(Waterloo, Iowa) – A car traveling the wrong way on Highway 218 in Waterloo early this (Friday) morning, collided head-on with a semi tractor trailer. The accident happened at around 2:15-a.m. at mile marker 185. The Iowa State Patrol reports the 2013 Dodge Charger driven by 26-year-old Jordan Welch, of Waterloo, was traveling south in the northbound lanes when it struck a 2020 Freightliner semi, driven by 50-year-old Ray Mount, of Manly (IA). As a result of the impact, the car became engulfed in fire.

The semi was forced through the concrete median barrier and into the southbound lanes of Highway 218. Welch was flown by AirCare helicopter to the UIHC in Iowa City. The crash remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by Waterloo Police, Fire & EMS, Iowa DOT Motor Vehicle Enforcement personnel, the Iowa DOT and a wrecker service.

(Radio Iowa) – Today (Friday) is Workers Memorial Day and labor groups across the state have ceremonies planned to honor those who lost their lives on the job in the last year. The Iowa Labor Center’s Paul Iverson says year-after-year there is one connection between the deaths.  “Every year, so many things that were so senseless that could easily have been prevented if proper safety practices were followed,” he says. Fifty workers died on the job in Iowa in the last year. They were as young as 20 and as old as 84. Iverson has been putting together small obituaries for the last six years for each worker who died in the state in an attempt to remember they are not just statistics.

“All of those numbers you see are real people. That had real lives. There’s a real human cost and hoping that policymakers take that into account,” he says. Among the 50 people who died on the job, nine were from injuries related to a fall. Around 10 were struck by cars, and several were hit by distracted drivers.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – In an update to our earlier reports, officials with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office said Friday (today), that at around 12:45-p.m., Thursday, area first responders were called to the scene of a single-vehicle accident with injuries, near Highway 6 and Lansing Road. Deputies on scene found that a 1996 Buick Century being operated by Jack Tye, of Griswold, was traveling South on Highway 6.  The person who reported the accident said they had passed Tye’s vehicle, and shortly after, in their rear-view mirror, saw the car drift out of its lane to the left, cross the opposite lane of the highway, and enter the ditch.

A further investigation indicated that Tye’s vehicle continued through the ditch and into an adjacent field.  The vehicle then backed up into the ditch where it came to rest.  Upon first responders’ arrival, both the Jack Tye and his passenger, Donna Tye, of Griswold, were still within the vehicle.  First responders helped the two out of their car. They were transported to a local hospital for what was believed to be non-life threatening injuries.

The vehicle sustained an approximated $5,000 of damage

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Local non-profit organization SHIFT ATL officials say they are excited to invite the public to their annual fundraiser, “Summer Soiree,” Saturday July 15, 2023. The event takes place on 4th street in Atlantic, between Chestnut and Walnut Streets. Guests can expect the same great experience as the past two years including a steak dinner, full bar and tons of fun. New this year will be live entertainment featuring Nashville band, Two Story Road! Cocktail hour begins at 5:30 with the dinner to follow. Dinner will consist of Noble Provisions steak, grilled on
location, buffet-style sides and dessert. A beer garden will be open all evening with tickets available for purchase at the gate and inside the event that evening.

Event tickets will be released at 10am on May 10, 2023, at shiftatl.org/dinner. Tickets are $65/person, which includes dinner and entry to the live music. Tables of eight can be purchased for $500, which includes eight dinners and eight tickets to the live music. There is limited seating available, and this event is anticipated to sell out quickly. Tickets for the live band entertainment can be purchased before the event for $20/person at shiftatl.org/dinner or the night of the event at the gate. Gates will open for the live music at 7:30 p.m., following the Summer Soirée dinner.

Summer Soirée 2023 is made possible through support of Executive sponsors like Cass Health, TS Bank, Landus, Camblin Mechanical, AM Cohron and Son, Armour Insurance, Rigid Edge Exteriors, Lindeman Tractor and Green Acres Lawn and Landscaping. Advocate sponsors include Rolling Hills Bank and Trust, Megan Roberts State Farm, Principal Financial (Mark Smith and Erin Freund), Atlantic Rotary and Venteicher Auctioneering, with Supporting sponsors Henningsen Construction, Anita Supply Center, Rush CPA and Associates, Iowa Corn, KSOM and Casey’s.

If you are looking to sponsor this year’s event, please contact SHIFT ATL at shiftatlantic@gmail.com. Funds raised from this year’s event will be poured directly back into SHIFT ATL’s latest venture, Sunnyside Range, to make facility and programming upgrades to keep a vital community attraction available for years to come.

