GLENWOOD, Iowa (AP) – A 24-year-old Council Bluffs man is scheduled to be sentenced later this month for killing a woman in Glenwood.  Online court records say Chad Fortner pleaded guilty Monday to voluntary manslaughter and two-counts of willful injury causing bodily injury, after prosecutors dropped a charge of second-degree murder. His sentencing hearing is set for March 31st.

Authorities say Fortner killed 47-year-old Carol Meston. She was found unconscious in her Glenwood home on Oct. 12th. She died the next day. Fortner, who was staying with Meston, originally told authorities he was involved in an altercation at the home with a male acquaintance. He’d said Meston was knocked down during the altercation, hitting her head on a piece of furniture.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State Fair officials want food vendors to accept credit and debit cards at their stands this summer, in addition to cash.  The Des Moines Register says letters to that effect will be sent to vendors as officials try to meet demands from fairgoers who prefer using plastic.

State Fair board member Jerry Parkin said at Wednesday’s board meeting that the goal was to make the transactions more convenient for fairgoers. A plan to implement a cashless payment system using tickets was scrapped in January after public criticism.

This year’s fair runs from Aug. 7 to 17.

A recent alleged incident involving a door-to-door salesman in Atlantic, has one Atlantic City Councilman warning residents to make sure vendors have a valid Solicitor’s, Peddler’s or Transient Merchant License. During Wednesday evening’s City Council meeting, Councilman Chris Jimerson said he saw a posting by a resident on Facebook about the alleged incident, during which the vendor was said to have been “Extremely rude.”

He says he had the City Clerk’s Office look into whether the vendor, who was selling steaks door-to-door, had a valid license to do so. It turns out they didn’t. Scouts or other such non-profit groups don’t need a permit, according to Jimerson. He says if someone comes to your door and they do not have a permit, call the Police Department so they can handle the situation.

According to City Code Chapter 122, any person engaging in peddling, soliciting or in the business of a transient manner in the City without first obtaining a license (by paying a $50 fee), is in violating of the law. Exemptions include: Newspaper subscription collectors, members of local civic groups or service organizations, farmers or gardeners who sell their products they have grown, students, and route salespersons.

Councilman Dana Halder said he received a scam phone call recently, and people need to be aware of something sounds suspicious or too good to be true, it probably is, and you should notify authorities, especially if the caller is harassing or threatening you.

The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, approved the City’s proposed Fiscal Year 2015 $9.37-million Municipal Budget. The action came during a meeting at the Senior Center, during which there were no written or spoken objections.  The proposed budget will require a tax increase of 1.8-percent in the City portion of the tax levy, or a seven-tenths (0.7)-percent increase in the total property tax levy, which means a 32-cent increase per $1,000 of taxable valuation.

Taxes in Atlantic have gone up in each year since 2010, which, at $14.76/$1,000, marked the lowest rate taxpayers have paid since 2005. City Administrator Doug Harris said property tax legislation passed by the State last year will continue to contribute to the upward pressure on property tax rates and the gradual shifting of the tax burden onto residential tax payers.

The new legislation he says, rolls back the assessed values of commercial and industrial properties and reclassifies multiplex apartment buildings from commercial to residential. The change in assessment practices will constrict tax revenues in the City’s General Operating Fund and increase taxes on residential payers. The only good news is that the State will backfill those losses for a few years, so the actual loss to the G-O Fund may be more gradual, according to Harris. The result will be a gradual shifting of the tax burden to residential customers.

A public hearing will be held during the Council’s next meeting on April 2^nd, with regard to expected amendments to the current budget (FY 2014). During the meeting, the Council may reduce the budget, but it cannot increase it.

(Updated w/OWI charge 7:38-a.m.)

A Red Oak man arrested on an OWI/1st offense charge late Wednesday night, was also charged with Possession of Contraband and Possession of Marijuana, after he was brought to the  Montgomery County Jail. Red Oak Police say 63-year old Marvin Craig Otte was originally taken into custody on Suspicion of OWI, after the car he was driving struck two parked vehicles.

Officers were called to the 1000 block of north 4th Street in Red Oak, at around 10:30-p.m., Wednesday, following a report of a person driving a vehicle in an erratic, reckless or careless manner. An investigation revealed Otte’s 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix struck legally parked vehicles registered to Brenda Gaytan, of Griswold, and Kristie Jo Hilding, of Red Oak. Damage to Gaytan’s 2006 Ford Explorer and Hilding’s 1998 Dodge Stratus amounted to $6,600 altogether. Otte’s car sustained $5,000 damage.

Otte was taken into custody at around 10:40-p.m., and subsequently charged with Possession of Contraband and Possession of Marijuana. Otte was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held on $5,000 bond.