KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
JOHNSON COUNTY, Iowa – A driver from Texas was killed in a crash on I-80 between Iowa City and West Branch Wednesday night. According to an Iowa State Patrol crash report, 34-year-old Enoch Z. Mampuya, of Hotham City, Texas, was driving an Mercedez Sprinter Van was driving east near the 252 mile marker when Mampuya lost control of the vehicle.
Mampuya’s van entered the median and hit an unoccupied semi-trailer that had been involved in a previous crash. Mampuya – who was wearing his seat belt – died as a result of the crash, which occurred at around 9:05-p.m., Wednesday.
The State Patrol said late Wednesday afternoon that Troopers had responded to more than 112 crashes across Iowa.
(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa House subcommittee has approved a bill that would prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion programs at any private college or university in Iowa that participate in the state’s Tuition Grant program. Representative Taylor Collins, a Republican from Mediapolis, is chairman of the House Higher Education Committee. “D.E.I. is D.O.A. in the state of Iowa and, for our private institutions, honestly this bill should be the least of their worries,” Collins says. “There’s an executive order that President Trump has signed that I think they should be worrying about much more than even this one.”
In January, Trump signed an executive order barring federal funds from being used for diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Last year, the state legislature ordered Iowa’s three public universities to shut down D-E-I programs at Iowa’s three public universities. “It was a priority because I think Americans and Iowans are sick of identity politics,” Collins says. Representative Ross Wilburn, a Democrat from Ames, says anti-D-E-I rhetoric is meant to stoke fear.
“The president is blaming diversity, equity and inclusion for fires and plane crashes,” Wilburn says. Over 83-hundred students at Iowa private colleges and universities have received an Iowa Tuition Grant this academic year. If the bill becomes law, Iowa’s private college students would be ineligible for a grant if their school has a diversity, equity and inclusion staff or a D-E-I office. Cierra Jackson, a student in Drake University’s law school, says D-E-I programs give hope to young people like her.
“I did not believe in myself until I went to a higher institution that had a program there that was capable of supporting me and giving me the opportunities that I needed to succeed,” she said, “because I was born in a place that gave me no opportunity.”
In other action Wednesday, the House Higher Education Committee passed a bill that would require that students at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I pass a course on American history and civil government in order to graduate. The panel also pass a bill calling for creation of a School of Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa. Both bills passed with the support of Republicans and opposition from Democrats.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are co-sponsoring a bill to make sure small business owners and farmers don’t have to list land and equipment as assets on their child’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA.
“They happen to be land and asset rich, but cash poor,” Grassley says. “Their wealth is tied up in assets that can’t be easily sold to pay for college.” Calculations on the FAFSA are meant to determine how much a parent is able to contribute toward their child’s education, but Grassley says row crop farmers, in particular, have a negative cash flow right now. “This legislation protects farm families’ access to higher education,” Grassley says.
Congress passed a law that directed the U-S Department of Education to make the FAFSA easier and quicker to fill out. Biden Administration rules for the current school year required parents who owned farmland as an investment to list it as an asset, but parents who own land they’re farming on had to list their land as an asset, too. Ernst says it meant farm kids got less federal aid for college.
“Their folks have farm ground, they have equipment, so they’re asset rich, but they are cash poor,” Ernst said, “and these ag families should not be forced to sell their farm so that their children can go to college.” The policy was reversed last year, for the financial aid application forms for the 2025-26 school year. Grassley says the bill makes the policy permanent, so a regulation writer in the federal government can’t change it back.
Seven Republican Senators and Colorado Senator Michael Bennet — a Democrat — have joined Iowa’s two Republican senators as co-sponsors of the Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education held their regular monthly meeting Wednesday evening from separate locations instead of in the High School Media Center, due to the weather and road conditions. The Board approved the following personnel matters:
Resignations:
Terminations:
Recommendation to Hire:
The Atlantic School Board discussed possible versions of the 2025-26 District Calendars. Superintendent Dr. Beth Johnsen, said there are essentially three options. The first has school beginning Monday, August 25th.
