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(Podcast) KJAN 8-a.m. News, 2/18/20

News, Podcasts

February 18th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

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

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(Podcast) KJAN Morning News & Funeral report, 2/18/2020

News, Podcasts

February 18th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Police: Man forced woman to watch ‘Roots’ for racism lessons

News

February 18th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (The Gazette) — Court records say an Iowa man made a woman watch the miniseries “Roots,” and told her it would make her better understand her racism. Robert Noye is charged in Cedar Rapids with harassment and false imprisonment. The miniseries was based on author Alex Haley’s family history, starting with the capture and enslavement of his ancestor Kunta Kinte in Africa. The woman reported that when she tried to move, Noye told her to remain seated or he would “kill her and spread her body parts” across the interstate on the way to Chicago.

Man who shot at officers in Stuart pleads guilty to gun, drug charges

News

February 18th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man who opened fire on officers serving a warrant in Stuart, has pleaded guilty to federal gun and drug charges. 52-year old Randall Comly is scheduled to be sentenced June 12th in Des Moines. He pleaded guilty this month to possession of methamphetamine for sale and two weapons charges.

Comly is accused of firing a handgun at officers on Oct. 17, 2019, as they tried to arrest him on a warrant for second-degree arson, inside a Stuart apartment complex. The exchange of gunfire injured three law enforcement officers and Comly.

Report says DHS needs more resources to investigate child abuse cases

News

February 18th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — A report from the State Ombudsman says there could be more deaths unless the agency which investigates child abuse in Iowa gets more resources. The report from Ombudsman Kristie Hirschman focused on the death of 16-year-old Natalie Finn — who was found emaciated in her adoptive family’s West Des Moines home in October 2016 and died a few hours later at a local hospital.  “We found scenarios where there where there were child abuse reports made to the Department of Human Services and those reports were rejected rather than accepted. Which is problematic,” according to Hirschman. “We also found situations where the information wasn’t gathered or documented in those reports, and that may have played into the unfortunate decision to reject some of these.”

Hirschman says that 14 child abuse reports had been made to D-H-S on behalf of the Finn children — but many were not followed up. She says the record-retention policies of D-H-S caused problems. “It was problematic for us in doing a thorough investigation when records had been destroyed according to their redaction policy,” Hirschman says. Changing that policy is one of 14 recommendations her office is making. “They need to consider revising their statute and rules to address that. Because, in a lot of situations identifying historical pattern of similar abuse reports is significant in making determinations,” Hirschman says.

The Ombudsman says the key issue is the D-H-S workers are swamped. “In addition to their lunch break and their two 15 minutes brakes — it was determined that they get 40 minutes a month for personal breaks — so that’s basically two minutes a day. It’s just one call after another after another,” she says. “We identified a problem that they weren’t always able to check the history of previous reports.” Hirschman says a pattern was eventually notice by an after hours field worker who review some of the reports that said Finn was not getting enough nourishment. She says more funding has been put into some areas of the system — but the number of intake workers has not increased since 2011. “We have numbers in the report that the number of intake workers has pretty much remained static and yet the number of calls and reports of child abuse have increased significantly, especially since the death of Natalie Finn,” Hirschman says.

The report shows Finn’s death has resulted in a 36 percent increase to field workers’ average caseloads from 2016 to 2018. Hirschman says D-H-S has reviewed and responded to her report. “They accepted 11 of our 14 recommendations, so we’ll be following through on those and monitoring their implementation,” she explains, “and we will continue to pursue implementation of the other recommendations.”  Hirschman says the public and everyone else should continue to be aware of potential child abuse and report it. “Protecting our children and grandchildren is a group effort. We all need to work together to identify problems in the system so tragedies like this don’t happen again,” Hirschman says.

D-H-S Director Kelly Garcia wrote in their response: “This was a tragic case, the Finn children should never have had to endure the treatment they received. We will learn from this and improve the safety net D-H-S provides to Iowa’s children.” Garcia says some of the work to improve the Department’s response began immediately, “but a large part of the Department’s ongoing efforts will focus on finding better ways to support our team so they can better support the families we serve.” You can see the full report on the Ombudsman’s website.

Mobile Home Park regulations proposed

News

February 18th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — Restricting mobile home park rent increases and requiring good cause to evict tenants are just some of the provisions in a bill that’s emerged at the statehouse. Republicans and Democrats crafted the bill after an out-of-state company bought some Iowa mobile home parks and is phasing in steep rent increases. The Iowa Manufactured Housing Association is one opposed to the bill. The association’s Jodie McDougal says park owners need to be able to pay for maintenance. “These guys are in the business to maintain the source of housing and our fear is the restrictions and regulations are going to make that much more difficult,” she told lawmakers.

But Nathan Blake with the Iowa Attorney General’s office says the bill is needed to protect mobile home residents from bad actors. And it would at least put their rights on par with other renters. “Ultimately this bill provides more balance in a space that’s been tilted unnecessarily toward landlords for too long,” Blake says. The bill must clear a full committee in the legislature by the end of this week to remain eligible for debate.

Lawmakers consider limiting urban sprawl on Iowa farmland

Ag/Outdoor, News

February 18th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — A bill that would prohibit Iowa cities from annexing most farmland has cleared initial review in the Iowa House, but bill backers say it needs major adjustments and is unlikely to meet Friday’s deadline for committee action. Kevin Kuhle, a lobbyist for the Iowa Farm Bureau lobbyist, says the bill is the starting point for an important conversation. “Our folks have some concerns regarding the annexation process,” he says.

The bill deals with voluntary AND involuntary annexation. That means it would prevent farmers who WANT the land to be annexed as they plan to sell it for development. Gary Grant is a lobbyist for the City of Cedar Rapids. “The sad fact of it is that our cities have always been surrounded by farmland,” he says “and sort of putting this permanent ring around cities seems to be something that I think might have unintended consequences.”

Representative Tom Jeneary, a Republican from Le Mars, says he hopes there’s some way to address farmers’ concerns. “I”m not against expansion or development,” he says, “but there’s only a finite number of flat, black dirt farm ground in Iowa.” The bill as currently written would bar cities from annexing farmland that’s rated at least 45 percent suitable for growing corn. Representative Tedd Gassman, a Republican from Scarville supports some sort of action to limit urban and suburban sprawl, but he says the bill as currently written is not the final answer. “They can’t put all those new houses out in a swamp, you know, so you’re going to have to have some decent land, anyway, to build houses on,” Gasman says.

According to the Iowa State University Extension Services, nearly four percent of prime Iowa farmland was taken out of production in the 35 year period between 1977 and 2012.

Red Oak man arrested Monday night

News

February 18th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

A man from Red Oak was arrested at around 9-p.m., Monday, following a traffic stop. 59-year old Dennis Edward Elliott was taken into custody for Driving While Suspended. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on slightly more than $566 bond.

Iowa early News Headlines: Tue., Feb. 18, 2020

News

February 18th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:50 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say an investigation into animal treatment at an Iowa state lawmaker’s hog farm found no evidence that animals were being abused despite video that a group posted that appeared to show otherwise. Two people with California-based Direct Action Everywhere entered a hog farm last spring owned by Republican Iowa state Sen. Ken Rozenboom. Mahaska County Sheriff Russell Van Renterghem says an investigation didn’t find any abuse. Rozenboom said he decided in December to lease the hog building to a different farmer. He has said veterinary records show the herd was being treated for a respiratory infection that contributed to the problems Direct Action Everywhere documented.

REMBRANDT, Iowa (AP) — The body of an employee killed in a barn collapse has been recovered from the wreckage in northwest Iowa. A structural failure early Friday morning at the Rembrandt Foods facility just east of Rembrandt caused a catastrophic collapse of equipment inside the building. Buena Vista County authorities say a search for the employee was suspended at 6 p.m. because of safety concerns for the people trying to find the worker. The search resumed Saturday, and the worker’s body was recovered around 2 p.m. The worker’s name and other details about the accident haven’t been released.

URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) — A woman who headed the accounting division of a private fertilizer company in Urbandale has been accused of embezzling more than $116,000. Polk County court records say 41-year-old Heidi Cook is charged with nine counts of theft, one of fraudulent practices and one of unauthorized use of a credit card. She remained in jail Monday. The court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for Cook. Prosecutors say that, from at least Dec. 10, 2018, she took 33 checks totaling more than $116,000 from Spraytec and deposited them into her own bank account.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A student is suing Drake University in Des Moines, along with a fraternity at the school and several fellow students for an unspecified amount after he said he nearly died from a hazing incident. Court documents filed Feb. 7 show Marcus Shields is suing the school, Theta Chi fraternity, its Drake chapter and others. The lawsuit says Shields was a 19-year-old freshman last year and a Theta Chi pledge when the fraternity engaged in hazing, included coercing and forcing him to drink excessive amounts of alcohol. Shields says he pleaded with his fraternity brothers that “he didn’t want to die,” and had to be taken by ambulance to a hospital for acute alcohol poisoning.

Adair County Sheriff’s report (2/18/20)

News

February 18th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports it was a pretty uneventful past week, as far as arrests and incidents are concerned. The Sheriff says 22-year old Jasmina Gusalic, of Des Moines, was a passenger in a pickup near Stuart, who was cited for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia Feb. 11th.

Several plastic baggies with marijuana residue inside the vehicle were found on the floorboard in front of her, pipes used for smoking meth were found in her coat pockets. More plastic baggies with suspected marijuana residue were found on the passenger side of the vehicle, and in the woman’s backpack.

Several other pipes and a hypodermic syringe were found in the backpack as well. Gusalic admitted all the paraphernalia belonged to her. She was released from the scene after receiving her citation.