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Atlantic Volleyball is fired up for 2024 season

Sports

August 30th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

The Atlantic Trojan volleyball season is now underway, and the program has plenty of excitement to go around. The Trojans are led by first year head coach Alyssa Boltz, who has been on the Atlantic volleyball staff for over 5 years. Coach Boltz is passionate about this position and knows she has a talented pool of girls.

One of the things that impresses coach Boltz about this group is the work ethic they have shown. The girls stay disciplined in practice and carry positive attitudes the whole time.

The Trojans are also bringing back plenty of experience with senior Morgan Botos who has 87 sets under her belt and 57 kills. Senior Paytn Harter is another Atlantic volleyball player who is looking to make an impact for her team. Harter was tied for leading the team in spikes with 87 and led in kills with 175 back in 2023.

Coach Boltz noted that the team has seemed to mesh well together, and she has an abundance of leadership on her squad.

The goals for Atlantic volleyball are to build off of previous year’s success and bring the sharp results from practice onto the floor.

The Trojan’s recently lost their first match of the season 3-1 against the Winterset Huskies. But Coach Boltz still want’s fans to expect passion from every match.

Atlantic volleyball will be back in action on Saturday for the AHSTW tournament.

Posted in Sports |

Several Iowa hunting seasons open over Labor Day weekend

Ag/Outdoor, News

August 30th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa)  – Hundreds of Iowa hunters will hit the fields this holiday weekend for the start of the rabbit and squirrel seasons. Nate Carr, an Iowa D-N-R conservation officer for Hamilton and Hardin counties, says the weather should be ideal.
“Rabbit and squirrel season are going to open up this Saturday,” Carr says. “The two things you’re going to need for that is pretty basic, your typical hunting license, and habitat fee are what’s required for those. For rabbit, shooting hours are sunrise to sunset, you can take up to 10 per day, and then for squirrel, your daily bag limit is six.”

Iowa’s rabbit season runs through February 28th, while the squirrel season will end on January 25th. Carr says this Sunday will also kick off the hunting season for mourning doves.”That’ll run from September 1st all the way through November 29th. Your daily limit for doves is going to be 15 birds,” Carr says. “Just like rabbit and squirrel, make sure you have your hunting license and habitat fee, but also, like any migratory bird, you’re going to need to be registered through HIP or have your HIP registration.”

HIP is the Harvest Information Program, for which you can sign up at IowaDNR-dot-gov. Sunday also marks the start of the teal hunting season, which runs through September 16th.

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

Nishna Valley Family YMCA hosts Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors

News

August 30th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

The Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors were hosted by Nishna Valley Family YMCA on Friday, August 30th, 2024, for an Open House featuring new equipment and pool improvements.
Dan Haynes, Executive Director, shared the YMCA pool recently underwent over $700,000 worth of updates, including repainting the pool, installing a new pump, motor, valves, and sanitization system. Dan shared that the construction took longer than expected, but the pool is back up and running, and they are celebrating with an Open House.
Allison Knox-Westmeyer gave the Ambassadors a tour of the brand-new cardio equipment located on the second floor of the YMCA. Allision shared the state-of-the-art cardio equipment features Bluetooth capabilities, chrome casting, wireless charging for your devices and more. Dan thanked the NISHNANET team for their dedication to getting the technology on the new machines up and running.

Pictured Left to Right: Allison Knox-Westmeyer, Kelsey Beschorner, Chris Parks, Derrick Sears, Scott Bennett, Dolly Bergmann, Anne Quist, Ruth Sear, DeeDee Kalny, Danielle Lyons, Kyle Lenderman, Emily Kennedy, Dee Sothman, Dr. Keith Leonard, Megan Burg, Dianna Williams, Jeremy Butler, Tom Williams, Gabby Wahlert, Lana Westphalen, Bill Saluk, Jeff Christensen, Heidi Johnson, Christina Bateman, Ray McCalla, Meghan Wedemeyer, Dan Haynes, Phil Hascall, Kelly Boucher

The Nishna Valley Family YMCA is currently offering membership specials in celebration of their Open House. The YMCA offers numerous fitness classes, personal training, adult and youth programs as well as an aquatics center great for all ages.
Nishna Valley Family YMCA is located at 1100 Maple Street, Atlantic.
For more information about membership or programming, contact 712-243-3934 or visit www.nishnavalleyymca.com.

Posted in News |

Glenwood Police report, 8/30/24

News

August 30th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports the arrest today (Friday), of 41-year-old Ralph Cleveland, from Council Bluffs. Cleveland was arrested on an Omaha, NE, warrant. He was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

Posted in News |

IOWA STATE WOMEN COMMAND CYCLONE PREVIEW

Sports

August 30th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State women’s cross country team swept the top-six individual finishes enroute to a team title at the second annual Cyclone Preview. Maelle Porcher was the individual champion to lead the Cyclone effort.

“The athletes ran great, we had really nice stuff happen for both the men and women,” said director of track and field/cross country Jeremy Sudbury. “On the women’s side, we ended up running the whole roster. Coach (Cale) Wallace wanted to see where everybody was at and obviously get a chance to evaluate how training has been going. They’ve been training pretty hard this week and maybe doing some things they’ve never done before, so just getting that validation of ‘we’re tired but we can still run well’ was good.”

Despite losing three of its top four finishers from the 2023 NCAA Championships squad, four upperclassmen stepped up to lead Iowa State to the team title in its 2024 season opener. Porcher took the individual title in 16:58.8 while seniors Bella Heikes (second) and Taylor Briggs (fourth) as well as junior Riley Beach (third) followed. Freshman Josie Baker opened her rookie campaign with a solid fifth-place individual finish in 17:13.6 while Sydney Morrell ran for sixth in 17:14.1 to open her sophomore season.

Freshmen Claire White and Becca Heitzig rounded out Iowa State’s top-10 individual finishers, placing eighth and ninth, respectively.

“Even though we ran controlled today, it still shows us a little bit of where we’re at,” said associate head coach Cale Wallace. “Obviously (the Nuttycombe Invitational) is a 6K race versus the 5K race we ran today, so we’re preparing for that and continuing to get better running on the grass.”

Up Next

Iowa State travels to Madison, Wisconsin on September 27th to participate in the Nuttycombe Invitational. The women’s “B” race will begin at 11 a.m. CT with the “A” race set to start at 12:20 p.m.

Team Results

1. Iowa State, 15; 2. UNI, 56; 3. Drake, 71

Individual Results

1. Maelle Porcher, Iowa State, 16:58.8; 2. Bella Heikes, Iowa State, 17:02.4; 3. Riley Beach, Iowa State, 17:08.7; 4. Taylor Briggs, Iowa State, 17:12.5; 5. Josie Baker, Iowa State, 17:13.6; 6. Sydney Morrell, Iowa State, 17:14.1; 8. Claire White, Iowa State, 17:18.6; 9. Becca Heitzig, Iowa State, 17:22.0; 11. Keelee Leitzen, Iowa State, 17:34.0; 14. Makayla Clark, Iowa State, 17:37.6; 15. Mya Trober, Iowa State, 17:40.4; 16. Aspen Fulbright, Iowa State, 17:41.9; 20. Ashlyn Keeney, Iowa State, 17:47.2; 23. Camryn Sattler, Iowa State, 17:58.5; 28. Ruby Hughes, Iowa State, 18:15.6

 

Posted in Sports |

A.G. Bird drafting amendment that would reverse court’s child testimony ruling

News

August 30th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is working on a constitutional amendment that would make clear children do not have to testify in person — in a courtroom — against their alleged abuser. In June, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a man who argued it was unconstitutional for two children to testify against him via a live video link that was shown in the courtroom. “Iowa is the only state that has found that and so I am working in my office to draft a constitutional amendment to solve this problem,” Bird says, “because we have to protect children.”

Four Iowa Supreme Court justices joined the majority opinion that says remote testimony from children in abuse cases violates a defendant’s right to confront their accuser in court. Bird says while she respects the opinion as an officer of the court, the attorney general’s office argued the confrontation clause in the constitution does not require an in-court appearance by a child abuse victim. “They’re kids. It would be hard for them to testify in court about something good that had happened,” Bird says, “much less something really bad and awful that has happened.” Bird, a former county attorney, prosecuted cases involving child sex abuse victims. “I would advise child victims and also adult victims of crime that they did not have to look at the defendant. They are there as a witness,” Bird says, “…but these kids and other victims are often really scared to be there.”

The process of proposing amendments to Iowa’s constitution is long and 2027 is the earliest an amendment on this topic could be presented to voters for ratification. The Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling requiring in-the-courtroom testimony from children is likely to spark appeals from adults who’ve been convicted of child abuse or assault. An Illinois LAW passed in 2023 gives Illinois judges the discretion to let children under 13 testify outside the courtroom when warranted. Last year Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled prosecutors may use outside-the-courtroom testimony from older children.

Posted in News |

Iowa hosts Illinois State

Sports

August 30th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Iowa will be without head coach Kirk Ferentz on Saturday when the Hawkeyes host Illinois State. Ferentz is serving a one game suspension for a recruiting violation and assistant head coach Seth Wallace will have the final call on the sideline.

Ferentz wants to see the new offense under coordinator Tim Lester play a sound game.

The Hawkeyes are a three touchdown favorite but Ferentz says upsets happen every week.

Pre-game coverage on KJAN begins at 9-a.m., Saturday, with kick-off at 11-a.m.

Posted in Sports |

Iowa State hosts North Dakota

Sports

August 30th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Iowa State opens at home against North Dakota. Cyclone Coach Matt Campbell says a key in every opener is to be sound on both sides of the ball.

Campbell says the opener always has a lot of question marks.

Campbell says season openers are unique.

Posted in Sports |

Northern Iowa hosts Valparaiso Saturday

Sports

August 30th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

Northern Iowa opens in the UNI-Dome against Valparaiso. The Panthers were 6-5 a year ago. Out of the Pioneer Football League Valpo was 3-8 last season.

That’s UNI coach Mark Farley who is not sure what to expect from Valpo.

It is the first time the Panthers have opened at home since 2010.

Posted in Sports |

Winning bidder on state Medicaid contract wants its full bid kept secret

News

August 30th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Des Moines, IA) – A company that won a state contract to provide managed-care services in Iowa is seeking a court injunction blocking the state’s disclosure of certain information in its bid. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports OptumRx of Minnesota is asking a Polk County judge to declare that information the company provided the state in response to a solicitation for bids by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services is a trade secret and should be kept confidential. The bid submitted by OptumRx earlier this year was to provide managed-care oversight and administrative services related to pharmacy benefits for Iowa Medicaid beneficiaries.

DHHS’ solicitation for bids on the work specified that information submitted by a bidder might be treated as public information by the DHHS once the winning bidder was selected, unless the entity that submitted the bid requested that it be treated as confidential. On July 20, OptumRx submitted its bid in two forms: a complete, unredacted version and a version that was redacted to omit information the company considered confidential or proprietary. On Aug. 16, DHHS awarded the contract to OptumRx. Three days later, DHHS sent the company a notice that the state agency had received a request for a complete copy of OptumRx’s bid.

The department told OptumRx it would have 72 hours, beginning on Aug. 20, to seek injunctive relief blocking disclosure. The department also indicated the company’s unredacted bid was being sought by MedImpact, a Michigan-based company that had submitted a competing bid on the project. OptumRx alleges that the information sought by MedImpact would give that company an advantage over its competitors and that disclosure will serve no public purpose. In court filings, OptumRx says the information it seeks to keep confidential “includes things such as employee and client management information, customer information and references, performance analytics, a description of its processes and metrics used to perform the requested services, project management and work turnover plans.”

The company alleges that “MedImpact regularly bids against OptumRx for similar Medicaid contracts,” and that MedImpact would “benefit from having such information for their competing bids in other states.” OptumRx is seeking a court order temporarily and permanently enjoining DHHS from releasing the unredacted copy of its bid.

DHHS and Medimpact have yet to file a response to the court petition. A hearing on the matter has not yet been scheduled.

Posted in News |