(Adel, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Dallas County report a man died during a single-vehicle accident today (Thursday), south of Dawson. Dallas County Deputies and Dallas County EMS were dispatched at around 12:40-a.m. scene in the 12000 block of 160th Street. When Deputies arrived, they located a truck, on it’s top, in the north ditch of 160th Street.
Deputies located a single occupant inside of the vehicle who was deceased. The occupant was identified as Kurtis Gustaveson, 29 years old, of Perry, Iowa.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation. The Perry Police Department and the Perry Fire Department assisted in this investigation.
(Radio Iowa) – Damage assessment teams from the National Weather Service are being dispatched to multiple locations in western Iowa after severe thunderstorms last (Wednesday) night spun off at least three suspected tornadoes. Meteorologist Dylan Dodson, at the weather service office in metro Des Moines, says they don’t have any reports of significant tornado damage, at least not yet. “There were a couple of tornadoes. We don’t have an exact number yet,” Dodson says. “Obviously, there’s going to be surveys that go out for those, but yes, there were a few tornadoes out in western Iowa that were reported.”
Tornadoes are believed to have touched down near Macedonia, Sidney and Thurman, while a funnel cloud was also spotted in the skies near Kiron, though it may not have reached the ground. There are scattered hail reports from Sioux City all the way across Iowa to Dubuque, while baseball-sized hail dinged roofs, shattered windows, destroyed siding and wrecked vehicles in Crawford County. “Most of our hail remained fairly low-end, but there were some bigger sizes out in the west, especially,” Dodson says. “We saw some three-inch hail out there, and then over kind of more in central Iowa, we saw a few reports of inch hail, so about quarter- to maybe half dollar-size.”
North English reported getting more than two inches of rain during the cloudburst, while winds in central Iowa peaked at 62 miles an hour. “The strongest report that we’ve seen so far was at the Des Moines Airport. That was the strongest recorded that we had,” Dodson says. “There were others that were a little bit lower than that, around that 50-mile per hour, maybe 55-mile per hour range.”
Spring arrived on the 20th of March, exactly a month ago, yet Dodson says there’s still snow in the forecast on Friday for parts of northwest and north-central Iowa.
(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports a man was arrested at his home Wednesday afternoon. 40-year-old Mark Anthony Weems, Jr., of Creston, was taken into custody on two Union County warrants charging him with 2-counts of Theft in the 1st Degree, Theft in the 3rd Degree and Theft in the 4th Degree. The second warrant was 2-counts of Theft in the 5th Degree. Additional details were not provided.
Weems, Jr., was being held in the Union County Jail on $23,600 bond.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, passed resolutions on two separate bids for two separate properties. Both bids were One-dollar, for properties located at 1014/1016 E. 3rd Street Place, the other at 1310 Chestnut Street. The latter was sold to Jay and Kelsi Eden, who, as previously mentioned, will begin the process of gutting a decaying, unsafe for occupation, home. The couple intend to “flip” the house, once extensive work is completed. The Council chose to allow them one-year for construction. Councilman Pat McCurdy..
Dexter Dodson, with Atlantic High School, placed a bid for 1014/1016 3rd Street Place. He intends to build a single family home on this lot using the students in the building trades program. McCurdy said he thinks it’s a wonderful idea.
Councilperson Elaine Otte, agreed, and said the project should benefit the school district’s Building Trades program.
The Council issued a recommendation to have City Administrator John Lund to proceed with making a request by City Attorney Dave Wiederstein to work with the Atlantic Community School District on the sale of the properties on E. 3rd Street Place.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic, Wednesday, approved the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget. Their approval followed a public hearing, during which there were no comments received.
City Administrator John Lund has said the proposed budget for FY 2024 totals $14,794,803, an increase of 4.36% – or $618,676 – over the City’s FY 2023 budget. He noted however, that the budget “Should be considered [to be] a tentative budget that may receive a total amendment shortly after it begins in July, 2023.” That’s because, he says, of the legislature’s failure to send a final budget with an overhaul to the property tax system in Iowa. Lun
Lund says “While this may seem like a modest change in budget, however, the one-time American Rescue Plan funding of $488,970 and unusually high local option sales tax dollars of $1,337,372 in the FY 2023 budget, which are not present in the FY 2024 budget, disguise several new structural revenues, new structural revenue losses, and new structural expenditures.”
