The West Burlington Police Department has identified the victim in a single-vehicle crash on Highway 34. According to a news release, on Thursday, March 16th, at 5:50 PM the West Burlington Police Department responded to a report of a single-vehicle crash on Highway 34 at the Gear Avenue exit. Officers arrived at 5:51, along with Burlington and West Burlington firefighters and paramedics. A preliminary investigation showed that the driver, 55-year-old Bruce C. Yurth Jr. of Mount Pleasant was traveling eastbound on Highway 34 when his vehicle veered across the median and westbound lanes of traffic, entered the north ditch, and struck a tree. Yurth was taken to Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased.
From the Iowa Department of Public Safety Regarding Swatting Calls
Tuesday, several school districts across Iowa received “swatting calls” that referend an alleged active shooter scenario. According to Department of Public Safety officials, the first swatting call originated in Clinton County at approximately 8:00 a.m., and the last call was received at 10:30 a.m. in Creston. Officials estimate that approximately 30 calls were received by local law enforcement agencies.
A “swatting call” refers to a false claim intended to trigger an immediate and widespread law enforcement deployment or emergency service response to a specific location. Hoax reports such as the ones experienced Tuesday commonly consist of claims of serious violent attacks, such as a bomb threat, active shooter, and/or a hostage situation.
Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan K. Bayens said these false reports are a tactic intended to illicit a large-scale law enforcement response. “The design of it is to create confusion and chaos. It’s designed to draw a large law enforcement presence to a school even though there is no active threat. And by all accounts and for all intents and purposes, it appears thus far that is what Iowa experienced.
Bayens said Tuesday’s swatting calls impacted the following communities:
• Cedar Rapids
• Iowa City (multiple schools)
• Clinton
• Davenport
• Muscatine
• Cerro Gordo County
• Story County
• Lee County (multiple schools)
• Waterloo
• Boone
• Mason City
• Charles City
• Clear Lake
• Creston
• Des Moines
• Oskaloosa
• Marshalltown
• Monona
• Nevada
• North Liberty
• Ottumwa
• Decorah
Immediately after receiving these calls, local law enforcement and school officials reported all relevant information to the Department’s Division of Intelligence and Fusion Center, which then re-disseminated the information to local law enforcement agencies throughout the state. Bayens said this proactive information sharing allows schools and law enforcement to better determine their response protocols should one of their schools receive a similar call. “By reporting these calls to us, we can quickly inform our school and law enforcement partners, which in this case may have impacted the nature of their response and stemmed the flow of more calls to other communities,” Bayens said.
The Department is continuing to work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate and identify the caller. Bayens said the initial information leads investigators to believe the calls are similar in nature and likely originated from a single source.
State school safety officials and Governor Kim Reynolds were able to quickly inform the public about the swatting calls as part of a scheduled press conference and launch of a new school safety app called Safe+Sound Iowa. The app was made available to all public school districts and accredited non-public schools today. Parents, students, and community members can anonymously report any tips to law enforcement through dps.iowa.gov/SafeandSoundIowa, downloading the free Safe+Sound Iowa app, or by calling 800-224-6018.
Rash of Swatters
“Today (Tuesday), all across the State of Iowa, 911 Centers were contacted by “Swatters” reporting violent situations in our Schools. LeeComm Dispatchers did an excellent job recognizing these calls. Law Enforcement responses were swift and coordinated in our County. All our Children are safe.
LeeComm Director Solem was quick to contact Homeland Security and the FBI is now involved.”
Reports like this also came from Iowa City, Muscatine and Clinton. KILJ contacted Mount Pleasant School Superintendent John Henriksen who was in contact with Mount Pleasant Police Chief Lyle Murray. The Chief said these swatters had not contacted Henry County 911.
From Radio Iowa….
The commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety says at least 30 school district received swatting calls this (Tuesday) morning. Those are calls where someone reports a shooting to get police to respond. D-P-S commissioner Stephan Baynes says the first call came into Clinton and they were able to determine what happened…..”Immediately our Division of Intelligence was monitoring, it was taken in ingesting the information, and we’re pushing it out to several thousand law enforcement officers within the first half hour to 45 minutes,” he says. “And then once the additional calls rolled in, we could even more kind of robustly communicate this was likely a swatting event.”
