Another mountain lion has been spotted in northwest Iowa — and this time it was captured on camera. A motion-sensor camera was set up by Aaron Anderson near the town of Linn Grove. He was hoping to film the movement of deer, but instead he caught a mountain lion in the images. He posted pictures on Facebook, leading to several posts from others who’d heard about the big cats and a couple of reported sightings, including one around the Linn Grove cemetery.

Vince Evelsizer, a D-N-R furbearer biologist based in Clear Lake, says he’s also seen the comments from people who want to shoot and kill the animal, but he hopes they won’t. “They’re not protected in Iowa however, so people can do what they want with them,” Evelsizer says. “Our recommendation is just to leave them be. They’re a wild animal that’s not causing any problems.” Some residents in Buena Vista and Clay counties expressed fears on social media about sending small kids out in rural areas to wait for the school bus.

Evelsizer says the children will be fine as cougars generally don’t want anything to do with people. “There’s times when they can be a threat to human safety or livestock but most of the time, mountain lions are not a threat to humans or livestock,” Evelsizer says. “They’re usually really secretive animals that feed on deer and other animals. They’re not something that goes around seeking people usually.”

In late June, a D-N-R officer killed a female mountain lion that had climbed into a tree on a farm near Galva. The D-N-R said it was the first confirmed female mountain lion in Iowa in more than a century. The animal was suspected of killing some cattle about 30 miles from where it was found and the agency reported it was only the fourth time a mountain lion had been killed in Iowa.

“It’s good to know that we have a mountain lion or two around and we will continue to monitor them,” Evelsizer says. “I would also say that people don’t really need to feel like they should change their habits. They should continue to enjoy the outdoors. It’s safe to spend time outdoors.”

Mountain lions that wander into Iowa generally come from South Dakota and Nebraska, which have natural populations.

(Radio Iowa)

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

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Police in Creston are reporting two recent arrests. Early today (Thursday) 28-year old Jacob Loew, of Creston, was arrested on a Madison County warrant for Probation Violation. He remained in the Union County Jail this morning, while awaiting transport to Madison County by their Deputy.

And, at around 12:40-p.m. Wednesday, Creston Police arrested 30-year old Nicholas Crenshaw, of Orient, for Theft in the 4th Degree. He was taken into custody at the Union County Law Enforcement Center and held on a $1,000 bond.

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

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CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) – The University of Iowa and state prison officials are testing a certificate program that includes sessions at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that the series is the first official academic cooperation between the Iowa City-based university and the prison facility. It builds on the institutional relationship developed by music professor Mary Cohen, who leads a choir composed of community members and inmates.

The center’s programs coordinator, Kat Litchfield, says the long-term goal remains to develop a program through which inmates could earn college credit for courses taken in the prison. She says she’d like the university eventually offer something similar to the Liberal Arts in Prison Program already in place at Grinnell College.

Republican Congressman David Young has developed a new plan for distributing a block of federal dollars reserved for water quality improvement projects. Young hopes to tack his idea onto the next Farm Bill and change the way money in the U-S-D-A’s already-existing “Environmental Quality Incentive Program” is distributed. “You’ve heard of precision agriculture. I see this as precision conservation,” Young says. “What it does is it targets funds in a new way, a new approach from this EQIP account, to watersheds.”

Young got input from a variety of groups that are often at odds — including the Iowa Farm Bureau and the Iowa Farmers Union as well as the Des Moines Water Works and the Iowa Department of Agriculture. “We’ve had the debate in Iowa about water quality and so I thought to myself: ‘What is there that maybe I could do or congress could do at the federal level to help with this issue?'” Young said. “…There’s a way to target existing federal funds.”

Young envisions communities, farmers, researchers and other stakeholders developing a “precision conservation plan” for watersheds in order to qualify for any federal EQIP grants in that area. Young says states should provide matching funds and the projects should be monitored to find out which conservation methods are most effective.

(Radio Iowa)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Officials say Iowa’s 2017 composite ACT score dropped to 21.9 from 22.1 for the class of 2016. Score reports released Wednesday from Iowa City-based ACT also say 24 Iowa students scored a perfect 36 in tests taken in spring, compared with 10 last year. Two-thirds of Iowa students who graduated in 2017 took the college entrance exam, compared with 60 percent nationally.

