Authorities in Creston say no injuries were reported following a collision that occurred at around 5:55-a.m.  Officials say a 2007 GMC Envoy driven by 25-year old Frankie Lynn Rice, of Afton, was traveling west on Highway 34, when an eastbound 2019 Pontiac G6 turned left onto Commerce Street. The vehicle, driven by 55-year old Patti Elaine Page-Jones, of Creston, was struck by the SUV, on the right rear side. Damage from the collision amounted to $5,500. No citations were issued.

As Iowans begin the task of filling out their state tax returns, they’re encouraged to make a donation to what’s nicknamed the “Chickadee Checkoff” to support wildlife conservation statewide. Stephanie Shepherd, a wildlife biologist at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the amount collected last year for the Fish and Wildlife Fund rose from the year before, but still, very few Iowans donate to the cause. “We were really excited to see that the numbers went up to about $147,000,” Shepherd says. “That was up by roughly $15,000 from the year before. That was a really nice increase and we were really happy to see it, but in its heyday, it brought in over $200,000.”

Iowa has one-point-six million taxpayers and last year about 78-hundred donated to the fund, an increase of about 300 from the year before. “Less than half of one percent of taxpayers actually donate to the checkoff,” Shepherd says. “If every taxpayer in Iowa, for example, gave one dollar to the checkoff, that would mean $1.5 million for wildlife conservation.” Of the Iowans who donated last year, they averaged about 19-dollars each. The fund benefits a wide array of Iowa’s most vulnerable creatures — more than a thousand species, including eagles, songbirds, turtles, lizards and butterflies. Avenues include education, research and habitat management. “The money from the Chickade Checkoff is used to support non-game wildlife or wildlife that you can’t hunt, fish or trap,” Shepherd says. “It was instrumental in developing the Wildlife Diversity Program here at the Iowa DNR where we focus entirely on non-game species.”

The Fish and Wildlife Fund was created by the Iowa Legislature in the 1980s as a way for citizens to donate to wildlife conservation on the state tax form. Before that, non-game wildlife had no dedicated funding. Shepherd says donating on the tax form is easy: simply write the amount next to the Fish and Wildlife Check-Off, line 57 on Form 1040. The sum is either automatically deducted from the refund or added to the amount owed. Plus, it’s deductible from next year’s taxes.

(Radio Iowa)

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Omaha television station WOWT reports authorities in Harrison, County Iowa have brought in a Denison dive team to assist with truck submerged in a sand pit. The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office told the station the vehicle is in the water near Hallett Materials on Highway 30 southwest of Dunlap. The Boyer runs past that location. The driver has been reported missing. The circumstances remain under investigation as authorities converge to pull the truck from the water. Early indications are that the vehicle went into the water at around 5-a.m. today (Thursday).

Sheriff’s officials in northern Iowa’s Humboldt County say Lavista, Nebraska man was arrested Tuesday on a felony kidnapping charge after authorities received a report that at around 2:36-a.m. Tuesday, about the alleged abduction of a young woman from Fremont, NE. 36-year old Valentin Velez was being held in the Humboldt County Jail. If convicted, he faces up to 10-years in jail.

Authorities say the woman had used social media to contact friends and family. Deputies from Humboldt and Wright Counties were able to locate her at 503 McCurry Street, in Renwick. Authorities say the young lady was able to escape the residence and was taken by ambulance to the Humboldt County Memorial Hospital, where she was treated.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in its investigation by the Humboldt County Attorney’s Office, Iowa DCI, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Department of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Renwick  Ambulance Service.

Creston Police, last week, received reports from citizens about an incident of vandalism and theft. On Jan. 18th, a resident of the 300 block of N. Vine, reported that at around 6:15-p.m. on that date, someone threw rocks at the window of his home, causing the window to break. The damage was estimated at $100. And, on Jan. 19th, a resident of the 500 block of N. Pine, in Creston, reported to police that sometime between Nov. 24th and Jan. 19th, someone cut two locks off his storage unit at 301 Industrial Parkway, and took a wooden box. The box contained several old coins, miscellaneous Craftsman tools, a Magnatone Guitar Amplifier, a WWE ring, some George Jones and Superman memorabilia. The loss was estimated at $435.

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

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NEVADA, Iowa (AP) — A former teacher in the North Polk Community School District has been sentenced for having a sexual relationship with a teenage student. Court records show Kevin Muehlenthaler, of Ames, was given six years in prison at his sentencing Wednesday in Nevada. He also was fined $625 for each count. A jury had found the 30-year-old Muehlenthaler guilty in October of three counts of sexual exploitation by a school employee.

Authorities say a woman told police she had a relationship with Muehlenthaler between November 2013 and July 2014 when she was a student of 16 and then 17 years old. The district says Muehlenthaler was employed from August 2013 to June 2016 and that the district became aware of the allegations only after he left the district.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have recovered a male body from the Des Moines River. The Des Moines Police Department says the body was reported around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, south of the Grand Avenue bridge. Police are investigating. The person’s name hasn’t been released yet.

The Iowa Senate had a heated debate about the water quality bill Governor Kim Reynolds has pledged to sign into law. A bill that passed the Republican-led Senate LAST YEAR got final legislative approval in the Iowa HOUSE on Tuesday. Senator Rob Hogg a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says the bill fails to target the state money to where it would do the most good and fails to restart the state’s water monitoring program.”It is a facade. It is not a bill that helps water quality in this state…There is no monitoring, reporting or accountability,” Hogg says. “If you don’t measure it, you don’t really care about it.”

Senator Jerry Behn, a Republican from Boone, says he’s using conservation tillage practices on his farm.”The Iowa Soybean Association right now has been monitoring my tile, just exactly to find out what’s good coming out of that stuff, so don’t tell me that I’m not monitoring because I don’t care, “Behn says. “We are monitoring because we do care.” Senator David Johnson of Ocheyedan, the lone independent in the legislature, says the bill was “bought and paid for by the Farm Bureau.”

“You know I could spit in the Little Sioux River in Spencer and think I made an impact,” Johnson said. “…This isn’t a water quality bill. It falls far short of what this state needs.”Senator Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull who’s a banker, accused Johnson and other critics of “tramping” on farmers. “Farmers are good people and the ag economy, it’s the number one economy we have in this state and so I’m standing up here,” Feenstra says. “I’m standing up for the farmers.”

The bill’s backers say it will provide 286 million dollars for water quality projects over the next 12 years. However, there’s just a four-million dollar allotment for next year. Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey expects most of that will be used as incentives to farmers for “edge of field” projects that prevent run-off from cropland. “That’s the bio-reactors, saturated buffers, nutrient-reduction wetlands,” Northey says.

And Northey says the four million dollars in state money can leverage far more in federal funds along with the investments from landowners. As for measuring how voluntary nutrient management is working on farms, Northey says in “a big state with billions of gallons of water moving all the time,” it’s hard to chart progress at “scores” of locations.

(Radio Iowa)