COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are searching for a man who did not return to jail from a work release facility in Council Bluffs. The U.S. Marshal’s Office and Iowa State Patrol say 52-year-old Michael Hannum was last seen at a work release facility around 5:40 a.m. Saturday. Authorities say they discovered he was missing during an inmate count at 7 a.m. Saturday.

The Council Bluffs Nonpareil reports that Hannum is believed to be driving a silver car with the Iowa license plate number SIS-613. Authorities believe he may be across the Missouri River in Omaha, Neb.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office responded to several 911 calls of a motor home on fire West of Bluff Road on Highway 2 at approximately 1:30pm Friday (8/2).  Upon arrival at the scene Fremont County Personnel found a motor home completely engulfed in flames.  Deputies were informed that everyone was out of the motor home and that it had several propane tanks and diesel fuel on board.

Authorities then shut down all traffic on Highway 2 at the time due to the dangerous situation.  Responding fire departments from Sidney, Hamburg, and Percival were able to bring the fire under control in about an hour.  The motor home was a total loss and the fire is still under investigation by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office.

After the scene was cleared up the owner of the vehicle John Cobb of Ft. Myers, Florida was questioned about the incident.  Cobb stated that he was traveling with his wife Sherry west bound on Highway 2 in their 1996 motor home through Waubonsie State Park when their motor home started to run funny.  After they came out of the park area they started to smell smoke and then saw the rear of the vehicle on fire.  They were able to pull to the shoulder and exit the vehicle.  They unhooked a jeep they had in tow and were able to get away from the motor home safely.

The State Board of Education approved a recommendation this week to re-accredit the Exira School District, in Audubon County. Department of Education deputy director, Jeff Berger, recommended the board take the action in the wake of work that has been ongoing with the district. “The Exira district had struggled for years with some financial problems, and it got to the point where the school budget review committee recommended that the state board considering doing a phase two accreditation visit. Because in our view of it, the financial problems were right on the verge of causing programmatic issues because of lack of funding,” Berger explains.

The state did the review and presented a plan to Exira officials. He says they developed a plan with some 38 corrections the district needed to take, and he says the district has done its “due diligence” and made the corrections that were necessary. Berger says voters in Exira and Elk Horn-Kimbalton voted in June to approve a merger between the two districts, and that will help solve some of the short term problems for Exira.

“Part of the process of consolidation brings the fiancees together, they merge tax rates, they merge fund balances, and so it will help them,” Berger explains. “The problem that they will have in five or six years is that the merged district may be right back in this same situation. Because like many small districts, they aren’t growing like they should be.” The two districts will merge after this school year.

(Radio Iowa)

Patrons of an Iowa-based convenience store chain will now have to show an I-D to buy certain beverages — and they’re not alcoholic drinks. The board at Casey’s General Stores decided not to sell “Energy Shots” to anyone under 18. The chain’s vice president of finance, Brian Johnson, says they worried about young people drinking too many of them. Johnson says, “It’s just kind of one of those things that doesn’t feel right to sell to kids and so we’ve made the decision not to do it.” With each shot having more caffeine than a cup of coffee, Johnson says it’s easy for teenagers to get carried away with them. The Ankeny-based Casey’s has more than 17-hundred stores across the Midwest, more than 470 of them in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa)