SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A 25-year-old Sioux City man who’d been tracking his estranged wife has been convicted of interstate stalking and a weapons charge. Federal prosecutors say Ralph Rogers was convicted last week. The jury acquitted Rogers of kidnapping and another weapons charge. Rogers pleaded guilty in September to another weapons charge.  His sentencing has not been scheduled.

Prosecutors say Rogers had secretly placed a GPS device on his estranged wife’s car. Investigators say that when the tracking device showed that she’d stopped at a residence in South Sioux City, Neb., Rogers got a handgun and drove there.  Prosecutors say Rogers entered the home without permission and assaulted one of the people inside. Prosecutors say Rogers then took his estranged wife back to his home in Sioux City.

Customers of the Atlantic Municipal Utilities will see a new statement effective December 26^th, that replaces the postcard-style billing we are used to seeing.

Sample of new AMU billing statement (Front view)

New statement (Sample) reverse view

AMU letter to customers explaining statement changes.

AMU officials announced the change during their Board of Trustees meeting Monday night. AMU General Manager Steve Tjepkes said letters will be going out to their customers explaining the change and options available for payment.

AMU says while the postcard billing statements have served them well for many years, it is becoming more cumbersome to maintain. The new statements (which resemble those of other utilities, such as Alliant Energy), are said to be less likely to get lost in the mail, because they are business envelope sized. Officials say the new statement is also: Easier to read; Have a more detailed level of information; Gives AMU the capability of adding multiple accounts to one billing statement; Will allow for better tracking of information and processing payments; and, better protects customer information.

Jennifer Saathoff, Board Secretary, said additional features being offered to their billing system in 2013 include customers’ being able to access their bill through AMU’s website to make a payment or check a detailed statement history, which is especially beneficial to the “Snow Bird”-type customer, who resides out of state during the Winter months. There will also be a feature to set-up recurring credit card payments and debit transactions.

All of those features will be rolled out sometime early next year.

The Atlantic Municipal Utilities’ Board of Trustees Monday evening approved published electric and water rate increases amounting to a 10-percent increase in water rates and a 7.5-percent increase in electric rates to make up for wholesale increases in the cost to obtain electricity and other related expenses. AMU’s residential customers will see an average $6.60 monthly increase for their combined electric and water bill. Commercial (Business) users of AMU’s electric and water service will see their average bill increase by about $24.45 per month. The new rates become effective with the February 1st, 2013 billing.

During a public hearing prior to the Boards’ vote, there were no spoken objections from the public with regard to the proposed rate increase. There was one letter written by two Atlantic citizens regarding the City’s Christmas lights being on overnight, past the time when most downtown businesses are closed. In the letter, Eleanor and Leslie Becker questioned why AMU doesn’t try to save the taxpayers money by turning the lights off when the business district is closed.

AMU General Manager Steve Tjepkes explained the way the lights are wired makes it difficult to shut them off. He said the Christmas lights are wired into the street lights, which are on a photo-electric cell. When conditions are dark enough, the street lights, and anything tied into them, such as the Christmas lights, will turn on together. Tjepkes said he wasn’t aware of that until he received the Beckers’ letter and looked into it.

Tjepkes estimates the Christmas lights are on about 50-days during the season, for about 14-hours per day. He says based on the cost of energy, the cost to provide electricity for the LED lights is about $500 per year. Tjepkes noted the new Christmas lights are more energy efficient than the old lights. He acknowledged that AMU could work to switch the lights to separate circuits from the street lights, which would save at best “A couple of hundred dollars per year,” but Board Chair Larry Turner pointed out the cost to switch those circuits would “Be very expensive.”

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

No classes will be held today (Tuesday) in the Adair-Casey Community School District. School officials say instead, the staff and classmates of Austin Vais are being given the chance to say goodbye to the 12-year old, who died following a single-vehicle rollover accident last Thursday afternoon, east of Exira. Funeral services for Vais will be held at 1-p.m., in the Adair-Casey High School. Austin began attending the Adair-Casey Elementary School at the beginning of the school year.

Counselors were brought in Friday to talk with the students about their classmates’ death on Friday. The boy was not wearing a seat belt when he lost control of the 2003 Ford F-150 on a gravel road. Vais was ejected as it rolled over after sliding sidways.  Sheriff’s officials have said it appears the boy had taken the truck for a drive while his father was away from home.

Clarinda Police arrested two individuals early Sunday morning for possession of alcohol under the legal age. Chief Keith Brothers says at around 3-a.m., officers arrested 18-year old’s Jordan Nicole Landess, of Clarinda and Scharely Dawn Reynolds, of Stanton. Landess and Reynolds were ticketed and cited to appear in Page County Magistrate Court at a later date. Their arrests occurred in a business parking lot located at 318 East Washington Street in Clarinda.