Atlantic, IA, April 20, 2022 – TS Bank recently donated $3,000 to SHIFT ATL, a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Atlantic, Iowa, as part of its newest initiative of launching community murals as economic development tools. Locally, community murals and other art initiatives encourage a sense of excitement among community members and promote reinvestment in downtown areas.

Established in July 2019, SHIFT ATL has a mission to revitalize Atlantic through projects, services and programs that will enhance the community and foster a sense of social and economic development and growth. Since its inception, TS Bank has donated over $7,000 to SHIFT ATL walking alongside the organization while supporting their various development initiatives.

“Having access to guidance and support from an institution that really understands nonprofits has been immensely beneficial to our organization,” said board member, Alexsis Fleener. “Working through our various financial needs, while having someone available to ask questions of, allows us to know we are being the best stewards of the donations we’re receiving, and in return, our community.”

SHIFT ATL has recently completed an extensive interior renovation of The Telegraph building at 14 E. 4^th Street in Atlantic, creating a fully functioning two-bedroom, one-bathroom Airbnb on the upper story and a commercial space on the lower level. Currently the lower level is utilized as a pop-up space for businesses to explore their ideas while they look for a full-time commercial resident. This spring and summer SHIFT ATL is finishing the exterior tuck-pointing, skim coating, patio installation, stonework and adding a new awning to the building.

Most recently, SHIFT ATL is working with Liz Lidgett Gallery + Design out of Des Moines, IA, to commission the community mural piece at The Telegraph building. They had nine artists respond to their mural request for proposal in late 2021.  Due to overwhelming community and artists’ response, the organization decided to commission two murals for The Telegraph building that will serve as artistic representations of what Atlantic embodies where the community is headed.

“As soon as we bought The Telegraph building, we knew it would be the perfect project to include some type of art and quality-of-place creative piece,” said SHIFT ATL board member, Jessie Shiels. “The concept of an ‘Instagram-worthy’ mural in our community generated a lot of excitement, and now that we’re able to put up two of these murals in Atlantic is a major bonus.”

The patio space and murals are slated to be completed and unveiled before SHIFT ATL’s summer fundraiser, Summer Soiree, on Saturday, July 16. Shiels added, “To be able to see Atlantic visualized into a piece of art is a really cool experience, and we cannot wait to share this with the Atlantic community members and our visitors.”

Additionally, this Saturday SHIFT ATL is hosting a pop up shop from 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. To learn more about SHIFT ATL, visit shiftatl.org or at facebook.com/shiftatl.

(Radio Iowa) – Home sales in Iowa held steady last month, while national data shows there was a decline of two-point-seven percent in sales of existing U.S. homes. Robin Anderson is the chief economist for the State of Iowa. “So in some ways we’re maybe doing a little bit better in terms of sales.” But Anderson says the lack of supply is a big constraint on the housing market. “Very low inventories and those are pretty comparable nationally and in Iowa,” Anderson says. According to the Iowa Association of Realtors, there were nearly 14-and-a-half percent fewer Iowa homes for sale in March compared to the same month last year. The median price for an Iowa home sold last month was over 203-thousand dollars. That compares to 180-thousand in March of last year.

“Home prices are up and they’re up pretty dramatically,” Anderson says, “but there are other pockets of the nation that have very high home prices,” Anderson points to hot spots like Austin, Texas, where appraisals are up 56 percent since last year. The Iowa Association of Realtors reports Iowa homes are selling 20 percent faster this spring, averaging about 43 days on the market. Anderson says the rate on a 30-year mortgage is about five percent now and as rates rise, that may lead to a decline in home sales. “But I do think the really constraining supply is going to basically constrain how far home prices go down,” Anderson says. “I would not expect a sharp downturn in prices because we really don’t have a lot of supply on the market.”

About 85-hundred single family homes were sold in Iowa during the first three months of this year. That’s a nearly three-and-a-half percent decline from the first quarter of 2021, partially driven by the historically low number of home listings in January. Iowa home sales in the month of March alone were up just under one percent compared to March of last year.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund has donated $500 to the Kiwanis bike helmet project.  Fund spokesperson Melanie Petty said “We have teamed up with the Kiwanis on this project for years because it holds a special place in our hearts”. Trevor was one of the first recipients of a bike helmet when they started this program.  Petty says “What an amazing gift they have provided 3rd graders over the years!”

All of the money raised during the fund’s annual TFred Golf Tournament, are returned back to the community that Trevor loved for the things that were important to him.  This year’s 14th Annual TFred Memorial Golf Tournament is just two short months away.  It will be held Saturday, June 18th at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club.

The Frederickson Fund’s Grant Petty and Deb Schuler w/the Kiwanis.

Although the tournament is full, Petty says they are still taking donations for our silent auction.  Food will be served throughout the day so stop by to bid on the large array of auction items, have some lunch.

The Glenwood Police Department reports 23-year-old Jordan Salmons, of Glenwood, was arrested Tuesday. Salmons was arrested on a Mills County warrant for numerous charges. He was being held in the Mills County Jail without bond until seen by a magistrate judge.

(Radio Iowa) – A Dubuque veterinarian is waiting for her sentencing after pleading guilty to writing fake prescriptions to obtain drugs at local pharmacies. Forty-two-year-old Kristi Schreiber admitted to writing prescriptions for fake dogs to obtain Tramadol. It is a medication that veterinarians commonly prescribe to manage pain in dogs, and it is one of the few human painkillers that is safe to administer to dogs.

Court information says Schreiber first said the prescriptions were for animals of friends — but later admitted she took all the Tramadol herself. The investigation revealed she wrote 266 prescriptions for animals in a two-year period and 186 were for Tramadol.

(Radio Iowa) – The state has received its annual tobacco settlement payment. The state is getting around 53 million dollars as part of the 1998 settlement with tobacco companies. Around 12 million dollars of that payment will go into the state’s account. The state sold bonds as a sort of loan against the settlement — and the rest of the money will go to pay off bondholders. The Attorney General says the state has received one-point-four BILLION dollars since the settlement was reached. The A-G says national smoking rates have been cut roughly in half since the settlement was reached and the money was put toward efforts to help people stop smoking.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors, this (Wednesday) morning, met during a regular weekly session, and approved various administrative matters, including the receipt of two Manure Management Plans (MMP’s) from Prestige Farms and another producer. The Board heard from Adair County Weed Commissioner Nathan Jensen, with regard to the publishing Commissioner’s Official Notice about noxious weed control. The Board approved publishing of the notice as written.

Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman presented his report, which included Right-Of-Way contracts for Board Chair Matt Wedemeyer to sign with regard to the N5 Richland Road bridge project. He also reported on Secondary Roads Dept. maintenance and activities, that includes the last deliveries of road salt. He said also the Orient and Nichols concrete box culvert projects are done, with just some back-filling to take place. The Orient road should be open later this week.

The Orient Box Culvert project as it appeared 4-14-22 (Adair County Engineer’s Facebook page)

Kauffman said he has 14 bridges to inspect in the County next month. Kauffman also submitted a budget amendment in the amount of $310,000, for several reasons, including the increasing costs of road rock, mechanical issues with various pieces of county equipment that needed to be repaired, and an increase in other expenditures.

The Board’s final order of business was a Public Hearing on vacating a portion of 140th Street in Adair County, located about 3.5-miles south/southwest of Stuart and about a mile west of the Stuart Road (P-28). Kauffman explained to a concerned couple who lived in the area, where exactly the vacated portion was located.

The couple, Bev and John Johnson, wanted to make sure the primary access to their driveway wasn’t being obstructed. Since they come in off of Sheldon Avenue further to the west, they had no issue with the plan to vacate, which was approved by the Adair County Board of Supervisors.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest at around 6:10-a.m. Tuesday, of 27-year-old Darisha Cheryl Ann Meudt, of Columbia, MO. She was arrested at the Sheriff’s Office on a warrant for Failure to Appear on a Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree charge. Her bond was set at $300. And, at around 5:34-a.m. Sunday, 21-year-old Kylar Stephan Brink-Hubert, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for OWI/1st offense following a traffic stop on 190th Street, in Mills County. Bond was set at $1,000.

Sheriff’s officials said also there have been two separate accidents so far this week:

• A 2007 Pontiac driven by 68-year-old Willard Dale Cook was traveling southwest on Levi Road at around 8:25-a.m. Monday, when, for reasons unknown, the vehicle went off the traveled portion of the road as it was negotiating a curve. The car went airborne and rolled off of an embankment before coming to rest at the lower level of the hill. Cook was transported by Glenwood Rescue to the hospital, for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The vehicle was a total loss.
• And, at around 11:37-a.m. Tuesday, a 2014 Nissan driven by 56-year-old David Brown, of Omaha, was traveling south on 221st Street near Barrus Road in Mills County, when a deer ran out of a ditch and onto the road. The vehicle struck the deer and then rolled onto its top into the ditch.