The recent warmer temperatures and other signs of spring have encouraged a lot of Iowans to schedule outdoor getaways. Staff at Iowa’s state parks have been busy preparing for another camping season. Todd Coffelt is chief of state parks for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “Park staff around the state have been busy turning on the water, so we can get the facilities up and running,” Coffelt says.

Shower and restroom buildings in most of Iowa’s state parks will have the water on for the first time this weekend, so they’re ready for campers. Iowa has more than 4,700 state park campsites for motorhomes, travel trailers and other recreational vehicles.

There are also 92 cabins available to rent in 19 state parks. Some of the newest cabins are located in southeast Iowa’s Washington County. “Our most recent ones are six, modern, year-round cabins at Lake Darling State Park and they have been very popular,” Coffelt says.

Cabins and campsites are available for reservation online ( http://www.iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Parks/Make-a-Reservation ). Coffelt is encouraging Iowans to check out some recent improvements to a handful of state parks, including one in southeast Iowa’s Davis County. “The Lake Wapello State Park campground opened late in the season last year,” Coffelt said. “With the water turned on, it should be good to go for people to take a look at a lot of that work they’ve done to make those sites more organized and easier to back into with a trailer…and ultimately to enjoy that fishing resource they have in the lake.”

Nearly all of the state parks with campgrounds will offer special programs or activities on May 6, including fishing clinics, fun runs, volunteer projects, special hikes and demonstrations. Learn more at: www.iowastateparks.gov/campingkickoff.

(Radio Iowa)

Weather permitting, an Easter Egg Hunt will take place in Atlantic Saturday. The event takes place on the grounds of Atlantic Specialty Care (1300 E. 19^th St.) beginning at 10:30-a.m., but Kellie Jimerson, Administrator of the facility, recommends you arrive early. You can park on the side streets, or the Atlantic High School Parking lot, where a SWITA shuttle bus will transport you to the facility and back.

There are activities for children from age 1 to10. They will be divided into four age groups when it comes to hunting for the eggs and prizes. About 15,000 eggs are purchased for filling. Jimerson said there were almost $2,500 worth of donations made available for eggs, candies and prizes.

Residents of the facility spend nearly two months filling the plastic eggs and with candy. Jimerson said they look forward to seeing the excitement in kids eyes, and their smiles. Jimerson says there’s much more going on than watching the kids find Easter Eggs filled with goodies…Hot dogs and chips are available from Hy-Vee, beverages are available from the Atlantic Coca Cola Bottling Company, and the Easter Bunny will arrive on an Atlantic Fire Truck.

There was no Easter Egg Hunt last year, because of the snow.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Lawmakers are abolishing a statewide program intended to improve reading skills of Iowa third-graders because of a lack of funding and concerns about the effort’s ineffectiveness. The Des Moines Register reports that Republican Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink of Fort Dodge confirmed plans Thursday to eliminate the program, saying lawmakers felt it would be an unfunded mandate to local school districts if state funding wasn’t available.

Nearly 25 percent of the state’s third-graders didn’t read proficiently on Iowa tests during the 2014-15 academic year. Lawmakers previously had agreed to establish a summer reading program for third-graders who failed reading tests at the end of the school year. They wouldn’t be promoted to fourth grade unless they participated in the program.

Kraayenbrink says he’s not convinced the program was the best approach.

(Updated) OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — State regulators say the Omaha day care of a woman suspected of abusing a child there has been ordered closed. Omaha police say 58-year-old Lynn Rowe has been charged with intentional child abuse, no injury. Police say she was being sought on an arrest warrant when she turned up Friday in Missouri Valley, Iowa.  She was arrested and transported to Omaha to face charges.

Police say the parents of a 4-year-old girl reported April 3 that Rowe had abused their 4-year-old daughter while at Rowe’s day care. Officials say the report was made after a worker at the day care recorded the abuse on her cellphone.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday afternoon that Lynn’s Learning Center has been ordered closed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court says the state had no legal responsibility to safeguard a 95-year-old woman who was raped by a violent sex offender placed in her nursing home after being released from state custody. The court ruling today (Friday) upholds a lower court’s decision to dismiss the state from a lawsuit filed by the women’s children.

The state received court approval in 2010 to release William Cubbage from a state-run sex offender program and place him in the Pomeroy Care Center, a northwest Iowa nursing home. Cubbage was 82 and had dementia. But within months, he sexually assaulted the woman and was sent to prison.

The Supreme Court said that because a court approved Cubbage’s release, the state had no further responsibility to monitor him. The children are pursuing a lawsuit against the nursing home.

Students from across the world are coming to the U-S and looking to find temporary homes while they attend area schools. Sue Hunt, is the local coordinator for IRIS (Iowa Resource for International Service) an Ames based non-profit, is seeking host homes across Iowa for 2017-2018 foreign exchange students. IRIS brings students to the State from 40 different countries and place them all over the U-S, with at least 30 students living in Iowa. That’s accomplished through the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study – or ‘YES’ – program.

All students are between 15 and 18 years old, but will technically be high school juniors. The students, which typically hail from Southeast Asian, Middle-Eastern and African countries. The IRIS program in Iowa, began in 1993. It differs from other Foreign Exchange student-type programs, in that the student doesn’t need to come from a financially sufficient family in order to participate.

(These students win a spot to come here based on their level of academics in their home countries, as well as their civic mindedness and reputation, along with their ability to adapt to new surroundings and cultures.)

They are given a stipend by the YES program each month, but in return the student must maintain very high grades and perform community service in their host communities, while at the same time reporting on the volunteer jobs they hold each month. The stipend covers their clothing allowance, personal supplies, etc.

Persons interested in hosting a foreign student don’t have a lot of restrictions on their ability to do so.

(You must pass a criminal background check, provide a bed and place to study, three square meals a day, and you must include the student in your family activities as well as pay their way.)

Hunt and her family have hosted two families from Tanzania. The YES program is funded by the U.S. State Department as a form of diplomacy. For bios on particular students, or for more information on hosting in general, visit http://www.iris-center.org/yes-program/17-18students/

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 34-year old Heather Marie Davis, of Lenox, was arrested Thursday morning at the Union/Adams County line. Davis was wanted on a Union County warrant for 4^th degree theft.  She was being held in the Ringgold County Jail for Union County, on $1000 bond.

And, there were three incidents of theft reported Thursday, at various locations in Union County. A resident of Kent reported Thursday that sometime between 8 AM and 10 AM Thursday, someone entered his home and took his Sharp 55” TV valued at 1500. A Creston resident reported that Wednesday night or Thursday morning, someone entered his property and took a red stag European mount valued at $4400. Another Creston resident reported Thursday that sometime in the last month, someone took his Mac tool box and tools valued at $3000 from a garage in Thayer.

No arrests have been reported.

The Glenwood Police Department reports one arrest and three burglary incidents. Police say 21-year old Lane Snyder, of Glenwood, was arrested today (Friday), for Possession of a Controlled Substance. Snyder’s bond was set at $1,000.

And, three Glenwood residents Wednesday, reported  incidents of burglary perpetrated on their vehicles. No arrests have been made.

A traffic stop in Pottawattamie County resulted in a man’s arrest on an OWI charge early this (Friday) morning. Sheriff’s officials say at around 1:40-a.m., a Deputy saw a vehicle swerving all over the road. After he stopped the vehicle  at 420th and Tamarack Road, the driver, 31-year old Gary William Claussen, of Avoca, displayed numerous clue of impairment, and was arrested for OWI/1st offense.

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

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