(Radio Iowa) – Some listeners might have thought she was crying wolf, when they heard a logistics and supply chain expert from the University of Iowa say to buy their Christmas gifts back in July. The predictions were correct from Jen Blackhurst, a U-I professor of business analytics, and we’re now seeing products ranging from video games to sirloin steaks have vanished from store shelves. “There’s labor shortages, there’s transportation shortages, you see in the ports coming into the U.S., massive backups and delays,” Blackhurst says. “It’s exacerbated and has become more severe over time.”

Many retailers still haven’t recovered from the complications of the pandemic and she says the perfect storm she warned about four months ago is hitting us now, and hard. Plus, it’s not just products we wanted to put under the tree that are hard to find. “What we’re seeing is potential shortages in packaging materials, so, do we have the aluminum, the steel, the resin, even glass bottles? How readily available are those?” Blackhurst says. “We’re seeing a variety of items in short supply.”

Prof. Jen Blackhurst (UI photo)

If you ignored the warnings and still haven’t completed — or even started — your Christmas shopping, never fear, there’s still plenty of products out there to buy, however… “You might not get the exact item that you want, but know that the retailers, the manufacturers, they’re doing everything they can to get products in your hands,” Blackhurst says. “I would say just be flexible and if you see something that you’re thinking about, go ahead and pick it up now.” She implores shoppers -not- to resort to panic buying, like happened in recent months with essentials from cleaning products to hand sanitizer.

“In terms of stockpiling and what we saw last year with toilet paper, that’s just going to make it worse,” Blackhurst says. “Stay calm and eventually, things will get back to normal, but if you see the item you want, go ahead and pick it up now.” So just when will things be “back to normal” for us? Blackhurst predicts it will be “at least well into 2022” before the supply chain again has its many links aligned.

(Atlantic, Iowa) –  Bailey Smith, Executive Director of the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, reports the Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors were hosted by GracePoint Church, formerly known as E-Free Church, on Thursday, November 4th, 2021. The Ambassadors learned about the recent name change and about the annual Operation Christmas Child program.

Paula and Jeff Osegard shared about the mission of Operation Christmas Child, which is to provide God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world. Since 1993, more than 178 million children, in more than 150 countries, have received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox. The project delivers not only the joy of receiving a child’s first ever gift, but also gives the child a tangible expression of God’s love.

Ambassador’s Pictured Left to Right: Lana Westphalen, Colt Doherty, Kathie Hockenberry, Dawn Marnin, Donnie Drennan, Alden Harriman, Jim Kickland, Mike Cook, Dr. Keith Leonard, Dolly Bergmann, Kennedy Freund, Krysta Hanson, Jennifer McEntaffer, Rachel Czaja, Heidi Roland Hinman, Devon, Pastor Don McLean, Paula Osegard and Jeff Osegard. (Photo submitted)

GracePoint Church distributes specific shoe boxes to the community, individuals then fill the shoe boxes with various items like school supplies, reusable water bottles, clothing, toys, etc. Individuals choose to pack the box for either a girl or boy between three age groups: 2-4, 5-9 and 10-14. Individuals can also virtually “pack a box” and give a donation by visiting the Samaritan’s Purse website at https://www.samaritanspurse.org/.

Collection will begin Monday, November 15th and will be taken through Monday, November 22nd at Gracepoint Church, located at 1 East 22nd Street. Collection times are as follows: Monday, November 15th- 5 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, November 16th- 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, November 17th- 1 to 3 p.m., Thursday, November 18th- 6 to 8 p.m., Friday, November 19th- 4 to 6 p.m., Saturday, November 20th- 10 a.m. to noon, Sunday, November 21st- 1 to 3 p.m. and Monday, November 22nd- 9 to 11 a.m.

For more specific times of collection or for further information on Operation Christmas Child please contact GracePoint Church at 712-243-4738.

(Glenwood) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests: At around 6:45-a.m. Thursday, 32-year-old James Isaiah Donevley McFarland, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Pott. County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Violation of Probation. His bond was set at $10,000.