Under the City’s budget, the combined property tax levy will increase from $16.56 to $16.79, in order “to favorably position the City if the Iowa State Senate’s version of property tax reform is implemented.” Lund says “The overall budget accomplishes key priorities of the Mayor and Council in funding for community beautification, housing economic development, and code enforcement support.” A seven percent increase in compensation to all City employees is included, along with MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) “allowing unionized employees to see this benefit.” The Council also approved the FY24 Ten Year Capital Improvement Plan following a public hearing in which there were also no comments. In other business, the Atlantic City resolutions adopting wages for seasonal parks and recreation and pool employees, and, setting salaries for appointed officers and employees of the City of Atlantic.
Atlantic City Councilman Halder speaks about an award presented to City Administrator John Lund (Ric Hanson/Photo) [Click to enlarge]
At the end of the meeting, the Council surprised City Administrator John Lund, by presenting him with a Gold Star Award plaque, thanking him for all of his hard work. Councilman Dana Halder….
Lund thanked the Council, shook hands with Halder, and hugged the Mayor.
(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa received approval from the Board of Regents facilities committee to move ahead with work on two prominent buildings on campus. U-I Vice President, Rod Lehnertz, says they plan to remodel the seventh floor of the Van Allen building, which was built in the 1960s. Lehnertz says the space science and spaceflight hardware work done in the building is renowned nationwide. He says NASA expectations are high for research space and they need to keep up.
The other project involves expanding the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital into the empty seventh floor of the hospital. He says it would be a 40 to 49 million dollar proejct — with the actual cost pinned down through the construction. The Children’s Hospital has gotten nationwide attention for “The Wave,” where fans and players in nearby Kinnick Stadium turn and wave to the patients following the end of the first quarter of Hawkeye football games.
The full Board of Regents is expected to approve the proposals today (Thursday).
(Radio Iowa) – A report from a national agricultural organization says climate change is already impacting the production of Iowa’s key crops and it offers dire predictions for a more challenging future. John Piotti, president and C-E-O of American Farmland Trust, says shifts in rainfall patterns that bring extremes like drought and flooding, are combining with warmer weather to make it very difficult — if not impossible — to continue the way we currently farm.
The report says 80-percent of our cropland is at risk due to rising temperatures and rainfall changes. By 2040, the report projects only 33-percent of the acres now devoted to corn are likely to remain highly productive with the current corn varieties. Piotti says with the right tools and support, agricultural producers can continue to adapt to climate changes and help reverse the trends.
To ward off the worst impacts of climate change, Piotti says farmers and non-farmers can work to limit global warming and to increase the resiliency and profitability of farmland.
(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Wednesday afternoon, issued a statement with regard to recent incidents of alleged threats against the Southwest Valley School District. The statement said “During the late afternoon on or about Friday, April 14, 2023, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office along with Southwest Valley Superintendent Chris Fenster, were notified of a credible threat regarding a student threatening to harm other students and staff at Southwest Valley High School.
“Adams County Sheriff’s officials began their investigation immediately and the student was charged with Threat of Terrorism early Saturday morning. It was determined that the threat was made approximately 2-to 3 weeks prior. The School District and Law Enforcement received no prior knowledge of this threat until late Friday afternoon. Effective Saturday, the student will no longer be allowed on school grounds and is on GPS monitoring by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and the Juvenile Court Services. Safeguards were immediately put in place to ensure the safety of all Southwest Valley students and staff.
“On Monday, to provide the continued safety of all students and stuff at Southwest Valley School District, extra law enforcement was put in place. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office did this in conjunction with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office to alleviate any uncertainty within both the Corning and Villisca communities. Moving forward, for the remainder of the school year, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office will maintain a presence within the Southwest Valley School District daily,” not only for safety concerns, but also “:to provide staff and students support at this time.
“Late Monday afternoon, April 17, 2023, Superintendent Chris Fenster notified the Sheriff’s Office about alleged threatening posts on social media by the same student. The Sheriff’s Office began investigating the threat immediately. The Sheriff’s Office collaborated with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the alleged threats Monday afternoon and throughout the day on Tuesday. At this time, both the Adams and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office do not have any evidence that the alleged threats made on social media are credible.
“On Wednesday, April 19, 2023, informational meetings were held with the high school students and staff to provide transparency to the situation and offer additional support. Additional security measures will be implemented during all Southwest Valley activities, including Prom and Graduation.
The Adams County Sheriff’s Office continues to work with the Southwest Valley School District. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.”
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSS