(Allison, Iowa) – One person died during a single-vehicle accident Thursday afternoon, in eastern Iowa’s Butler County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 69-year-old Gene Chinander, of Allison, died at the scene of the crash at around 2:45-p.m., Thursday. Authorities say Chinander was traveling south on Highway 14 in a 2019 RAM truck, when he failed to stop at the intersection with Highway 3. His truck left the road and struck a legally parked semi trailer in a parking lot.

The accident remains under investigation. KETV in Omaha reports Gene Chinander, longtime Iowa high school football coach, was the father of Nebraska Huskers Defensive Coordinator Erik Chinander. Erik Chinander was an offensive lineman for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1998 to 2002. He’s been Nebraska Defensive Coordinator since 2018, when he followed Scott Frost to Nebraska from the University of Central Florida.

(Lamoni, Iowa) – One person was injured during an accident that took place during a pursuit early this (Friday) morning, in Decatur County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 22-year-old Bradley D. Phelps, of Grand River, was transported by helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, after the 2010 Chevy Camaro he was driving went out control and into a residential yard before traveling airborne, hitting a tree, and coming to rest on its top. Phelps, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the vehicle. The accident happened at 1:40-a.m., in Lamoni.

The incident began after a Lamoni Police Officer was dispatched to the Kum and Go Store for a possible intoxicated driver traveling westbound on Main Street. When the Officer activated his patrol vehicle’s lights, the Camaro took off and Phelps attempted to elude the officer.

(Radio Iowa) – Ben & Jerry’s is rolling out a new ice cream flavor called “Change is Brewing” that includes a key ingredient from Iowa. Chris Miller, with Ben & Jerry’s, says the flavor is designed to support a public safety bill in the U-S House to increase funding in youth programs and to fight mental health problems and substance abuse.  “It’s part of this sort of campaign and work to reimagine public safety and this work around racial justice,” Miller says. “We put some intentionality behind the flavor.”

The ice cream includes marshmallow swirls, fudge brownies and coffee from a company based in Des Moines. “It has this cold-brew coffee base from a black-owned coffee company in Iowa called Black and Bold,” Miller says. “It also has brownies from a supplier we’ve been working with for many years called the Greyston Bakery based in Yonkers, New York, and it has a policy of open hiring.”

Miller says a portion of the sales will support two grassroots groups working on public safety issues: Mothers Against Police Brutality and Sisters For Justice. Miller says Black and Bold is a “social enterprise” which, like Ben & Jerry’s, is a company with a mission. “Black and Bold is a great addition to our portfolio of what we refer to as values-led suppliers,” he says. “Every dollar we spend purchasing ingredients is an opportunity to engage other companies and suppliers that are values-aligned and Black and Bold is a great example of that approach.”

Miller says the vision for the flavor is to reimagine a new way of creating healthy and safe communities.

(Radio Iowa) – Retired three-star Admiral Michael Franken is making a second run for the Democratic nomination for the U-S Senate. He says his career in the military and public service sets him ahead of the five other Democrats in the field. “The country is in a rather troubled state. The political dysfunction, the animosity of the situation we are between the parties, and the need to get things done. The lack of leadership we see in our elected leaders suggests an individual of an accomplishment and who has done leadership before can do some good,” Franken says.

He says the divide is not just between Republicans and Democrats — but also between members of his own party. “I would say to the extremes on the Democratic party, for the benefit of the whole we need to get to the center and approve as written,” Franken says. “Now if you don’t do that, elections are lost.” Franken addressed the current situation with the shipping crisis in American and ships unable to unload their cargo. “We do something about triple-shifting to move commodities out of the S pods and A pods. We use alternate means of shipping — hopefully more trains because of the efficiencies associated with that,” he says. “I would love to see an enhanced barge traffic on our nation’s inland waterways.”

Franken says the increased barge traffic could Council Bluffs, Davenport, and possibly Sioux City. He says he also supports biofuels. “As we track out the future of electric vehicles and the reducing amount of gas use –there needs to be a window for this — and maybe it’s not corn-based. But I see what the Brazilians have done with G-E manufactured gas turbines to produce electricity with ethanol,” Franken says.

Franken is a Sioux County native who has a residence in Woodbury County. He held a variety of positions in the U-S Navy and was the only one in the decision process to vote against the invasion of Iraq. Franken finished second to Theresa Greenfield in 2020 in a bid to challenge Republican Senator Joni Ernst. He is running this time to try and unseat incumbent Republican Chuck Grassley.

(Radio Iowa) – Diamond Vogel paint broke ground for their new Innovation Center Wednesday in Orange City. The 36-thousand square-foot facility will house Research & Development personnel and provide additional office space. Current Diamond Vogel C-E-O and President, Jeff Powell, says he sees the company’s future in the 15 million dollar investment. “We look at an Innovation Center and say ‘boy that’s not cheap.’ And then we say to ourselves, ‘what is that return on investment going to be?’, and it’s hard to put a number on it,” Powell says. “But what we know is if we don’t have new products and new technologies to meet our customers’ needs, we are not going to be in existence.”

