In a follow-up to a story we first brought in early February, officials with the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) , on Friday, announced that a community tool kit is now available for use by community groups interested in speaking to their members, about a study being conducted by the DOT, on bringing high speed passenger rail service from Chicago, IL., to Omaha, NE. The study is being conducted in cooperation with the  Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Illinois Department of Transportation. The DOT is studying the feasibility of expanding existing passenger rail service and developing a new regional passenger rail service from Chicago to Omaha, Neb., and the purpose of this study is to: Evaluate potential route alternatives; Evaluate levels of service and ridership; Analyze environmental impacts; and, determine a preferred Chicago to Omaha passenger rail route alternative for regional intercity passenger rail service. Officials say the study will be a major step in assessing the viability of a regional intercity passenger rail system serving Iowa and the Midwest through the corridor and public input is a major component of the study.

The FRA and the Iowa and Illinois DOTs have made the community tool kit available online at http://www.iowadot.gov/chicagotoomaha/ under the “resources” tab. Community leaders and others interested in the information can download the following electronic materials related to the study.

• PowerPoint ^® presentation
• Pocket card with a brief description of the study goals
• Fact sheet with more in-depth study information
• Social media Facebook banner for timeline format
• Social media image that can be used as profile picture on Facebook or Twitter
• 11-by-17 poster
• Survey that will also be used at in-person public meetings in early May 2012.

Public comments provide valuable input and contribute to the development of a complete environmental analysis. The Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and planning effort will take approximately 18 months to complete. Comments will be collected throughout the EIS development phase. All comments received will be reviewed and considered. For more information, visit www.iowadot.gov/chicagotoomaha/ or call 800-488-7119.

Forecasters used some unusually strong words and phrases to warn Iowans and others in the Midwest about the potential for severe weather this past weekend. National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Johnson says the Storm Prediction Center, two days prior to storm, stated there was a “high risk” for damaging storms.
“In my career, that’s pretty unprecedented to go with a day two ‘high risk,’ which is a significant outlook,” Johnson said. A warning that a “tornado outbreak” was “likely” was issued on Friday. On Saturday, at least five tornadoes touched down in Iowa – including a couple of EF2 twisters that caused extensive damage in Creston and Thurman in the southwest section of the state. Smaller tornadoes were reported close to Council Bluffs, near the Oskaloosa airport and near New Virginia in south-central Iowa. Johnson said forecasters are trying to encourage people to take weather warnings seriously.

“We’ve had, unfortunately, a lot of bad tornadoes across the United States in the last two years. Some of the findings from our assessments after these storms has been that people are often too optimistic if they’re in the path of the serious storm – thinking the storm is going to hit somebody else,” Johnson said. “Our purpose with all of this is to try to get people to heed the warnings and take cover.” Despite the warnings, many residents of Creston were surprised by the severity of the storm that swept through their town. The twister dropped down so fast that it went undetected on radar and officials were not able to sound tornado sirens. Johnson said the “rain-wrapped” tornado wasn’t spotted until his office started hearing damage reports.

“We had an amateur radio spotter in that area who reported hail at about the time of the tornado. They didn’t mention the tornado because they couldn’t see it,” Johnson said. “Coupled with that, the evidence of (a tornado) on radar was equally weak. It’s one of those cases where it was unfortunate, but that does happen occasionally in this type of an event.” Six people were injured in the Creston tornado, one of them critically. There were no serious injuries in the tiny town of Thurman, although that EF2 twister destroyed at least 14 homes while causing serious damage to 28 other homes.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County say a Red Oak woman was arrested Monday afternoon, on a theft charge. 34-year old Julie Crystal Fisher was taken into custody at around 3:45-p.m., on a charge of 4th degree theft. Fisher was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held on $1,000 cash bond.