CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa  – Gas prices are expected to continue falling through the election. Right now, the national average price for a gallon of gas is $3.20. That’s down 24 cents from a month ago. Triple A says in Iowa, the average price of gasoline (as of Sept. 15th) in $2.99 a gallon, which is 99-cents cheaper than at this same time last year. Diesel is selling for an average of $3.35/gallon in Iowa. Last year, the price was $4.39 on average.

Prices are expected to keep dropping, with a national average below three dollars a gallon as soon as next month. The primary culprits behind the dip are low demand and falling oil costs.

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand fell last week from 8.93 million b/d to 8.47. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks rose 219.2 to 221.6 million barrels, and gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.4 million barrels per day. Tumbling gasoline demand and oil costs will likely keep pump prices sliding.

CRESTON, Iowa [KCCI] — Two people are accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl in Creston. KCCI-TV in Des Moines reports 19-year-old Isabel Pettit and 29-year-old Dennis Simmerman are facing numerous charges, including sexual abuse. Criminal complaints in the case were filed last week. Court records say Pettit allowed Simmerman to sexually abuse the girl and that she knew he was a sex offender. Both Pettit and Simmerman are set to appear in court late next week for their preliminary hearings.

Simmerman was previously accused of abusing a child back in 2017 in Clarke County. Those charges were dropped after the county attorney at the time failed to show up for a plea hearing. Court records show Simmerman was charged again with the same crime a year later.

In 2019, Simmerman pleaded guilty to one count of enticing a child. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was paroled in 2021. In February 2022, he violated the sex offender registry and received a two-year probation.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Voters in 13 area counties served by Iowa Western Community College will have an opportunity to vote on funding for the expansion and renovation of some the college’s facilities in November. On the ballot, will be a $55 million bond issue, the proceeds from which – if approved by the voters – would allow for the construction of a new diesel and automotive technology center on the college’s Council Bluffs campus, which has seen increased enrollment, and now needs more space in which to operate because classes are at full capacity.

Iowa Western President Dr. Daniel Kinney has said the welding, CDL and Diesel Tech programs are all full, while other career and technical programs are near capacity.

The bond measure would also allow for renovations at Iowa Western’s Clarinda and Atlantic Centers, which are also running out of space for training labs. Kinney has said the bond will not increase your property taxes, since some of their other bonds are expiring soon. The same tax rate currently in effect would continue, if the bond measure passes.

The measure to be found on the ballot during the November 5th General Election asks “Shall the Board of Directors of the Iowa Western Community College (Merged Area XIII) in the Counties of Adair, Adams, Audubon, Cass, Crawford, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie and Shelby, State of Iowa, be authorized to contract indebtedness and issue General Obligation Bonds in an amount not to exceed $55,000,000 to provide funds to construct, furnish, and equip a new academic building and renovate, remodel, and improve existing buildings within the Merged Area XIII?”

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Red Oak Police Department reports a woman was arrested on an assault charge Friday evening. 31-year-old Jennifer Lynn Sweany, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 5:40-p.m., in the 1800 block of E.  Summit Street, for Assault Causing Bodily Injury. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Pottawattamie County was arrested early this (Saturday) morning, following a traffic stop. 39-year-old Michael Anthony Hollinger, of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody at around 1:44-a.m. near Highway 34 and Boxelder Avenue. Hollinger was charged with Driving Under Suspension. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $491.25.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) — A Johnson County Sheriff’s Office deputy was in for a big surprise this past week. KCRG reports that wWhile on a route early Monday morning (Sept. 9th), the deputy happened upon an elk running down Shannon Drive near West High School in Iowa City. In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office says the elk has been spotted at other locations in Iowa City.

Screenshot from Johnson County S/O in-car video of an Elk

According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, elk were native to Iowa but left as the state was settled. DNR officials estimate less than 10 are in the state. Elk is also a protected species in Iowa and cannot be hunted.

(Griswold, Iowa) – The Griswold School District’s Board of Education will meet Monday evening (Sept. 16, 2024) in the Conference Room at the High School/Middle School/Elementary Building. Their monthly session begins at 5:30-p.m., and includes the following (tentative) agenda items:

• Call Meeting to Order

• Reading of Mission Statement

• Approval of Agenda (D.R.)

• Public Input

• Superintendent’s Report:

Thank You Card(s) (I)
The Month in Review – Administration (I)
Board Learning Opportunities (I)

– Honor August Recipients

– Select September Recipient(s)

• Consent Agenda (D.R.)

Approval of Minutes

Approval of Financial Statements

Approval of Bills

A) Personnel

B) Gifts, Memorials, Bequests

Old Business:

1. Board Policies – Second Reading (D.R.) – 904.1, 904.2, 905.1, 905.1R1, 905.1R2, 905.1E1, 905.1E2, 905.2, 906
2. Approval Of Facility Bids (D.R.)
3. Approval Of Safety Grant Bids (D.R.)

New Business during the Griswold School Board meeting is as follows:

1. Approval Of Request For Allowable Growth And Supplemental Aid For 2023- 2024 Special Education Deficit (D.R.)
2. Consider Approval Of 2024-25 School Improvement Advisory Committee (D.R.)
3. Open Enrollment Report (I)
4. Board Policies – First Reading (I) – 101, 102, 102.E1, 102.E2, 102.E3, 102.E4, 102.E5, 102.E6, 102.R1, 505.05, 907, 907.R1

[D.R]= Decision Required

[I]= Informational only

The final agenda will be posted in the Central Office no less than 24-hours before the meeting.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – [NOTE: Meeting begins at 4:45-p.m.]  The Atlantic City Council will meet Monday evening in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall. The meeting would normally be held on Wednesday this week, but was moved to Sept 16th due to the Iowa League of Cities Conference. September 16, 2024 City Council Agenda Packet-compressed

On the agenda for the Council’s session that begins at 4:45-p.m., is action on a Resolution appointing Laura McLean as the Atlantic City Clerk, and setting her compensation for FY 2025. Assuming the Council passes the Resolution, McLean will be Sworn-in near the end of the meeting.

McLean currently serves as a member of the Atlantic School Board. If approved, she would succeed acting City Clerk Rich Tupper, who was appointed as City Clerk following the resignation on March 6th, of former City Clerk Barb Barrick.

The Council will also act on:

• Orders to reappoint Shawn Shouse and Melissa Ihnen to the Board of Adjustment.
• An Order to close Indian Trail Drive on Sept. 29th from 4-until 9-p.m., for Church Worship Night.
• The 3rd and final reading of an Ordinance “Vacating the 66-foot wide Street Right-Of-Way on W. 4th Street, in Atlantic,” as previously described in the two previous readings that were passed by the Council.

The Atlantic City Council will also act to review and act on a recommendation/request from the Parks Commission, for the addition of trees to the “Do Not Plant” list. And, they are scheduled to receive a presentation from officials with SHIFT ATL with regard to the property at 201 W. 14th Street, which the non-profit organization remodeled over the past year, and recently sold. It was the second remodeled home that Shift ATL sold since they began efforts to find and fix-up and flip. Shift Atl’s representative(s) are expected to talk about reimbursing the City’s Housing Development Fund.

(Creston, Iowa)  – Officials with the Creston Fire Department report firefighters were dispatched at around 3:48-a.m. Friday (today) to a structure fire at The barndominium and greenhouse, in rural Union County. When crews arrived at the scene off 240th Street, the structures were engulfed in flames. Occupants of the residence were able to safely evacuate prior to firefighters’ arrival. (Photos by Chuck Spindler, Creston Fire Dept. – from Facebook)

Creston Fire received mutual aid from the Afton Volunteer Fire Department, Lenox Fire Department, Prescott Fire & Rescue, and Corning Fire Departments.

Additionally, all five fire departments made multiple shuttles with their tanker trucks to provide water to two portable dump tanks and a pumper, keeping firefighters supplied with a constant source of water to fight the fire. Officials say Creston and other departments conducted a rural fire fighting, live burn exercise last December in which they trained for the type of water shuttling operation put into use Friday morning.