Company chairman, Drew Vogel, says after an expansion several years ago that spread them out over the campus, the Innovation Center will bring them back together for greater collaboration. “Even though we have a lot of different product lines using a lot of different technology — if they can rub shoulders with one another and it can be done in a convenient way in the course of doing business every day — they are just able to exchange a lot of ideas and stimulate new thought for new products,” Vogel says.

Vogel’s grandfather emigrated from Holland and sold the first gallon of paint in Orange City 95 years ago. He says the company is always challenged to stay on the edge of new technology, especially with the need to be environmentally safe. )”To get products that really do the job and do it in a way in a way that cares for the environment is a challenge, and our chemists are up to it,” according to Vogel. “It takes a lot of work — but they’ve really made a lot of good progress.”

The new Innovation Center is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

(Audubon and Cass Counties) – Cass/Atlantic Development Corporation (CADCO) Executive Jennifer McEntaffer reports the Valley Business Park board has made the decision to sell the property in the area of Highway 71 and Interstate 80, along the Cass-Audubon County line. Both counties had been working to try and develop the business park, which contains 156 acres of property.

Valley Business Park aerial outline (Via Atlanticiowa.com/cadco)

Iowa Land Co will handle the auction, and will send out information pertaining to the sale of the property at a later date.

McEntaffer says Valley Business Park board members agree that this is the time to sell the property as both counties have a lot of economic development opportunities that the sale of this property can help facilitate.

(Radio Iowa) – Cedar Rapids police say a 17-year-old is charged with two counts of first-degree murder after they found him outside a northeast side home covered in blood and he told them he’d killed his parents. Police say Ethan Orton used a knife and ax to kill his parents, 42-year-old Casey Orton and 41-year-old Misty Slade.

The criminal complaint says Ethan Orton told officers he killed his parents to “take charge of his life”.

(Radio Iowa) – The John Deere plant in Ottumwa sat quiet and the parking lot was empty as its workers went on strike early this (Thursday) morning, and about a hundred people began picketing outside of the company’s gates. Some motorists stopped to give food and water to the workers while several more honked their horns as they passed by to show their support for the striking employees.

Trucks entered and left the factory throughout the morning. A cheer rose from the picket line as a truck did -not- enter the facility. A worker who did not want to be identified explained. “You see, there’s been truckers driving by being in solidarity with us and not crossing our picket line,” said the worker. “Some of them are. Some of them aren’t. We’re cheering them on and booing the ones that do.”

Deere employees in the Quad Cities. (WVIK photo via Radio Iowa)

In a statement, Brad Morris, Vice President of Labor Relations for Deere and Company says Deere is “determined to reach an agreement with the United Auto Workers that would put every employee in a better economic position and continue to make them the highest paid employees in the agriculture and construction industries.”

The statement from John Deere concluded by saying the timetable of the two sides coming to an agreement is unknown.

(Manning, Iowa) – Trevor Miller, superintendent of the IKM-Manning Community School District, was a nominee for the 2021-22 Iowa Superintendent of the Year award sponsored by the School Administrators of Iowa. Roark Horn, the association’s executive director, says “SAI is pleased to recognize school system leaders who are dedicated to creating meaningful change for the students they serve and their communities.”

IKM-Manning has recently partnered with Puck Inc. and Des Moines Area Community College to offer students a career-ready opportunity in welding. The district is looking to expand career and Future Ready opportunities for students to prepare them to be successful after high school. The IKM-Manning district has also been awarded multiple STEM BEST grants and has a student-run business that has continued to expand. Exira-EHK continues to offer opportunities through area community colleges looking at partnering with other districts for a Career Academy.

Trevor Miller says “Both the IKM-Manning and Exira-EHK staffs are amazing and work extremely hard to provide the best education possible for our students. The dedication they have shown over the past few years is second-to-none and should be acknowledged.”

Miller received his undergraduate degree from Buena Vista University and a master’s degree along with a Superintendent Certificate from Iowa State University. He has been a business/computer teacher, an elementary principal, secondary principal, school business official, and currently shared superintendent between Exira-EHK and IKM-Manning for the past five years.

Nominated for the award by his peers, Miller will be recognized by the association, along with Cedar Rapids Superintendent Noreen Bush who was recently selected as the recipient.

SAI, a statewide organization founded in 1987, represents more than 1,900 Iowa educational administrators. SAI’s mission is to support, encourage and develop Iowa’s educational leaders and learners.

(Radio Iowa) – Ames police have charged two people in the April death of a toddler. Police and medical units were called to a residence on April 24th and found an injured toddler who was flown to Des Moines for treatment. The child died the next day. Police say the results of an autopsy and their investigation led to the arrest of 26-year-old Danielle Olbrecht of Ames for child endangerment causing death.

Twenty-five-year-old Trevin Nicholson was arrested in Centennial, Colorado on charges of first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death. Nicholson is awaiting extradition back to Iowa.