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KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Radio Iowa) – Authorities are investigating the apparent suicide of a man late last week, who evidently shot himself when Marshalltown police showed up to arrest him at his house in Ames. Marshalltown police were in Ames to serve an arrest warrant on the man on sexual exploitation and inappropriate sexual contact between a former Marshalltown school employee and a former student. Police heard a gunshot and found a body in the basement. It is the third related incident of sexual exploitation between an employee of the Marshalltown Community School District and students reported over the last couple of weeks. Marshalltown police says the three incidents are NOT related. The school district says counseling services will again be available for students and staff through Thursday of this week.
Twenty-six-year-old Mark Esquivel was charged on June 30th with sexual exploitation by a school employee and resigned as a teacher at Marshalltown High School. Former Marshalltown middle school teacher Adam Edgington of Nevada was found dead in his car on July 8th after being charged with having inappropriate contact with a 13-year-old student.
With excessive heat expected to persist through this workweek, facilities in Cass County have opened their doors to people who need a break from the extreme heat. Libraries in Cass County will be available as cooling stations during their regular operating hours throughout this week. The Nishna Valley YMCA in Atlantic will also serve as a Cooling Station. SWIPCO Transit Director Mark Lander says SWIPCO “will provide free rides this week for folks that need to get to cooling stations. All they have to do is call for a ride and tell us they need to go to a cooling station.” Call (712)-243-4196 if you need a ride to a cooling center.
Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon would like to thank the area libraries, the YMCA and their staffs for providing this important service. “We are heading into a stretch of hot temperatures and very high heat indexes for the region. Drink plenty of fluids, avoid strenuous outdoor activity during the heat of the day, stay out of the sun, and check on relatives, neighbors, the elderly and pets. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency…call 9-1-1.”
The Washington G.E.M. 4-H Club is celebrating 100 years as a club. Spokesperson Melanie Petty says the club is asking both present and past members and leaders please join in on Thursday, July 29 at 7:30 p.m. during the King and Queen contest, for a celebration. Afterwards Washington G.E.M. past and present club members and leaders are invited to stop at the 4H Food Stand for an ice cream social to reminisce about the club’s history and thoughts for the future.
Petty says “We are sure there are many stories to be told and heard.” You can also take time during the fair to view the glass case in the entry of the community center building displaying some wonderful pieces of the club’s history.
The Cass County Fair begins Wednesday, July 28th and runs through Tuesday, August 3rd. The fair is free to all ~ come out and enjoy what we have to offer!
The broadcast News at 7:07-a.m., with Ric Hanson.
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Officials with the Nebraska-Iowa Region of the American Red Cross report, as uncertain as the past year has been, one constant has been the need for lifesaving blood. Patients rushed to emergency rooms, those battling sickle cell disease and mothers with complicated childbirths rely on the generosity of volunteer donors to help receive the blood transfusions they rely on. And right now, the blood supply has fallen to critical levels. The Red Cross needs to collect more than 1,000 additional blood donations each day to meet current demand as hospitals respond to an unusually high number of traumas and emergency room visits, organ transplants and elective surgeries.
Patients need the help of the American people, who can make a difference by making an appointment to give blood or platelets as soon as possible by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). In thanks for helping meet patient needs, all who come to give between now and July 31 will receive automatic entry for a chance to win gas for a year (a $5,000 value) and a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card by email. Additional information and details are available at rcblood.org/fuel.
Red Cross Disaster Team Completes Busy First Half of 2021
The first half of 2021 saw an increased number of disasters, keeping volunteer responders busy. Between January 1-June 30 in the Nebraska-Iowa Region, the Red Cross responded to more than 470 disasters, 95 percent of which were home fires. Through those responses, the Red Cross served more than 2,000 people.
Disaster Responses (January 1-June 30, 2021)
State Events Individuals Assisted
Nebraska 174 755
Iowa 297 1,281
The Red Cross provides shelter, food, relief supplies, comfort, health service, recovery planning and other assistance in times of disaster through the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors. Nationally, the Red Cross responds to more than 60,000 disasters every year, most of which are home fires. However, large disasters such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires are increasing with frequency and intensity.
To learn more about Red Cross Disaster Relief, visit redcross.org.
A vigil was held Sunday in Montezuma, for 11-year-old Xavior Harrelson, who has been missing for two-months. KCCI reports dozens of people filled the bleachers of the Montezuma High School football stadium to pray for the boy. They also sang and released of butterflies as organizers implored them not to forget Harrelson and to maintain hope that he will be found.
Diane Hoffman, who organized the event, said she also wanted to show the Harrelson family that the community has their backs.Volunteers handed out more flyers with Xavior’s name and face on them; Hoffman said in putting on the event, she wants to ensure that people don’t forget him as time passes by. Family members of Harrelson, including his mother, Sarah, and aunt, Michelle, attended the vigil.
Family members and organizers also called for changes to the AMBER Alert criteria, believing that such an alert would have potentially helped find Xavior. Xavior did not meet the criteria, which, according to the State of Iowa, requires law enforcement to confirm a child has been abducted, believe “the circumstances surrounding the abduction indicate that the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death,” and have “enough descriptive information about the child, abductor, or suspect’s vehicle to believe an immediate broadcast alert will help.”
Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office at 641-623-2107. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also set up a special web page for tips related to the case.
(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University economist says if G-O-P lawmakers intend to cut taxes again in 2022, there’s one tax that’s out of whack when it comes to attracting new businesses here. ) “If you compare Iowa to its neighbors, it’s our property tax rates that are the most destructive when looking at, say, which side of a border new firms enter.” I-S-U’s Peter Orazem has done research on the factors business owners consider as they examine where to locate. He says it’s probably counter productive to cut income taxes, as it’s likely to be done in tandem with a sales tax increase. “If you’re starting up a business, you may not have an income and you may not have any sales, but you have to have property and you’re going to have to pay that tax right up front,” Orazem says.
Orazem also served eight years on the Ames City Council and he says it would make sense for state policymakers to take the pressure off property taxes and remove some of the constraints that prevent cities and counties from collecting other kinds of taxes. “You look at Lincoln, Nebraska that paid for all this public entertainment space with an entertainment tax and we’re not allowed to have an entertainment tax in Iowa,” Orazem says. “I think that we have sort of made way too many restrictions on how local governments fund themselves and then put too much burden then on state support for those local efforts and that’s one of the reasons we have a relatively uncompetitive tax structure overall.”
Orazem made his comments earlier this month during an appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S.