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

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Briar Cliff University in Sioux City has announced a $2 million gift from the Sisters of St. Francis. The money will be used to establish an endowed chair in theology and support Briar Cliff in the recruitment and retention of faculty. The private college was founded in 1929 by a Roman Catholic Franciscan nun from the order in Dubuque. Briar Cliff’s current enrollment is around 1,200 students.

(Radio Iowa) — Clinton firefighter Adam Cain, who was critically injured battling a blaze earlier this month, is being released from the hospital today (Friday). A news release from Clinton City Hall says Cain has met with his surgery team, trauma team and physical therapy team. All have agreed that Cain has done amazingly well in his healing process. They have decided he can be discharged and cleared to go home with follow-up outpatient therapy.

While fighting the fire at the city’s A-D-M plant on January 5th, Clinton Fire Lieutenant Eric Hosette was killed. The incident is still under investigation. Cain is 23. Hosette was 33.

Non-profit organizations in Cass and Audubon Counties are being reminded that applications for funds from the separate Cass and Audubon County Community Foundations are due in about a week. In each county, approximately $115,000 in grant funds are available for nonprofit organizations that submit their respective county applications by no later than Feb. 1st. Only organizations providing charitable services in Cass County or Audubon County are eligible, in each respective county, only. They must be able to demonstrate broad community/county support, and be an IRS approved 501(c)(3) Public Charity or hosted by a fiscal sponsor. Requests for general operational funds will not be considered.

Detailed application procedures, fact sheets, and a link to the application form can be obtained online at http://omahafoundation.org/swiowa. Applications will only be accepted through the online system.

Contact any Cass or Audubon County Community Foundation board member in your respective county, for additional information. You may contact Stacey Goodman at 800-794-3458 or stacey@omahafoundation.org, or Denise Cardos at denise@omahafoundation.org, with grant application-specific questions. All completed applications will be considered at the March board meeting with notification of results in early April.

Board members of the Audubon County Community Foundation are Chair, Genelle Deist of Audubon; Vice Chair, Joel Hoegh of rural Brayton; Secretary/Treasurer, Barbara Johnson of Audubon; Bob Blomme of Audubon; Shelley Burr of Audubon; Steven B. Hansen of Audubon; and Joseph T. Rasmussen of Exira. Board members of the Cass County Community Foundation are Chair, Nicholas Hunt of rural Atlantic; Vice Chair, Gary Maas of Anita; Secretary/Treasurer, Roland K. Landsness, Esq. of Atlantic; Royal Bierbaum of Griswold; John Curry of Massena; and Mark D. Kyhnn, CPA of Atlantic.

The Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO), in conjunction with the Cities of Walnut and Griswold, is holding housing assessment meetings in the coming weeks.  In Walnut, the housing assessment meeting will be held 6-p.m. Thursday, January 31st, at the Walnut Community Building. In Griswold, the meeting takes place 6-p.m. Thursday, February 7th, at the Griswold Community Building.

The purpose of each meeting is to gather public input on the current condition of the housing stock in each city; to address the rehabilitation of current housing, development of new housing, and affordability of housing. This will also include setting goals to improve/maintain the housing conditions within the city and what avenues the city may explore to reach these goals. The information obtained will be added to other data to formulate a formal written housing assessment for the city and as part of the public participation requirement of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application the city is applying for in April 2019. The meeting will conclude with asking all participants, if they have not done so already, to fill out a housing survey and CDBG Pre-Application.

SWIPCO Lead Planner Alexsis Fleener says “Public participation is a critical component of the housing assessment and application process. In addition, the meeting gives residents an opportunity to be involved in the future of their city. Housing has been identified to be a major contributing factor to the growth or decline of our towns. A housing assessment is a pro-active approach to address those factors that could be detrimental and set clear goals for how to continue to thrive and grow.”

The CDBG owner-occupied housing repair program the city is applying for seeks to bring homes up to Iowa Minimum Housing Rehabilitation Standards. Items repaired may include furnaces, water heaters, windows, doors, roofing, siding, foundation, etc. up to $24,999. If anyone would like more information on the Housing Assessment meeting, plan, or CDBG application please contact Alexsis Fleener at 866-279-4720.

BOONE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say firefighters discovered the body of a man inside the charred remains of a Boone County house. Firefighters were sent early Thursday morning to the home just northwest of Boone. Fire officials say the body was so severely burned that identification could take several weeks. Firefighters say some dogs also died in the fire, while others survived. Investigators suspect a wood-burning stove may have been involved in starting the fire.

(Radio Iowa) — Pork producers in Iowa and across the country are growing increasingly concerned about the threat of African Swine Fever (ASF). Curtis Meier runs a 160 sow farrow-to-finish operation near Clarinda. “It would be disastrous if we get it here in the U.S.,” Meier says. ASF has been spreading in China in recent months and products with the virus have been detected in Australia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Here in Iowa, Meier says producers have always emphasized bio-security on their farm, but there are some things they just can’t control. “You know, it’s really scary the amount of feed ingredients we get from China,” Meyer says. “And it doesn’t necessarily have to be in the ingredients, it can be on the confounded containers that they use to haul the stuff over here.”

