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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!
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board will hold a “Breakfast with the Birds” Program this Saturday, in Atlantic. The program will be held at Sunnyside Park, Camblin’s Addition Shelter on August 16th, beginning at 9-a.m. Free will donations are welcome!
Cassie Wendl, Educator at S.O.A.R. (Saving Our Avian Resources), will show and discuss several of her permanently injured birds, and will hopefully have one that is fully recovered and ready to release back into the wild. Please help the CCCB support raptors and education by attending the event this weekend.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City of Atlantic’s Planning & Zoning Commission is scheduled to meet 5:30-p.m. Tuesday, August 12, 2025, in the City Council Chambers at City Hall. Zoning Administrator/City Administrator John Lund says the Commission will continue the process of reviewing the City’s Zoning Ordinance, with preparations to move things to the final drafting stage for the next meeting, then moving that draft on to the City Council.
In addition, the P&Z will be review the current and future land use maps for the Comprehensive Plan, and the draft goals and objectives that Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee has put together. Those goals and objectives, he says, should help the Commission in its decision-making process. They will discuss and vote on Regulations for Non-Traditional Housing, as well.
(Red Oak, Iowa) – Officials with the Red Oak Fire Department reported on social media, that at around 5:10-a.m. Today (Monday, Aug.11), the Red Oak Fire Department was dispatched to 1710 N Broadway (Lincoln BP) for a report of the building full of smoke. Upon firefighters making entry, they discovered the ice machine in the back room had caught fire. The waterline supplying the machine had been compromised from the fire, ultimately extinguishing the fire. There is damage to the ice machine and surrounding area. Store was expected to remain closed for a brief while, or until the building could be fully ventilated. No injuries reported.
Red Oak FD Facebook page photo
Assisting Agencies:
(Radio Iowa) – A new book from a retired University of Northern Iowa professor is dedicated to preserving more than two dozen historic tidbits from Iowa history, oddities and encounters most people have forgotten. Author Roy Behrens’ seventh book is called, “Dreams of Fields: Memory Traces of Iowa’s Past.” It’s a collection of essays which he says zeroes in on the accomplished and interesting people who -aren’t- John Wayne, Glenn Miller or Ashton Kutcher.
“I think that there are subjects that we, as Iowans, don’t usually associate with Iowa,” Behrens says. “If you read common accounts of Iowa history, there are certain people who were born here and then left, and we tend to play those up. Johnny Carson being one, Donna Reed being another, and so forth.” The book contains an account of a long-ago visit to Iowa by famed poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, who walked across the winter ice on the Mississippi River to speak in Iowa towns.
“One of the things that I found as I was researching a lot of different topics that have nothing to do with Iowa, I would be looking around and reading and I’d suddenly run into a reference to Iowa or to someone having done something extraordinary in another state, but they were originally from Iowa,” Behrens says, “and then over the years, I’ve hunted them down to find the details.” There’s also the story of renowned surrealist painter Salvador Dali who once made the journey to Iowa from Spain. 
“He actually visited Cedar Falls. He spoke on campus in 1952 and surprisingly few people know about that because it was widely publicized at the time,” Behrens says. “He was very controversial, and of course, he was considered to be terribly eccentric.” The book also tells how celebrated painter and Iowa native Grant Wood, best known for the American Gothic, was a featured speaker at a 1939 event in Iowa City that also featured esteemed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
“During his talk, Wright referred to paintings in the prairie style and in the style of the regional style, and he made fun of them,” Behrens says. “He talked very negatively about them and people came away with the impression that he was, no doubt, talking about Grant Wood.” Behrens, who lives near the northeast Iowa town of Dysart, retired in 2018 after more than 45 years of teaching graphic design, illustration, and design history. His book is now available for pre-order through the North Liberty-based Ice Cube Press, while Behrens will be formally launching the book August 17th in an event at the Hearst Center for the Arts in Cedar Falls.
bags of school supplies fill the seats and aisles of the bus (2017 file photo from an event at Hy-Vee in Atlantic to gather needed school supplies)
(Atlantic, Iowa) – Thursday evening during Produce In the Park, you can enjoy a free Country concert by Brad Morgan. The concert held in the downtown Atlantic City Park, is presented by Rolling Hills Bank. While you’re listening to the music, you can shop the more than 25 vendors, who will be offering fresh produce, local meats, farm-fresh eggs, honey, baked goods, arts and crafts, and more.
Brad Morgan will be performing at Produce in the Park August 14
Food trucks include Tikka Talk (Indian), Firehouse Family Food (BBQ), and Lucky Wife Wine Slushies. Extra activities include putt-putt, frisbee golf, and kids’ crafts. Visiting community organizations including: Zion Integrated Behavioral Health Services, Healthy Cass County, Atlantic Lions Club, Atlantic Disc Golf Club, and more.
Organizers want to thank PIP’s August Sponsors: Zion, Gregg Young Chevrolet of Atlantic, City of Atlantic, 1st Whitney Bank, Cass Health, Cass County Tourism, Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, and Nishna Valley Family YMCA. For more information and to apply to be a vendor at our farmers markets visit https://www.produceintheparkatlanticiowa.com 
DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Education has granted $500,000 to fifteen schools in Iowa to help students earn industry credentials. The Iowa Department of Education is investing $500,000 to help students earn industry credentials including certificates, licenses, and valuable tools.
