(Radio Iowa) – Thirty-two years ago — on July 19th, 1989 — United Flight 232 (two-32) crashed at the Sioux City airport. The plane took off from Denver and was bound for Chicago with nearly 300 passengers when it suffered hydraulic failure. An air traffic controller told Captain Al Haynes, the pilot, to do whatever he could to avoid hitting the city.

Due to the loss of hydraulics, the pilot could only make right turns and was flying the plane manually. Emergency crews were waiting at the airport.

The plane tipped just above the ground and a wing hit the runway first. The airliner cartwheeled down the runway, broke into pieces, burst into flames and skidded to a stop in a cornfield at the edge of the airport. One-hundred-12 (112) died, while 184 people on board survived.

United Flight 232 with visible tail damage. Photo taken just before the plane landed, cartwheeled and exploded in Sioux City, in 1989.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa families will have a new option for early education this year. The nonprofit organization Waterford-dot-org is offering free preschool to 200 children in the state. The program is called Waterford Upstart and works with children and parents through online lessons. Spokeswoman Kim Fischer says the online approach is imperative, which is why the software and internet access will be made available for free.

“What we aim to do is close the gap between the children who are doing well and the children who are not,” Fischer says. “So if there are children that don’t have access to early education, those are the children that we’re looking to reach.” Although the application is open now to all families, the program will focus on children in need and those in underserved populations. Fischer says the program centers on Iowans who don’t have access to brick and mortar schools, and on those who don’t speak English fluently.

“Those are the children we want to reach,” she says. “So truly, it is about finding the children that don’t have access and giving them this access to early education.” Previous C-D-C research found Hispanic students have the lowest rates of access to in-person schools. The program will run from August through May.

(By Kassidy Arena, Iowa Public Radio)

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported after a pickup truck struck the Guthrie Center Post Office building at 500 Main Street, Saturday afternoon. Authorities say 94-year-old Theodore Keith Hansen, of Guthrie Center, was driving a 2021 Toyota pickup and pulling into a parking spot in front of the Post Office, when he stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake. The pickup accelerated out of control, hopped a curb, and hit the building near the door.

The accident, which happened at around 3:05-p.m., Saturday, caused $12,000 damage to the pickup, and an estimated $6,000 damage to the Post Office. Hansen was cited for Failure to Maintain Control.

(Radio Iowa) – The state auditor says there’s a new tool to help Iowa counties determine how much federal assistance they can use to cover pandemic-related losses in tax revenue. State Auditor Rob Sand says the National Association of Counties online calculator takes a lot of guess work out of a complicated process. “What we’re trying to do is make sure folks across the state of Iowa are aware of that,” Sand says, “because that’s going to make their work more efficient in trying to figure out how to spend American Rescue Plan dollars.”

Sand says his office has fielded questions from local officials asking for help in calculating tax revenue losses that can be linked to the pandemic. “They can head to the calculator and essentially answer a couple of questions and it will spit a number back out to you that is your allotment for lost revenue,” Sand says. Counties, as well as cities and states, must use American Revenue Plan money by 2026. Funds may be used on infrastructure projects as well. Sand says the sooner local governments come up with budgets for the pandemic relief, the sooner they can line up contractors to get the projects done on time.

The IKM-Manning School District has posted a message on social media, with regard to an upcoming bond vote. In their message, school officials said, “At its meeting Thursday night, the IKM-Manning School Board unanimously approved petition language that would call for a bond vote. If enough signatures are gathered, the vote would take place Tuesday, September 14.

“In the petition, the dollar amount was set at $19,950,000. While that number is larger than the bond vote from a year ago, the board made clear that the cost to taxpayers would remain the same. In fact, the higher bond amount is due to lower interest rates available to the school district at this time compared to last year.

“IKM-Manning,” officials say, “would benefit from the lower interest rates, allowing the district to address more of its facility needs with no increase in the taxpayer impact. Our community is simply getting more bang for its buck. Currently, a petition is circulating to gather the signatures needed to put the bond issue on the ballot. After that, the board could place the question on the ballot for September 14.

Page County Sheriff’s Deputies, Friday, arrested a man on a warrant for Unauthorized use of a credit card. Authorities say 54-year-old Thayne Alvin Kinnison, of Shenandoah, was taken into custody at his residence, and transported to the Page County Jail. His bond was set at $2,000, pending further court proceedings.

(Atlantic) – An annual fundraising event for SHIFT ATL was held Saturday evening, in Atlantic. Jessie Shiels, President of the non-profit organization, said 372 people were served a meal of steak or pork plus assorted side dishes. She says tickets for the event were sold-out a couple of months in advance. They were for $50 per ticket or $350 for a table of eight. Those who came had the option of sticking around for the “Dueling Pianos.”

She said the event seemed to go off without a hitch, and their were no complaints.

Jessie says an open house was also held for the house they had rehabbed at 608 Hazel Street, in Atlantic. That took place Sunday.

You can see pictures of the house and property on the SHIFT ATL Facebook page. So what’s next for SHIFT ATL?

The organization was founded in the late Spring of 2019. Their mission is to revitalize Atlantic through projects, services, and programs to enhance the community with development and growth.