One person was transported to Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs, following a collision this (Thursday) morning in Mills County. The Iowa State Patrol reports 22-year old Terrence Reynolds, Sr., of South Sioux City, NE, who was not wearing a seat belt, was taken by Glenwood Rescue to the hospital, after his 1994 Chevy S-10 pickup hit a 2013 Ford Focus driven by 44-year old Jennifer Rethmeier, of Council Bluffs. Rethmeier was not hurt in the crash.

The accident happened at around 7-a.m. as Reynolds was traveling west on Highway 370 and Rethmeier left the stop sign from the southbound Interstate 29 off-ramp. The woman didn’t see Reynolds’ pickup approaching when she left the controlled intersection to turn onto Highway 370 eastbound.

Three people were arrested over the past week, in Harlan. According to the police report, 26-year old Brittney Dollen, of Harlan, was arrested Sunday, when it was discovered she allegedly altered several checks written by citizens, for the purchase of Girl Scout cookies. Dollen was taken to the Shelby County Jail and charged with six-counts of Forgery.

Last Friday (March 20th), Harlan Police arrested 34-year old Clayton Sorensen, of Harlan, on an OWI charge. Sorensen was also cited for operating a motor vehicle with improper tail lights.

And on March 17th, 30-year old Dane Stevens, of Harlan, was arrested for Public Intoxication and Trespassing. His arrest took place after police investigated a report of a go-cart being driven around the empty lots on Dye Street. Authorities say 33-year old Kylie Stahl, of Harlan, was cited for Trespassing in connection with the incident.

(9-a.m. News)

Three people were arrested Wednesday in Atlantic, two of them on drug charges. Authorities say 20-year old Aaron Cole and 24-year old Joshua Peters, both of Atlantic, face charges that include Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

And, 25-year old Marshall Fischer, of Atlantic, was arrested Wednesday on a Cass County warrant for Theft in the 4th Degree, and Driving While Barred. All three men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

(9-a.m. Newscast)

The 8-a.m. Newscast w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The 7:06-a.m. report w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Officials with Wells Fargo announced Wednesday Jay Mendlik has been promoted to senior business relationship manager and vice president for the Business Banking team serving customers in both Denison and Atlantic. Mendlik, a long time member of the Denison business community, works out of Wells Fargo’s Denison location on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Mendlik covers the Atlantic store location at 600 Chestnut on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

In his new role, Mendlik will continue to serve both business and ag banking customers throughout Western Iowa. A 1998 graduate of University of Nebraska-Omaha, Mendlik started his career with Wells Fargo in 2007 as a business relationship manager in Denison.

The Iowa House has voted unanimously to let the drivers of “rescue vehicles” speed and run stop lights and stop signs, just as police cars, ambulances and fire trucks may in response to an emergency. So what is a rescue vehicle? Representative Sandy Salmon, a Republican from Janesville, explained it’s a motor vehicle equipped with rescue, fire or life-support equipment used to assist or rescue people in emergencies.

The Iowa D-O-T requires the drivers of rescue vehicles to go through the same training as ambulance drivers and fire truck operators. Salmon says when it’s a “matter of life and death” — rescue vehicles play an important role. “This is a good bill that will assist in getting life support equipment to where it is needed in as rapid time as is safely possible,” Salmon says.

The bill, which passed the House Wednesday, now goes to the Senate for consideration. The Iowa D-O-T is the agency that determines if a vehicle can be licensed as a rescue vehicle. To qualify, a vehicle must have at least 75-hundred dollars of equipment that would be exclusively used for rescues and emergencies.

(Radio Iowa)

A woman from Villisca suffered minor injuries during a collision Wednesday afternoon, in Red Oak. Authorities say 60-year old Janice Robinson was transported by Red Oak Rescue to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, after the 2003 Ford Explorer she was driving was rear-ended by a 2003 Chevy Suburban. The accident happened at around 4:35-p.m., on Highway 34 at the entrance road to Senate Avenue next to the Red Coach Inn.

Officials say Robinson, and the driver of the Suburban, 55-year old Ronda Woods, of Red Oak, were traveling west on Highway 34, when Robinson signaled to turn onto Senate Avenue and began to brake for the turn. The SUV sustained minor damage, estimated at $2,000. The Chevy sustained $7,000 damage, and was declared a total loss. Woods was cited by Red Oak Police for Following too closely.

A truck driver from Kansas was injured early this (Thursday) morning when his rig rolled into a ditch off of Interstate 80 in Pottawattamie County. The Iowa State Patrol says 57-year old Steven Cain, of Wichita, KS, was traveling west on I-80 at around 12:40-a.m., when he noticed the trailer lights on his semi were not working properly.

When Cain attempted to pull over onto the right, westbound shoulder near the 17-mile marker, he pulled too far off the road. The soft ground pulled the 2015 International semi into the ditch, where it rolled onto its side.

Cain, who was wearing his seat belt, was transported by Underwood Rescue to Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs, where he was being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

State officials are keeping an eye out for signs of a bird flu that has recently been discovered in other states. State Veterinarian David Schmitt says the influenza is highly pathogenic, or has a high death rate, particularly in turkeys and chickens. “It first appeared in the northwest part of the United States in the Pacific Flyway in some commercial and backyard poultry that were affected. It’s now show up in the Mississippi Flyway here in the central states region — first in Minnesota and then a couple of turkey farms in Missouri, one in Arkansas, and then a backyard group of birds in Kansas,” Schmitt explains.

Schmitt says waterfowl carry different types of influenza across the country. “This one here happens to be an H-5-N-2, it’s highly pathogenic, and birds in this flyway as in other flyways, they commingle in the northern countries and they can bring it back. And when they’re coming through they stop, and they can be shedding it in their feces,” Schmitt says. There have been some samples taken of snowgeese in Iowa and so far the disease has not show up in the state.

“That’s pretty exciting, because it means that hopefully everybody is doing their due diligence as far as in protecting their birds,” Schmitt says. It’s an important issue to Iowa as the state is a leader in egg laying and a leader also in turkey production. Schmitt says he’s confident those industries are taking the proper steps to keep the disease away. “In the state of Iowa, our commercial operations are very well in tune in as far as biosecurity operations,” according to Schmitt. “Certainly a lot of those have seen what’s going on and have even intensified and reviewed those biosecurity to make sure that it is not introduced into their populations of birds.”

He says the operations have had such biosecurity measures in place long before this outbreak in other states. He says the operations don’t allow visitors and those who come in cannot have any contact with birds in the last three days, and he says those who work in the facilities are not allow to own their own private birds. Schmitt says anyone who keeps chickens or other birds privately should take precautions.

“If you are walking through areas where wild waterfowl have been and you have a backyard population — its extremely important to change your shoes, make sure things are clean before you walk in with any poultry,” Schmitt says. Schmitt says the influenza cannot be transferred to humans and is not a health concern in that regard.

(Radio Iowa)