SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A group in Sioux City plans to distribute 36,000 bright yellow bar napkins that encourage people to avoid driving after drinking in the nights leading up to New Year’s Eve. It’s the latest campaign launched through Mercy Medical Center’s Reality Education Alcohol Prevention Program, otherwise known as REAP. The Sioux City Journal reports the napkins say, “Friends do whatever it takes to stop friends from driving drunk.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety and Administration, nearly 10,100 people were killed last year in alcohol-impaired driving crashes. Those deaths accounted for 31 percent of all traffic-related deaths in the U.S.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Finding a forever home is a goal for all children in Iowa foster care, and while that’s not the reality for many of them, the state is finding success in efforts to smooth their transition out of the system and into adulthood. Carol Behrer, executive director of Youth Policy Institute of Iowa, says navigating life’s path can be especially tough for foster youth, so support in areas such as housing, education and employment is critical.

“The services available through the Iowa Aftercare Services Network are helping these young people meet their basic needs, but also learn the skills, develop the competencies that they need to become successful adults,” she points out.

In Iowa, there are around 6,000 children in foster care at any given time, with from 400 to 500 of them turning 18 and aging out of the system each year. One way that Iowa could provide more assistance for foster youth is by joining the federal program that includes funding for foster care services beyond age 18.

“States now have the option of continuing to receive that federal support up to the age of 21,” Behrer explains. “Iowa has not yet taken that option, although more than half the states have.”

(Iowa News Service)

The head of the state parks bureau is encouraging you to make plans to take a hike in 2015. Todd Coffelt says they are planning events in five state parks.  “The state of Iowa and the state parks bureau, we’re participating with a national effort to get people to state parks enjoy a first-day hike,” Coffelt explains. “It’s an opportunity to meet with staff and enjoy the resources in their local community, and to be outside to help get that New Year started off in the right way.” He says New Year’s Day is a good time to start the new tradition.

“This is a great opportunity to maybe go do something you haven’t done before, or even if you are an expert and have done it many times, you can share that experience with other people who may be there for their first time. And really share that opportunity to talk and take shelter at a warm place in the park. But, get outside and some of Iowa’s wildlife,” according to Coffelt. Staff will be on hand at
January 1st at Bellevue State Park, Brushy Creek State Recreation Area, the Mines of Spain State Recreation Area, Walnut Woods State Park and Waubonsie State Park.

“They’ll have a fire going to help people stay warm, but they’re also gonna have treats,” Coffelt says. “A lot of these parks have friends groups that’ll be involved as well. The lodge will be open, will have some shelter, we’ll have some warmth, just in case it’s a little bit chilly.” Coffelt says most people probably don’t realize the state parks are open all year. “For those who are really brave and have the right facilities, they could go camp in them right now,” Coffelt says. He says they won’t have the shower house or flush pressrooms open. But he says there are still paths to go hiking and a lot of wildlife to see in the parks this time of year. He says there are a couple of sites to find out about the First Day Hikes.

“Wwww.iowadnr.gov for the state website, or at the national level if you want to see what’s going on in states across the country, you can go to www.naspd.org,” Coffelt says. Coffelt says you can get an early start, or just go out after watching some football. Coffelt says, “You can get out there and enjoy the fresh air and really put a wrap up to the holiday season, and like I said, kick off that New Year’s Day.” First Day Hikes started more than 20 years ago at the Blue Hills Reservation state park in Milton, Massachusetts.

Here are the locations and times for the Iowa hikes:
Bellevue State Park, Jackson County – 1 p.m. – meet at South Bluff Nature Center
Brushy Creek State Recreation Area, Webster County – 1 p.m. – meet at Prairie Resource Center
Mines of Spain State Recreation Area, Dubuque County – 1 p.m. – meet at EB Lyons Nature Center
Walnut Woods State Park, Polk County – 9 a.m. – meet at Walnut Woods Lodge
Waubonsie State Park, Fremont County – 1 p.m. – meet at park office

(Radio Iowa)

With Ric Hanson.