The other options have school starting August 20th.
The Board also discussed 4-8 Teaching position recommendations, and Caseload Review recommendations, along with the FY26 Tax Rate Options. No action was taken on the aforementioned discussion items. The Board did however act on approving:
(Radio Iowa) – Pope Francis has accepted the retirement request for Sioux City Catholic Diocese Bishop Walter Nickless. Bishop Nickless has served Sioux City since 2006 and says he submitted his request for retirement in May of 2022 as is required when you turn 75. He joked about not getting approval until recently.
“I was at Bishop Helen High School on January 28 in the midst of Catholic Schools Week. And I told the students that were there I think the Holy Father has forgotten me. I was 75 two years ago,” he says. “I came back after that, and there was a call waiting from the nuncio in Washington, the one who makes the appointments.” The Pope also appointed 59-year-old Father John Keehner of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio to take over in Sioux City May 1st. Keehner described the call to come to Sioux City.
“The person on the other line identified himself as Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio to the U-S. And he asked if I was alone. And when I said yes, he began telling me that the Holy Father, Pope Francis, had appointed me the Eighth Bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa,” he says. “And I remember asking, Is this a joke? I thought I was being pranked. His Eminence, laughed. I’m guessing that this is not the first time someone has asked him that question. He reassured me that it was not in set and simply said, didn’t ask you will accept. Yes.”
Bishop-elect John Keehner. (KSCJ photo)
Bishop Nickless says he called Keehner shortly after learning he would be his replacement. “He has a sense of humor, he’s humble, he’s willing to serve. I promised him my support and the help that he will go through to where the transition and we are very blessed. Bishop-elect Keehner is blessed as well, because he inherits a Greek diocese, the priests and the people of the Diocese will soon see a man of the greatest quality,” Nickless says. Father Keehner did not grow up a Catholic but earned a B-A in English in 1988 from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. He began his studies at Mount St. Mary Seminary of the West in Cincinnati and was ordained a priest in 1993.
“I’m the product of public school education, but I’m truly grateful for my experiences of working with parishes, with schools which taught me far more than I could ever have taught them,” he says. “I’m grateful for my experiences of working with young adults as Newman Center chaplain for Youngstown State University, for the time I spent working with the Department of canonical services and the very good men and women who taught me what it means to serve with love and patience those whose hearts were broken and in need of healing.”
There are 24 counties in the Sioux City Diocese in northwest Iowa with some 84-thousand parishioners, 37 parishes, and 36 priests in active ministry. There are 15 Catholic schools in the Diocese.
AMES, Iowa – An Iowa State student is being credited for exposing an international neo-Nazi group that groomed and coerced minors online. KCCI reports Chief Michael Newton with the Iowa State University Police Department says the victim reported the online sexual abuse and coercion to police while she was an Iowa State student in 2020. Newton says the four-year investigation turned into an international case and revealed at least 30 victims worldwide, some as young as 11 years old.
In total, four members of a group called CVLT (pronounced “cult”) have now been charged in connection with what the United States Department of Justice called “a neo-Nazi child exploitation enterprise.”
In November 2020, a student reached out to ISU police to report she was being blackmailed by a man she had met online two years prior when the student was still a minor. That led Iowa State police to investigate the suspect’s online banking and social media accounts, which, along with Homeland Security investigators, helped them identify the man as Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, 41, of Pahoa, Hawaii.
Borge and Colin John Thomas Walker, 23, of Bridgeton, New Jersey, were each arrested on Jan. 30.
Rohan Sandeep Rane, 28, of Antibes, France, and Kaleb Christopher Merritt, 24, of Spring, Texas, were already in custody. A federal indictment says Walker, Borge, Rane and Merritt were alleged members of the CVLT, which declared Nazism, nihilism and pedophilia as its core principles. The U.S. Department of Justice says Rane, Walker and Merritt were leaders of the group by hosting and running CVLT’s online servers.
The four suspects were indicted for grooming and coercing minors to produce child sexual abuse material and images of self-harm.
(Radio Iowa) – Six JOANN Fabrics and Crafts in Iowa are now among hundreds around the country targeted for closure. JOANN Fabrics, which is based in Ohio, filed for bankruptcy protection in January. The company had indicated it would keep its eight-hundred retail outlets open during the process, but has now identified 533 stores that may be closed immediately. The Joann stores in Ames, Ankeny, Council Bluffs, Iowa City, Mason City and Muscatine are on that list.
A company spokesperson told C-N-N this rightsizing is the company’s best path forward, but executives understand the closures will have a major impact on employees, customers and communities.
JOANN Fabrics was founded in 1943 and became the largest crafting supply retailer in the United States. The company went public in 2021, with shares sold on the NASDAQ stock market. It first filed for bankruptcy last March and announced a few weeks later it had become a private company again and would keep all its stores open.
(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday) approved a few administrative matters before hearing from County Attorney Melissa Larson. The Board approved taxable mileage for Supervisor Matt Wedemeyer, acknowledged the receipt of monthly reports and Board Chair Nathan Baier’s signing of Family Farm and Agland Disallowances. Adair County Auditor Mandy Berg explained…
County Attorney Melissa Larson discussed a contract with Westlaw for a legal publication subscription, instead of renewing a contract with Thomson Reuter.
The Board approved her recommendation to sign an electronic contract that Larson said fits her needs as County Attorney. And, County Engineer Nick Kauffman presented for the Board’s approval Chairman Baier’s signature, plans for the resurfacing of Adair-Dallas County Road P-48 near Dexter. The project will cost $2.1-million, and will be paid for through a $310,000 Safety Grant. Adair County’s share of the cost amounts to $608,535, and will be paid for through the Farm-To-Market Fund.
Kauffman said bid-letting is expected to take place May 20th, with a late start date of July 21st. The I-80 ramps at Dexter will have to be closed during the construction project. A total of four different counties are participating in the project. The Board approved signing of the papers to move the project forward.
Kauffman updated the Board on Adair County Secondary Roads Department Maintenance and Activities prior to the conclusion of the meeting.
(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report a man was arrested this (Wednesday) morning, on simple misdemeanor, Public Intoxication and Disorderly Conduct, charges. 46-year-old Adrian Bauer, of Emerson, was arrested at around 7:40-a.m. in the 2300 block of Eastern Avenue. Bauer was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.
(Radio Iowa) – A subcommittee in the Iowa House has approved an “anti-doxxing” bill, to make it a crime to try to intimidate or harass someone by posting their address or other personal information online. Due to today’s (Wednesday’s) weather, no one from the public testified during the subcommittee’s hearing, but Representative Samantha Fett read aloud the written statement submitted by Jenn Turner, a chapter chair of “Moms for Liberty.”
“I remember the first time a post was shared about me that my address was posted publicly in an opposing group by an a former member of this very House of Representatives. This resulted in hate mail and harassment for the following months,” Turner said in her statement. “…I cannot believe we live in a day where we have to legislate being a decent human, but here we are. For anyone to attempt to put other’s livelihoods in jeopardy because of their differences and their families in danger is unacceptable.”
Image from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
The bill defines doxxing as posting photos or videos of someone or the person’s phone number, home or email addresses, place of employment or similar information about their family without a legitimate purpose, to threaten, intimidate, annoy or alarm the individual. Those found guilty of this type of online harassment could be sentenced to up to two years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of over 85-hundred dollars. A Democrat and a Republican on the three-member subcommittee raised concerns about the bill’s wording and scope, suggesting it needs editing before the bill is considered by the House Public Safety Committee.
Thirteen states have adopted some form of an anti-doxxing law. Ten states make this kind of online harassment of anyone a crime. Minnesota’s anti-doxxing law only applies to law enforcement officials, while the laws in Colorado and Oklahoma apply to a specific list of government officials.
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSS