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)

An effort to reduce the improper use of handicapped parking spaces goes into effect January 1st. The State of Iowa will no longer issue “lifetime” handicapped parking permits — those blue plastic placards with a wheelchair symbol in white that are to hang on the rear view mirror when a vehicle is parked in a designated handicapped space. Mark Lowe — the interim director of the Iowa Department of Transportation — says the D-O-T has issued about half a MILLION of those “lifetime” permits and they’re supposed to be turned into the D-O-T when the person dies.

“There are people that use their grandmother’s placard when they’re out driving their car without grandma in the car, so to speak, or that retain placards after somebody has passed away,” Lowe says. Representative Larry Sheets of Moulton said during House debate of this change that too many non-expiring placards are being used “well beyond the death” of the person who got the permit. “Such misuse of these placards reduces the chance for a truly needy person from finding an available parking spot.”

Representative Mary Mascher of Iowa City also spoke out on the issue during House debate. “We’ve all seen and experienced and watched individuals park in handicapped spots where they shouldn’t be,” Mascher said.

The state isn’t yanking the “lifetime” handicapped parking permits that are out there, but starting in January, Iowans with a doctor’s recommendation will only be able to get permits that are good for either six months or five years.

(Radio Iowa)

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A U.S. Department of Agriculture official has announced in Iowa today a new policy designed to allow farmers to take land out of a conservation program early if the land is to be transferred to the next generation of farmers. Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary Lanon Baccam says beginning Jan. 9, the USDA will offer an early termination opportunity for certain Conservation Reserve Program contracts.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The head of Iowa’s agriculture department says the state is recovering from the loss of millions of laying hens caused by the 2015 bird flu outbreak. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey says Iowa’s egg production in October was roughly 1.30 billion eggs, up more than 70 percent from the same time last year. The average number of laying hens on hand in October was roughly 53 million, up 55 percent from last year.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An inmate from Iowa with a history of violence toward guards and one daring escape has died in a Wisconsin prison one month after he was transferred there. Authorities said Thursday that 26-year-old Justin Kestner was found unresponsive in his cell Dec. 21 at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun. A medical examiner says autopsy results haven’t been completed.

URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have arrested a man suspected of involvement in a traffic accident who pepper-sprayed an Urbandale officer who stopped him. The accident was reported early Thursday. Police say the officer pulled over a vehicle that matched the description of a vehicle reportedly involved. Police say that after the officer started talking to the driver, 25-year old Brandon Bordinat, the man sprayed the officer and fled the scene.The Urbandale Police Department told KCCI late Thursday afternoon that had been arrested and charged with assault on a police officer with a weapon, interference with official acts resulting in injury and interference with official acts while using a weapon.

(This is a correction to our earlier post which stated the woman was arrested. The report clarifies she was Cited and issued a summons. KJAN News apologizes for the confusion)…..A traffic stop at around 12:05-a.m, Thursday, resulted in a woman being cited and issued a summons with regard to a traffic stop and related drug offenses. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says 32-year old Meagan Marie Travis, of Council Bluffs, was cited for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (A marijuana grinder, digital scale and pipe filters).  The woman was cited after being pulled over by a Pott. County Deputy in the area of Antique City Drive, for a registration violation. A small amount of marijuana in a pink container along with drug paraphernalia was found in the vehicle.

And a Nebraska man was arrested at around 8-p.m., Wednesday, for OWI/1st offense, after he was located in the 23,000 block of Idlewood Road in Pott. County, following a citizens report of a possibly intoxicated driver whose pickup was “all over the road,” and had nearly entered a ditch numerous times. 58-year old Jeff A. Kangas, of Omaha, was interviewed by a Deputy and taken into custody.

Officials with the Cass County Health System (CCHS) report Brett Altman, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Master of Business Administration, and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), will begin as the new Chief Executive Officer of Cass County Health System on Tuesday, January 3^rd. A public reception to welcome Mr Altman will be held on Thursday, January 5^th from 10 am to noon in the CCHS atrium, including a visit from the  Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors from 10 – 10:30 am.

