A rear-end collision Wednesday afternoon in Atlantic caused $4,000 damage, but no serious injuries. According to the Atlantic Police Department, vehicles driven by John Carns and Jacquelyn Sheeder, both of Atlantic, collided near the intersection of 7th and Plum Streets.

Officials say both vehicles were traveling westbound on 7th at around 4:20-p.m.  When Sheeder slowed for traffic that was stopped at the signal lights, her vehicle was hit from behind by the Carns vehicle. Carns complained of pain, but declined medical assistance. Authorities say Carns was given a warning for Failure to Stop in an Assured/Clear Distance.

MANSON, Iowa (AP) – A driver has been hospitalized after his propane truck was struck by a locomotive at a crossing in the northwest Iowa town of Manson.  The Messenger says the accident occurred around 5:55 p.m. Wednesday. State trooper Mark Anderson says witnesses saw the southbound truck stop at the tracks and then get hit in the back as the eastbound train went through. The truck came to rest on the driver’s side.

A hazardous-materials team responded when firefighters reported that propane was leaking from the truck.

HOLSTEIN, Iowa (AP) – A former transportation director of a northwest Iowa school district has been given two years of probation for tampering with bus records.  The Sioux City Journal says 52-year-old Douglas Wessling was sentenced on Tuesday. The judge also ordered Wessling to pay a $1,000 civil penalty. Wessling had pleaded guilty.

Wessling was put on leave last fall and then lost his job as transportation director for the Galva-Holstein Community School District after an investigation by the Iowa State Patrol. District Superintendent Dave Kwikkel has said three district buses were taken out of service because of damage. Kwikkel said Wessling put one of them back into use before it had been repaired. Authorities say he also falsified repair records on at least three buses.

A new report shows 62-thousand (62,000) Iowans have Alzheimer’s Disease and that number is expected to grow to 73,000 in just over a decade. Carol Sipfle, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Iowa, says the annual report has more disturbing facts about the disease’s impact in the state. “We have the third highest death rate from Alzheimer’s Disease in the country. I think that’s pretty startling,” Sipfle says. “In Iowa, it’s the fifth leading cause of death, while nationally it’s the sixth leading cause of death.”

Iowa has one of highest percentages of residents 65 and older in the country, but Sipfle is quick to point out that Alzheimer’s isn’t just a disease that strikes the elderly. Sipfle says the disease remains widely misunderstood, as many people mistakenly believe it’s simply about memory loss. “It’s so much more than just memory loss, it’s something that kills people,” Sipfle says. “As the brain deteriorates from Alzheimer’s Disease, yes, people do lose their memory, but it impacts their personality, their ability to think, it has a physical impact, and ultimately people will die either from Alzheimer’s Disease or with Alzheimer’s Disease.”

The report from the Alzheimer’s Association (2014 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures) features information about how the disease impacts primarily women. Sipfle is calling on the federal government to invest in Alzheimer’s research as heavily as it does breast cancer. “You know, women are afraid of breast cancer, and rightly so, but what this report tells us is that by the time women are in their 60s, they’re almost twice as likely to get Alzheimer’s as they are to get breast cancer,” Sipfle said.

The report states a woman’s estimated lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer’s at age 65 is 1 in 6, compared with nearly 1 in 11 for a man. For more information:  www.alz.org/greateriowa.

(Radio Iowa)