Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County are asking for your help in identifying the person or persons responsible for the theft of flag posts and flags from a residence in Villisca. Officials said Sunday, that sometime between the hours of 9:45-p.m. Saturday and 11-a.m. Sunday, a person or persons unknown stole a metal flag post and a Stanton Viking flag from the front yard of a residence at 103 West 3rd Street, in Villisca.

Authorities say the theft marked the third time the Stanton flag has been stolen from the same yard, and the second time a metal post has been taken from the property. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call Montgomery County Crimestoppers at 1-800-432-1001.

The Iowa Department of Education has named Bloomer Elementary School in Council Bluffs, as the best in the State at educating students in learning English. The school is set to receive the IDED’s “Breaking Barriers” award, next month. The institution is one of five schools scheduled to receive the honor.

The IDED says Bloomer Elementary was the only Iowa schools awarded for how its English-learning students did on the state math and reading tests, as compared with the state average for the same group of students. Districts and schools receive the distinction for narrowing the achievement gaps between better-off groups of students, and disadvantaged groups, such as those students learning English or students from low-income families.

The Council Bluffs Police Department reports a passenger in a vehicle that crashed into a house Saturday died, while the driver of the car was injured. The accident happened at around 4:47-p.m. Saturday, near North 16th Street and Avenue F. The names of the victims were released late Sunday night.

Officials say a 1990 Geo Prizm driven by 47-year old Patrick Coover, of Council Bluffs, was traveling north on North 16th Street, when for reasons unknown, the car crossed over the center median heading in a westerly direction across Avenue F. The car then crashed into the side of an unoccupied  residence at 1602 Avenue F. Coover and a transient passenger in the car, 36-year old Rogers Williams Jackson, were transported to the hospital, where Jackson was pronounced dead. Coover was being treated at the Creighton University Medical Center. A report on his condition is not available.

The crash remain under investigation. Authorities say alcohol is believed to have been a contributing factor to the crash, while speed may-or-may not have played a role. Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to contact the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Special Operations/Traffic Unit. Call 712-328-4948.

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