The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.9MB)
Subscribe: RSS
(Radio Iowa) — With another school year wrapped up, low-income Iowa youngsters who got many of their meals at school won’t go hungry, thanks to the Summer Food Service Program which started this week. Dylan Lampe, a spokesman for the Food Bank of Iowa, explains why the program is so important. “Throughout the school year, we put together about 5,000 backpacks that get shipped out across 55 counties that go into the hands of students in need,” Lampe says. “When it’s summertime, those backpacks don’t go out, so these kids have to find somewhere else to get a consistent source of food.”
Lampe says many thousands of Iowa kids qualify for the program, though they likely will be going somewhere other than their schools for the meals. “It depends on the different spots and where they’re going,” he says. “In each community, every one is different. It’s open to low-income teens and kids in the area.” The program is under the U-S-D-A umbrella but it involves dozens of local agencies. “It’s a federally funded program and it’s administered through the state,” he says. “The Summer Food Service Program reimburses providers who serve these healthy meals to children and teens in the low-income areas.”
School food service staff employees and volunteers help with preparing the meals for the youngsters. For more information, contact your local school district or visit the Food Bank of Iowa website at www.foodbankofiowa.org.
(Radio Iowa) — An organization that represents the state’s construction industry has established a new five-MILLION dollar endowment — to award yearly grants to schools, businesses and charities for programs that promote jobs in the construction trades. Chad Kleppe president and C-E-O of the Master Builders of Iowa, says about 75-thousand people are working on construction projects in Iowa today, but the demand is growing for more skilled workers.
“Our concern is that if we’re not being more pro-active from an industry perspective that matters are only going to get worse,” Kleppe says. His organization is now accepting applications online for the grants, which will be awarded in December. The money isn’t for scholarships, but for projects or programs that promote construction jobs in carpentry, electrical and mechanical skills.
“Maybe exhibits at museums or exhibits at different locations that are construction based,” Kleppe says. “Our hope is that contractors will work with local schools to provide the capital infrastructure for construction equipment, shop equipment be it table saws or miter saws or things like that and couple with a contractor who will provide the expertise on how to work the equipment, provide the safety and then maybe some material suppliers to provide the in-kind support in that regard.”
The Associated General Contractors of America recently conducted a national survey and Kleppe says 77 percent of contractors said their number one concern was finding skilled workers. “We are seeing more people retiring and we just are not filling those positions as quickly as we necessarily need,” Kleppe says. Governor Kim Reynolds has identified Iowa workforce shortage issues as a top priority. She attended Tuesday’s announcement of what the Master Builders of Iowa are calling their Workforce Opportunities Require Knowledge and Skills or “M-B-I WORKS” project.
“The more that we can implement these types of programs into our middle schools and high schools, it helps educate parents to see that these are phenomenal opportunities,” she said. “It gives our students an opportunity to test run some of these careers, find that they have a passion for it and they recognize that this is a great career opportunity for them.”
The Master Builders’ plan is to support up to four projects each year. The organization’s president says one of their goals is to promote more diversity among Iowa’s construction workforce, including getting more women and minorities to consider careers in the construction trades.
Firefighters from Atlantic were called to the scene of a reported residential fire early this (Wednesday) morning. The call from 1210 Locust came in just before 2:15-a.m.. The occupants were out of the home at the time of the call, thanks to being alerted by their smoke detectors. Prior to firefighters’ arrival, Atlantic Police Officer Nathan Kinney was able to extinguish flames coming from an overloaded power strip for a fish tank circulation and filtration system.
Fire crews remained on the scene until around 3:15-a.m., ventilating the home. No injuries were reported and the house sustained primarily smoke damage. The family was being assisted by the American Red Cross, following the event.
