As winter weather approaches, one of the last things Iowa motorists want to hear is the whup-whup-whup of a flat tire on their vehicle. A new study finds more than a third of all new cars being sold don’t come equipped with spare tires. Gail Weinholzer, spokeswoman for Triple-A-Iowa, says if you’ve bought a new car in the past few years, you’d better pop the trunk and see what you have.

“The first thing drivers need to do is determine what type of situation they have with a new vehicle,” Weinholzer says. “Do they have a spare tire and if so, is it properly inflated? Do they have a run-flat tire which will allow them to drive up to 50 miles before they need to address the situation. Or, do they have a tire inflator kit which is very effective but is for very limited uses.”

In 2006, only five-percent of new cars did -not- come equipped with a spare tire, but in the 2015 models, 36-percent are now only equipped with run-flat tires or inflator kits — no spares. Automakers are likely trying to save on expenses, cut weight, add trunk space and boost fuel economy with the move, but Weinholzer says eliminating spare tires could leave Iowans stuck on the roadside.

“It’s important that drivers know the situation with their vehicle and understand that they may need a tow, and that they may not be able to change the tire, obviously, if they don’t have a spare,” Weinholzer says. “One other thing to keep in mind, some of these tire inflator kits can cost up to $300 per use and only have a shelf life of four to eight years.” A Triple-A survey finds many young people may have to call up a YouTube video on their smartphones if they end up with a flat.

“The older the driver, the more likely they are to know how to change a tire,” Weinholzer says. “Ninety percent of drivers between the ages of 35 and 54 know how to change a tire, however, only one in five of the millennials, people aged 18 to 34, actually know how to change the tire.” The study also found 97-percent of men claim they know how to do the job versus 68-percent of women.

(Radio Iowa)

A woman from Minden was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital Wednesday evening, following an accident just off Exit 57 from Interstate 80. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office was notified about a vehicle in the east ditch off the I-80 exit ramp, at around 6:25-p.m.  A 2008 Nissan Sentra owned and driven by 51-year old Mary Kathleen Waltz, of Minden,  was southbound on Olive Street when Waltz lost control of the car, which struck a sign and came to rest in the ditch.

Waltz was transported to CCMH by Medivac ambulance. Scanner reports at the time indicated a medical issue may have contributed to the accident. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $3,500.

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

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Police in Red Oak are asking for your help in solving a theft. Officials say A Red Oak woman reported Tuesday that an I-Phone had been stolen from her son while he was at the Red Oak High School. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call Red Oak Police at 712-623-6500.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley told veterans during a ceremony in Des Moines Wednesday that more work needs to be done to correct the problems with long waits at Veterans Administration hospitals across the country. Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, says Congress did pass legislation to make improvements. “The Choice Program, that was created on August the second 2014 in that legislation, has been implemented in a way that makes it less helpful than was intended to the veterans who deserve the care,” Grassley says. Grassley says lawmakers have worked to improve things.

“Congress has stepped in to fix some of the shortcomings, but I am sorry to say more needs to be done,” Grassley explains. “I’m supporting legislation to clarify the intent of Congress that veterans should not have to drive more than 40 miles to take the care that they need. There is more that the V-A can do to make itself more user friendly.” He says it takes some time to make changes in such a large organization.

“I’ll bet 99 percent of the people who work for the V-A are good people, well intended. It’s just like in Congress — you can have one person do something wrong and it hurts the whole 534 members of Congress. You can have the same thing in any bureaucracy in government or any church or organization,” according to Grassley. Grassley says he spoke with the head of the V-A, the he says he needs more tools to deal with the problem people involved in the long waits.

“So, I’m supporting legislation that will give the secretary those tools. I’m also working with another senator to ensure that whistleblowers in the V-A are not retaliated against,” Grassley says. “Because if they had been listened to a long time before it became public, we wouldn’t have had the problems that we had.” Grassley made his comments at the annual state Veterans Day ceremony.

(Radio Iowa)

The Creston Police Department reports a Ringgold County man was arrested Wednesday afternoon, on a Union County warrant charging him with Violation of Probation. 58-year old William Powell, of Diagonal, was taken into custody at around 4-p.m. and held in the Union County Jail while awaiting a bond hearing.

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

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – More than a dozen Nebraska and Council Bluffs grocery stores have eliminated tainted beef from suppliers that used products from an Omaha meat-processing facility. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn’t listed any E. coli outbreaks in Nebraska or Iowa this week. The newspaper says local health departments weren’t available for comment Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a nationwide recall last week for more than 167,000 pounds of All American Meats Inc. ground beef products for possible E. coli contamination. The bacteria can cause death or illness. More than 100 retailers in about 20 states were on a USDA-issued list of locations that might have tainted meat on their shelves.

Damage assessment is underway in communities across much of Iowa after Wednesday’s severe weather. There are multiple reports of tornadoes, mostly in southwest and central Iowa, as well as wind damage reports from Council Bluffs to Davenport. In Adams County, Donnie Willett is the Emergency Management Coordinator. He says they may have had a twister touch down near Corning.

“We had three buildings at our industrial site that sustained roof damage and sidewall damage from the downburst or tornado or whatever it was.” Workers were evacuated from the P-P-I or Precision Pulley and Idler factory in Corning. No injuries were reported. Willett says the powerful winds made for a rough afternoon for at least one truck driver.

“We had a semi blow over on Highway 34 at the Redwood Avenue intersection,” Willett says. “There were no injuries involved.”  The Weather Service says power poles were knocked down in Red Oak at around 1:45-p.m., Wednesday.

In Ringgold County, where winds whipped up to 80-mph, power lines were downed in a rural area south of Delphos, and a machine shed was destroyed by a possible tornado east of Delphos. A barn was also destroyed southeast of Diagonal and part of a machine shed was damaged west/northwest of Mount Ayr. The weather service says also, a barn lost its roof one mile north of Bridgewater at around 2:15-p.m.

(Radio Iowa/KJAN News)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The National Weather Service says severe thunderstorms may have created tornadoes in Iowa and Nebraska on Wednesday. Rich Thompson, lead forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma says the reports of twisters spotted yesterday could not be verified until survey teams were sent to the affected areas.

ATLANTIC, Iowa (AP) —Speaking in Tuesday night’s debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Florida Senator Marco Rubio cast the election as a “generational choice,” implicitly contrasting his youth with the political dynasties of older competitors — former Governor Jeb Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton. On Wednesday, Rubio appealed to evangelical voters in a speech at a crowded restaurant gathering in Davenport, Iowa.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Donald Trump says watching his Republican rivals drop out of the GOP presidential race is a “beautiful thing.” Speaking to a breakfast audience in New Hampshire yesterday, Trump said he expects more presidential contenders to start dropping out as they fail to rise in the polls. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker dropped out this fall.

KINGSTON, N.H. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is framing himself as the political heir to Donald Trump should the billionaire businessman fail in his effort to win the party’s nomination, saying Trump’s supporters should come to his campaign. The Texas senator spoke to supporters Wednesday night during a town hall meeting in New Hampshire a day after the latest Republican debate.