w/ Ric Hanson

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The Griswold and CAM Community School District Boards of Directors will hold their separate, regular meetings this evening. The Griswold School Board will gather in the Central Office Board Room at 5:45-p.m. On their agenda is are updates on: District construction/renovation projects; Early Retirement, and Security. They’ll also select the Board Negotiations Team and set the date for a work session, along with act on the first reading of Board Policies in the 900 series.

The CAM School Board will meet beginning at 6:30-p.m., in the CAM High School Media Center at Anita. Among the items on their agenda is discussion and/or action on Initiation by the teachers association (CAMEA), of negotiations for the 2014-2015 Master contract. In other action, Superintendent Pelzer will report tonight on the District’s unspent balance projections. The District has received notification from the Dept. of Education regarding projections on future unspent balance. Only those schools that may need to look into making changes, were notified. In his notes to the Board, Pelzer says it’s no surprise that there is alarm at the DE, considering the District is feeling the effect this year of the loss of 40 students a couple of years back.

The Board will also discuss and possibly act on: Bus bids; Capital Projects; Resignations and early retirements; Open enrollment applications, and the 2014-2015 school calendar. The meeting will conclude with a closed session for negotiations.

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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It’s the middle of winter but Iowa’s bicycling enthusiasts are already thinking about the summer ahead. The 10th annual Iowa Bicycle Summit will be held this weekend in Des Moines. Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, says Friday is the first day of the gathering and it will feature guest speakers, an all-day workshop and breakout sessions on a host of bicycle-related topics.

“That’s our opportunity to have a lot of education,” Wyatt says. “It really focuses on community planning, bike lanes, bike facilities, trails, that sort of thing. We’re really excited because it’s really some of the best formal education communities are getting.” The other half of the weekend is the Iowa Bike Expo, a free event on Saturday featuring more than 100 exhibitors.

“You’re going to be able to see the latest bikes, gear, destinations, trails, events,” Wyatt says. “They’re all going to be at this expo. It’s a great time to come down and plan your summer vacation.” After the expo, there’s also the route announcement party for RAGBRAI, the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, on Saturday at 8 P-M. “That’s a ticketed event that happens in the ballroom at the Iowa Events Center,” Wyatt says. “A lot of fun will be had there but most of all, the evening caps off with the eight overnight towns announced.”

The reception will feature live and silent auctions, door prizes and more. All activities are at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Learn more at: www.iowabicyclecoalition.org

Six candidates who’re competing for the Iowa Republican Party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate met last night (Sunday) in a 90-minute debate in Council Bluffs. It marked the first time retired business executive Mark Jacobs joined the field in that kind of a forum and Jacobs stood out from his competitors when Jacobs said he would have voted for the recent federal budget deal, although he would have sought some changes in it. “My entire career in the business world has been working with people who had different points of view and figuring out how you bring people together and get things done,” Jacobs said. “…We have to have the right principles, but we also have to have leaders who are able to take those principles and build coalitions and turn those into concrete results.”

Joni Ernst, a state senator and Iowa National Guard soldier, said she would have opposed the budget deal, partly because it reduced military pensions. “I do believe in working together towards a balanced budget, but as a veteran I will not do it by balancing our budget on the backs of veterans,” Ernst said. Sam Clovis, a retired soldier who’s taken a sabbatical from his job as a Morningside College professor, said he would not have voted for the two-year budget deal either. “This is the very problem that we face in Washington, D.C. as we continue to kick the can down the road because we lack leadership,” Clovis said. “We lack leadership on both sides of the aisle, frankly.”

Matt Whitaker, a lawyer who is a former federal prosecutor, would have been a “no” vote, too. “I would support a budget that makes the tough choices,” Whitaker said. “…I would support a budget that brings fundamental tax reform. You know the tax code has five times the words of the Bible and none of the ‘Good News.'” Scott Schaben, a former soldier and car salesman, argued the G-O-P must do more to reach out to new blocks of voters, especially “millennials.”  “We have to choose our rhetoric wisely,” Schaben says. “Our competition loves to paint as the party of old, rich, white people out of touch with women and minorities.”

Paul Lunde, a lawyer from Ames, also participated in the debate, arguing the U.S. constitution should be “modernized” with amendments that make Social Security and Medicare permanent. The event was organized by Pottawattamie County Republicans and broadcast live on WHO and KMA radio stations.

(Radio Iowa)

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest Friday afternoon in Hamburg, of a Sidney man on drug and other charges. Authorities say 36-year old Shannon Dell Rutledge, of Sidney,  was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance (Marijuana) and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, along with a charge of Careless Driving.

Rutledge was taken into custody at around 4:45-p.m., after they received a complaint about a vehicle being operated carelessly on North Street, in Hamburg. Rutledge was arrested in the 700 block of Main Street and brought to the Fremont County Jail. He later posted bond, and was released.

A report of an occupied vehicle in the Nishnabotna High School parking lot in Farragut led to the arrest of a man on drug charges, Sunday night. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office says at around 11-p.m., they received a call about a suspicious vehicle parked between the buildings. When deputies arrived the 2005 Dodge Neon was parked unattended, near the entrance of the fitness center.

A search of the area resulted in the owner of the car, 27-year old Jeffrey Allen McClarnon, of Clarinda, being found walking from behind a residence at Phillips and Lincoln Streets, in Farragut. McClarnon was allegedly in possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. He was brought to the Fremont County Jail and held on $1,300 bond.

Sheriff’s officials in Adair County report an 18-year old man from Redfield was arrested Friday for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. The unidentified male was taken to the Adair County Sheriff’s Office and held pending an appearance before a Magistrate.

Last Thursday, deputies in Adair County arrested a 37-year old woman from Adair, for Failure to Appear on a Violation of Probation, charge. The female was taken to the Adair County Sheriff’s Office where she held pending an appearance before a Magistrate. Her name was also not released.

Police in Shenandoah Saturday, arrested 41-year-old Craig Edward Wallace. The Shenandoah man was taken into custody at around 8:30-p.m., on  outstanding warrant out of Pottawattamie County, for failure to appear Possession of Methamphetamine-related charges. Wallace posted a $2,000 bond and was released, with orders to appear in court at a later date.