(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Environmental Protection Agency has ended its oversight of clean-up at the eastern Iowa recycling facility that exploded in late 2022. Asphalt shingles were being recycled at the C-six-zero plant in Marengo. Twenty employees were injured and part of Marengo had to be evacuated when the plant exploded. Six months later, after delays in the timeline for clean-up, state officials asked the federal government to start overseeing the removal of contaminated water and soil from the site.

Marengo fire (file photo)

Officials in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will review the E-P-A’s final report and determine if the company should do more hazardous material clean up. The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined C-six-zero nearly one-hundred thousand dollars for 15 safety violations. Three employees and an investor who was touring the plant at the time of the explosion also have sued the company.

The State of Iowa has sued the company, as well, seeking one-and-a-half MILLION dollars to cover the cost of cleaning up contaminated water.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors were hosted by the staff of Green Leaf Tobacco & Vape on Thursday, August 1st, 2024. The Ambassadors gathered to welcome the new business to the community with a ribbon cutting.

Green Leaf Tobacco & Vape officially opened in the Hy-Vee Plaza in June of 2024. Dee Hill-Borger, store manager, has lived in Exira and farmed for 14 years, and made the switch to specialized retail soon after the store opened. Dee shared with the Ambassadors about the vast amount of learning that came with the position and shared she has enjoyed working with the staff and customers to bring a little bit of sunshine to people’s everyday life.

Green Leaf Tobacco & Vape has over 40 retail stores throughout Iowa and Minnesota that specialize in products to help people. Whether that is hobby products such as vapes, cigars, cigarettes, loose tobacco, or CBD products. The store also carries a large variety of leisure products such as incense, lighters, handbags, water pipes and more. The staff is very knowledgeable about the products and encourages potential customers to visit the store to ask questions to better understand the inventory. The staff expressed gratitude towards the community for making them feel welcomed to the area. Green Leaf Tobacco & Vape are open Monday- Sunday from 9AM-9PM.

Ambassadors (Left to Right): Nina Welter, Kelsey Beschorner, DeeDee Kalny, Lana Westphalen, David Kalny, Krysta Hanson, Gene Reed, Kathie Hockenberry, Dee Hill-Borger, John Bricker, Dolly Bergmann, Shy Canfield, Graydon Schmidt, Kevin Littleton, Jeremy Butler, Anne Quist

Green Leaf Tobacco & Vape is located at 1610 E 7th Street Atlantic.

(Radio Iowa/Wisconsin Radio Network) – A felon who walked away from a Madison, Wisconsin halfway house in 1994 has been captured in Iowa.  Seventy-one-year-old George Hartleroad was convicted of rape in Chippewa County in 1983. Several weeks ago, Hartleroad was busted in West Des Moines, for not having a rear reflector on his bicycle. Police say he first gave a fake name, eventually gave his real name, and cops quickly learned he was on the run.

In body-cam footage, a police officer is heard saying, “We don’t know if Wisconsin wants you yet or not,” and Hartleroad replies, “Yeah, you will want me.” Turns out, the state of Wisconsin -does- want him. Hartleroad is now in the Dane County jail. By the way, in West Des Moines, the locals knew him as Homeless Greg.

West Des Moines Police Dept. photo

(Radio Iowa) – There’s another sign of recovery for Greenfield following the May 21st tornado. The Adair County Health System announced it will reopen parts of the hospital in Greenfield on August 12th. The hospital has been closed since the tornado and administrators say substantial repairs have been made and they will start moving out of the Nodaway Valley Elementary School that has been their base of operations since the storm.

The Emergency Room and Medical/Surgical Inpatient Services areas are still being rebuilt and will not be open. The E-M-S garage and house were destroyed by the tornado and they hope to have those rebuild by the summer or fall of 2025.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Cass-Atlantic Development Corporation (CADCO) today (Friday), issued a statement on social media, with regard to the announcement made Thursday, about the impending closure and elimination of about 60 jobs at an employer in Atlantic.

The statement said “As many of you have heard, Myers Industries will be closing their doors in December of this year. We are very disappointed to hear the news, but it was a corporate decision.[Neither] The County, City nor CADCO was approached regarding any concerns or issues. Once the building is available, CADCO will do everything in our power to market this building for either a business expansion or possibly new business to our community. The work has already begun.

Atlantic will bounce back, like we always do! “

(Radio Iowa) – The bus carrying Sioux City’s minor league baseball team caught fire early this (Friday) morning on its way to a game in a Chicago suburb. J.D. Scholten, a 44-year-old who’s been a replacement pitcher for the Sioux City Explorers since July, said the team was awakened at 3 a.m.

Photo on Facebook by J.D. Scholten (public viewable image)

“It wasn’t like a panic or anything. It was just like, ‘Hey, guys. We’ve got to get off the bus,’” Scholten said. “Then we look up and there’s all this smoke in the back and by the time we got out there was a mass of flame behind the bus and I think the firefighter told some of the guys we were within minutes of the flames coming inside the bus.”

Sioux City Explorers pitcher J.D. Scholten posted a photo of the bus fire on his Facebook page this morning.

Scholten said everyone on the bus got off safely, but some of the players’ gloves were left behind and got torched. The bus was near Earlham, just west of Des Moines, when it caught fire and Scholten said the town’s fire crews were on the scene quickly. “These are volunteer guys. They came out and took care of things very quickly,” Scholten said. “Pretty impressive.”

The Sioux City Explorers won a game in Lincoln, Nebraska last night and were about a third of the way to Geneva, Illinois, when the bus caught fire on Interstate-80. Another bus picked up the team at about 5:30 and they made it to their destination before lunch. The Explorers play the Kane County Cougars at 6:30 tonight.