United Group Insurance

KJAN News

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!

Recount drama in US House race as Iowa candidates near a tie

News

November 25th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The historically close race for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District seat could be approaching a tie. Democrat Rita Hart has cut Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ lead to 35 votes out of more than 394,400 cast, with all but three of the district’s 24 counties reporting the results of their recounts. The race is the closest in the nation, and both sides expect it to tighten further as Scott, Jasper and Clinton counties finish their recounts in the coming days.

A single-digit victory for either candidate is a possibility, as is a tie, which would result in a winner’s name being drawn from a receptacle such as a hat or bowl.

 

(Delayed report) 4 injured during Guthrie County head-on crash 11/14

News

November 25th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday (Today) provided information about an injury accident that took place Saturday, Nov. 14th. Authorities say at around 7:38-a.m., a Guthrie County Deputy responded to a head-on collision at the intersection of Highway 4 and 141, east of Bagley. An investigation determined a 2014 Ford Explorer driven by 43-year old Sara Marie Anderson, of Templeton, was traveling east on Highway 141, while a 2000 Ford Windstar van driven by 34-year old Codey Allen Savage, of Jefferson, was traveling westbound.

Anderson, and her 13-year old passenger, Haley Nelson, told authorities they saw the van in their lane of travel. Anderson tried to avoid hitting the van by going into the westbound lane, but Savage swerved into the west lane at the same time before the vehicles collided head-on. Savage told authorities afterward, he could not accurately recall how the accident happened. A witness to the collision corroborated Anderson’s account of the story.

Sara Anderson suffered suspected minor injuries. Haley Nelson complained of pain and possible injury. A third passenger in the SUV, 43-year old Sara Ferneding, was trapped in the vehicle and suffered suspected minor injuries. She was extricated by mechanical means. Ferneding and Anderson were transported by Panora EMS to Mercy Hospital in downtown Des Moines, while Nelson went to the Dallas County Hospital by Dallas County EMS. Savage was flown by LifeFlight helicopter to Mercy downtown, for treatment of suspected serious injuries.

The vehicles were totaled in the crash, with an estimated $40,000 damage altogether. An Iowa DOT highway sign sustained $1,500 damage.

Mills County Sheriff’s report (11/25): Child injured in rollover accident

News

November 25th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Wednesday (today), reported the arrest at around 6:45-a.m., of 24-year old Cheyenne Rose Lopez, of Underwood.  Lopez was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Burglary in the 3rd Degree. Her bond was set at $2,000.

And, a nine-year old girl was injured during a rollover accident late Tuesday morning, in Mills County. Authorities say a 2002 Jeep driven by 30-year old Alexsandra Sturm, of Henderson, was traveling north on Highway 59 near Devore Avenue, when, due to the snowy road conditions, the SUV left the road and entered the west ditch, where it rolled over. The child was ejected from the vehicle as it rolled. She suffered minor injuries and was transported by Henderson Rescue to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital. No other injuries occurred.

Stuart woman arrested on Union County warrants

News

November 25th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports a woman from Stuart was arrested on eight Union County warrants Tuesday evening, at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Authorities say 22-year old Brianna May Lawson was arrested on: 1 warrant for violation of probation; 6 warrants for failure to appear, and 1 warrant for violation of no contact/protective order.

Lawson was being held without bail for Union County, in the Adams County Jail, until seen by a judge.

Rollover accident in Page County Tuesday afternoon

News

November 25th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

The Page County Sheriff’s Office says no serious injuries were reported following a rollover accident Tuesday afternoon. Deputies responded at around 3:15-p.m. to the scene of the accident in the 2100 block of Maple Avenue. An investigation determined 57-year old Corey A. Cloyed of Omaha, NE., was driving a 2019 Isuzu box truck owned by Keystone Automotive Industries, north bound on Maple Avenue in the 2200 block.

Cloyed started down a hill, and was slowing to enter the curve at the intersection of Maple Avenue and 220th Street (Maple curves west just north of the intersection), when the vehicle went out of control on the wet surface. The truck struck a road sign and then entered the north ditch ½ way into the curve, before rolling onto its side coming to rest in the ditch.

Corey Cloyed was unable to exit the vehicle. A passerby used a piece of metal to break out the windshield so Cloyed could escape. He refused medical treatment at the scene. Damage from the accident amounted to $15,500. No citations were issued. The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by the Clarinda Ambulance service and the Clarinda Fire Department.

Iowa hospital officials urge the state’s residents to take more COVID precautions

News

November 25th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – One-hundred-70 state hospital leaders are urging Iowans to follow public health recommendations to slow the spread of COVID-19. A joint statement released by the Iowa Hospital Association’s physician leadership group and the Organization for Nursing Leadership asks Iowans to avoid crowds, stay home when sick and wear a mask. Dr. Michael McCoy, chief medical officer with Great River Health in West Burlington, says his hospital’s biggest challenge has been finding enough staff to take care of COVID patients. McCoy says, “We’ve already stopped doing a lot of our elective surgeries, almost all of them, not because of beds, but because of — we needed to pull staff from that area.”

McCoy says 97 hospital employees were out Monday because they were either sick with the virus or needed to quarantine. Rates of new COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations have more than doubled in the past month. Dr. Tammy Chance, at the Boone County Hospital, says her goal this past summer was to get people to follow precautions so they could spend the holidays with family. Chance says, “I know this sounds morbid, but now my goal is to get people to take this seriously, so they don’t have an extra grave to visit of a close friend or loved one come next Memorial Day.”

Chance says there were a few days last week when her region nearly ran out of ICU beds, and her hospital has faced critical staffing shortages related to the virus. As of today (Wednesday), more than 1,300 Iowans were hospitalized with the virus, with nearly 270 in ICUs. Some 200 patients were hospitalized for the virus statewide in the past 24 hours.

(By Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

Keep Thanksgiving fun by playing online board games with distant family

News

November 25th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The pandemic is forcing many Iowans to shake up their Thanksgiving traditions and while many of us won’t be in the same room with loved ones tomorrow (Thursday), virtual rooms are growing in popularity. After the big meal, many families play board or dice games, which can be easy through Zoom or Skype, according to game lover Annelise Tarnowski of Des Moines. She just played Yahtzee with a distant friend online.

“Yahtzee you can absolutely play if you can find five dice somewhere around your house, then print out one of the sheets from online, and you’ve got a game, that’s it,” Tarnowski says. “We both got on a video call and when it was my turn, I would roll my dice, when it was her turn, she would roll her dice. She beat me every time and I’m kind of a sore loser, but it was still fun and it was still good to see my friend.” Tarnowski owns The Rook Room, a pop-up board game bar and cafe, based in Des Moines. She says there are all sorts of board games that work perfectly well in the virtual format.

“Trivial Pursuit is one, even without the board, just playing the cards and reading them to each other, that’s really easy,” Tarnowski says. “Also, games like Scattergories or Pictionary, anything that might have a generator online where you can get all of the cards. If not everyone in your family or your friend group owns the game, you can find a lot of these that will give you prompts.” Games that involve decks of cards don’t work so well online, but Tarnowski says there’s an app called House Party which she recommends. It offers a wide selection of familiar games that you can play via your smartphone or tablet with far-away friends and family — or even those who are close by.

“I was just playing Uno with my boyfriend the other day. We were in the same room but I wanted to play Uno and we don’t have it, so we both downloaded this app and we played Uno against each other,” Tarnowski says. “It’s cool because you can see the cards kind of over your friends faces and it feels like you are playing around a table.” She also suggests falling back to old-school role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, which can easily make the jump to Zoom by simply employing pen and paper — and your imagination.

(By Charity Nebbe, Iowa Public Radio)

New Dates just released for Ethanol Emergency Response Webinars – December 2020 – April 2021 Ethanol Emergency Response Webinar – FREE + Certificates

Ag/Outdoor, News

November 25th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Area Emergency Responders, firefighters, EMT’s, law enforcement and EMA personnel are being informed Due to current circumstances and social distancing the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) will be offering 4-hour long Ethanol Safety Webinars. The FREE webinars are instructed by a nationally accredited and professional instructor with an extensive background in emergency management/firefighting/hazardous materials response. The goal of these seminars is for attendees to gain a full ethanol and ethanol-blended fuel emergency response training experience that can be put to use immediately in the field.

The training program will include the following elements: Ethanol and Ethanol-Blended Fuels, Chemical and Physical Characteristics of Ethanol and Hydrocarbon Fuels, Transportation and Transfer, Storage and Dispensing Locations, Fire Fighting Foam Principles, General Health and Safety Considerations, and Storage and Pre-planning Considerations. Certificates of Participation will be awarded to all registered attendees once the webinar has been completed.

The RFA has conducted nearly 300 in person Ethanol Safety Seminars across the country.

Registration: https://www.transcaer.com/training/training-events/ethanol-emergency-response-webinars/10065

Sessions:

Tue, 12/08/2020 08:00 AM to 12:00 PM CDT
Wed, 12/09/2020 12:00 PM to 04:00 PM CDT
Wed, 01/27/2021 08:00 AM to 12:00 PM CDT
Thu, 01/28/2021 12:00 PM to 04:00 PM CDT
Wed, 02/24/2021 08:00 AM to 12:00 PM CDT
Thu, 02/25/2021 12:00 PM to 04:00 PM CDT
Wed, 03/24/2021 08:00 AM to 12:00 PM CDT
Thu, 03/25/2021 12:00 PM to 04:00 PM CDT
Wed, 04/21/2021 08:00 AM to 12:00 PM CDT
Thu, 04/22/2021 12:00 PM to 04:00 PM CDT

RFA also offers Ethanol Emergency Response – Train the Trainer webinars which is a pay-it-forward type of program. A single webinar can train a group of individuals who can then turn around and pass that information forward, equipping entire communities with the knowledge necessary to respond to any potential ethanol-related emergency.  The Train the Trainer courses are intended to develop instructors to lead operations level training. The instructors are responders who have an awareness level of hazardous material storage, handing, and emergency response. The learning objectives established are relevant objectives that the instructors must understand. The webinars are open to all professional individuals above the technical level of training who are interested in learning how to teach ethanol emergency response. However, the instruction is tailored toward ethanol production facility employees, ethanol safety professionals, railroad safety professionals, emergency responders, firefighters, police officers, emergency management professionals, etc. Certificates of Participation will be awarded to all registered attendees once the webinar has been completed.

Registration: https://www.transcaer.com/training/training-events/train-trainer-ethanol-emergency-response-webinar/10071

Sessions:

Wed, 12/02/2020 11:00 AM to 01:00 PM CST
Tue, 03/09/2021 11:00 AM to 01:00 PM CST
Thu, 06/17/2021 11:00 AM to 01:00 PM CST
Tue, 08/24/2021 11:00 AM to 01:00 PM CST

Test Iowa sites closed for Thanksgiving Day 

News

November 25th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES – The five state-operated Test Iowa sites and the State Hygienic Lab will be closed Thursday, Nov. 26, for Thanksgiving Day. The sites include:

Black Hawk County — 4121 Alexandra Drive, Waterloo
Linn County — Windstar Lines, 5755 Willow Creek Drive SW, Cedar Rapids
Polk County — 4475 NE 3rd Street, Des Moines
Pottawattamie County — Western Historic Trails Center, 3434 Richard Downing Ave., Council Bluffs
Scott County — North Park Mall, 320 W. Kimberly Road, Davenport

The Council Bluffs site will close two hours early today (Wednesday, Nov.25) at 2 p.m. This will allow test samples to be transported to the lab for processing overnight so individuals can be notified of results in a timely manner. All other sites will remain open until 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

The five sites will reopen for testing as usual on Friday, Nov. 27, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Individuals who wish to be tested at any site must first complete an online assessment at testiowa.com, and schedule an appointment. Locations and hours of operation for all test sites can be found at testiowa.com or coronavirus.iowa.gov.

(Podcast) KJAN 8-a.m. News, 11/25/20

News, Podcasts

November 25th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

Play