Officials with Tyson Fresh Meats, a subsidiary of Tyson Foods, Inc., announced today (Friday), the company is reducing its beef production capacity due to a continued lack of available cattle. The company said effective immediately, it will permanently cease beef operations at its plant in Denison, to better align its overall production capacity with current cattle supplies.The move affects 400 employees.

The 400 workers affected by the end of beef production at Denison are being given an opportunity to apply for jobs at other Tyson locations. Even though they will no longer be on the job, eligible displaced workers will receive 60 days of pay, as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

The company says it’s offering financial incentives to hourly workers who qualify for production openings at the company’s Lexington, Nebraska, beef plant. The by-product rendering system at the Denison plant will continue operations. It will process by-products from other Tyson locations and will employ approximately 20 people.

Steve Stouffer, president of Tyson Fresh Meats, said in a Press Release, “This was a very difficult decision because it affects the lives of our people, their families and a community that has supported this plant for more than 50 years. However, the realities of the beef business have changed and we must continue to change with it to remain successful.

Stouffer said also, “The cattle supply is tight and there’s an excess of beef production capacity in the region,” he said.  “We believe the move to cease beef operations at Denison will put the rest of our beef business in a better position for future success.”

The Denison beef plant has a long, rich history in the meat industry. It opened in 1961 as the first plant operated by Iowa Beef Packers (IBP), a start-up company that grew to become one of the world’s leading beef processors. IBP was acquired by Tyson Foods in 2001 and renamed Tyson Fresh Meats.

Tyson Fresh Meats’ other beef plants are located in Amarillo, Texas; Dakota City, Nebraska; Finney County, Kansas; Joslin, Illinois; Lexington, Nebraska and Pasco, Washington.

(Updated 8/17 11:34am)

The Council Bluffs Police Department said today an accident on Interstate 29 this (Friday) morning, resulted in a separate crash moments later. The first accident happened on I-29 at around 7:44-am. near mile marker 53 (or, near the 9th Avenue exit). Emergency crews arriving on the scene discovered the driver, 25-year old Rachel Nelson, of Council Bluffs, had been ejected from her 1996 Ford Explorer during the crash. The woman was critically injured. A passenger in the SUV, 23-year old Lisa Poulsen, and Nelson’s two children, were all transported to the Nebraska Medical Center.

The two children were treated and release from the hospital, while Poulson was expected to be released later. Authorities say Nelson’s SUV was behind a 2001 Ford Ranger pickup driven by 41-year old Dennis Sullivan, of Council Bluffs, when an aluminum ladder fell out of the pickup. Nelson swerved to avoid the ladder, and over-corrected, causing the SUV to slide sideways off the road to right before it rolled into a ditch. On Sunday, August 16th Dennis Sullivan was cited for Failure to Secure Load/Spilling on Highway. This violation carries a fine of $330.

A second crash in nearly the same area happened almost 15-minutes later (just before 8-a.m.). Authorities say several vehicles which had stopped to help at the scene had parked their vehicles on the interstate roadway. Another vehicle struck two of the parked vehicles. No injuries were reported in the second crash. Due to severity of the first accident and the second accident, it was decided to close Interstate 29 southbound, from Interstate 480 eastbound for the safety of persons on scene and motorists in the area.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Two Iowa residents will spend decades in prison for forcing a young woman into prostitution and torturing her. Aldair Hodza was sentenced to 41 years and eight months Friday in federal court in Richmond. Laura Sorensen was sentenced to 40 years. The Clive residents held a 20-year-old woman captive on a trip to Virginia and forced her to have sex with men who answered online ads. They burned the woman with lit cigarettes and other heated objects, drove nails into her feet and poured bleach into her wounds.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors are recommending prison terms of 35 years – 11 more than the top end of the sentencing guideline range. But U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson said that wasn’t enough, citing the “unprecedented depravity” in the case.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest Thursday night, of 21-year old Marriah Jo Love, of Lorimor. The woman was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on a Union County Warrant charging her with 2nd degree harassment. Love was later released from the Union County Jail, on $1000 bond.

And, a resident of Afton reported to the Sheriff’s Office Thursday morning, that sometime during the night, someone damaged a door and window of a house on Pheasant Avenue. The damage amounted to $700.