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Experienced driver talks about seatbelts on buses

News

May 28th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — The state is proposing a change in rules to require that all new school buses must have seatbelts. The Des Moines School System has been purchasing new buses with the lap/shoulder belts for a couple of years now. The district’s transportation safety specialist, Robin Witt, says reaction is mixed when the issue is brought up to bus drivers. “They’re good and bad, I will tell you that. And it’s basically all what your beliefs have been,” Witt says. “I’ve been in busing since 2005 — and of course I originally thought when I heard seatbelts was ‘oh my goodness, how are we going to get them out in case of a fire’?”

She learned that fear was not an issue. “Kids can still get out of the seatbelts, and we do have seatbelt cutters just in case there is a problem with one or two. And I believe with the safety issue of kids sitting down, seatbelts are great, because they are belted into their seats,” Witt says. She says the designed of the seats on buses makes it important that the kids are sitting to avoid injuries. “Because they’re not sitting they can end up wrenching their back on the seat if they are standing or walking around. With the seatbelts, yeah, they do stay in the seat. It is so much better that way,” Witt says.

Witt drives a bus and says there are different adjustment periods for kids to adapt to the belts based on their age and experience. “The little kids that have never been on a bus before, yes, it’s like second nature. However, even our elementary kids who have been riding buses for a couple of years and all of a sudden you bring a seatbelt bus to them, they are like ‘no, no.’ They don’t just get in the seat and buckle up, you have to tell them,” according to Witt.

Witt says the bus she drives does not have seatbelts on it and her kids complained when she was gone and the fill-in driver used a bus with seatbelts on it. Buses can have 60 or more kids on them, and Witt says drivers are concerned about getting all the kids to wear seatbelts and whether the driver will get in trouble if the kids don’t . But she believes the kids can adapt. “If you had to go seat to seat to make sure somebody is belted — we would never be able to get them home on time or get them to school on time,” Witt says. “It’s going to be a learning curve. And the kids are going to have to learn when they get in to put their seatbelts on, and then we can go.”

Witt says the drivers do like the idea of having fewer discipline problems during bus trips because the students are buckled in. The State Board of Education has given approval to a plan that would require schools to belts in the new buses they order.

Creston Police report (5/28)

News

May 28th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

Officials with the Creston Police Department report 42-year old Douglas Stevens, of Creston, was arrested at around 4:52-a.m. today (Tuesday), for Driving While Barred. Stevens was subsequently released from the Union County Jail on a $2000 bond.

Norwalk man arrested in the death of a Winterset woman

News

May 28th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

The Iowa Department of Public Safety reports a central Iowa man was arrested in connection with the death of a Madison County woman. Authorities say at around 11:10-p.m., Monday, Madison County 911 received a call of an unresponsive female at 121 E. Lane Street, Lot #1, in Winterset. Responding Winterset police officers found 23-year old Rosanna Otto deceased inside the home from an apparent gunshot wound.

Jerome “Jerry” Moyer

The Winterset Police Department and the Division of Criminal Investigation identified 25-year old Jerome “Jerry” Moyer, of Norwalk, as a suspect in the woman’s death.  Moyer was arrested without incident by the Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office following a traffic stop. He was being held in the Dubuque County Jail on the charge of Murder in the First Degree. Moyer will be transported to the Madison County Jail at a later date.

(Podcast) KJAN Morning News & Funeral report, 5/28/2019

News, Podcasts

May 28th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

Play

Survey shows Iowa hail claims cost one insurer $132M in 2017

News, Weather

May 28th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa has fallen from the 9th to the 12th most expensive state for hail damage, according to an annual survey from the state’s largest home and auto insurer. Andrew Peschong, a State Farm agent based in the Des Moines area, says Colorado, Texas and Illinois had the worst hail damage last year, but it shifts around, depending on where the most severe weather strikes. “In 2017, we had $132-million in hail claims alone with State Farm just in Iowa,” Peschong says. “In 2018, that number went down to $57-million, so while there still was quite a few hail events in Iowa in 2018, it was down from the previous year.”