ACT says 56 percent of the Iowa students indicated they plan to attend college and earn bachelor’s degrees, and 27 percent said they’ll seek graduate or professional degrees. Nationally, 41 percent said they’ll seek bachelor’s degrees and 34 percent graduate or professional degrees.

Police in Red Oak, Wednesday evening, arrested 53-year old David Allen Welch, of Red Oak. Welch was taken into custody at around 5:50-p.m. for an alleged Violation of a No Contact Order. He was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 bond.

(re-posted 9/7, w/corrections to Montgomery County candidate summary)

Patrons of area school districts will be heading to the polls Tuesday, Sept. 12th, to cast their ballots for school board members and, in some cases, bond issues. Here’s a look at some of the Counties where elections are being held….

In Adams County, there are three positions to fill for At-Large Director seats on the Corning Community School District Board of Education. Two candidates have filed nomination papers: Howard Anderson and Scott Shuey. The polls will be open from Noon until 8-p.m. If you have questions as to where you will be voting, call the Adams County Auditor’s Office at 641-322-3340.

In Montgomery County,there are three vacancies on the Red Oak School Board. Candidates include incumbents, Bret Blackman and Kathy Walker, along with newcomer Roger Carlson. Four candidates are running for three vacancies on the Stanton School Board: Incumbents Brian Bates and Mark Lindgren, along with Travis Taylor, and Amy Tibben. In the Villisca School District, incumbent Leland Shipley and Terry Dalton are looking to fill two vacancies on the Board.  Voters in Montgomery County also get to decide the fate of a Public Measure that calls for the renewal of a 6-cent per thousand dollar Instructional Support Levy on assessed property value, for each of the next 10-years. The levy would begin July 1st, 2018, and is with regard to instructional equipment for Southwestern Community College, Merged Area 14.

And, in Audubon County, there are no contested races. Sarah Asmus and Heath R. Hansen are unopposed for two, At-Large seats on the Audubon School Board. And, Tamie Fahn, Patrick Greving, as well as Kevin Petersen, are unopposed in their bid for three, At-Large seats on the Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton School Board.

In Shelby County, five people are running for two At-Large Board of Educations seats in the IKM-Manning School District. The candidates include Kathleen Blake, Mike Blum, Sam Hansen, Brandi Perdew, and Lucas Potthoff.  Ron Reischl is unopposed in the Director of District 2B, but in Director District 1B, Larry Blake and Amy Fermeding are vying for one open seat on the Board. Jim Knott is unopposed for DMACC Director District 3, and Randy Pash is the lone candidate for IWCC in District 9.

No contested races will take place in the Harlan Community School District election, where: Al Hazelton is running for Director District number 1 seat; Amy J. Rueschenberg is running in District 2; Lonnie Muxfeldt is the lone candidate for Director/District 3, and Jessica Anderson in on the ballot for Director/Distrcit 4.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

CRESTON, Iowa (AP) — A southern Iowa high school says it has disciplined several students who appeared in a photo on social media wearing white hoods and waving a Confederate flag next to a burning cross. At least one of the five people pictured is holding what appears to be a gun. A school official declined to provide details of the discipline.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A western Iowa man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography. The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Iowa says 56-year-old James Lee Palmer, of Missouri Valley, was sentenced Tuesday in Council Bluffs. A search of his home last year by police turned up computers that contained more than 300 images of child pornography.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a woman died after being shot in a police station parking lot in northeast Nebraska. The shooting occurred around 8:10 a.m. Wednesday in South Sioux City. Police say she’s died later at a Sioux City, Iowa, hospital. A man’s been taken into custody, but it’s unclear whether he’s been arrested. Police say no officers have been injured.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Officials in northwest Iowa are scrambling to line up an emergency ambulance service after a nonprofit announced it’ll cease assistance at the end of the year. The Sioux City Journal reports that Siouxland Paramedics Inc. officials announced last month it’ll cease 911 services in Sioux City and North Sioux City as it tries moving toward a more sustainable model. Sioux City officials are considering absorbing future 911 services into the department or contracting with another private company.