Expect to pay more to heat your home this winter than you spent last year. That’s the message from government analysts who sifted through forecasts for a colder winter and slightly higher energy prices. The Energy Department said today (Thursday) that household bills from October through March are likely to be higher for all four main heating fuels – natural gas, electricity, heating oil, and propane.

Consumers got a break last winter, when temperatures were mild. Government meteorologists are expecting a colder winter this time in the Northeast, Midwest and South.

A woman from Kansas was arrested on numerous charges associated with a break-in and burglary in rural Pottawattamie County, Wednesday morning. According to the Pott. County Sheriff’s Office, a Deputy responded to a report about a suspicious female at a residence northeast of Neola. The woman was identified as 38-year old Lindsey Dawn Sanchez, of Dodge City, KS.

An investigation determined Sanchez was in possession of property belonging to the 73-year old resident of the home, including a purse, bathroom toiletries, antique cans, a light holder, oil, bears and a mirror. The items were valued at $310 altogether.

Sanchez was taken into custody for Burglary in the 2nd Degree, Theft in the 4th Degree, Interference with Official Acts, and making a False report to Law Enforcement.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports a Clarinda man was arrested Wednesday evening on a Page County District Court warrant for OWI. 26-year old Donovan James Harvey was taken into custody at around 6:30-p.m.   Harvey has since posted bond a,nd was released pending future court appearances.

It’s “Pink at the Pump” month at some of the Iowa retailers who sell a higher blend of ethanol. Grant Menke of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says it applies to E-15 and 28 Iowa stations are participating. “Who, for the entire month of October have agreed to donate three cents per gallon to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for every gallon of E15 that they sell during the month,” Menke says.

You may have noticed the promotion if you’ve filled up at a station with E-15 pumps. Participating locations have pink nozzle guards, to mark the grade of fuel that is part of the promotion. “2001 and newer vehicles are all approved by the EPA for E15, so it’s safe for your vehicle. You’ve going to get the mileage,” Menke says. “You’ve going to save money and then with this National Breast Cancer Foundation tie-in, you’re also going to help save lives.”

The average price for regular unleaded in Iowa is currently $2.20 a gallon, and E-15 is selling for about 20 cents less. Among the gas stations participating in “Pink at the Pump,” is: the “STAR Energy” station Guthrie Center; and the “United Farmers Coop” in Creston and Mount Ayr.

(Radio Iowa)

A woman from Adair County was seriously injured during a crash in Union County Wednesday afternoon. The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 73-year old Joyce Herr, of Fontanelle, was transported by ambulance to the Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston, after her 2003 Chevy Impala collided head-on with a 2012 Hyundai Veracruz, driven by 26-year old Shanna Yenzer, of Creston. The accident happened just before 5-p.m. Wednesday, near the entrance to the Chicken Inn on Highway 34, west of Creston.

Officials say Herr was traveling east on Highway 34 and turning left into the restaurant driveway, and failed to yield to the westbound Hyundai. Yenzer complained of pain following the crash but was not transported to the hospital as of the time of the Sheriff’s report. Both vehicles were totaled in the crash, with the damage amounting to $15,000.

Symbols and reminders of domestic violence are currently on display through the end of this month at the Cass County Courthouse and Cass County Memorial Hospital, in Atlantic.

Photo’s courtesy Bev Groves

T-shirts made by victims of domestic violence or their friends and families, are on display as part of “The Clothesline Project” (www.clotheslineproject.org). In a follow-up to our report last week, KJAN News spoke with Bev Groves Crime Victim Coordinator, and Assistant to Cass County Attorney David Wiederstein,  Groves says t-shirts representing each form of domestic violence are on display as part “Domestic Violence Awareness Month.”

The shirts are made available through Southwest Iowa Families, which collected them from victims of domestic violence and/or their friends and families. Groves says one of the shirts hanging in the corridor of the 2^nd floor in the Cass County Courthouse, caught the eye of 4^th District Court Judge Susan Kay Christensen

The shirt made in memory of Holly Durbin.

The shirt was in memory of 29-year old Holly Rae Durbin, of rural Shenandoah, who died in July 2009, from a gunshot wound to the head. In February, 2015, Fremont County District Court Judge Timothy O’Grady found 35-year old Brian Heath Davis guilty of first-degree murder in connection with Holly’s death. Davis was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Southwest Iowa Families, in conjunction with Catholic Charities and Phoenix House, have been providing the displays for a number of years at this same time. The color of the shirts is representative of the type of violence women have endured.

Four people were injured during a single-vehicle accident Wednesday afternoon, in Fremont County. One of the victims was extricated from the vehicle and transported in critical condition to the Shenandoah Memorial Hospital. Three other passengers were treated at the hospital for unknown injuries. The driver of the vehicle, Kenneth Frame, of Red Oak, was not hurt.

Officials say Frame was driving a 2000 Chevy Impala southbound in the 2300 block of Highway 59 just before 2-p.m., when the car went onto the right shoulder of the road. Frame lost control when he over-corrected, causing the car to exit off a driveway approach and proceed airborne before it landed in the west ditch and hit a tree before coming to rest.

Shenandoah Fire, Shenandoah Rescue, Essex Rescue and Shenandoah Police along with Page County Sheriff’s Deputies, assisted at the scene.

(9-a.m. News)

Authorities in Iowa today (Thursday) say the Emerald ash borer (EAB), an invasive beetle that attacks and kills ash trees, has been confirmed in Adair and Adams Counties. EAB is now present in 28 states after being discovered in Detroit, Michigan in 2002. EAB is native to Asia. Adair and Adams Counties join the growing list of confirmed counties where EAB has been detected in Iowa. Nine counties have been added to the list this year. Iowa first confirmed the presence of this destructive pest in 2010.

The recent discoveries took place at Lake Orient Recreation Area (Adair County Conservation Board) in Adair County and a rural area north of Cromwell in Adams County.

IA EAB Positive sites Oct. 12 2016

Insect larvae were taken from both sites and later positively identified by federal identifiers as EAB. Mike Kintner, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship EAB and gypsy moth coordinator, says “It is particularly difficult to battle an invasive species like emerald ash borer. One thing people can do to help with this effort is avoid transporting firewood.”

The Iowa EAB Team strongly urges Iowans to use locally sourced firewood, burning it in the same county where it was purchased. Firewood is a vehicle for the movement of EAB. The adult beetle also can fly short distances, approximately 2 to 5 miles.

The adult beetle is metallic green and only about one-half inch long. The larval stage of this wood-boring insect tunnels under the bark of ash trees, disrupting the flow of water and nutrients, ultimately causing the tree to die. EAB-infested ash trees display canopy dieback beginning at the top of the tree and progressing downwards, S-shaped feeding galleries under dead or splitting bark, D-shaped exit holes, water sprouts (along the trunk and main branches), and increased woodpecker activity to the bark.

At this calendar date, the window for all preventive treatments has closed. If a landowner is interested in protecting a valuable and healthy ash tree within 15 miles of a known infestation, he or she should have landscape and tree service companies bid on work, review the bids this fall/winter, and treat beginning spring 2017 (early April to mid-May).

The State of Iowa will continue to track the movement of EAB on a county-by-county basis. Before a county can be officially recognized as infested, EAB must be collected by a member of the Iowa EAB Team and verified by USDA entomologists. To learn more about EAB and other pests that are threatening Iowa’s tree population, please visit www.IowaTreePests.com.

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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