(Radio Iowa) – Diamond Vogel paint broke ground for their new Innovation Center Wednesday in Orange City. The 36-thousand square-foot facility will house Research & Development personnel and provide additional office space. Current Diamond Vogel C-E-O and President, Jeff Powell, says he sees the company’s future in the 15 million dollar investment. “We look at an Innovation Center and say ‘boy that’s not cheap.’ And then we say to ourselves, ‘what is that return on investment going to be?’, and it’s hard to put a number on it,” Powell says. “But what we know is if we don’t have new products and new technologies to meet our customers’ needs, we are not going to be in existence.”

Company chairman, Drew Vogel, says after an expansion several years ago that spread them out over the campus, the Innovation Center will bring them back together for greater collaboration. “Even though we have a lot of different product lines using a lot of different technology — if they can rub shoulders with one another and it can be done in a convenient way in the course of doing business every day — they are just able to exchange a lot of ideas and stimulate new thought for new products,” Vogel says.

Vogel’s grandfather emigrated from Holland and sold the first gallon of paint in Orange City 95 years ago. He says the company is always challenged to stay on the edge of new technology, especially with the need to be environmentally safe. )”To get products that really do the job and do it in a way in a way that cares for the environment is a challenge, and our chemists are up to it,” according to Vogel. “It takes a lot of work — but they’ve really made a lot of good progress.”

The new Innovation Center is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

(Audubon and Cass Counties) – Cass/Atlantic Development Corporation (CADCO) Executive Jennifer McEntaffer reports the Valley Business Park board has made the decision to sell the property in the area of Highway 71 and Interstate 80, along the Cass-Audubon County line. Both counties had been working to try and develop the business park, which contains 156 acres of property.

Valley Business Park aerial outline (Via Atlanticiowa.com/cadco)

Iowa Land Co will handle the auction, and will send out information pertaining to the sale of the property at a later date.

McEntaffer says Valley Business Park board members agree that this is the time to sell the property as both counties have a lot of economic development opportunities that the sale of this property can help facilitate.

(Radio Iowa) – Cedar Rapids police say a 17-year-old is charged with two counts of first-degree murder after they found him outside a northeast side home covered in blood and he told them he’d killed his parents. Police say Ethan Orton used a knife and ax to kill his parents, 42-year-old Casey Orton and 41-year-old Misty Slade.

The criminal complaint says Ethan Orton told officers he killed his parents to “take charge of his life”.

(Manning, Iowa) – Trevor Miller, superintendent of the IKM-Manning Community School District, was a nominee for the 2021-22 Iowa Superintendent of the Year award sponsored by the School Administrators of Iowa. Roark Horn, the association’s executive director, says “SAI is pleased to recognize school system leaders who are dedicated to creating meaningful change for the students they serve and their communities.”

IKM-Manning has recently partnered with Puck Inc. and Des Moines Area Community College to offer students a career-ready opportunity in welding. The district is looking to expand career and Future Ready opportunities for students to prepare them to be successful after high school. The IKM-Manning district has also been awarded multiple STEM BEST grants and has a student-run business that has continued to expand. Exira-EHK continues to offer opportunities through area community colleges looking at partnering with other districts for a Career Academy.

Trevor Miller says “Both the IKM-Manning and Exira-EHK staffs are amazing and work extremely hard to provide the best education possible for our students. The dedication they have shown over the past few years is second-to-none and should be acknowledged.”

Miller received his undergraduate degree from Buena Vista University and a master’s degree along with a Superintendent Certificate from Iowa State University. He has been a business/computer teacher, an elementary principal, secondary principal, school business official, and currently shared superintendent between Exira-EHK and IKM-Manning for the past five years.

Nominated for the award by his peers, Miller will be recognized by the association, along with Cedar Rapids Superintendent Noreen Bush who was recently selected as the recipient.

SAI, a statewide organization founded in 1987, represents more than 1,900 Iowa educational administrators. SAI’s mission is to support, encourage and develop Iowa’s educational leaders and learners.

(Radio Iowa) – Ames police have charged two people in the April death of a toddler. Police and medical units were called to a residence on April 24th and found an injured toddler who was flown to Des Moines for treatment. The child died the next day. Police say the results of an autopsy and their investigation led to the arrest of 26-year-old Danielle Olbrecht of Ames for child endangerment causing death.

Twenty-five-year-old Trevin Nicholson was arrested in Centennial, Colorado on charges of first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death. Nicholson is awaiting extradition back to Iowa.

(Shenandoah, Iowa) – One person was transported to the hospital in Shenandoah with undisclosed injuries, following a single-vehicle accident, early Tuesday morning. According to the Page County Sheriff’s Office, authorities were notified at around 7:41-a.m. Tuesday, about an accident that had taken place in the 1200 block of Highway 2, about one-mile east of Shenandoah.

An investigation determined 29-year-old Andrew James Gerheart Rolf, of rural Northboro, was driving a 1999 Buick LeSabre and traveling eastbound on Highway 2 at around 1:30AM, when, according to Rolf, he swerved to miss a deer. His car crossed the westbound lane and went into the north ditch. The Buick continued east in the ditch along some trees for about 30 yards before it’s front passenger side struck a large tree. The vehicle then spun counterclockwise around a the tree in the ditch, before coming to rest next to the tree.

Rolf told Deputies hat he must have lost consciousness at that point. The crash was noticed by a passing motorist about six-hours later. Rolf’s vehicle was located in the ditch so that it was not easily seen until daylight. The impact with the tree, caused damage to the vehicle so that the doors would not open and lights on the vehicle were not functioning.

No citations were issued.The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by the Shenandoah Fire Department, the Shenandoah Ambulance Service, and the Page County Emergency Management.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 5:30-a.m. Thursday (today) about a mile west of Clarinda, resulted in the arrest of a man from Nebraska. Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports deputies stopped a vehicle on Highway 2, near the intersection P Avenue, for a traffic violation. During the traffic stop, Gharett Alexander Spohr, of Omaha, was arrested for Possession of a controlled substance (Marijuana) and Possession of drug paraphernalia.

Spohr was transported to the Page County Jail on $1300.00 bond. He later posted bond and was released from custody pending future court appearances.

Spohr