Last year, Iowa customers reported nearly six-thousand hail claims, with the average homeowner claim topping 13-thousand dollars and more than 34-hundred dollars for cars. It may not seem like hail storms hit Iowa that frequently, but Peschong notes, they don’t have to last long to do a lot of damage. “All it takes is 10 seconds or 20 seconds worth of hail falling and you have a large percentage of a certain neighborhood that will all have claims,” Peschong says.

While nothing can be done to prevent a hail storm, you can prevent problems associated with them by doing some good tree pruning every year. Also, when building or remodeling, he suggests you consider your roofing carefully.  “If you’re going to get an impact-resistant roof or an impact-resistant shingle, you will pay a little more for it,” Peschong says, “but on the back end, it will really help a lot when you come into a hail storm, preventing that damage.”

He also advises clients to do a home inventory by taking pictures or video and store that inventory digitally. In addition, he says to talk to your agent and ask about your coverage and deductible.

Beware flooded roads in Cass County

News

May 28th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

KJAN has received word of water over the road at several locations on White Pole Road, between Anita and Adair. If you see water over the road, turn around…don’t drown.

Morning deluge leads to flash flooding in Lincoln, Omaha

News, Weather

May 28th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Areas around Lincoln, Omaha, Bellevue and other cities in eastern Nebraska are under a flash flood warning after torrential rains early Tuesday. The National Weather Service has issued the warning for parts of Lancaster, Douglas, Sarpy, Saunders and Washington counties. The alert also covers a western portion of Pottawattamie County, including Council Bluffs, across the Missouri River in Iowa.

The weather service says up to 2 inches of rain had fallen on those areas overnight — most of it since 4 a.m. Tuesday. Several low-lying traffic lanes in midtown and downtown Omaha were covered with water before 5 a.m. The weather service says flooding in those areas could worsen, as more rain is expected in the region throughout the day.

Red Oak man arrested Tuesday morning

News

May 28th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County say a Red Oak man was arrested at around 3:24-a.m. today (Tuesday). 45-year old Jeffrey Dean Etter was arrested on a valid felony warrant for Violation of Probation and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where his cash bond was set at $20,000

2 arrested on drug charges in Fremont County

News

May 28th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports two recent drug-related arrests. On Monday (May 27), 48-year old Jeffrey Wade Massey, of Hamburg, was arrested for the Delivery of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Massey was transported to the Fremont County Law enforcement Center being held on a $10,300 bond.

And, on May 23rd, 24-year old Toby Pritchett, of Shenandoah, was arrested by Fremont County Deputies for the delivery of methamphetamine. Pritchett was transported to the Fremont County Law enforcement center being held on a $10,000 bond.

Jeff W. Massey

T. Pritchett

Iowa/Midwest early News Headlines: Tue., 5/28/19

News

May 28th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) — A tornado hit an area near the Floyd County fairgrounds in Charles City, destroying several buildings and damaging others. The Des Moines Register reports the tornado hit the fairgrounds and homes in the northeast Iowa city about 12:30 p.m. Monday. Craig Anderson, the fair board treasurer, says the tornado destroyed two fairgrounds buildings and severely damaged two others. Two buildings at the nearby Floyd County Ag Center also were destroyed. No injuries were reported.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa voters are overwhelmingly white, but the state’s few black voters could play an outsize role in choosing the winner of the first contest among Democrats seeking to challenge President Donald Trump. The Iowa caucuses tend to draw the party’s most motivated voters, and this year Democrats say black voters are energized as seldom seen. That could give the candidate who rallies the biggest share of the state’s 2% black population a narrow victory in a crowded field.

MOSBY, Mo. (AP) — Some property owners who accepted a buyout from the federal government because their homes are prone to regular flooding say they’ve grown frustrated with the long wait times to get their checks. An Associated Press analysis of federal data shows the government has spent more than $5 billion over the past three decades on its flood buyout program, and the costs have been rising over the past decade. This spring’s Midwest flooding is likely to add even more homes to the buyout queue.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Two Iowa women shot during a convenience store robbery are recovering in a Sioux City hospital. According to the Le Mars Police Department, a male suspect demanded money from the two Le Mars Hy-Vee Gas Station clerks Sunday. He then allegedly shot both victims in the stomach and fled. The Sioux City Journal reports police later found the suspect dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in South Sioux City.