712 Digital Group - top

KJAN News

KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa,  Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!

First tornado of 2014 is confirmed late Thursday in south-central Iowa

News, Weather

March 28th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Iowa’s first tornado of 2014 touched down Thursday afternoon (March 27th) in rural Clarke County, south of Osceola. No injuries are reported but the strong winds did damage, tearing down tree limbs, knocking down power lines and causing some structural damage to a homestead. Jeff Johnson, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service, says it may’ve been small, but it was a twister. “Based on the radar data and some eyewitness accounts and then some damage that was reported, we did have a brief tornado,” Johnson says. “The eyewitness report said it lasted roughly a minute.”

The funnel cloud touched down in south-central Iowa and became a tornado around 4:30 P-M, though its duration and scope was limited. “Basically, we had a Morton building that was damaged and damage to someone’s home and the winds were consistent in the range of EF-0 or EF-1 on the enhanced Fujita scale,” Johnson says. “That would put us around 90 miles an hour for wind speeds.”

This is the first confirmed report of a tornado in Iowa this year and the first in nearly six months. “The last time we had tornadoes in Iowa was last fall,” Johnson says. “We had a very active fall actually and on October 4th in northwest Iowa, we had several tornadoes.”

This is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa, an event that’s highlighted by a statewide tornado drill that was held on Wednesday. It’s a time when Iowans are reminded about the sometimes-violent weather that comes with the arrival of spring. “It’s not a coincidence that we have it during this time of year,” Johnson says, “although we usually like to have the week out of the way before we actually get the weather, but Mother Nature seldom cooperates. The irony there is that the tornado came a day after the tornado drill.”

(Radio Iowa)

Lawyer won’t be sanctioned in farmer slaying case

Ag/Outdoor, News

March 28th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court says an attorney won’t be sanctioned for helping a wealthy farmer shield his assets from the estate of another farmer he killed.  The court declined to reprimand Indianola attorney Mason Ouderkirk, ruling Friday he didn’t violate ethical rules while representing Rodney Heemstra.

Heemstra fatally shot his neighbor, Tommy Lyon, in 2003 during a dispute over farmland and then hid his body. He was convicted of first-degree murder but later granted a second trial, where he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.  After Heemstra was charged, Ouderkirk assisted his family in transferring ownership of millions of dollars of farmland into trusts.

A judge later ruled that those transactions were fraudulent and designed to shield assets from Lyon’s estate, which had been awarded millions in a wrongful-death lawsuit.

(Update): 6 people injured in Council Bluffs blast, fire

News

March 28th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say at six people have been hospitalized after an explosion and fire at a home on the east side of Council Bluffs.  Fire investigator Dan Roberts told Omaha television station KETV that the accident occurred about 8:10 p.m. Thursday. Four children and two adults suffered mostly second-degree burns, and two of the injured were taken to a burn center in Lincoln, Neb.

Authorities say a group of Boys Scouts had been working on a ceremony display at the home when the explosion occurred. The fire marshal’s office is investigating.

8AM Newscast 03-28-2014

News, Podcasts

March 28th, 2014 by admin

w/ Ric Hanson

Play

3 people hospitalized after Council Bluffs fire

News

March 28th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – At least three people have been injured in a residential fire in Pottawattamie County. Authorities say the three were hospitalized Thursday night for burns. Two people also received lacerations.

The Daily Nonpareil says the fire was reported a little after 8 p.m. Thursday on the east side of Council Bluffs.

(8-a.m. News)

7AM Newscast 03-28-2014

News, Podcasts

March 28th, 2014 by admin

w/ Ric Hanson

Play

Glenwood H.S. Principal resigns

News

March 28th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

The Principal of the Glenwood Community High School has resigned. The Omaha World-Herald says Principal Shane Stephens cited a decline in personal health and failure to meet goals as his reasons. His resignation was announced during a special school board meeting earlier this week. Stephens is the second principal in less than a year to resign from the high school.

Superintendent Devin Embray said Thursday that Stephens will work through the end of the year. The Glenwood Community School District has begun an internal and external search for a new principal. Embray said school officials hope to find a new candidate by mid- to late April. Applicants will be narrowed to three to five finalists.

Stephens, who was hired in April 2013, replaced former principal Kerry Newman who resigned after reaching an agreement with the school district. As part of that agreement, the district stopped Newman’s termination, paid her $40,000 and allowed her to obtain copies of some of her work. The Glenwood school board considered terminating her contract because of several allegations, including an inappropriate relation with a district employee. The school board later voted to accept Newman’s resignation.

Car crashes into Bluffs home then drives away

News

March 28th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Police in Council Bluffs are looking for a vehicle that crashed into a home and then left the scene, early Thursday morning.  Authorities says at around 12:20 a.m., Council Bluffs Police Department officers were called to 803 south 13th St., where an unidentified vehicle struck the side of a home, causing $10-thousand damage.

Police said the driver had attempted to turn left onto Eighth Avenue from South 13th Street and lost control, left the roadway and struck the home. A witness said the vehicle then drove away. Police said the vehicle is described as a small, two-door, dark-colored car that has heavy front-end damage. Part of the driver’s side headlight was left at the scene of the collision.

Mills County Atty. won’t run for re-election due to family concerns

News

March 28th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Citing the need to spend more time with his family, Mills County Attorney Eric Hansen has announced with will not be seeking re-election this year. The Omaha World-Herald says Hansen’s daughter was very ill last year, and had to undergo a bone marrow transplant. Hansen said that experience left him emotionally drained to the point where he didn’t have the energy to participate in a contested election.  Hansen was hired as an assistant county attorney in February 2003. He was promoted to full-time assistant in 2006 and became county attorney in 2011.

In Mills County, Patricia McSorley – an assistant county attorney – and Ashley Kissel, both Republicans, are running for Hansen’s position.

 

 

New census data shows loss of population in s.w. Iowa

News

March 28th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

A report in the Daily NonPareil says every southwest Iowa county has lost population since the 2010 Census. The paper cited new data released Thursday morning by the U.S. Census Bureau. Pottawattamie and Harrison counties were also among the counties estimated to have lost the largest number of residents over the past three years. Most of the state’s growth was centered around urban areas, primarily in central and eastern Iowa.

As a whole, Iowa saw its population increase 43,559 people since 2010, and it remained the 30th-most-populous state. However, only 29 of Iowa’s 99 counties gained population during the three-year span. Pottawattamie County joined Woodbury County as the only two of Iowa’s 10 largest counties to lose population since 2010. Those two counties also contain principal cities for the state’s only two metropolitan areas west of the Interstate 35 corridor.

Dallas County, which contains many of the booming suburbs just west of Des Moines, was once again Iowa’s fastest-growing county, seeing its population increase by 12.9 percent – from 66,135 to 74,641 residents – since 2010. It ranked 17th among all counties nationwide.

The entire Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area gained 29,801 people (3.4 percent growth) since the 2010 Census, making it the nation’s 60th-largest with 895,151 residents. By and large, growth was associated with urban areas and neighboring counties.

On the western side of the state, only a handful of rural counties – including Ida, Crawford, Union and Sioux – saw population growth.