Bayens says Clinton reacted well when the first call came in. “When the balloon went up, so to speak, there were cops from probably five different counties, the State Patrol, anyone and everyone came running,” Bayens says. “And the school from what I understand it a great job of locking the school down, communicating well with the community.” Clinton eventually canceled classes for the day. Bayens says the calls came in from east to west across the state, so there was a warning for schools as the situation progressed. “I imagine by the time the call is rolled into central Iowa, I would hazard a guess that almost all of law enforcement in these communities knew what was likely coming. And that way they can take a drastically different response because they know the genesis of it,” he says. The swatting calls came on a day when Governor Kim Reynolds and Commissioner Bayens had already scheduled a news conference to talk about a new ap developed by the Governor’s School Safety Bureau. Reynolds says she was updating on the situation right away and was glad the calls were not real. “It’s what no Governor, no parent or anybody, Superintendent, teachers kids want to hear. And we’re grateful, and just so thankful that that’s what it was,” Reynolds says. She says it highlights the importance of what the School Safety Bureau is trying to do to keep schools safe. Commissioner Bayens says it is hard to track these types of calls and they often come from out of the state or country. He says they did follow the same pattern. “Everything in terms of the details are the same, the methodology, the phone number, the voice, the content,” he says. He was asked about the accent of the caller. “The calls are in English, whether it’s an Iowa accent or not, I guess it depends on I mean, there’s folks from everywhere, so I don’t know what an Iowa accent is anymore,” Bayens says “I can say it’s probably not traditionally what we think is Midwestern and in sourcing, and that’s about all I can say — I’m not a linguist expert, but I can I can at least tell you that.” Bayens says the calls are designed to draw in law enforcement and create confusion. He says they were able to mitigate some of that by immediately analyzing and determining these were swatting calls.
Bayens says Clinton reacted well when the first call came in. “When the balloon went up, so to speak, there were cops from probably five different counties, the State Patrol, anyone and everyone came running,” Bayens says. “And the school from what I understand it a great job of locking the school down, communicating well with the community.” Clinton eventually canceled classes for the day. Bayens says the calls came in from east to west across the state, so there was a warning for schools as the situation progressed. “I imagine by the time the call is rolled into central Iowa, I would hazard a guess that almost all of law enforcement in these communities knew what was likely coming. And that way they can take a drastically different response because they know the genesis of it,” he says. The swatting calls came on a day when Governor Kim Reynolds and Commissioner Bayens had already scheduled a news conference to talk about a new ap developed by the Governor’s School Safety Bureau. Reynolds says she was updating on the situation right away and was glad the calls were not real. “It’s what no Governor, no parent or anybody, Superintendent, teachers kids want to hear. And we’re grateful, and just so thankful that that’s what it was,” Reynolds says. She says it highlights the importance of what the School Safety Bureau is trying to do to keep schools safe. Commissioner Bayens says it is hard to track these types of calls and they often come from out of the state or country. He says they did follow the same pattern. “Everything in terms of the details are the same, the methodology, the phone number, the voice, the content,” he says. He was asked about the accent of the caller. “The calls are in English, whether it’s an Iowa accent or not, I guess it depends on I mean, there’s folks from everywhere, so I don’t know what an Iowa accent is anymore,” Bayens says “I can say it’s probably not traditionally what we think is Midwestern and in sourcing, and that’s about all I can say — I’m not a linguist expert, but I can I can at least tell you that.” Bayens says the calls are designed to draw in law enforcement and create confusion. He says they were able to mitigate some of that by immediately analyzing and determining these were swatting calls.
Sam Beatty Captures National Title For the Dutch in the High Jump
Pella, IA- Central College has collected their 8th indoor national title for the men’s track and field program and it comes from Mount Pleasant native, senior Sam Beatty. It’s the Dutch’s third high jump title in school history.
At the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship, Beatty was tied with Samuel Hetrick of Penn State University as they both cleared 6 feet 9 inches. Both competitors attempted 6 feet 10.25 inches, but both missed all three of their attempts. Beatty won the tiebreaker as Hetrick had one more miss at lower bars than Beatty.
Coach Brandon Sturman said, “Once it got down to two guys, I think it took some pressure off and it ended up working out for him.”
The Dutch now tout 37 individual national titles across all sports.
NEW REPORT REINFORCES IOWA AGRICULTURE’S ROLE IN ‘FEEDING THE ECONOMY’
Economic impact study reveals new data on jobs, wages and economic output, beating pre-pandemic levels
[WEST DES MOINES, Iowa]—March 21, 2023— In Iowa, more than 325,800 jobs totaling $13.9 billion in wages are directly attributed to agriculture, according to the seventh annual Feeding the Economy report released by 25 food and agriculture groups.
The agricultural industry is also responsible for $96.5 billion of direct economic output in the state. When factoring in “induced impact” of linked food and agriculture industries and the spending power of those employed by them, Iowa agriculture’s economic impact more than doubles to $221.8 billion.
