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Atlantic Police Dept. report, 3/15/22

News

March 15th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

The Atlantic Police Department reports two separate arrests took place, Sunday:

  • 39-year-old Mike Henson, of Atlantic, was arrested for Disorderly Conduct. He was taken into custody and transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked in and held.
  • and, 23-year old Jake Olsen, of Atlantic, was arrested for Operating While Under the Influence 1st. He was taken into custody and transported to the Cass County Jail where he was booked in and held.

Exira-EHK School Board approves SRO agreement with Shelby County

News

March 15th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Elk Horn, Iowa) – The Exira-EHK School Board, Monday evening, approved renewing an agreement for a School Resource Office (SRO), paid for through a grant. Superintendent Trevor Miller…

Miller said also, the District will hold a Public Hearing on the Budget April 11th. In other business…

He said “Financially, our District’s working well and our staff’s really working hard” in this fourth-quarter of the school year. The Board approved also, salaries for Support Staff and Administration.

CAM School Board approves moving KG section to Massena

News

March 15th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Anita, Iowa) – There will be a change in location for Kindergarten students in the CAM School District, beginning with the 2022-23 School Year. Their action came during the Board’s regular monthly meeting, Monday (March 14).

That’s Superintendent Paul Croghan, who says also, there were about a half-dozen or so people who spoke about that topic and others.

He said discussions with regard to any future changes that may be necessary, are expected as the school year continues and the new school year begins.

The CAM School Board also approved contracts for the 2022-23 school year., and the proposed ’22-’23 School Calendar.

They also discussed the 22-23 Budget.

A public hearing on the Calendar and Budget will be held during the Board’s meeting next month. The school board also accepted the resignation of Art teacher Dana Kunze, half-time physical education instructor, Jennifer Weisenborn, Middle School Education instructors, Danika Kentner and Samantha Rosenbeck, and Ag Instructor, and FFA Advisory Gary Miller.

Backyard & Beyond 3-15-2022

Backyard and Beyond, Podcasts

March 15th, 2022 by Jim Field

LaVon Eblen visits with Cass County Youth Coordinator Shelby Van Horn about the 4-H Endowment Pancake Supper and Silent Auction fund raiser tonight.

Play

Annual river clean-up project in July will focus on West Fork of the Des Moines River

Ag/Outdoor, News

March 15th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Volunteer registration opens today (Tuesday) for this summer’s edition of Iowa Project AWARE, the 19th annual river cleanup event. Coordinator Nina Marquardt says this year’s effort will be on the West Fork of the Des Moines River, running July 10th through the 15th. “We’re starting up in Petersburg, Minnesota and ending a little bit south of West Bend, Iowa, so we’re going to end it in Palo Alto County,” Marquardt says, “and the route will cover 61 miles of the West Fork including the newly-designated West Fork of the Des Moines Water Trail which is really exciting.”

Project AWARE, which stands for A Watershed Awareness River Expedition, brings in volunteers from across the state to pull garbage out of the waterway, which improves water quality and increases the recreational potential while heightening community awareness.  “They’re in canoes so they’ll be paddling along and then we’ll have some people that will stay on land, mostly our staff, and they will be sorting the recyclables and the scrap metal,” Marquardt says. “We recycle about 78% of what we get out of the water.”

Volunteers of all ages can take part one day, all six days, or any amount in between. Educational programs are held nightly ranging in topics from geology, ecology and natural resources to local history and archeology. Since 2003, more than five-thousand volunteers have removed nearly 460 tons of trash from rivers around Iowa, cleaning up more than 12-hundred river miles. “Last year, there was a tractor that we used for scrap metal,” Marquardt says. “One of our longtime volunteers actually used the money from the scrap metal to restock the river with walleye for the walleye club.”

The volunteers always pull a host of items from the rivers, from tires and refrigerators to bowling pins and beer cans. Learn more and sign up to volunteer at: www.iowaprojectaware.org

Grassley says Federal Reserve is finally waking up and raising the interest rate

News

March 15th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The Federal Reserve meets this week and is expected to raise the interest rate to try to cool down inflation — and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the move is long overdue. “They’re about a year late, at least eight months late, realizing how bad inflation was going to be,” Grassley says. When the economy slows, the Federal Reserve typically lowers interest rates to spur growth. The rate has been around zero since March of 2020. All signals point to a quarter of a percent increase. “Inflation’s a very important issue to Iowa families because I hear about it all the time from Iowa families,” Grassley says, “so I’m glad that The Fed is finally waking up.”

Grassley supports not only the rate hike, but the expected move to start reducing the amount of bond debt the Federal Reserve took on as a way to spur the economy during the pandemic. “They have ballooned their balance sheet from $4 trillion prior to the pandemic to about $9 trillion and they need to back that off,” Grassley says. “I’m not saying do it dramatically, but they need to back that off in conjunction with the interest rates.”

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has been nominated for another term and Grassley says he’ll likely vote for Powell to stay on. “The alternative that they were suggesting, the person that’s going to be voted in as vice chair, would be worse,” Grassley says. “I approved of his policy until he started talking about inflation being transitory and even after it looked like it wouldn’t be transitory, they still talked about it.”

Grassley, a Republican, says there is one other Biden nominee for the Federal Reserve that he’s likely to support. It’s Lisa Cook, an economist from Michigan State University, who would be the first black woman to serve as a Federal Reserve governor.

Public hearings on 2022-23 ACSD Calendar & AHS driveway improvements

News

March 15th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Two public hearings will kick-off a meeting of the Atlantic School Board, Wednesday evening. The hearings, followed by the regular school board meeting, begin at 5:30-p.m., and will be held in the Schuler Elementary School Media Center (The meeting will be streamed live at https://youtu.be/zsV817Nvmks). The first public hearing is with regard to the 2022-23 School Calendar. The second pertains to the High School south parking lot and driveway improvements.

During the Board’s regular session that follows, they will receive a Special Presentation from the Archery Club. Later on during the meeting, the Board will act on approving an Archery Club out-of-state trip to Salt Lake City, UT, for the National Archery Tournament. At the State Tournament, the Club finished as State Champions out of 28 teams and fourth out of 21 teams in 3D archery. In addition, Coach Roland was Coach of the Year in Iowa.

In other business, the Board will act on resignations, which include: Dave Erickson, Substitute Bus Driver; Rachael Maxwell and Emily Hanson, WA Food Service; and Janet Adams, HS Food Service. They will then turn to Contract Recommendations and act on approving:

  • Rachel Tener, Internal Transfer from Special Ed to ESL Paraeducator
  • Erica Vandevort, Preschool Para
  • Kerri Denison, WA Para
  • Marti Hobson, Volunteer Coach (Boys/Girls Golf)
  • Josh Rasmussen, and Roger Warne, Vol. Coaches (Boys/Girls Track)
  • James Northwick, Vol. Tennis Coach
  • Cal Heuton, Vol. Boys Soccer Coach.

Action items include: approving the 2022-23 School Calendar; a Resolution approving the Plans, Specifications and Forms of Contract for the HS South Parking Lot, and a Resolution award the project contract to the low bidder, United Construction Services Corp, in the amount of $429,733 (paid for through the PPEL/SAVE funds).  The Atlantic School Board will also act on approving 2022-23 Contracts for: Non-Union Employee (Central Office, Technology, Directors) – a 3% salary increase amounting to $17,762 altogether; Social Workers $21,427 ($6,100 each) – a 14.91% total increase; Principals & School Business Official contracts (3% salary increase, for a total of $22,965); 2022-23 Medical Insurance Premium Increase (amounting to an estimated $35,000), and an AEA Purchasing Agreement.

The Board will act on passing resolutions: For the 2022-23 Board approved PPEL and General Fund to Activity Fund Transfer for Protective Equipment ($2,650 for helmet reconditioning, $6,110 for the purchase of new helmets/pads). For more details on the Board’s agenda, click HERE.

2022 IPSWA boys basketball all-state teams announced; Lipsey named Mr. Basketball

Sports

March 15th, 2022 by admin

DES MOINES — The Iowa Print Sports Writers Association (IPSWA) announced the 2022 boys basketball all-state teams on Tuesday. The teams were selected by print sports writers in Iowa during a meeting on Saturday, March 12.

Finishing his high school career Friday with a triple-double to lead Ames to a Class 4A state title, sports writers and coaches voted Tamin Lipsey as Mr. Basketball. The Iowa State Cyclone signee adds the honor to a resume that includes a 2019 gold medal in the FIBA Americas U16 Championship.

The 6-foot-2 senior averaged 15.7 points per game, shot 56.7% from the field, and 72.5% from the charity stripe this season for the Ames Little Cyclones. He broke the school’s record for career assists with 339.

Here’s a look at area athletes that were honored.

Class 4A

FIRST TEAM
Josh Dix, Council Bluffs Lincoln, SR

SECOND TEAM
Jamison Gruber, Council Bluffs Lincoln, SR

Class 3A

SECOND TEAM
Kaleb Booth, Carroll, SR

Class 1A

SECOND TEAM
Jaixen Frost, Mount Ayr, JR
Raydden Grobe, AHSTW, SR

THIRD TEAM
Sage Evans, West Harrison, JR

Check out the full teams HERE.

Heartbeat Today 3-15-2022

Heartbeat Today, Podcasts

March 15th, 2022 by Jim Field

Jim Field visits with Cass County Youth Coordinator Shelby Van Horn about the 4-H Endowment Pancake Supper and Silent Auction fund raiser tonight.

Play

Creston Police report, 3/15/22: Atlantic man arrested on a warrant

News

March 15th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department report a man from Cass County was arrested Monday morning on a Union County warrant. 33-year-old Steven Matthew Behlers, of Atlantic, was taken into custody at the Union County Law Enforcement Center in Creston, on a Probation Violation warrant for an original charge of Domestic Abuse Assault. Behlers was being held in the Union County Jail on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.

And, a Creston resident reported Monday afternoon, that someone had entered their unlocked storage unit and taken all of the person’s property that was being stored there. The loss was estimated at $700.