And, on Tue., Nov. 2nd, 19-year-old Chad Eugene Bohrer, of Des Moines, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension. His bond was set at $300.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Friday (Today) said Deputy arrested 41-year-ol Michelle Theisen, of Griswold, on Oct. 29th, for driving while barred. Theisen was taken to the Cass County Jail and was later released on her own recognizance.

And, on Oct. 31st, Deputies arrested 36-year-old Eric Huddleson, of Atlantic, for OWI 1st offense. Huddleson was transported to the Cass County Jail and was also later released on his own recognizance.

(Radio Iowa) – A northeast Iowa judge and jury have declared a Manchester man who’s been missing for nearly eight years legally dead. Brian “Farmer” Burns was last seen December 19, 2013 at his home northwest of Manchester. He was reported missing by a family member a few days later. The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office asked for the public’s help in locating Burns, but he was never found. On Thursday, a jury trial was held in Delaware County District Court, with his brother, Randy Burns, appearing with his attorney to petition for the legal declaration of death.

Brian Burns. (KMCH photo)

The court says from this day forward, it should be presumed that Burns is deceased. Sheriff John LeClere says even though Burns has been declared legally dead, his case will still remain open.

As is required in this kind of infrequently used legal proceeding, the jury reached a unanimous verdict that there is sufficient evidence that Burns is dead and the judge concurred. Burns was 55 years old at the time of his disappearance.

The news at 8:05, with Ric Hanson.

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(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department say two people were arrested on separate charges, Thursday. Just before 11-a.m., 44-year-old Kari Lynn Wilkinson, of Red Oak, was arrested at the Creston Walmart Store. She was charged with having outstanding warrants for Failure to Appear. Wilkinson was transported to the Union County Jail and subsequently transported to the Adams County Jail, where her bond was set at $600 after serving a two-day jail sentence.

And, a little before 7-p.m. Thursday, 53-year-old James Leroy Jones, of Creston, was arrested at his residence on charges that include: Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense; Interference with Official Acts, and Tampering with a witness or juror. He was being held without bond in the Union Jail, pending an appearance before a magistrate.

A woman from Creston reported to Police, Thursday evening, that her purse had been stolen. The purse was last seen at around 4:30-p.m. Thursday, outside the Iowana Hotel, in Creston. The loss was estimated at $1,460.

The 7:07-a.m. Newscast, with Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Regents got a detailed look Thursday at the numbers behind what has been a five-year decline in enrollment at the three state universities. Analyst Jason Pontius, says they’ve looked at a lot of numbers. “The big story here honestly is no college. More and more of our high school graduates are choosing not to go to college after graduation,” Pontius says. He says that does raise a concern looking ahead. “And one of the areas that is probably most concerning is that this is all pre-COIVD numbers. We had seen over a six-year period a five percentage point decline in the percentage of the high school classes that are deciding to go to college,” Pontius says.

There’s been a concern that a drop in births will catch up to states for high school and college enrollment –but he says Iowa shouldn’t see as big an impact as other states. He says the numbers are going to go up and then come back down again, but there won’t be a big difference from where they are at now. Pontius says another question is whether more Iowa grads are going to college in other states. “Pretty definitive answer there is no,” according to Pontius. “We’ve consistently kept about 87 percent of our Iowa high school graduates, and signs are that we are actually improving on that a little bit.”

He says there was one exception to the out-of-state loss of students. “You can see at one point there was a big uptick for students going to South Dakota. Most of those students are in the western part of Iowa,” he says. “That happened when South Dakota started offering in-state tuition (to Iowans). And those numbers are coming back down again.” Pontius says the three schools have also lost some foreign students. He says recent small sophomore and junior classes also contributed to the decline in enrollment. But, he says all three schools saw an increase in first-year students this fall and that is a good sign. “It’s going to take a little bit of time, but if we can keep the growth on these first-year classes coming in — we are going to start bringing those numbers back up again,” Pontius says.

Iowa State’s overall enrollment dropped three-point-five percent this fall, the University of Northern Iowa saw a three-point-one percent drop, and the University of Iowa’s fall enrollment fell one-point-three percent.