More people have died on bicycles in Iowa this year than in any year since 2005. The Iowa Bicycle Coalition says 11 cyclists died while riding this year. The coalition’s executive director, Mark Wyatt, says he fears this year is not an anomaly. “We’ve seen vehicle miles traveled increase over the last year, and if fuel prices stay where they are, we anticipate that will continue to go up. I think we need to take action now and create some steps to make bicycling in traffic safer,” Wyatt says.

The Iowa Bicycle Coalition has been calling on lawmakers to pass a law that would require motorists to change lanes to pass a bicycle. “This is easily taught in drivers’ ed classes. It is easy for law enforcement to differentiate between a motorist being in one lane or the other, and it’s something that’s easy for Iowa drivers to follow,” Wyatt says.

A bill requiring motorists to change lanes when passing a bicycle passed the Iowa Senate last year, but did not make it out of committee in the House. Wyatt says five of the cyclists who died while riding this year where struck from behind while operating legally on roads.

(Radio Iowa)

The Cass County Board of Supervisors approved two Professional Services Agreements (PSA’s) with Snyder and Associates Engineers, with regard to Elite Octane Ethanol plant infrastructure, and by a vote of four-to-1 (with Supervisor Frank Waters the lone “Nay” vote), a Resolution for use of County matching funds amounting to $25,000, to secure an Enhance Iowa grant for Schildberg Recreation Area campground improvements.

Snyder and Associates Engineer Tim Teig was asked to attend the meeting to better explain the break-down of costs and services with regard to the ethanol plant Gray water transmission line project and road paving project. Teig said the agreements cover the $9,750 costs associated with the study phase for the gray water project, and $158,300 for the study and design phase of the Echo, Buck Creek and Glacier Road paving project. The total PSA for the roads amounts to $208, 950. That includes the full redesign, bid and construction services.

Teig said everything they’ve done to date with regard to the gray water project, has been very basic, and there is no firm estimate of the volumes of water or other detailed information available from the ethanol company as to how they want to receive the water from the Atlantic Wastewater Treatment Plant.  He says the agreement spells out a preliminary report will be created with the best routes for the gray water line and related property easements, as needed.

Once the study is complete, the Board of Supervisors will be presented with more detailed information, including the firm fees for the design phase. Teig said the PSA for the roads paving project, is inclusive of a new topographic analysis, because the last time a 100-percent design study was done on those roads was 10-years ago.

Teig said the road has likely changed over the past 10-years, with regard to height, shoulder conditions and other factors. Only the profile of the roads may change, due to age and wear, but not the design. Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Director Seth Staashelm told the Board his request for a Resolution pertaining to the use of County funds, was the result of recommended changes to the CAT (Community Attraction and Tourism) grant application from the Vision Iowa Program Manager, with regard to the Schildberg Recreation Area. The program manager recommended the application that was submitted be pulled, and revised. The other reason a new application must be submitted along with a resolution for financial commitment from the County, is because the Vision Iowa Board was dissolved and a new “Enhance Iowa” Board was established.

If the grant is approved in 2017, it will help to cover phase 1 of the project, which involves electrical and water hook-ups to the camping pads, along with a new storm-safe shower and shelter house.  The application being submitted in 2017, will specifically pertain to the Phase 1 part of the improvements. The Atlantic City Council will also be asked to approve an updated Resolution for $100,000, as part of its commitment to the project.

Two members of the Cass County Board of Supervisors were recognized today (Friday), by Board Chair Gaylord Schelling, for their years of service to the County. Board members Duane McFadden and Chuck Rieken chose not to run for re-election in 2016, and will be replaced by Steve Baier, of Griswold and Steve Green, of Atlantic, who were elected in November, and will represent the District’s 4 and 1, respectively.

Board of Supervisors members, from left to right: Duane McFadden, Gaylord Schelling, Chuck Rieken, Frank Waters and Mark Wedemeyer.

McFadden received a certificate for his 12 years of service. Rieken for his 26-years of service to the County. Rieken chuckled when he said “It hasn’t been easy, I can tell you that.” The Board acknowledged the years of knowledge and experience both men are leaving with, and thanked them for helping make some tough decisions in years past.

The Clarinda Police Department is investigating a break-in of the Dollar General Store in the community. Police Chief Keith Brothers said today (Friday), that officers responded to an intrusion alarm at the store, Tuesday morning. Upon arrival, officers discovered an exterior wall to the building had been breached.

A tactical sweep of the building was conducted, but the intruder had departed prior to officers’ arrival. Brothers said a small amount of consumable goods were taken from the store, which also sustained somewhere between $500-and 1000 dollars of physical damage.

The investigation into the burglary is continuing and officers are pursuing numerous leads.