The Credentials to Careers grant program, started in 2024, has invested over $3.5 million to help support students earning industry credentials across the state. “By expanding opportunities to attain an industry-recognized credential in high school, the Department’s Credentials to Careers grant helps connect the classroom to the workplace,” said Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow. “Students earning portable, stackable credentials will be ready to succeed in in-demand, high-wage and public-good careers across our state.
The following schools will receive up to $50,000 in funding:
Funding can be used for costs including student exam fees, instructional equipment, computer equipment and software, internet connections, installation costs, teacher training expenses, and curriculum enhancements.
36 other school districts have received funding for industry credential opportunities since the program started in 2024.
(Radio Iowa) – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst says she joins President Trump in calling on Russia’s president to stop “the bloodbath” in Ukraine. Trump and Putin are set to meet Friday.
“I don’t want to see Ukraine lose land. That may happen, but the war needs to end,” Ernst said this afternoon. “We’ve lost hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Think about the children. it just needs to end, but it needs to end favorably for Ukraine and they need to know that Russia is not going to keep invading them.”
Ernst, as a college student, went on an agricultural exchange to Ukraine in 1989. Ernst met and has kept in touch with a woman in Ukraine she calls her “little sister.”
Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) speaks during the Iowa State Fair this past weekend (Radio Iowa photo)
“She is o.k.,” Ernst said. “Life is very, very hard in Ukraine.”
Ernst was at the Iowa State Fair today and briefly spoke with reporters — about 24 hours after U.S. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins hinted some USDA jobs in Washington, D.C. could be moved to Iowa.
Rollins has already said 2600 USDA positions currently based in Washington are shifting to “hubs” in five other states. Ernst said having one hub nearby in Kansas City is “great,” but she said Iowa needs to be one of the USDA hubs. “I would love to see some of those offices here in Iowa because literally Iowa feeds and fuels the world and I think we should have that representation here,” Ernst said.
During President Trump’s first term, Ernst proposed moving 30% of USDA positions based in Washington to other locations. The current USDA reorganization calls for moving over half of D.C. based USDA jobs to either Indianapolis, North Carolina, Kansas City, Colorado or Utah.
(Radio Iowa) – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says Iowa may be a destination for U-S-D-A jobs being moved out of Washington D-C. “We are working to save billions of dollars to most of the headquarters of USDA out of Washington and closer to the people. The first round of announcements included North Carolina, Colorado, Utah, Missouri, and Indianapolis,” Rollins said. “No Iowa, but there are more announcements coming.”
Rollins says there are a lot of U-S-D-A employees in Iowa already. The U-S-D-A has “Service Centers” in Iowa’s 99 counties for the operations of the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resource Conservation Service and U-S-D-A Rural Development. Ames is home to the National Centers for Animal Health, a 523-acre campus with 93 buildings. About 90 percent of U-S-D-A employees work in offices around the country. About 46-hundred are currently based in Washington.
“Listen, I love the USDA buildings in Washington. They are beautiful. They are right on the National Mall. It’s inspiring to walk up every day, but but do we really need three massive buildings for USDA on the National Mall?” Rollins asks. “One of the buildings has 6000 offices and only about 800 to 900 people actually come to work there on a good day.”
U-S Ag Sec Brooke Rollins with Atlantic’s Glen Smith on her right. Smith was announced as Rollins’ nominee as USDA Undersecretary of Rural Development. (Radio Iowa photo)
Rollins made her comments during a news conference at the Iowa State Fair, where (As KJAN reported Saturday) she announced President Trump is nominating Glen Smith of Atlantic to serve as U-S-D-A Undersecretary of Rural Development. “Glen served as chairman of the Farm Credit Administration during President Trump’s first term and will continue to be an incredible leader and a resolute voice for farmers here in Iowa and across the country in this new role.”
(As KJAN also reported) Rollins also announced the U-S-D-A is making a 152 MILLION dollar investment in 19 rural development projects in Iowa.”This unprecedented, coordinated rural development project will help boost the rural economies, develop rural infrastructure and encourage private investments,” Rollins said.
The Guthrie County Hospital is getting a 37-million dollar U-S-D-A loan to expand and renovate the facility. Four Rural Electric Coops are getting U-S-D-A loans for projects. U-S-D-A grants are going to 11 Iowa cities and two rural water systems to improve wastewater and drinking water utilities. And Halbur, a Carroll County town with about 230 residents, is getting half a million dollar loan from the U-S-D-A for street improvements.
(Creston, Iowa) – A motorcycle pursuit and crash Sunday afternoon in Union County resulted in the death of a man from Union County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, Creston Police were attempting to stop a 2022 Harley Davidson motorcycle traveling above the speed limit on Highway 34 in Creston, at around 1:10-p.m., when the motorcycle operator -identified as 55-year-old Tony Dean Fizer, of Creston – attempted to elude the Officers.
The pursuit continued east on Highway 34 at a high-rate of speed past Afton. When Fizer lost control of the cycle while traversing a curve near mile marker 94, the machine ran onto the shoulder of the road and overturned. Fizer was ejected into the south ditch. The motorcycle also came to rest in the ditch.
Tony Fizer was transported by EMS to the Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston, where he was pronounced deceased. The State Patrol was assisted by the Union County Sheriff’s Office.
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