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5 bodies found at Iowa home fire

News

January 24th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in northeast Iowa say the bodies of five people have been retrieved from a house that was completely destroyed by an early morning fire. The house was damaged so badly it could be difficult to collect enough evidence to determine the cause of the fire. The blaze left just a charred pile of smoking metal and siding where the house once stood in Arlington, a small city about 125 miles northeast of Des Moines.

The state fire marshal says it appears the bodies are those of three adults and two children. Their remains will be sent to the state medical examiner’s office for positive identification. An official cause of death for the five will not be available until autopsies are completed.

LEON COOPER, 87, of Greenfield (formerly of the Fontanelle area) – Svcs. 1/28/14

Obituaries

January 24th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

LEON COOPER, 87, of Greenfield (& formerly of the Fontanelle area), died Fri., Jan. 24th, at the Community Care Center in Stuart. Funeral services for LEON COOPER will be held 10-a.m. Tue., Jan. 28th, at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Fontanelle.  Steen Funeral Home in Fontanelle has the arrangements.

Visitation will be held from 5-to 8-pm Monday (1/27) at the funeral home, with the family present. Online condolences may be left to the family at www.steenfunerals.com. Memorials may be directed to the Leon Cooper Memorial Funds to be established at a later date.

Burial will full military graveside rites by the Fontanelle American Legion Carlson Post No. 247, will be held in the Canby Cemetery with a luncheon to follow.

LEON COOPER is survived by:

His wife  – Sylvia Cooper, of Greenfield.

His children – Becky (John) Ingram, of AZ; Ralph (Penny) Cooper, of Adair; Ivan (Lori) Cooper, of MO.,  & Bonny (Dan) Readinger, of Guthrie Center.

13 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren, other relatives and friends.

Pipeline awareness training meetings set for emergency managers & public officials

News

January 24th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Officials with MidAmerican Energy Company have announced the company is participating in several educational training meetings throughout Iowa to help prepare emergency responders and public officials on pipeline safety and damage prevention tactics. The 2014 Pipeline Awareness and Education Meetings are hosted by the Iowa Pipeline Association and are free to the public. All emergency responders and public officials are encouraged to attend.

During the meetings, the Iowa Pipeline Association will conduct interactive scenarios, allowing attendees to practice and apply their emergency response knowledge to specific incidents, such as leak recognition, hazard awareness, damage prevention and basic pipeline safety strategies. Events will be held from January through March, beginning at 5:30 p.m. A free dinner will be provided at each event.

Those interested can register for any one of the meetings at www.iowapipelinesafety.com. In western Iowa, meetings will be held: In Guthrie Center at the Farm Bureau Hall on March 11th; In Denison at the Boulders Conference Center on March 13th;In Creston at Iowa Southwestern Community College on March 25th; In Clarinda at Heritage Hall on March 26th, and in Atlantic at the Cass County Community Center on March 27th.

No. 10 Iowa hoping to avoid slipup at Northwestern

Sports

January 24th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa coach Fran McCaffery says avoiding back-to-back losses is a hallmark of a championship team. The Hawkeyes will try to sidestep a potential losing streak Saturday against a Northwestern team on a bit of a roll. No. 10 Iowa (15-4, 4-2 Big Ten) heads back out on the road to face a Wildcats team it pounded 95-67 in Iowa City on Jan.9.

Northwestern (10-10, 3-4) has won three of four since then, while the Hawkeyes are coming off an eight-point loss at 21st-ranked Michigan.

Iowa Supreme Court rules in Palo’s favor

Sports

January 24th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State guard Bubu Palo remains eligible to play for the Cyclones after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in his favor Friday. The state’s highest court denied a request by the Iowa Board of Regents for an immediate stay of a judge’s ruling last week that allowed Palo to return to the team.

Palo was suspended in 2012 after being charged with second-degree sexual assault. The charge was dropped a year ago, and the university’s Office of Judicial Affairs cleared Palo to return to the team. But Palo was found to have violated Iowa State’s student code of conduct by president Steven Leath and kicked off the team on Aug. 30.

Palo is listed on the roster for Saturday’s home game against Kansas State.

Blizzard watch issued for parts of central/eastern & southeast IA Sunday

Weather

January 24th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

330 PM CST FRI JAN 24 2014

A BLIZZARD WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL, CENTRAL, EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST IOWA, BEGINNING ON SUNDAY.

BLIZZARD CONDITIONS POSSIBLE SUNDAY THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING FOLLOWED BY DANGEROUSLY COLD CONDITIONS SUNDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY. .SNOW WILL FALL ACROSS NORTHEAST AREAS SATURDAY NIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WITH STRONG WINDS WILL ARRIVE BY LATE SUNDAY MORNING AND SWEEP SOUTH ACROSS THE REGION SUNDAY EVENING AND SUNDAY NIGHT.

NONE OF THE COUNTIES IN THE KJAN LISTENING AREA IS INCLUDED IN THE WATCH, BUT IF YOU PLAN ON TRAVELING FROM OR TO EASTERN, NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEASTERN IOWA LATE THIS WEEKEND, YOU SHOULD STAY ALERT TO FUTURE FORECASTS AND WEATHER BULLETINS.