SHIFT ATL, a 501(c)3 nonprofit formed in 2019, continues to build upon their broad but straightforward vision for the place they have made home: to shift the direction of Atlantic’s social and economic development opportunities by leveraging partnerships and strengthening social bonds within the community. They intend to revitalize Atlantic through projects, services and programs that will enhance the community and foster a sense of growth. To purchase tickets or a table for the event, visit shiftatl.org/dinner or contact Jessie Shiels at 712-304-2651. To learn more about SHIFT ATL projects, to donate or to get involved, contact shiftatlantic@gmail.com, visit the website shiftatl.org or facebook page, @shiftatl.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – In an update to our earlier report, Police in Greenfield say a teen missing since last Sunday has been located.

Original post:

The Missing Person Information Clearinghouse (MPIC) says a Greenfield (Iowa) teen was reported missing to the Greenfield Police, last Sunday (April 23, 2023). Curtis Allen League, Jr., age 15, weighs 151-pounds, is 5-feet nine-inches tall. He has brown hair and brown eyes. Additional information on his disappearance was not immediately available from Greenfield Police, this (Friday) morning. A photo of the teen is also not available.

If you know Curtis League, Jr., have seen him and/or know where he is, get as much information as possible (such as a vehicle license plate number, the exact location of your sighting, and any activities he may be involved in). Call the Greenfield Police Department at 1-641-743-2323, or the MPIC at the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, at 515-725-6036.

(Radio Iowa) -The Iowa Utilities Board has approved an application for a large scale solar farm in southeast Iowa. The board has issued a certificate, so an Alliant Energy subsidiary will be able to place solar panels on 925 acres of ag land in Lee County. A battery facility at the site will store energy generated by the array of solar panels. Alliant still has to provide state regulators with final designs for the site as well as a flood mitigation plan and a road use agreement with Lee County. According to a news release from the Iowa Utilities Board, all the landowners involved signed voluntary agreements with Alliant.

In other action this week, the Utilities Board granted temporary rates for Alliant’s solar project near Palo. Linn County’s Board of Supervisors approved the development last November. State utility regulators have also asked MidAmerican to confirm its nearly four BILLION dollar Wind PRIME Project can be constructed at no net cost to ratepayers. The project, which also includes solar energy generation, will study nuclear generation and battery storage. The terms for two of the three members of the Utilities Board end Sunday. The Iowa Senate has confirmed two new members who will start at the board Monday.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood, Thursday, arrested 24-year-old Madison Power, of Glenwood. He* was taken into custody for Driving While Revoked. Power posted a $1,000 bond and was released.

(*Corrected from earlier post)

(Creston, Iowa) –  Police in Creston, late Thursday morning, arrested 40-year-old Mark Anthony Weems, Jr., of Creston. Weems was charged with Fraudulent Practice 4th Degree and 3 counts of Fraudulent Practice in the 5th Degree. He was served with the arrest warrant in the Union County Jail. Weems’ Jr.’s bond was set at $1,900.

And, at around 1:42-a.m. today (Friday), 38-year-old Jesse Edward Ramey, of Greenfield, was arrested in Creston. He was charged with Operating While Under the Influence 2nd Offense. Ramey was taken to Union County Jail and later posted a $2,000 bond.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Trial in the case of a Cass County (IA) woman facing felony charges of Murder in the 1st Degree and Child Endangerment resulting in death, is set to begin Monday in Pottawattamie County. 39-year-old Alison Dorsey, of Anita, is on trial for the death at a Massena day care, of an infant in her care in October 2019. Her trial was moved to Council Bluffs after the jury in Dorsey’s first trial ended in early November 2021, with a deadlocked jury, after which a mistrial was declared.

Her re-trial was originally set for January 2022, but it was continued twice thereafter until May 1, 2023. A ZOOM pre-trial conference in the case was held Thursday, April 27th. Dorsey is accused of shaking a baby to death at her Massena day care in 2019.

The baby boy, who died in October of 2019, was one of 11 children Alison Dorsey was caring for in a Massena day care on the morning the child stopped breathing. In her first trial, Dorsey testified 11-week-old Luka Hodges was gasping for air about three hours after the baby’s father dropped the child off, so she called the boy’s father. When the father walked into the home, the baby, which was being held by Dorsey, went limp. She immediately handed him to the father. The baby’s father and an off duty sheriff’s deputy who was nearby performed CPR and the infant was taken to a hospital in Atlantic, then transferred to a hospital in Omaha, where the boy died.

Shaken Baby Syndrome was initially identified as the cause of death, but the Iowa Medical Examiner’s report was inconclusive.