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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A convicted Nebraska sex offender has pleaded not guilty to Iowa accusations that he sexually assaulted two women in Sioux City. Court records say 30-year-old Zachary Person entered a written plea Thursday to six charges, including sexual abuse by a habitual offender, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, serious assault and other crimes. No trial date has been set.

The records say he assaulted a woman at Morningside College on Feb. 12, 2017, and another woman the same night at a motel. Nebraska records say Person, from Norfolk, was sentenced in October to 15 to 20 years for trying to assault a woman in Omaha. The Nebraska Sex Offender Registry says he’s also been convicted of sex crimes in 2012 in Dawson County and 2016 in Dodge County.

WAVERLY, Iowa (AP) — A northeast Iowa college has begun bolstering security following reports that a man entered unlocked dorms and bathrooms and harassed female students. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that no charges have been filed against the man. The complaints say he entered dorm rooms and bathrooms at Wartburg College in Waverly in February, touched students without their permission and stole money. Police say charges are likely when an investigation is finished.

Security cameras have been installed in 11 new spots in addition to 30 already located around campus. Locks also will be installed on bathrooms, and motion-sensor light switches will be changed so bathroom lights are always on.

An empty Chinese space station is expected to fall back to earth as soon as today (Friday) and it’s possible pieces of it that survive the fiery reentry may fall on Iowa. Allison Jaynes, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa, says Tiangong One will likely come down between now and Monday and there’s a wide path of possible landing spots, including us. “Most of North America, most of the latitudes where people are living are in the path,” Jaynes says, “but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to get hit by any of these pieces because, of course, that chance is extremely small.”

There are many unknowns as to when and where the space station will fall, but Jaynes notes, since 71-percent of the Earth’s surface is water, the odds are better than seven in ten it won’t hit land. “We’re not sure exactly where in its orbit it’s going to start to reenter but the more important thing to look for is if you’re going to be in the path of visibility to see the piece when it comes through the atmosphere,” Jaynes says. “It will glow. You’ll likely be able to see it, even during the day, if you’re in the right spot on the world.”

Launched in 2011, Tiangong — which means “Heavenly Palace” in Chinese — is roughly the size of a school bus and weighs about nine-and-a-half tons. It’s 34-feet long and is filled with all sorts of equipment, large oxygen tanks, two beds and some exercise gear, as well as two large solar arrays or wings. “Most of it will burn up. You might end up with fist-sized chunks coming in to land somewhere on earth,” Jaynes says. “This is one of the biggest things that has reentered the atmosphere so we don’t have a whole lot of data points on this, but from what we know, most of it does get burned up.”

So how should Iowans be conducting themselves over the next few days? Should we be wearing helmets if we dare to go outside? Jaynes says, “You have many thousands of times better chance of winning the lottery in the next few days than you do getting hit by anything coming from space.” The American space station, Skylab, fell in 1979. It was much larger than Tiangong — Skylab was 85 tons or about nine-times heavier — and some large pieces did strike land in Australia. A small town there famously tried to charge NASA a fine of $400 for littering.

(Radio Iowa)

Red Oak Police responded at around 7-p.m. Thursday, to an accident in the 500 block of East Market Street, where a vehicle struck a tree. Witnesses told Officers the driver took off on foot, but he was located a short time later in the 300 block of E. Market Street, with the assistance of the Montgomery County K9 Unit. An investigation resulted in the arrest of 32-year old Jacob Wayne Dykes-Vargas, of Red Oak. He was taken into custody for Driving While Suspended, and cited for Failure to have insurance/accident related. Dykes-Vargas was brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $566.

Officials with the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office reported Thursday night, that 54-year old James Meek, of Blockton, was arrested Thursday in the 2900 block of 320th Street near Blockton. Meek was charged with Willful Injury Causing Bodily Injury and Violation of a No Contact Order, and was being held at the Taylor County Jail on a $10,000 cash bond.

The Iowa House has unanimously passed a bill designed to shield “whistleblowers” in state government from retaliation if they go to the state auditor with complaints. Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton says”It’s a short and simple bill, but it is very good public policy.”

Kaufmann is chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee. The panel held three hearings this year to review activity at the Iowa Communications Network. Network employees went to the governor’s office last summer to report concerns about the agency’s manage. The state auditor’s office investigated and discovered the network’s manager went on a vacation to Belize at state expense, tried to sell state-owned property on E-bay and hired unqualified cronies who got huge raises.

The bill would make it clear the name of any whistleblower employed in state government may be kept confidential in investigations by the state auditor. The names of other witnesses interviewed by auditors could be kept secret, too.
Kaufmann says his panel took a bipartisan approach to addressing concerns raised by mismanagement of tens of thousands of dollars in the Iowa Communications Network.

“We partnered together to find and seek ways to make government better, so that a situation like this might not happen again,” Kaufman says. “I’m not saying we’ve totally closed that option from every happening, but I think this bill puts us a lot closer to being there.” The bill specifically says managers in state government are not to cut pay, demote or fire employees who disclose information to the state auditor.

(Radio Iowa)

High school students who screen children’s vision are asking Iowa lawmakers to restore state funding to the program that taught them how to do it. Aya Almajidi is a student at Waukee High School who conducts vision tests at elementary schools once a week.

“We have like seen kids who can’t even see at all and they know that, but they’re afraid to tell their parents, so we love going out and helping kids and then the next time we see them, they have glasses,” she says. “And they tell us: ‘Oh, thank you so much for screening us.'”

The Iowa Department of Public Health cut nearly 100-thousand of annual state funding for Prevent Blindness Iowa last year. Almajidi and other students presented petitions to legislators yesterday (Thursday), asking for that funding to be restored. “Keep the funding because it actually helps a lot of students,” she says. “…When students can’t see, it’s like a higher risk of failing high school.”

The director of Prevent Blindness Iowa says because state support ended, they can’t travel around Iowa to train more people in vision screening. The group estimates a quarter of school-aged Iowa kids have vision problems. Lions Club groups around the state have trained volunteers who conduct vision tests for babies who are at least six months old, but not yet two.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 2:00 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A new law is expanding access to mental health services across Iowa. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed legislation Thursday that creates six access centers to provide short-term care for people in crisis. The legislation also doubles the number of teams across the state that provide 24/7 flexible treatment and support to patients.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Police have identified a worker killed in a northwestern Iowa transportation hub accident. The Sioux City Journal reports that police say 42-year-old Brian McCormick, of Sioux City, died in the Wednesday accident at Big Soo Terminal. Big Soo general manager Kevin Knepper says McCormick was a warehouseman and maintenance technician. A news release said the accident involved a “switching operation with train cars,” in which McCormick was struck and killed by an unmanned car.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man threatened by city officials with legal action for saying on a website that his hometown smelled like “rancid dog food” because of an animal food processing plant has won a free-speech lawsuit. Josh Harms, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, filed suit in U.S. District Court earlier this month asking a judge to block Sibley officials suing him.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man died after suffering an electric shock at a Cedar Rapids mobile home park. First responders were sent to Five Seasons Mobile Home Park around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. Police say he was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Hospital. His name and other information haven’t been released.