DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Navy says it has commissioned the USS Sioux City into service.
The Navy said in a news release that the combat ship was placed into active service on Saturday at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

It’s the nation’s sixth littoral combat Ship. The vessel has an aluminum skin, high-tech computer capabilities and can reach a speed of 40 knots.

USS Sioux City

The Navy says the ship’s name was chosen to honor the residents of Sioux City, Iowa. Plans for the USS Sioux City were announced in 2012. It was built at a shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin.

The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Board of Directors will hold their regular monthly meeting 5:15-p.m. Monday, in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall. On their agenda are updates from Parks and Rec Director Seth Staashelm, with regard to the Schildberg Recreation Area Development Project, and a water quality project update at Nishna Park.

Staashelm will also discuss with the Board a proposal pertaining to Board member terms. And, in his Director’s report, Seth is expected to discuss the status of the Ice Rink, the closing of the Schildberg campground on Nov. 26th, and he’ll make a public announcement that park restrooms are closed for the season, but the parks themselves remain open for the winter.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:45 a.m. CST

GUTHRIE CENTER, Iowa (AP) — Preliminary autopsy results show four people who died in a small plane crash in central Iowa earlier this month were suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Television station KCCI reports that the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office report said all the victims died from “multiple blunt force injuries in the setting of carbon monoxide toxicity.” The crash happened the night of Nov. 9 after plane passengers reported the pilot had had an apparent heart attack.

OSCEOLA, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa State Patrol says a pregnant woman and her 2-year-old stepson have died in a crash in south-central Iowa. Television station KCRG reports that the crash happened Friday evening in Clarke County, about 9 miles south of Osceola. The patrol says 22-year-old Bethannie Kennedy, of Osceola, was driving south on U.S. 69 when she lost control, went sideways and was broadsided by a northbound pickup truck. Kennedy and 2-year-old Michael Dohrn Jr. died from injuries received in the crash.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former northeastern Iowa high school teacher arrested in April for being drunk at work has had his teaching license suspended. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported Friday that Daniel Reisner’s license was suspended for two years by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners. He must complete at least 15 in-person class hours of an ethics course before his license is reinstated. He also received a written reprimand.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is giving up the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress. Instead, he will chair the Senate Finance Committee. That means Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina will take over the chairmanship of the Judiciary panel. Graham has become a close Trump ally and was a vocal supporter of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Roads partially covered with snow from about Highway 44 southwestward to Highway 92 were causing numerous accidents Saturday evening. Dispatch reports continue to indicate vehicle were sliding off the road along Interstate 80 as the evening progressed. Just before 7-p.m., a moderate traffic jam was reported on I-80 in Cass County, from just west of the Olive Street Exit to Highway 173.

Road conditions as of 7:16-p.m. 11/17/18 (511ia.org)

Bridges and overpasses were said to be icy in spots. So far, there have been no reports of injuries.

Further south, from the Highway 34 corridor to the Iowa-Missouri line, roads were completed covered with snow. Blowing snow was also an issue. For more on current road conditions, go to 511ia.org on the web, or call 511.

(Radio Iowa) — Democrats who’ll be serving in the Iowa House next year met Saturday and elected State Representative Todd Prichard of Charles City as their new leader. “The message was unity,” Prichard said. “Let’s work together as a team. Move the state forward. We’re looking to work with Republicans when we can, in ways that we can. We’re looking to stand on principle when we disagree.”

Prichard was re-elected to a fourth term in the Iowa House this month. He’s replacing Mark Smith of Marshalltown as House Minority Leader. Smith did not seek reelection AS A LEADER after Democrats picked up suburban seats in the Des Moines area that were held by Republicans, but failed to win enough races to regain majority control of the Iowa House. Republicans have held a majority of seats in the Iowa House since 2011.

Prichard rejects the idea he’s been elected to help Democrats rebuild the party in rural Iowa. “This isn’t an urban-rural job. This is an all-Iowa job, so we’re looking to connect with people wherever they are,” Prichard told reporters Saturday afternoon. Prichard put 40-thousand miles on his car traveling the state before abandoning his campaign for governor in the fall of 2017 and seeking reelection to the House instead.

Prichard says he’ll ask his fellow House Democrats to travel the state, too. “I’ve got to have a collaborative effort from a team of Democrats and I think when we engage all of our resources of people, people will be impressed with what the Democrats offer and what we stand for,” Pricahrd says. Prichard, who is an attorney, is also a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, with tours of duty in Kuwait, Iraq and Egypt. Prichard is among four men and two woman who were elected to leadership roles for Democrats in the Iowa House next year.

Police in Red Oak, Saturday, arrested a man wanted on a felony warrant. 24-year old Bubba Dwain Mitchell, of Emerson, was taken into custody just before 1-p.m. in the 800 block of Senate Avenue, on a valid Red Oak Police Dept. warrant for Eluding and Child Endangerment. The charges stem from an investigation into a police pursuit that took place Nov. 4th. Mitchell was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $15,000 cash bond.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley learned this week he’ll become the Senate President Pro Tempore in January. It means he’ll be third in line to the presidency, behind the vice president and the speaker of the U.S. House. Grassley says it also means he’ll need to get used to having security detail around the clock. “It’s people I’d just as soon not have around me, but when you’ve got a constitutional responsibility and you’re in line to be a successor to the President of the United States, the law requires in some cases the security service, but more often the capitol police give you security,” Grassley said.

If elected to the position after the new Congress is sworn in, Grassley will become just the second Iowan to serve as President Pro Tem in the Senate. Albert Cummins was the 18th Governor of Iowa before serving in the U.S. Senate, where he was President Pro Tem between 1919 and 1925. The current President Pro Tempore of the Senate is Utah Republican Orrin Hatch. He plans to retire on January 3. “If you would look at the number of people in the last 100 years who have been President Pro Tem of the Senate, most of them have been the oldest member of the senate. In recent years, 80 or even 90-years-0ld when Strom Thurmond was President Pro Tem,” Grassley said. “I think that would apply to (Robert) Byrd when he was President Pro Tem and died here about 10 years ago. I think he was 92 at that time. So, I’m 85, I’m kind of a younger Pro Tem.”

This past week, Grassley also announced his intention to give up the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee to become chair of the Finance Committee.

(Thanks also to Michelle O’Neill, WVIK)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former northeastern Iowa high school teacher arrested in April for being drunk at work has had his teaching license suspended. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported Friday that Daniel Reisner’s license was suspended for two years by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners. He must complete at least 15 in-person class hours of an ethics course before his license is reinstated. He also received a written reprimand.

Reisner was arrested at West Central High School in Maynard by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office after officials reported a teacher possibly under the influence of alcohol. Deputies determined he had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit to drive, and he was charged with first-offense public intoxication.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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