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.