Hawkeye Ten Conference
Harlan 7, Atlantic 5
Clarinda 8, Red Oak 0
Glenwood 7, Shenandoah 1
Lewis Central 10, Denison-Schleswig 1
St. Albert 10, Kuemper Catholic 0
Western Iowa Conference
Audubon 2, AHSTW 1
Missouri Valley 13, Riverside 1
Tri-Center 2, Logan-Mangolia 1
Underwood 15, IKM-Manning 1
Rolling Valley Conference
Coon Rapids-Bayard 18, Glidden-Ralston 4
Other Scores
Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City 12, Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson 2
Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City 8, Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson 6
CAM 13, Fremont-Mills 0
OABCIG 8, Westwood 0
Panorama 8, Ogden 2
Southeast Polk 4, Creston 0
Southwest Valley 13, Griswold 4
Treynor 4, Cherokee, Washington 0
West Harrison 22, Essex-South Page 12 (5 Innings)
Woodbine 6, Sidney 4
Hawkeye Ten Conference
Atlantic 6, Harlan 5
Denison-Schleswig 9, Lewis Central 2
Glenwood 10, Shenandoah 1
Kuemper Catholic 16, St. Albert 7
Red Oak 10, Clarinda 0
Western Iowa Conference
AHSTW 6, Audubon 0
Logan-Magnolia 21, Tri-Center 2
Riverside 3, Missouri Valley 2
Underwood 7, IKM-Manning 2
Pride of Iowa Conference
Lenox 7, Bedford 0
Mount Ayr 11, Nodaway Valley 2
Other Scores
ACGC 21, West Central Valley 6
Ar-We-Va 11, Whiting 1
Bishop Heelan 7, Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson 1
Carroll 11, South Central Calhoun 1
Earlham 3, Exira-EHK 0
Fremont-Mills 21, CAM 9
Melcher-Dallas 12, Orient-Macksburg 0
Ridge View 9, OABCIG 3
Sidney 10, Woodbine 9
West Monona 14, MVAOCOU 4
Today: Isolated showers this morning, otherwise partly cloudy. High 86. NW @ 10.
Tonight: P/Cldy. Low 60. Winds light & variable.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 84. NE @ 10.
Friday: P/Cldy w/isolated showers. High 84.
Saturday: P/Cldy to cldy w/scattered showers & tstrms. High 82.
Yesterday’s High in Atlantic was 85. Our Low this morning 65. Last year on this date our High was 88 and the Low was 64. The record High in Atlantic on this date was 104 in 1933. The Record Low was 40 in 1897 & 1935.
Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Luis Castillo pitched one-run ball over six innings, Yasiel Puig homered and the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 following a rain delay of 1 hour, 20 minutes. The loss snapped the Cardinals’ four-game winning streak after sweeping the Chicago Cubs over the weekend. Castillo gave up two hits, walked four and struck out eight with 111 pitches. He dropped his ERA to 2.38 and hasn’t taken a loss since April 3 _ a 1-0 defeat to Milwaukee.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eduardo Núñez belted a pinch-hit, three-run homer to break open a close game in the eighth inning, and the Red Sox went on to beat the Royals 8-3. J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Brock Holt also drove in runs for the Red Sox. Scott Barlow took the loss in relief for Kansas City after blowing the lead in the sixth inning.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals placed slugging third baseman Hunter Dozier on the injured list with an oblique strain and recalled infielder Kelvin Gutierrez from Triple-A Omaha before their series opener against the Boston Red Sox. Dozier’s move to the IL is retroactive to Friday, and manager Ned Yost said he could be back in about a week.
BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy is looking for help on defense with the possibility Zdeno Chara won’t be back for the next game of the Stanley Cup Final against St. Louis. Chara took a deflected puck off his face in the second period of Game 4, which the Blues won to tie the series at two games apiece. Cassidy says it’s not clear yet whether Chara will be able to play. Game 5 is Thursday night in Boston.
Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Attorney General’s office says a settlement has been reached in the first health care data breach lawsuit involving numerous states, including Iowa. The office said Tuesday the deal was reached with health care software provider Medical Informatics Engineering Inc. and NoMoreClipboard, LLC, which will pay the states $900,000 and improve data security. The case was filed in Indiana, home to Medical Informatics. The lawsuit sprang from a May 2015 data breach affecting 3.9 million people.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Des Moines City Council is taking steps to ban high-capacity magazines and trigger devices that make guns even more deadly. The Des Moines Register reports that the council unanimously backed a motion Monday to prepare ordinances prohibiting the magazines and trigger activators such as bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic assault rifles to fire nearly as fast as fully automatic weapons. Councilman Chris Coleman says city leaders want to “protect our citizens from mass shootings.”
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a suspect wanted in a May shooting in Cedar Rapids that left two dead and two others injured has been arrested. Police say 26-year-old Andre Defaunte was arrested late Tuesday morning by the U.S. Marshals Service and Cedar Rapids police after a brief foot chase in Cedar Rapids. Richardson is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and several other counts in the early May 18 shooting.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A statewide trade group representing commercial, industrial and public works construction contractors says it has established a $5 million endowment that will fund programs to attract people to construction trade jobs. Master Builders of Iowa has created a nonprofit board that will each year fund projects that introduce students and adults to the building trades and help attract them to training programs to be carpenters, electricians, welders or plumbers.