COUNTIES INCLUDED IN THE BLIZZARD WATCH BEGINNING SUNDAY MORNING:  EMMET-KOSSUTH-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-PALO ALTO-HANCOCK-CERRO GORDO- POCAHONTAS-HUMBOLDT-WRIGHT-FRANKLIN-BUTLER-BREMER-WEBSTER-HAMILTON-HARDIN-GRUNDY-BLACK HAWK.   THESE COUNTIES ARE INCLUDED IN THE WATCH BEGINNING SUNDAY AFTERNOON: BOONE-STORY-MARSHALL-TAMA-POLK-JASPER-POWESHIEK-MARION-MAHASKA-WAPELLO-

JUDY M. (TURNER) WRIGHT, 68, OF Atlantic (No svcs. planned)

Obituaries

January 24th, 2014 by admin

JUDY M. (TURNER) WRIGHT, 68, Of Atlantic died Thur. Jan. 23rd in Omaha, NE. No services planned for JUDY  WRIGHT, but a celebration of life gathering will be held on Tues., Jan. 28th from 11am-2pm at the 1st United Methodist Church in Atlantic. The Roland Funeral Home in Atlantic has the arrangements.

Online condolences can be left at www.rolandfuneralservice.com.

JUDY WRIGHT is survived by her husband: Barry of Atlantic

Son:Allen (Stephanie) of Pappilion, Two Daughters; Jenny (Carl) Dolch of Atlantic, and Jodi (Rob) Kirchner of Atlantic.

Brother; Jerry Turner of LaVista, NE.

Sisters; Wanda Robinson of Lake Stevens, WA and Kathie Rose of Atlantic.

Nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Machine shed fire south of Massena

News

January 24th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Firefighters from Massena were called to the scene of a fully engulfed machine shed fire early this (Friday) afternoon. The call about the blaze on the Ron Schafer farm at 73646 Victoria Road, about 3-miles south of Massena, came in at around 12:50-p.m. Crews were reportedly on the scene for about an hour, dousing the flames that damaged the small, wooden building. A cause for the blaze has not yet been determined.

Car crashes into Clarinda home, woman arrested for OWI

News

January 24th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers reports an accident early Friday morning resulted in the arrest of a woman on alcohol-related charges. The Chief says shortly after 12- a.m., officers arrested 32-year old Megan Renee Warrick, of Clarinda for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

Her arrest stems from an investigation to the crash of a 2007 Ford Mustang into the garage attached to a residence at 1101 S. 22nd St. , in Clarinda. The vehicle caused extensive structural damage to the residence, owned and occupied by Mike and Renee Williams. There were no injuries reported.

Warrick posted bail and was released pending initial appearance before the Page County Magistrate Court. Her case has been referred to the Page County Attorney’s Office for review and the filing of formal charges. Brothers says the investigation is continuing and additional charges being filed are anticipated.

(12-p.m. News)

Tri-Center’s Nanninga to Join IHSAA Administrative Staff

Sports

January 24th, 2014 by Jim Field

Brett Nanninga, superintendent of schools at Tri-Center, Neola since 1998, has accepted the position of Associate Director at the Iowa High School Athletic Association. He will join the IHSAA staff effective July 1.

Mr. Nanninga brings 31 years of educational experience to the position. He received his Bachelor Degrees in Business Education and Business Administration from Peru State College in 1983 and completed his Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and his Specialist Degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1988 and 2002 respectively.

He started his educational career with five years as a teacher and coach in Nebraska serving at Trenton High School and Arlington High School. In the fall of 1988 he became the Principal at Tri-Center High School in Neola and in July of 1998 was chosen as the Superintendent of Schools for the that district.

Active in and honored for his work in state and national organizations for administrators, he also is a member of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Iowa Association of School Boards and the National School Board Association. He has spoken at Iowa and national meetings in education, financial leadership, and at technology summits. As a conference leader he was instrumental in expanding the number of schools in strengthening the Western Iowa Conference. He has been active in community projects throughout the Tri-Center District. He served two five year terms on the IHSAA Board of Control and twice was the chairperson of that group while also being a member of joint committees with the Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union, and the Executive Committee of the Iowa Hall of Pride. He will be a 2014 Bernie Saggau Award of Merit recipient at this year’s State Basketball Tournament.

At Tri-Center he has overseen numerous facility projects that have expanded campus-wide technology, the development and renovation of physical facilities that has enhance student learning, and has been active in community projects and clubs within the Tri-Center district. He is well known for being a strong advocate for the education and activities of students under his charge.

“We know Mr. Nanninga will be a great fit in our administrative team,” said IHSAA Executive Director Rick Wulkow. “He is a visionary leader and has a passion for educational based activities and brings a wealth of experience as a teacher, coach, official, principal and superintendent to this position.”

Nanninga is known for his strong communicative leadership. He engages people and dialogues and focuses on common sense when solutions are not always clear cut, while maintaining a clear emphasis on “what” is right as opposed to “who” is right.

He and his wife Sally of 32 years have three grown children – Matt, Amy and Laura, each active in high school activities, a college graduate and employed in a variety of occupations.

He proudly acknowledges that educational-based activities have always been a part of his life and lives of those in his family. “I consider being named to this position to be an honor and a privilege; and I can think of no greater way to influence the quality of the student and athlete experience in Iowa.”

“I am thankful for this opportunity to work with the outstanding folks at the IHSAA and to continue my service to the member schools and communities that make up our great state,” he added.

He added, “I appreciate the confidence that Mr. Wulkow and the Board of Control has placed in my skills and abilities and look forward to being an integral part of the IHSAA’s leadership and commitment to excellence.”