(Radio Iowa) — All classes and activities are cancelled through Sunday after a threat was made against a northeast Iowa school district. Officials with the Benton Community School District say they’re working with the FBI to find whoever is responsible for the threat, though they’re not saying how it was received. The violence was reportedly directed at the combined middle and high school in Van Horne. In addition to classes being cancelled, a host of academic and sports practices and events are cancelled, from drivers ed courses to wrestling meets.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa State Patrol is investigating a deadly crash on Thursday in south-central Iowa’s Decatur County. Troopers say a pickup truck crossed the center line of a county road, forcing an oncoming septic pump truck to pull onto the shoulder, but it was still hit by the pickup, rolling the pump truck into the ditch. The pickup ended up in the opposite ditch, killing its driver, identified as 34-year-old Curtis Cowling, of Garden Grove. Two men in the pump truck were hurt and taken to Decatur County Hospital for treatment.

In a brief, Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s report this (Friday) morning, authorities said there were no arrests over the previous 24-hours, but there were two prisoner transfers to the jail. 30-year old Joshua James Dyer, of Council Bluffs, was transported from the Shelby County Jail to Pott. County, where he was wanted on a warrant for Violation of Parole, and on a Hold for another agency. And, 44-year old Jennifer Lee Rousseau, of Fremont, NE., was transported from the Saunders County, NE., jail to Pott. County, where she was wanted on a warrant for Violation of Probation.

The Cass County Conservation Board is holding a Bird House Workshop next Saturday (Nov. 23rd). The workshop will be held at the Outdoor Educational Classroom in Massena, beginning at 9-a.m. All ages are welcome! During the workshop, you’ll learn all about making bird houses. You can make a bird house and take it home afterward, for a suggested donation. Suggested donations for House Wren house $8, Bluebird $8, and Kestrel house $10. The event s for people of all ages. Children must be accompanied by adult.

Please pre-register by November 18th by calling 712-769-2372 or email lkanning@casscoia.us.

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

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CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — A former student and his wife are donating $10 million to the University of Northern Iowa. University President Mark Nook said Thursday the gift from David and Karen Takes will support a variety of programs and projects. For example, some money will go to an endowment that supports business students interested in gaining international experiences. Some will go to support an endowment that supports the university’s mascots and those students who lead the mascot program at the Cedar Falls campus.

Nook also says the donation will benefit critical future capital projects. David Takes is president and CEO of Doerfer Cos., a manufacturing company that markets its products to aerospace, automotive, electronics, health care and energy customers.

The Creston Police Department reports one arrest and one incident of theft. At around 1:20-p.m. Thursday, Ronald Gilbert, of Goldfield, was arrested for Driving While Barred. He later posted a $2,000 bond , and was released. And, a Creston resident reported to police Wednesday afternoon, that sometime over the previous 24-hours, someone got into their vehicle parked in the driveway, and took a pair of binoculars, along with keys to the vehicle. The loss was estimated at $200.

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

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(Radio Iowa) — Researchers at Iowa State University are working to develop a glove to better protect firefighters from extreme heat while also allowing their fingers to remain agile. Professor Guowen Song, who runs I-S-U’s Labs for Functional Textiles and Protective Clothing, says many first responders use gloves made with a thick, bulky material that protects the hand but limits comfort and dexterity. “Wearing the protective gear basically is to protect your body from injury but also we rely a lot on our hand to finish the task,” Song says.

Thanks to a one-point-five million dollar grant from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Song’s team on the Ames campus is working to improve the safety and function of heat-protection gloves. “Hand is so specific and the ways of the thermal regulation is different,” Song says, “so we need a specific model to make sure that each finger is being fully protected and also the performance of comfort, the performance of dexterity can be realized.”

Studies find the gloves now being used by many firefighters cause them to lose more than 50-percent of their manual dexterity. Song says, “This is the priority and the basic focus, how we’re going to develop the relations of the glove, material property design, and to make sure the dexterity is not lost too much.” A better, safer glove is just the beginning. In the next stage, Song says I-S-U researchers want to apply what they learn to other types of protective first responders’ gear, including boots and helmets.

(Radio Iowa) — The board that governs Iowa’s three public universities has released a study which indicates the institutions provide an economic spark to the state. Consultant Hannah Ruffridge estimates the three schools accounted for more than six percent of the state’s gross domestic product in the 2017-2018 academic year. “It’s also equivalent to supporting almost 150,000 jobs. Another way to say this — and my personal favorite — is one out of every 14 jobs in this state is in some way supported by the activities of the universities and their students.”

Ruffridge says the analysis of the University of IOWA, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa shows there was a nearly three dollar return for each state tax dollar spent on the three campuses. And she says the three universities added one-point-nine BILLION dollars to total state income during the 2017-2018 academic year. “Measuring that money that is staying in the state of Iowa, not leaking out and we’re not simply rearranging the furniture and calling that an impact,” Ruffridge says. “This is money that would not have been there otherwise.”

Ruffridge works at a firm that’s recently done similar economic impact studies for Syracuse, the University of Illinois and the public universities in Ohio. Ruffridge made her presentation yesterday (Thursday) to the Iowa Board of Regents. The board’s president says the analysis shows the universities provide a “tangible benefit” to Iowans in all 99 counties.