Ned Brown, Chairman of the CCMH Board of Trustees, says “Mr. Altman has the vision, leadership skills and industry expertise to continue to move our organization forward. We are excited to have him on board.”

Brett Altman

Altman has served as President and CEO at Skiff Medical Center in Newton, for the past 2 ½ years.  He began his career at Skiff as the Director of Physical Therapy in 1994. Over the past 22 years he has moved up through the organization, serving as Director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Interim CEO, Clinical Operations Officer and Chief Operating Officer before becoming CEO in 2014.

In a Press Release, Altman said “I’ve loved my career at Skiff, but this opportunity was too good to pass up. Cass County has a fantastic health system that is vital to the community. My family and I are very excited about becoming part of the Cass County community.”

Altman also noted the strength of the CCHS staff, saying  “I was tremendously impressed with everyone I met, and I can’t wait to get started. I am honored to have the opportunity to help lead CCHS into the future, and I look forward to working together with a very engaged team.”

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports a Shelby County woman was arrested Tuesday. Deputies arrested 26-year old Kaleigh Marie Turner, of Harlan, on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. Turner was taken to the Cass County Jail and later released upon sentencing.

A federal court is siding with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and against environmental groups in a case that aimed to hasten water clean-up efforts. The Gulf Restoration Network and groups from Mississippi River watershed states argued the EPA needs to enforce more specific water quality standards. On appeal, a U.S. District Court ruled the Clean Water Act leaves that authority to the states.

Susan Heathcote, water program director for the Iowa Environmental Council, says the problem of cleaning up Iowa’s lakes and rivers is “the toughest problem we’ve ever tackled.” She says it’s going to take considerable public dollars and cooperation from both rural and urban Iowans. “This is a long-term investment that we have to make and it’s really an investment that we have to make for our children and our grandchildren because the nutrient levels are not going to go down overnight,” Heathcote says. “They didn’t come up overnight and they’re not going to go down overnight.”

Heathcote says the court ruling puts more pressure on local efforts. Heathcote says, “We know that increased leadership from EPA to enforce the Clean Water Act is probably less likely with the upcoming Trump administration, so we are looking at all of our options including new litigation.” Heathcote says the EPA has already settled a suit with the state of Missouri, agreeing to enforce standards for water quality in lakes there. She says now the challenge is to fund the needed landscape changes, like more conservation practices on farmland. She’s hopeful environmental, agricultural and public health groups can work together to pressure the legislature to fund more water quality projects.

(Radio Iowa)

State officials are now overseeing the operation of a northwest Iowa nursing home and it will be shut down by February 1st. The Abbey in Le Mars has operated for 45 years, but federal officials will not longer make Medicare and Medicaid payments to the nursing home because of a “history of serious quality issues.” Dawn Fisk of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals says records indicate “The Abbey” has been on a federal watch list for some time.

“The Abbey has been a ‘special focus facility’ since August of 2014 and typically the process for a ‘special focus facility’ is over the course of two years as having been identified in that program, the facility will be able to improve the quality of care and be able to graduate from that program,” Fisk says. Fisk says The Abbey, however, failed to make the necessary improvements during that probationary period.

“They’ve had a history of substandard care that’s been identified over the course of those two years,” Fisk says. The nursing home has 52 beds, but currently has only 23 residents. Fisk says staff in two state agencies as well as the private insurance companies that now manage Iowa’s Medicaid program are working to find new homes for them.

“The Department of Inspections and Appeals will continue to have a presence in the facility until all residents have been moved to other suitable residential settings,” Fisk says. “After February 1st or after the facility actually closes — after all residents have been moved, we won’t have an on-site presence anymore.” Staff from the state’s long-term care ombudsman will meet with patients and their families next week at The Abbey to answer questions.

Fisk says it’s been seven years since government officials have ordered that an Iowa nursing home be closed. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services website, The Abbey rated “much below average” on health inspections and had been fined at least 10 times for substandard care.

(Radio Iowa)