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

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

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Demolition has begun at the old Walnut Grove Elementary School in Council Bluffs. The school closed its doors to students in 2014, after the district deemed the school was no longer suitable for use and too costly to repair. At least seven single-family homes will be built on the property after all the school remains are swept away. Construction is expected to start next summer.

The Daily Nonpareil reports that at a planned Jan. 21 event at Thomas Jefferson High School, officials will reveal the contents of a time capsule recovered when construction crews first started the demolition. District spokeswoman Diane Ostrowski says the capsule box was placed inside a cornerstone of the elementary building on Aug. 17, 1926.

URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) – Police have arrested a man suspected of pepper-spraying an Urbandale officer after a traffic stop. An Urbandale police news release says 25-year-old Brandon Bordinat was arrested Thursday afternoon in Polk County. He’s charged with assault on a police officer and two counts of interference with official acts.

Police say the incident began about 5:10 a.m. Thursday, when someone reported a possible traffic accident. The department says the officer spotted a vehicle that matched the description of a vehicle reportedly involved, so the officer pulled it over. The department says that after the officer started talking to the driver, the man sprayed the officer and fled the scene. His image was caught on the officers’ body camera.

Police Officer body cam image of Bordinat

With Iowa farmers coming off a third straight year of lower incomes, 2017 will require more belt-tightening. Persistently low prices for major commodity crops including corn and soybeans may inch up slightly in the new year, but Iowa State University ag economist Chad Hart says farmers are adjusting their strategies to ride out the slump.
“There’s much more of an emphasis on just getting by, making it to break-even, making sure that our business cash flows,” Hart says. “For a baseball analogy, we’re trying to hit a bunch of singles now rather than swinging for the fences and the home run.”

For some Corn Belt farmers, Hart says that may mean tipping to slightly more soybeans, while for others, it could affect their choice of seed or fertilizer-application decisions. Due to decreased revenue, the state may be forced to cut some services in 2017, in part due to the downturn in the ag economy. Hart says Iowa’s overall economy is sufficiently diverse to absorb some of the losses from farming.

“When you look at the other industries that are in Iowa, they’re actually doing fairly well right now, especially in comparison to agriculture, and they’re helping hold up, if you will, the economic activity throughout the state,” Hart says. “So, yeah, ag is big but it’s not big enough to necessarily drag everything else down with it.”

Good years as recently as 2012 and 2013 likely gave most farmers enough capital to make it through, but Hart says many will be focusing on how they can reduce expenses in the coming season.

(Radio Iowa, w/thanks to Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)

The weather in December has followed a trend that’s familiar to Iowans this year. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says this month will average slightly warmer than normal, despite some bitterly cold temperatures around mid-December. “Temperatures down as low as minus 29 degrees at Rock Rapids back on December the 18th, so episodes of very cold weather, but the first week and also the last 10 days or so of the month have been much above normal, so basically canceling out that cold period, so overall kind of an average month for temperatures,” Hillaker says.

Some unusually warm conditions arrived last weekend. “The warm spot came on Christmas night. In southeast Iowa, Keokuk got up to 60 degrees just before midnight the end of Christmas Day,” Hillaker says. This month will also enter the books as slightly wetter than normal, with a statewide average of 1.5 inches of precipitation. Sections of northeast Iowa helped boost those numbers after getting over 20 inches of snow in December. Hillaker says the average statewide temperature for 2016 was 51.7 degrees.

“Probably will go into the books as the fifth warmest year on record in Iowa,” Hillaker says. “The most recent warmer one was four years ago in 2012, which was about one degree warmer yet than this year.” In addition to being warmer than normal, the weather in 2016 will be remembered for record-or-near-record flooding. “A large area of the state from the Forest City/Mason City area eastward through Charles City, Decorah, New Hampton, Cresco — those areas — all had their wettest year on record this year,” Hillaker says, “and actually broke the record by quite a large amount in many places.”

Many areas of north-central and northeast Iowa recorded over 50-inches of precipitation during the year. “The highest total I’m aware of at the moment came at Charles City: 58.59 inches of precipitation there for this year and the (previous) record amount was 51.35 (inches) set in 1999 in that location,” Hillaker says.

Meanwhile, it was a relatively dry year over sections of southern Iowa. “This would be places such as from roughly about the Lamoni area, maybe as far north as Oskaloosa and then back down southeastward toward Burlington, but many areas more than a foot rainfall less-than-usual this year,” Hillaker says, “so quite a contrast to the rest of the state.”

A total of 43 tornadoes touched down in Iowa this year. “That’s four less than the recent period average, but I guess the good news in that is most of those were on the weaker side in terms of strength of tornadoes,” Hillaker says. “There were just two that were rated EF2 on the tornado-intensity scale and both of those were on July 17th, both in Benton County.”

(Radio Iowa)