The broadcast news at 8:05-a.m. w/Ric Hanson.
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The broadcast news at 8:05-a.m. w/Ric Hanson.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.7MB)
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(Radio Iowa) – Not that anyone’s complaining, but tornadoes have been very scarce in Iowa so far in 2021. This weekend marks the half-way point of our severe weather season, as April, May and June are the prime months for thunderstorms and twisters. Meteorologist Craig Cogil, at the National Weather Service, says we’ve only had two tornadoes so far this year, both in eastern Iowa. “We’d typically see about 12 or 13 by this point, so it’s been really quiet,” Cogil says. “We have been relatively at or below normal temperatures for long stretches here so that certainly has tampered some of the tornadoes that we’d normally see at this time of year.”
(FILE PHOTO) Hope Gettler submitted this photo to the KJAN Facebook page. She said “We watched the rotation that formed a rope like tornado. It bounced up and down for 10 minutes while it was moving northwest towards Guthrie. This was taken 5 miles north of Adair at 320th St and Elm St.”
Rain is back in today’s (Friday) forecast and while Cogil says thunderstorms are possible this weekend in Iowa, the threat of severe weather remains small. “We will see some rain move in but there’s just not much instability with it and even with the chances that we see over the weekend and into early next week, there’s just not a whole lot of instability and sheer that we’d normally like to see for tornadoes,” Cogil says. “Really, the threat for tornadoes remains low for the next several days.” With the arrival of warmer temperatures in the coming weeks, he says we’ll need to remain vigilant for storm development.
“We are seeing at least some signs of a shift as we head into the latter part of next week, maybe into late May where it does become a little more active, which we’d normally anticipate at this time of year anyway,” he says. “There are some signs that it may become more active here in the next week or two.” Iowa saw a total of 28 tornadoes touch down last year, which is well below the average number of around 50.
Jim Field visits with Cass County Youth Coordinator Shelby Van Horn about the youth summer camps sponsored by Cass County Extension and Cass County Conservation.
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A woman from Creston reported to police on May 6th, mail was stolen from the mailbox at her residence in the 800 block of W. Mills Street. Creston Police say the woman was missing a package from Amazon that contained a child’s backpack. The loss was estimated at $35.
The 7:06-a.m. broadcast news from Ric Hanson.
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(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University expert on cybersecurity says the hacker attack on the southern gas pipeline could have been a lot worse. Professor Doug Jacobsen says the attack could have been a lot worse. “The good news with this pipeline is they didn’t get control of the pipeline. If they had gotten control of the pipeline they cold have overpressurized the pipe. You could paint a hundred bad, bad scenarios,” he says. Media reports say the pipeline company paid five million dollars to the hackers. Jacobsen says technology has made hacking more tempting.”Early forms of ransomware have been around for probably 15 years. We didn’t see it much because we didn’t have Bitcoin — so it was hard to make a transaction without being traced. Bitcoin enabled anonymous transactions,” Jacobsen says.
He says instantly backing up data helped fight ransomware, as companies could wipe computers and install the backed up data and get back to work. He says now those who use ransomware are saying they will release the sensitive data to get companies to pay. Jacobsen says the introduction of malware has changed too as the defense against it has gotten better. He says that’s led to other ways of getting employees to be fooled into letting hackers in. “We actually don’t see this stuff come in too much as attachments any more, because we’ve done a good job of creating tools to detect that,” according to Jacobsen. “So it migrated away form a lot of email attachments, and have moved to driving you to a website where you end up downloading this malware.”
He says hacks against individuals are very uncommon for one reason. “They are not worth enough money to make it worth it to these organizations to do this. It’s a pretty sophisticated tool they employ and they are after the big score,” Jacobsen says.
Jacobsen says the hackers have focused on businesses that need their computer systems to operate — such as hospitals — to look for that big payoff.
A central Iowa man was arrested Thursday on a charge of Animal Neglect, in connection with the alleged neglect of a puppy who was discovered with a collar deeply embedded into her neck. The Animal Rescue League of Iowa reports 21-year-old Jeremy Bronigan, of Des Moines, was booked into the Polk County Jail on a $300 bond. The puppy, named “Junie,” remains at the ARL under the close watch of three staff veterinarians and the rest of the ARL’s “Miracle Medical Team.”
Officials say Junie was rescued from near death at Bronigan’s home. He’s accused of never adjusting her collar as the puppy grew up and it dug into her neck like a vise, causing pain and infection. The A-R-L says the wound on Junie’s neck was one-and-a-half inches wide and less than a half inch from her jugular.
(Left) Jeremy Bronigan and “Junie.” (ARL photo)
(Radio Iowa) – An innocent motorist was killed last (Thursday) night in a high-speed police chase in central Iowa. Des Moines police pulled a van over about 6:45 PM for expired license plates and discovered the woman at the wheel had active warrants for failure to appear in court on theft and marijuana charges. Police say the woman, identified as 35-year-old Ashley Hennings of Des Moines, sped away from the traffic stop, leading police on a chase that went about a mile.
That’s where Hennings’ van hit a car broadside, killing the car’s driver, while Hennings fled on foot. She was captured minutes later. The name of the 53-year-old man who was killed is being withheld. Hennings faces a long list of charges, including reckless driving causing death.
(By Atlantic FFA reporter Aspen Niklasen) – Atlantic FFA member Taylor McCreedy was selected as a 2021 Stars Over Iowa Finalist as part of the 93rd Iowa FFA State Leadership Conference at Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, April 18- 20, 2021. 6 finalists were selected in the Agricultural Placement award area. The finalists were selected from a pool of 621 FFA members that will earn the Iowa FFA Degree—the highest honor the Iowa FFA Association can bestow upon an FFA member. “It was incredible to be a finalist and was an absolute honor to be on stage representing my chapter. It was definitely an amazing experience and an honor I was blessed to receive.” McCreedy said.
The star awards recognize students who have developed outstanding agricultural skills and competencies through their career development programs and demonstrated outstanding management skills. Taylor has been fortunate to be able to work with different species of livestock on a variety of levels. McCreedy said, “The skills I have developed are different for each species, and I have learned a lot from the diverse experiences. I have researched and developed feed regimes for the horses based on purpose and level of activity. This has improved their body condition, muscle, and overall health. For the dairy goats, I studied the physical structure and analyzed strengths and weaknesses of our does, including milk production, and located bucks for breeding that would correct the deficiencies.” Over the last two years, Taylor has been able to eliminate a shoulder issue that some of the goats had, and have become very competitive showing them. As a result of this success, Taylor has had many inquiries about selling future offspring.
Taylor McCreedy
Star Award group photo
“This has been a huge accomplishment for me because it involved learning a great deal about how dairy goats are judged and scored.” McCreedy said. In addition, Taylor learned to analyzed a lot of different bucks to find the perfect match for each doe. “Working with our meat goats has been similar to the dairy goats in my efforts to produce higher quality and faster growing market animals. I developed feed schedules and mixture to maximize rate of gain and successfully sold market animals that have become champions.” McCreedy has also learned a lot about the cow/calf operation and has become quite skilled at pulling calves.’It takes different skills to be successful with each species’, McCreedy said.
Stars Over Iowa finalists receive a plaque and a cash award. The Stars Over Iowa program is possible with support from Beck’s Hybrids through the Iowa FFA Foundation. Listed below are the Stars Over Iowa Finalists. Star Finalists in Agricultural Placement: Taylor McCreedy, Atlantic FFA, Atlantic Hunter Thompson, Edgewood-Colesburg FFA, Edgewood Kesley Holdgrafer, Northeast FFA, Goose Lake Kolton Eisma, West Sioux FFA, Hawarden Talin Knobloch, West Lyon FFA, Inwood Michael DeJong, Montezuma FFA, Montezuma.
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In a first for Atlantic FFA Taylor McCreedy won the 2021 Diversified Livestock Production. Taylor started DSB Ranch where she trains and boards 3 horses, raises high quality beef cattle and raises dairy goats. In the midst of COVID, Taylor came up with the idea to make and sell goat milk soap to overcome profit deficits. Taylor hopes to continue and improve genetics within her operation and build her brand with all of her animals on the farm.
Taylor plans to focus on working with her horses to better improve their performance, and has advanced to working with young horses to learn to break and train them from the ground up. McCreedy said, “I prioritize the importance of nutrition, different dietary needs for different stages of training, supplements, and general health as the horses age.” Taylor plans to continue to work with a training barn to further develop her skills, while helping riders by assisting with a youth camp over the summer. Taylor plans on continuing to develop her business, “This year I have expanded to include boarding, and I am responsible for the daily care of all the animals in my barn. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to work with young people, to work with younger horses, to provide board and care for horses, and to continue learning by riding other horses”. McCreedy said.
100% of FFA members have proficiencies as part of the agricultural program and the FFA. These proficiencies range in the areas of Agricultural Communications to Home and/or Community Development and from Diversified Agricultural Production to Swine Production. Proficiency Award winners have excelled in their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) Programs. These awards encourage members to develop specialized skills that will apply toward a future career. State winners will advance to the National FFA competition where they will compete against winners from the other State FFA Associations. The Iowa FFA Proficiency Awards program is possible with support from the many partners of the Iowa FFA Foundation. The specific partner for each area is identified in our summary of results.
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