The CAM School Board met Monday night in Anita, and voted on approving a bid for a new multipurpose building. Superintendent Steve Pelzer said the approved a low bid of $584,800 from Jensen Builders in Ames, for the construction of the facility to be located near the North Elementary School in Anita.

The structure is being funded through the district’s Capital Projects, statewide penny sales tax and the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy. It’s money the district already has and will not add to the district patrons’ tax burden. Construction is slated to begin as soon as the school year ends, with completion by August 20^th.

Pelzer said also, the CAM School Board renewed it contract with Driver’s Education Instructor Dick Strittmatter, for classes that begin near the end of February. Strittmatter has taught the course for the past seven-years. And, Pelzer says the board voted to leave the cost for Driver’s Education tuition unchanged from last year. He says it’s $250 for a full-paying student and $195 for reduced-cost students.

Pelzer said also, the board approved the resignation of Erin Hagen, the K-12 Talented and Gifted teacher, who has been with the district for a couple of years. She will be moving to Chicago effective at the end of the current school year.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – MidAmerican Energy Co. has agreed to stop burning coal in seven power plant boilers in Iowa and limit emissions from two others as part of a settlement with an environmental group.  The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit last year claiming MidAmerican was violating the Clean Air Act by emitting more pollution than allowed in permits in Sergeant Bluff, Bettendorf, and Council Bluffs.  To settle the case, MidAmerican agrees to stop burning coal in boilers at Council Bluffs and Sergeant Bluffs by April 2016. The company says it also will stop burning coal in Bettendorf but will operate the facility with natural gas.

It says installation of a cleaning system is under way at other boilers in Sergeant Bluffs.   MidAmerican says it settled the case Tuesday to avoid costs to customers.

Members of the Elk Horn-Kimballton School Board heard an update Monday night during their meeting, on the status of the reorganization process with the Exira Community School District. Superintendent Dean Schnoes said the districts are still moving forward with its plans. Those include each district having obtained 300 signatures on petitions calling for reorganization and presenting them to the Heartland Area Education Agency on January 7^th.  The AEA he says will meet with the two school board presidents, and then try to determine if April is still viable as month for a reorganization vote. Schnoes says they still hope for April 9^th, but the AEA is not sure the timelines will mesh. It’s possible the vote may have to be moved back to June.

He said they have not yet heard back from the AEA, which is reviewing the petitions, so “No news is good news,” as far as the approval of the petitions and signatures is concerned. Atlantic School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein last week announced the Atlantic High School Auditorium will serve as the site at 6-p.m. March 13^th , for a joint public meeting dealing with the Exira-EHK reorganization issue. Schnoes said that the meeting will be for individuals who live in the two districts, and wish to object to the two districts becoming one. They will address the joint board members to express their reasoning against reorganization.

Schnoes said neither he nor officials with the Heartland or Green Hills AEA’s have heard any preliminary rumblings from those who might be considering an objection to reorganization.

The director of Iowa’s Department of Public Safety Narcotics Division says Iowa law enforcement officers are seizing increasing amounts of marijuana originating from Colorado. Steve DeJoode says even before Colorado relaxed its marijuana laws late last year, the amount of marijuana seized in Iowa tripled over a three year period. “In 2010, the number of interdiction stops in Iowa regarding marijuana, 10-percent of those originated out of Colorado. In 2011, it increased to 25-percent and in 2012, 36-percent of the marijuana interdictions in Iowa originated out of Colorado,” DeJoode says. “So, each year, we’re increasing at least 10-percent.”

DeJoode notes Interstates 80 and 35 provide primary routes to marijuana markets and when it’s seized in Iowa, the costs fall on Iowa. “Whether or not that interdiction load of illicit drugs is destined for Iowa or not, they still have impacts on Iowa law enforcement, jail systems and the judicial system as well,” DeJoode says.

(Radio Iowa)

An accident in Atlantic Monday afternoon caused about $2,000 damage to the Subway store on East 7th Street, and resulted in a local woman being cited for failure to have insurance. According to the Atlantic Police Department, 31-year old Chalee Burtle, of Atlantic, was cited after the vehicle she was driving hit the store at 1705 E. 7th Street at around 3:20-p.m., while Burtle was attempting to park. Her car sustained $2,500 damage. No injuries were reported.