The Atlantic Police Department reports the arrest on Monday of 47-year old Richard Lewis, Sr., of Atlantic. Lewis, Sr. was taken into custody on a 5th Degree Theft/shoplifting charge, and for Public Intoxication. He was booked into the Cass County Jail and held pending an appearance before the magistrate.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Tyson Fresh Meats will be adding around 140 jobs at a Council Bluffs plant, now that Tyson has won more than $950,000 in Iowa tax credits. As we announced over the weekend on KJAN, the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board approved the credits on Friday.

The company plans to install around $10 million worth of new equipment at the plant in order to serve an unidentified new client. As a condition for the tax credits, Tyson must create at least 139 new jobs, including 22 with a wage of nearly $15 an hour.

Tyson spokesman Dan Fogleman says that the plant packages beef and pork products for retailers. Tyson Fresh Meats also has a pepperoni plant in Council Bluffs. Fogleman says the hiring has begun but declined to say how many people work at each plant.

A pair of attorneys from central Iowa are getting a lot of attention for creating a phone app that gives motorists advice in the event they’re pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving. Bob Rehkemper and Matt Lindholm, both of West Des Moines, are the minds behind the “Oh Crap App!” and Rehkemper says it includes an “emergency button” for the driver to click if they’re stopped by a cop.  “First of all, it activates the phone’s voice recorder, so that any communication with law enforcement is documented and saved,” Rehkemper says. The “Oh Crap!” button also automatically sends an email to a chosen friend or family member, an attorney, and a bail bondsman. Rehkemper estimates that 95-percent of people are unaware of their rights, or what they should or shouldn’t do, when stopped by police.

“A lot of people have misconceptions…and don’t have a very good grasp on those rights,” Rehkemper says. The app has another function, which Rehkemper says is designed to educate people about their basic DUI rights. He says the first thing a motorist should do is “be polite and respectful” with the law officer. “Secondarily, most people don’t know that the field sobriety test — the eye test, the walk and turn, the one leg stand — they don’t have to submit to those,” Rehkemper says. “There is no requirement under the law that they do those. They do have the option of saying, ‘no thank you.'”

As of last week, more than 25-hundred people had downloaded the free app. It also includes a blood-alcohol content (BAC) “calculator” — allowing an individual to determine if they might be over the legal limit to drive. Rehkemper says he and Lindholm do not condone drinking and driving. It gets looked at by some people as, ‘oh, you’re condoning and you’re helping it happen,’ but when you look at the actual app and the information it provides, it’s primarily designed to educate the public on their legal rights, to clear up any ambiguity on what they do have to do and what they don’t have to do. That helps law enforcement and that also helps the individual facing that situation,” Rehkemper says.

The app is available for both iPhones and Android devices. https://www.facebook.com/OhCrapApp

(Radio Iowa)

(Updated 10:45-a.m. with suspected cause)

An old fire may have been what caused a new fire that burned furiously Monday night on the north side Atlantic. Alantic Fire Chief Mark McNees said crews responded to the City of Atlantic’s Yard Waste Site on the west side of the Schildberg Recreation Area, at around 8:50-p.m.  He says there was a tremendous amount of flames and embers being blown about from the large pile of burning sticks, wood, and large tree trunks. Some of the embers were flying over to the east side of the Recreation Area, as far as Buck Creek Road.

McNees said the pile will be smoldering for quite some time, even though they poured 13-to 14-thousand gallons of water on the fire. The fear now is that strong winds today will whip up more embers and cause another, separate blaze. McNees said it’s possible the fire could have been accidental or related to spontaneous combustion, but it’s too early to tell. He said City crews were compacting the pile of debris over the past couple of days, but it’s not clear if that had something to do with it.

Late this (Tuesday) morning, McNees said he thinks ashes from a very old pile west of Monday night’s fire was probably stirred-up by the wind and ignited the nearby pile. He said also that City crews have not lit any of the burn piles in quite some time.

Fire fighters were on the scene for a couple of hours. He said if the winds had kept up, the fire could have spread east toward Olive Street.

MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Department of Public Safety says a police officer has been wounded during a traffic stop in eastern Iowa.  The department says the Maquoketa officer was shot after making a traffic stop around 2:50 a.m. Tuesday. The shooter fled the scene. No arrest has been reported.

The department says the officer was taken to Jackson County Regional Health Center in Maquoketa for treatment of a wound described as non-life-threatening.