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Beisswenger Honored by ARC

Sports

September 24th, 2024 by Jim Field

Former Audubon football player Matthew Beisswenger of Buena Vista University has been named the American Rivers Conference Football Special Teams Player of the Week.

Beisswenger connected on a pair of first quarter field goals from 20 and 35 yards that gave the Beavers an early 6-3 lead. Two plays after his 35-yard make, he intercepted a pass at the Loras 36 that set-up a Buena Vista touchdown to extend their lead. This was his fourth career interception. He was successful on both extra points and also averaged 30 yards on five punts to help flip field position. The Beavers defeated Loras for the first time since 2016 by a score of 20-17.

Jasper County head-on crash claims 2 lives Monday night

News

September 24th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Jasper County, Iowa) – A head-on crash late Monday night in northwest Jasper County claimed the lives of two women. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2018 Hyundai Elantra driven by 21-year-old Blonca Saint-Louis, of Des Moines, was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of Highway 330 near mile-marker 3.55, when the vehicle collided with a 2012 Infinity G-37, driven by 19-year-old Mackenzie Elizabeth Guilliams, of Clinton.

Both women died upon impact. The Patrol says they were wearing their seat belts.  The crash happened at around 10:40-p.m., Monday.

The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Jasper and Marshall County Sheriff’s Offices.

Iowa DOT already has tons of salt stockpiled for the winter ahead

News

September 24th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa averages between 20 and 40 inches of snowfall every year, and whether the winter ahead will be warmer than normal or cold and brutal, the winter operations administrator of the Iowa Department of Transportation vows his crews will be ready. Craig Bargfrede says shortly after -last- winter was over, he started stockpiling the essentials, including 265-thousand tons of salt at the 100 D-O-T garages, along with mountains of sand and stacks of new snowplow blades.

The D-O-T has about a thousand full-time employees and also hires on some 500 to 600 seasonal workers every winter to tackle the challenges that lie ahead. Bargfrede says the hiring process is now underway (iowadot.gov/careers).

Corn And Soybean Harvest Underway

Ag/Outdoor, News

September 24th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S-D-A crop report released Monday, says farmers were able to harvest five percent of the corn in the last week. That is five days behind last year but equal to the five-year average.

The report found nine percent of the beans were out of the fields and into the bins at the end of the week. The harvest rate is equal to last year and one day ahead of the five-year average.

Atlantic School Board to hold a Special Meeting & Work Session Wed. evening (9/25)

News

September 24th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Members of the Atlantic School Board will hold a Special Session, followed by a Work Session, Wednesday evening in the Achievement Center Conference Room. The Special Meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., and includes action on:

  • Radio bids from three different vendors (Electronic Engineering, NishnaNet, and Wireless Universe).
  • An EFR Employee & Family Resources Agreement.
  • Review and approval of a Superintendent Search Firm (McPherson & Jacobsen, Ray & Associates, or HYA).

During the Board’s Work Session, they will discuss the 2023-24 Annual Review. The Board’s next REGULAR meeting is on Oct. 9th at the H.S. Media Center, beginning at 5:30-p.m.

The meeting will be viewable via YouTube.

Nodaway Valley MIddle School among five Iowa schools on Blue Ribbon List

News

September 24th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Five Iowa schools, including the Nodaway Valley Middle School in Adair County,  are on the U-S Department of Education 2024 list of Blue Ribbon Schools. The schools on that list are Alta-Aurelia Middle School, Decorah High School, Nodaway Valley Middle School, Rock Run Elementary School in Iowa Falls , and the Rock Valley Elementary School.

The five Iowa schools were honored as “Exemplary High-Performing Schools”, which is measured by state assessments or national tests.

Each of the schools performed in the top 15 percent of all Iowa public schools based on overall performance on school accountability indicators that include student proficiency, growth, and graduation rates.

Red Oak Police report, 9/24/24

News

September 24th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest Monday night, of 35-year-old Bryceton Lee Flathers (No city of residence given). Flathers was taken into custody following a traffic stop at around 10:15-p.m., Monday, in the 700 block of Grimes Street. He was charged with Driving While Barred and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where his cash-only bond was set at $2,000.

Skyscan Forecast for Atlantic & the KJAN listening area: Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024

Weather

September 24th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Today: Mostly cloudy w/a 30% chance of showers & thunderstorms this morning. Gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 73. Winds becoming W/NW @ 5-10 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 48. North northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow: Sunny, with a high near 77. North wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tom. Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 48.

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 77.

Thu. Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 53.

Friday: Partly sunny w/a slight chance of afternoon showers. High near 76.

Monday’s High in Atlantic was 76. We received just a Trace of Rain early this morning, in Atlantic (as of 6:56-a.m.). Our Low was 43. Last year on this date, the high in Atlantic was 80 and the Low was 51. The Record High in Atlantic on Sept. 24th was 93 in 1892, and the Record Low was 28 in 1965. Sunrise: 7:09-a.m.; Sunset: 7:14-p.m.

(UPDATE) Webster County man arrested in connection with the murder of a Farmhamville teen

News

September 24th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

In an update our previous report, authorities have charged a Webster County man in connection with the death this past weekend, of a 17-year-old Farnhamville girl. KCCI reports, according to court documents, 21-year-old Nathan Bevers-McGiveney, of Gowrie, is charged with abuse of a corpse – failure to disclose known location in connection.  Bevers-McGivney is being held in the Carroll County Jail.

The criminal complaint says shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday, a woman contacted the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office to report her daughter missing. She and her other daughter were out walking and looking for the missing girl when they came upon Bevers-McGivney, who was “covered in apparent blood” and was in possession of the missing daughter’s scooter and other personal effects.

According to the criminal complaint, when questioned by law enforcement about the blood on his clothes, Bevers-McGivney requested to speak to a lawyer. He was detained and transported to the Carroll County Jail while the investigation continued.

The missing girl’s body was found shortly after 9-a.m., Monday. The criminal complaint alleges that the location where the girl’s body was discovered “suggests that Bevers-McGivney intentionally hid” the body to conceal a crime, and that he failed to disclose the location with the intent to conceal a crime.

It is unclear if further charges are pending. The incident left the community of Farnhamville – a population of roughly 400 people – in shock. The Superintendent of Southeast Valley Schools said in a statement, Monday afternoon, that counselors would be available in the district this week to help students and staff deal with the loss of their classmate.

UNI professors publish research on Iowa congressional races

News

September 24th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Election day is just six weeks away and very few of the 435 races for U-S House seats are competitive. However, based the amount of advertising alone, two of the congressional races IN IOWA are getting national attention. University of Northern Iowa political science professor Donna Hoffman says about 95 percent of incumbents in the U-S House will get reelected.

“In Iowa, it’s about 85%, so there’s a little bit of a gap there,” Hoffman says. Six years ago, in the 2018 election, Democrats were elected in three of Iowa’s four congressional districts. Republican won all four districts in 2022. “So it’s the notion of a swing in Iowa. It happens at the presidential level. It can even happen in these congressional elections and they can even be competitive,” Hoffman says. “…Finding the right issues, getting the right cycle in terms of midterm (or) presidential election, turnout — all of those things can combine to make for some surprising results.”

U-N-I political science professor Christopher Larimer says while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is spending money on candidates in Iowa’s first and third districts, it’s hard to judge whether those seats will swing to the Democrats. “We’re still kind of trying to figure out: ‘What are the atmospherics of this election going to be?” Larimer says. “As strange as that sounds, we’ve had so much change over the summer.”

University of Northern Iowa professors Christopher Larimer and Donna Hoffman on the “Iowa Press” set. (Iowa PBS photo)

Larimer and Hoffman made their comments during a recent appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S. The professors discussed their recently published research paper titled “Iowa’s Unique Congressional Competitiveness.”

In Iowa’s first district, Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks, the incumbent, is in a rematch with Democrat Christina Bohannan. In 2022, Republican Congressman Zach Nunn won the third district race by about two-thousand. His 2024 Democratic opponent is Lanon Baccam.