United Group Insurance

Palko Prayer Leads Chiefs Over Bears 10-3

Sports

December 4th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

CHICAGO (AP) – Tyler Palko shook off two miserable starts and threw for 157 yards and a touchdown even though he was briefly lifted for Kyle Orton, and the Kansas City Chiefs beat Chicago 10-3 Sunday on a day when the Bears lost Matt Forte to a right knee injury. Orton came on to start the second quarter and immediately left the game with an injured finger on his right hand. Palko connected with Dexter McCluster on a wild 38-yard pass to end the first half on a ball that got deflected by Brian Urlacher and Chris Conte, giving the Chiefs a 7-3 lead and their first touchdown in three games.

Kansas City (5-7) got a 21-yard field goal from Ryan Succop in the third quarter, and Jon McGraw intercepted struggling backup Caleb Hanie in the end zone in the fourth. The Chiefs also recorded seven sacks – three by Justin Houston.

UNI @ Montana Playoff Game Set for Friday

Sports

December 4th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) – Northern Iowa will face fourth-seeded Montana in the quarterfinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs on Friday. The fifth-seeded Panthers will play the Grizzlies in Missoula at 7 p.m., a game that will be broadcast on ESPN2. Northern Iowa (10-2) reached the quarterfinals by beating Wofford 28-21 on Saturday night. Montana (10-2) beat Central Arkansas 41-14 in its playoff opener. The Northern Iowa-Montana winner will face either top-seeded Sam Houston State or Montana State in the semifinals on Dec. 16 or 17.

Webinar offers farmers info for flood recovery

News

December 4th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A webinar offered to farmers in five states will explain what government resources are available to help them recover from Missouri River flooding. The Dec. 14 webinar will feature two producers who are repairing their farmland and representatives from the U.S.  Department of Agriculture and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The information will be available at 20 sites in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota.  For a list of locations, go online to http://flood.unl.edu/crops. The webinar is sponsored by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Iowa State extension offices. It’s the second in a series. The corps released massive amounts of water from the dams along the Missouri River this year to deal with heavy rains and above-average snowmelt, causing record flooding in several states.

Slippery roads cause non-injury accidents near Red Oak

News

December 4th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

Icy roads were to blame for a non-injury accident Sunday morning, about two-miles east of Red Oak. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, vehicles driven by 56-year old Colleen Rae Brown, of Stanton, and 24-year old Jessica Gail McCuen, of Villisca, collided on Highway 34 at the intersection with 200th Street. Officials say a 2008 Dodge Caliber driven by Brown and a 2002 GMC Denali driven by McCuen, were both traveling westbound when Brown began to slow down. McCuen was unable to get stopped in time due to the icy roadway. The right rear of the Denali clipped the left rear of the Dodge, causing $3,000 damage to each vehicle. The accident happened at around 11:20-a.m.  No citations were issued due to the icy road condition.

And, an accident early Saturday morning nearly four-miles northeast of Red Oak was also attributed to a wet and muddy road. Sheriff’s officials say 36-year old Kelly Jon Stites, of Red Oak, was traveling north on M Avenue at around 5:45-a.m., when his 2005 Chevy pickup began to slide on the roadway, near 200th Street. The truck entered a ditch and struck a culvert, sustaining about $2,500 damage. No injuries were reported.

3 injured during rollover accident Sunday in Montgomery County

News

December 4th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

Three women suffered unknown injuries during a rollover accident late this (Sunday) morning in Montgomery County. According to the Sheriff’s Office, the driver of the vehicle, 73-year old Goldie Ann Adams, and two passengers in her vehicle, 81-year old Mamie Cathern Forward, and 58-year old Cathern Marie Forward, all of Red Oak, were injured in the crash and transported to the Montgomery County Hospital.

The accident happened just before Noon, Sunday, on Highway 34, about one-half mile west of Red Oak. Officials say a Adams’ 2008 Mercury Milan was traveling west on the highway and crossing the East Nishnabotna River bridge, when the car hit a patch of ice. Adams lost control of the vehicle, which slid into the south ditch and flipped once, before coming to rest on its wheels.

The injured were transported to the hospital by Red Oak Rescue. The extent of their injuries was not known at the time of the press release.

Non-fatal accidents/record rain reported during 1st major snow event, Saturday

News

December 4th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

The first major snowstorm of the season left motorists trying to remember their Winter driving skills. Here in the Atlantic area, the snow started falling late in the afternoon, but we only picked up three-tenths of an inch of snowfall. Heavier amounts were reported off to the north of Interstate 80 and points west and northwest, including Vail, in Crawford County, which had received 6.5-inches of snow by 6-p.m., Saturday. Late Saturday afternoon, a weather spotter in Carroll had reported 3.5-inches to 4-inches of snow on the ground.

The story in our immediate listening area, was the amount of rain. We picked up a total of 1.04-inches of precipitation from 7-a.m. Saturday through early this morning, including the melted snowfall. Other locations around the state reported record rainfall for December 3rd, including Ottumwa, which received 1.09-inches. The National Weather Service says Des Moines received 1.38-inches of precipitation, which broke the previous record of 0.92-inches in 1990. It was the wettest December day in Des Moines since 1994, and the fourth wettest December on record for that date, since records began in 1878.

Rain that fell during the day Saturday left roads in slippery condition, as the temperature slipped to 32 degrees and below by 8-p.m. Accidents were reported on Interstate 80 last night, but none resulted in any serious injuries.  Meteorologist Dave Eastlack with the National Weather Service in Valley, Neb., said a wintry mix quickly becoming snow Saturday morning in parts of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. In all, about 3 to 6 inches of snow fell throughout the day, depending on where you were. The snow began to pile up, and so did the accident reports.

According to the Omaha World Herald, a wreck on Highway 92 in Pottawattamie County, near 270th Street, west of Treynor, led to another accident. While Sheriff’s Deputies responded to one accident scene, at another location, a passing vehicle struck a tow-truck driver who’d arrived to help with vehicle removals.  Sgt. Chris Weber with the Sheriff’s Office confirmed rescue personnel transported the tow-truck driver to Alegent Health Mercy Hospital. The man was conscious and breathing when transported. The incident occurred around 3 p.m. Weber didn’t have the man’s name or any further information.

National Weather Service Forecast for Atlantic & the area 12-4-11

Weather

December 4th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 31. Northwest wind between 3 and 10 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 13. Wind chill values as low as 5. Calm wind becoming north between 5 and 8 mph.

Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 27. Wind chill values as low as zero. Blustery, with a north wind between 8 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.

Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 7. Wind chill values as low as zero. North wind between 7 and 13 mph.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 22. North northwest wind between 5 and 7 mph.

Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 12.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 30.

Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 16.

Thursday: Partly sunny, with a high near 31.
*********

Saturday’s High in Atlantic was 38. Our 23-hour low thru 6-a.m. today: 20.  Snowfall in Atlantic Saturday: .3″.   Total precipitation (rain/melted snow): 1.04″.

Saturday High School Basketball Results

Sports

December 4th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

BOYS BASKETBALL

A-D-M 63, Creston 60, 2OT

Guthrie Center 43, Panorama 37

Kuemper Catholic 70, IKM-Manning 52

Ogden 81, West Central Valley 52

POSTPONEMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS

Council Bluffs St. Albert vs. Atlantic, ppd.

Dunlap Boyer Valley vs. Oakland Riverside, ppd.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

IKM-Manning 52, Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 49

Panora Panorama 73, Guthrie Center 35

Drake Survives Comeback, Beats Air Force 62-60

Sports

December 4th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Ben Simons scored 16 points, Rayvonte Rice added 15, and Drake survived a wild finish to beat Air Force 62-60 Saturday in a Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge game. Drake led the entire game, but almost found itself on the losing end after Air Force erased almost all of an eight-point deficit in the last two minutes. The Falcons (3-2) had two shots at potential game-winning 3-pointers in the final five seconds, but Todd Fletcher and Mike Fitzgerald both missed.

Before that, Fletcher and Fitzgerald had each converted two free throws to pull Air Force within 61-60 with 42 seconds left. With 15 seconds to play, Fitzgerald fouled Karl Madison, who made one of two foul shots to put Drake (5-3) up by two. Fitzgerald and Michael Lyons led Air Force with 13 points apiece. The teams had not met since 1981. Drake is now 6-0 all-time against Air Force.

Mabry Hired as Cards Assistant Hitting Coach

Sports

December 4th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

ST. LOUIS (AP) – New St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny finalized his coaching staff, hiring John Mabry as assistant hitting coach working under Mark McGwire. The 41-year-old Mabry replaces Mike Aldrete, who was promoted to bench coach. Mabry had three stints with the Cardinals during his playing career and had his best season in 1996 with a .297 average, 21 home runs and 74 RBIs. Longtime trainer Barry Weinberg was hired as the senior medical adviser working out of Jupiter, Fla., and Chris Conroy was promoted from Triple-A Memphis as assistant trainer with the Cardinals.