“These numbers say what we already know—progress in agriculture starts with people,” says Iowa Farm Bureau President Brent Johnson. “As new technology and markets are developed to increase agricultural sustainability and offer more choices to the consumer, it will be these people with boots-on-the-ground who continue to make Iowa agriculture even stronger than it is today.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, between 1948 and 2019, land use for agriculture decreased by 28% while land productivity grew nearly four times and labor productivity grew more than 10 times. In fact, agriculture’s total factor productivity growth rate is among the highest of U.S. sectors.
Nationwide, the report shows the U.S. food and agriculture sector directly supports nearly 23 million jobs, provides $927 billion in wages and contributes over $8.6 trillion to the U.S. economy, a 22% increase since the 2019 report. The 2023 report also reveals nearly one-fifth of total manufacturing jobs in the U.S. are related to the production of agricultural products.
The full report and list of sponsoring groups can be found at www.FeedingTheEconomy.com.
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Anamosa State Penitentiary On Restricted Movement As Investigation Into Unknown Substance Continues
ANAMOSA– Due to the ongoing investigation, Anamosa State Penitentiary has been placed on restricted movement for the foreseeable future. This will limit inmate movement throughout the facility and give DOC staff the ability to conduct a large-scale search of the prison for illicit contraband. Visitation will not occur during the restricted movement period.
Two other inmates were found unresponsive in their cells and were administered Narcan on Sunday, March 19. Neither inmate required outside medical attention and both tested negative for illegal substances. Responding staff did not become ill following their encounters with these inmates. DOC has determined these cases are unrelated to the original incident that occurred on Saturday, March 18.
The original incident remains under investigation and DOC will continue to work in conjunction with the DPS Narcotics Division.
Update Regarding Body Found on Mepo School Grounds
The Des Moines County Sheriff’s Office has released an update regarding the deceased body of a man found on the Mediapolis School grounds.
On March 13th, the Des Moines County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a deceased adult male who was located on the outlying grounds of the Mediapolis Community School property.
The incident remains under investigation, but the death does not appear to be suspicious.
The name of the deceased will be released along with the State Medical Examiner’s autopsy report.
Sports, March 21st
High School Track and Field
The boys’ will be competing in the Steve Roth Relays on March 23rd and the girls will be competing at Burlington Notre Dame on March 28th.
High School Soccer
The Mt. Pleasant girls’ soccer season will begin on March 28th against Mediapolis on the road.
WACO’s boy soccer team will start their season at home against Fairfield on March 30th.
The Central Lee boys’ soccer team will take on Keokuk on March 27th as the Hawks start their season on the road.
Youth Basketball
The next event will be on April 8th for the Easter Weekend 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament held at Iowa Wesleyan University for 3rd graders through adults. Please contact Head Men’s Basketball Coach Jordan Ashton for more details at 319-385-6307 or visit www.infosports.com
March Madness
Looking ahead at the Sweet 16, Alabama will take on San Diego St. while Princeton is looking to continue their Cinderella story against Creighton. FAU will take on Tennessee and Kansas State will face off against Michigan State. Arkansas is looking for another upset against Uconn and UCLA will take on Gonzaga. Lastly, Houston will face off against Miami and Texas will square off against Xavier. The winner of the KILJ Bracket Challenge will get a free cabin rental from Henry County Conservation and a $100 gift certificate to Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design with 2nd place getting a meal a month from the Press Box. If you would like to see an update on the top five check out the article on kilj.com.
For the women’s bracket, Iowa will take on Colorado in the Sweet 16 as Caitlin Clark continues her dominance.
Iowa Wesleyan Athletics
The Tiger softball team will be on the road today against Mount Mercy University at 3 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 2:45 pm.
The Tiger baseball team will take on William Woods University on March 28th for a home doubleheader with game one at 3 pm. The Tigers game against William Penn University scheduled for tomorrow has been canceled.
The women’s golf team will have their home opener on March 27th at the Purple Cup. Aubrey Duncan and Michal Wohlleber lead Kurt Moon’s squad as they both placed in the top 20 at the 2022 Continental Athletic Championship last year.
The men’s golf team will be competing at the Jim Wetherbee Invitational in Galesburg, Illinois on March 25th and 26th for the season opener.
The outdoor track and field season will be getting underway at the Viking Relays on Saturday, March 25th at 10 am. The Tigers will be headlined by Bri Hunter who won the 2022 North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) Outdoor Championship Title in shot and discus.
This Day in Sports History
1946 – Kenny Washington signs with Rams, he’s the first black NFL player since 1933.
1953 – NBA record 106 fouls & 12 players foul out (Boston-Syracuse).
2019 – Japanese baseball right fielder Ichiro Suzuki finishes his career with a record 4,367 base hits (NPB & MLB) as the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland A’s, 5-4 in Tokyo, Japan.