The City of Atlantic’s Yard Waste site is once again open. It was closed Wednesday due to high winds and low humidity that could have increased the risk of a large fire. The yard waste site will remain open during normal hours of operations, as long as the winds don’t create a repeat of the problem experienced Wednesday. Officials remind users also, the City’s Yard Waste Site is for Atlantic residents only. “Please be respectful of that,” they said, “So that it does not get overloaded.”

Atlantic Community School District Food Service Director Natalie Ritter, Wednesday, provided the school board an update with the latest developments in her department from the past few months, including a change in the free breakfast and lunch program for all district students, that began Sept. 21^st.

Atlantic CSD Food Service Director Natalie Ritter

The waiver application was approved the first week of this month. Ritter says since they’ve received approval to serve free breakfasts and lunches through the remainder of the current school year, they’ve seen an increase in the number of those students who participate, to around 75 on average. The waiver helps those who struggle to pay their lunch account balances and who are on the brink of receiving reduced lunches.

The only thing that has changed with the free breakfast and lunches is the billing at the end of the month and the paperwork the kitchen managers must do at the end of the day.

Ritter said the District’s Food Service Department is helping remote learners and quarantined kids, by providing “Grab n’ Go” meals that can be picked up Monday’s, from 3:15-to 3:30-p.m. The packages are enough for five days of meals – both breakfast and lunch.

Some of the meals have to be heated-up in the microwave or oven, prior to eating. Natalie says when parents request to be on the Grab n’ Go list, she sends out a Google.doc form for them to fill out. There are a total of 35 kids utilizing the opportunity, with emails coming in every day, she said, wanting to be added. She said also, the school’s “Farm to School Garden” has served local produce in the high school, middle school, Schuler and Washington Schools from August until the first part of October. That includes tomatoes, peppers and onions.

She said Junior Brian York was selected to be in charge of the garden and possibly turn it into a business. Natalie said Brian has done an amazing job taking care of the planting, harvesting and shipping to the food service departments. She hopes they can have more fresh produce options coming from the garden next year.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports 26-year old Lucas Evan Neitzel, of Creston, was arrested Monday night, after he was seen being unable to stay in his lane and following a traffic stop on Highway 34 at the Adams-Union County line. Neitzel was charged with OWI/1st offense, and cited for Operating a Non-Registered Vehicle. He was issued a warning for having no proof of insurance. Bond was set at $1,000.

The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, heard a presentation with regard to Child Care in the community and in Cass County. The meeting was held electronically, due to COVID restrictions. During the Council’s session, Cass-Atlantic-Development Corporation (CADCO) Executive Director Jennifer McEntaffer mentioned the City of Atlantic recently lost 100 child care spots. The lack of child care, she said, becomes an economic development issue with a parent or parents not being able to go to work.

Shirley Urich, Community Development Specialist with Child Care Resources and Referral of Southwest Iowa, said Atlantic recently lost one child care center and two in-home providers. In an effort to increase the number of qualified child care providers, CCR&R is hosting a series of “Child Care Ready ” programs, which helps child care centers and home care providers become staffed so they can serve more children.

Through the online recruitment events, they hopes to recruit, retain, train and support quality childcare and early education providers. McEntaffer said said CCR&R have partnered with the Iowa Women’s Foundation to provide a small $250 incentive grant to each participant who completes the series.

Funding will be primarily used to pay for costs associated with the start-up of becoming a childcare home provider opening a Child Development Home business.

Atlantic Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bailey Smith said some of the costs those business incur include mandatory CPR lessons, fire extinguishers and more. Smith said they would like to have at least $1,000 available as an incentive per start-up.

While this approach she said is a “band-aid” on the issue of insufficient child care, right now they mainly want to cover kids who are without a child care provider. In the long term, more providers will be needed in order to draw businesses and employees to town. Councilperson Grace Garrett asked what if there was any oversight on how the money is used.

(She said the prospective child care provider would not receive grant funds until their application is approved by the DHS.)

CADCO will serve as the flow-through organization for the funds.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Officials with the Creston Police Department report 24-year-old Tristan Lehman, of Creston, was arrested Wednesday night. Lehman was taken into custody following a traffic stop, and charged with OWI/1st offense. He was later released from the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DES MOINES – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Wednesday, signed a new Public Health Disaster proclamation that modifies existing public health measures to provide clarity and simplify the measures applicable to recreational activities and fitness centers.  

Except for high school, collegiate, or professional sporting or recreational gatherings, the proclamation only permits sporting and recreational activities when all participants in the gathering—including athletes, coaches, or instructors—maintain six feet of physical distance at all times.  Activities where closer contact is required or reasonably unavoidable, such as a wrestling meet or basketball game, are prohibited. Spectators are also limited at all gatherings to two per athlete and must be social distanced six feet apart. And all participants, except for athletes, must wear masks. These requirements also apply to group classes or activities at fitness centers and gyms.  

The proclamation does not change any measures in place for high school-sponsored, collegiate, or professional sporting or recreational activities. High school sports and extracurricular activities continue to be permitted, even where close contact may occur. But spectators at games or events are limited to two per student and are required to wear a mask. 

The proclamation was effective immediately and continues to expire on December 10, 2020.  The full proclamation is online its entirety.

(Radio Iowa) – The board that governs the three state universities will keep its tuition freeze in place for the spring semester. Board of Regents president Michael Richards made the announcement during the board’s virtual meeting yesterday (Wednesday). “In June, the board voted to keep tuition and mandatory fees flat for the fall 2020 semester for all students,” Richards said. “…The board will not be increasing tuition or mandatory fees for the rest of the academic year.”

Richards says the year-long pause in tuition hikes is the right thing to do in the midst of a pandemic, but he says the board intends to resume its five-year plan of gradual tuition increases, starting in the fall of 2021. The presidents of Iowa, Iowa State and the University of Northern Iowa says they are facing financial and demographic headwinds that make tuition increases in the next few years critical. University of Iowa president Bruce Harreld, who is retiring this summer, says he strongly believes raising tuition next fall is the right thing to do.

“Tuition has to go up,” he says, “or the quality is going to go down.” Iowa State University president Wendy Winterstein says her institution is dealing with a 150-million dollar hit from the pandemic. “We made it through…those early months of Covid-19 with our general operating budget relatively intact,” she said, “but we’re facing some extremely challenging financial times right now.”

University of Northern Iowa president Mark Nook says the universities need to prepare for the number of high school graduates to drop dramatically in five to six years — as birth rates dipped during the 2008 recession.