 billion in private investment in the purchase, construction and rehabilitation of property in participating commercial districts, significantly increasing the state’s job and business base. In addition, nearly two and a half million hours of volunteer time have been logged collectively by local main street organizations.

The communities of Bedford and Dunlap received recognition for their 20 years of participation as designated Main Street communities; and new Main Street organizations in Avoca, Guthrie Center and Newton were recognized and welcomed into the program, bringing the total active Main Street districts to 52.

For more information about Main Street Iowa and how all Iowa communities can access commercial revitalization assistance through the Iowa Downtown Resource Center, visit iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/IDRC/MainStreetIowa.

Lake, Rizzo HR, lead Arrieta, Cubs over Cardinals

Sports

May 3rd, 2014 by Ric Hanson

CHICAGO (AP) – Junior Lake and Anthony Rizzo homered, leading Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs past the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 Saturday for their season-best third win in a row. A day after the Cubs tagged St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright, they came back to beat Michael Wacha (2-3). The Cubs have their longest winning streak since a three-game sweep of San Francisco in late July.

Arrieta struck out seven over 5 1-3 innings in his season debut. He gave up four hits. Chicago’s bullpen combined to pitch 3 2-3 scoreless innings. Brian Schlitter (1-0) got two outs for the win and Hector Rondon worked around a pair of leadoff singles in the ninth for his third save.