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Owners of the state’s gas stations and convenience stores are asking Iowa lawmakers to set up a state grant program to replace aging underground storage tanks for gas and diesel. Dawn Carlson is president of the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa, representing more than two-thousand business locations in the state. “A majority of these tanks are approaching or exceeding their useful life of 25-30 years and therefore over time they will become suceptible to leaks and other environmental hazards,” Carlson says. “and they are certainly not compatible with ethanol blends higher than 10 percent.”

Since 2006, the state has been offering grants to retailers who promise to offer E-85 to customers. The grants of up to 50-thousand dollars each are to help retailers pay for new equipment to dispense the higher blend of ethanol. Carlson’s group is asking for an expansion of that program, so tanks that have been in use for more than 25 years can be replaced with a “green” underground storage tank. “By removing and replacing these tanks we will be protecting the environment and also help ensure that fuel does not leak into Iowa’s groundwater,” Carlson says. “Additionally, underground storage tanks currently in place were not designed for these higher level blends. Installation of new tanks that are compatible with up to E 100 will enable retailers to sell higher blends of renewable fuels in the future.”

Carlson suggests the expense of a new underground tank may be out of reach for many Iowa retailers.
“While many of our members display the logo of a major oil company at their store, they are indeed owned and operated independent of the oil companies,” Carlson says. In 1989 state officials set up a fund for removal and clean up of underground storage tanks that are already leaking. Over six-thousand sites have been evaluated over the past 25 years. According to the Legislative Services Agency the state has spent over a quarter of a billion dollars removing the tanks and cleaning up the underground leaks.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Creston report three people were arrested over the weekend. On Sunday, 54-year old Thomas Morton Mullins, of Creston, was arrested for 2nd offense Public Intoxication. Mullins was being held in the Union County Jail on $1,000 bond.

On Saturday, 22-year old Marlana Reed and 20-year old Mariah Noelle Johannes, both of Creston, were arrested at the Wal-Mart store on charges of Theft in the 5th Degree. Both women were released on a citation to appear in court at a later date.

The 7:07-a.m. News with KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A Nebraska woman is still hoping to find out what happened to her son, two months after he was reported to have driven a stolen pickup into the Missouri River north of Council Bluffs. Kim Allmon, of Omaha, told The Daily Nonpareil that her son, 23-year-old Michael Ogborn, has been missing since Oct 29. Allmon says she was told he drove the truck into the river north-northwest of Crescent. Two people in the truck with him swam to safety, but he hasn’t been found.

Chief Deputy John Reynolds with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says authorities searched the river on Oct. 29 and for several days afterward. Allmon says she wants answers and closure. She says she lost Ogborn’s father in a drowning.

A man from Ringgold County was arrested early this (Monday) morning on a charge of Public Intoxication, in Montgomery County. 57-year old William Spencer Powell, Jr., of Diagonal, was taken into custody at around 3:10-a.m. and booked into the Montgomery County Jail. His bond was set at $300.

A sting by law enforcement officials in Fremont County resulted in the recent arrest of four teens and one adult – all from Shenandoah –  on Burglary and other charges. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports an investigation and sting operation happened following burglaries  involving the repeated theft of tools from a farm near Farragut. The suspects allegedly burglarized the farm on several different occasions from September through November, 2014. Items taken during the burglaries were recovered at two separate residences in Shenandoah.

Officials say 18-year old Shea Thibodeaux, of Shenandoah, was taken into custody on: 3 counts of Burglary in the 3rd Degree; 6 counts of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor; 2 counts of Conspiracy to Commit Burglary in the 3rd Degree; Theft in the 5th Degree; Child Endangerment and Criminal Mischief.

17-year old Levi Glines, of Shenandoah, faces charges of Burglary in the 3rd degree and Theft in the 4th Degree. 16-year old Lane Overby, of Shenandoah, was arrested on 2 counts of Burglary in the 3rd Degree and Theft in the 4th; 14-year old Nathan Priest, and 13-year old Connell Racine, both of Shenandoah,was arrested on 3 counts each of Burglary in the 3rd Degree, Conspiracy to Commit Burglary in the 3rd Degree, and a single count each of Theft in the 4th Degree.

The juveniles were released to their parents. Thibodeaux was being held in the Fremont County Jail on $15,000 bond. Authorities say additional charges are pending in the case.