Livestock economist Steve Meyer says African Swine Fever could have a big impact on hog prices in coming months. If ASF continues to spread in China, it could be positive for U.S. pork producers. “If the losses in China get completely out of hand and they have to go to the world market to just feed their people – and if we can get our tariff situation settled enough that we can participate in that – that would be a real positive,” Meyer says. But if AFS were to enter the U.S., Meyer says, it would obviously be devastating. “If it comes here, we’re blocked from exports immediately, and we have 23 percent more pork and we’ve got to work through all that…so, even if we contain it quickly and it doesn’t kill many pigs, we can’t export until we prove it’s contained,” Meyer said.

But Meyer also thinks the U.S. is much better prepared to deal with an ASF outbreak, which could limit any potential long-term damage to markets. Curtis Meier and Steve Meyer both spoke with Brownfield Ag News during this week’s annual meeting of the Iowa Pork Producers Association in Des Moines.

(Radio Iowa) — A Senate committee is scheduled to consider a bill next week that will ensure that fireworks may be set off anywhere in the state on Independence Day. Senator Jake Chapman, a Republican from Adel, says “There is nothing more patriotic in America than fireworks on the 4th of July.”  Chapman is backing the move to undo city and county ordinances that have restricted or banned fireworks displays on July 4th. The legislation would also forbid local rules restricting where retailers may sell fireworks. Companies that sell fireworks say that kind of statewide uniformity is essential. Jim Henter of the Iowa Retail Federation suggests there’s a hodge-podge of regulations now. “We’ve had folks that had to go through full-blown DCI background checks just to sell them for a couple of weeks, fingerprinting, permits, etc. and that’s just one community,” Henter says. “And we have had other communities that have said: ‘Hey, we’d love to have you in here, love to have you selling.”

Henter also points to some ordinances restricting WHERE fireworks may be sold within city limits.  “It is crazy for us to sit here and look at a product that we can legally sell and you have to move it to an industrial zone,” Henter said. “We cannot sell it in our stores.” Cities and counties as well as fire fighters and law enforcement groups oppose the bill, citing safety concerns. Robert Palmer of the Iowa League of Cities says local ordinances on fireworks should be maintained. “We’re the best ones at the local level to know where they should be safely used,” he said. “That logic applies on July 4th as well as it does on July 3rd.”

Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert says there were 12-hundred 9-1-1 calls in the capital city on Independence Day this past year. “Most of these calls come into us as ‘shots fired’ trips, which calls for a two-person response, an emergency response,” Wingert said, “and you get there and then you have to make the determination: Was it ‘shots fired’ or was it fireworks? It’s very resource intensive.”  Jonathan Lund, the fire marshal for the City of Des Moines, says first responders see an increase in fires and injuries when fireworks are for sale in the state. “The injuries and the destruction that’s associated with those, obviously we’re concerned about that,” Lund said.  A senate subcommittee advanced the bill late Thursday afternoon, making it eligible for debate in the Senate Commerce Committee next week.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:50 a.m. CST

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A second Republican has announced he’ll challenge embattled Iowa Rep. Steve King in the 2020 primary. The Sioux City Journal reports that 40-year-old Jeremy Taylor, a Woodbury County supervisor and former state legislator, announced his candidacy for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District in a news release Thursday. Earlier this month, GOP state Sen. Randy Feenstra announced he’ll challenge the longtime congressman in the primary.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An arctic wave has wrapped the Upper Midwest in numbing cold. But the worst may be yet to come. The deep freeze caused organizers of the Winter Carnival in Minnesota to cancel several events, including Thursday night’s parade through downtown St. Paul. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has closed its six outdoor skating rinks because of the cold weather. Forecasters say the frigid weather is expected to linger into next week, with even colder temperatures midweek.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa county agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit against its top prosecutor last month, days before he applied for a seat on the Iowa Supreme Court. The payment settles a lawsuit filed against Muscatine County Attorney Alan Ostergren over his two-year prosecution of West Liberty City Manager Chris Ward that an appeals court eventually found unjustified.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa court judge has struck down a portion of a 2017 voting reform law that requires county election officials to call, write or email voters who do not completely fill out an application for an absentee ballot. The law was written to say county officials must use the best means available to find missing information.

Police in Council Bluffs were called to 35 N. 1st Street in Council Bluffs at around 1:23-p.m., Thursday, to check on the welfare of a person who has not been heard from for several days. Officers entered the residence and located a deceased person. The death is being investigated as a suspicious. The deceased person had not been identified as of the latest report. The cause of death was unknown, and pending autopsy.

The investigation is ongoing by the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division. Anyone with any information that was in the area at the time of this incident is encouraged to contact this Division at 712-328-4728 or they may call Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867.