Atlantic Municipal Utilities (AMU) and the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce announce the Annual Holiday Christmas Lighting Contest “Deck the Homes”. This contest encourages the community to nominate their favorite merry and bright home. Bailey Smith, Executive Director at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce said “We love partnering with AMU on this project. It really encourages community pride and everyone loves twinkling lights,” mentioned Smith.

To nominate your favorite merry and bright home, call Atlantic Municipal Utilities at 712.243.1395. Winners will receive an Atlantic Municipal Utilities Voucher. Nominations are due December 11th.

Pick up your Christmas Brochure from area retail businesses, like the Chamber on Facebook or follow on Twitter to find dates and details to celebrate Christmas in Atlantic. You can find a complete list of activities at www.christmasinatlantic.com. Capture the Christmas magic with #MyAtlanticIA and post to the Atlantic Area Chamber’s Facebook page or Instagram (AtlanticIowaFan). Contact the Atlantic Area Chamber with any questions at chamber@atlanticiowa.com or call 712.243.3017.

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

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ALGONA, Iowa (AP) — A state board has suspended the teaching license of a northern Iowa teacher and coach was accused of being intoxicated at school. The Globe Gazette in Mason City reports that the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners ordered the suspension of Chad Ahlers’ teaching and coaching licenses for two years. He also was ordered to complete a 15-hour ethics course for educators.

Ahlers was a math teacher and track and cross country coach at Algona High School. He says he has struggled with depression and alcohol use and apologized to his friends, family and former co-workers. Ahlers resigned in May after an investigation found the 46-year-old had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit to drive while he was at work.

The Creston Police Department reports two arrests and several incidents of theft and/or vandalism took place over the past week. On Sunday, a woman from Des Moines reported that sometime between 7-pm Saturday and 10-am Sunday, someone slashed a driver’s side tire on her vehicle while it was parked at 411 S Birch. The damage was estimated damage at $150. Friday morning, a man who resides in the 200 block of N. Division Street, in Creston, told police that sometime between 8-pm Thursday and 7-am Friday, someone broke into his vehicle that was parked in the parking lot of 210 N Division. Items taken include an Ipod, , Ipod charger and adapter and sunglasses. The loss was estimated at $115. And, the Farmers Co-Op in Creston reported on Friday,  that sometime between 7-pm Thursday and 7-am Friday, someone broke into the business and stole medicated feed. The loss, including damages, was estimated at $1,030.

Taken into custody, Friday, was 65-year old Diane Worthington, of Valley City, ND. She was arrested for OWI/1st offense and later released on $1,000 bond. On Thursday, 26-year old Meggen Richards, of Des Moines, was arrested in Creston on a Polk County Warrant for Violation of Parole. She was being held in Ringgold County Jail without bond while awaiting transport to Polk County.

The show won’t go on until the summer of 2018, but tens of thousands of single tickets will go on sale this Friday morning for the popular musical “Hamilton” and a complete sell-out is likely within a matter of hours. Denise Smithson Green, director of ticketing for the Des Moines Civic Center, says ticket sales will be extremely brisk and she wouldn’t try to predict just how quickly they’ll all be gone.”We don’t know if they’re going to line up overnight but we do expect long lines at the ticket office itself and we also do expect a lot of online traffic and a lot of phone traffic,” Smithson Green says. “All three of our avenues for purchasing tickets in the past have always been high-volume when we have a popular show go on sale.”

There are tickets for three weeks of shows, eight shows a week. That’s 24 shows in a facility that seats 27-hundred-54. Smithson Green says she’s bringing in plenty of reinforcements to handle the crush. “We’ve got four ticket windows that are going to be going. At the same time we have about 14 people answering calls, and then online, we’ll be filtering through as many as we can,” Smithson Green says. “We will have people that will stand in line, be on their cell phones and they’ll have a tablet to be online, all at the same time.”

Winning the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2008, it’s the story of America’s founding father Alexander Hamilton who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation’s first Treasury Secretary. The Civic Center has hosted some wildly popular shows over the years, including “Wicked,” “The Lion King” and “Phantom of the Opera,” but will “Hamilton” be the biggest ever?”Biggest is relative. Is it biggest in how fast it sells out? Is it biggest in dollar volume? Is it biggest in did we sell every single seat and how fast did we sell them?” Smithson Green says. “I will tell you, this will be our Super Bowl.” Tickets range in price from 54-dollars to 303-dollars. What does that most expensive option bring? “It gets you a seat right smack dab in the middle front of the hall,” Smithson Green says. “Those are what we consider the best seats in the house with the best visibility of the entire stage.”

There is a maximum purchase limit of four tickets per household. Smithson Green has already seen “Hamilton” twice, once in New York and again in Chicago, and she plans to see it twice more in Des Moines, if possible.”It’s that good of a show,” she says. “I love that it gets a group of people who might not be your typical Broadway viewer excited about Broadway. It gets people learning about our history. It is a fun show with a lot of energy. I’m really excited and I’m a huge fan.”

Tickets go on sale at 9 AM Friday online, in person and on the phone. Service fees will apply to phone and internet orders. Smithson Green suggests if you don’t have an existing account with Des Moines Performing Arts, create one this week — before Friday. The performances will run June 27th through July 15th.
https://desmoinesperformingarts.org/

(Radio Iowa)

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

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No serious injuries were reported following a rollover accident off Interstate 80 this morning, in Cass County. According to dispatch reports, a vehicle rolled into the median just east of Exit 64. The driver and lone occupant was said to be out and claiming to be uninjured. Anita and Wiota Fire and Rescue responded to the scene. There was dense fog in the area at the time. The driver advised authorities he lost control after hitting ice on the bridge.

No other details are available.

(Des Moines/Radio Iowa) — The State Historical Society of Iowa is seeking your help in identifying the soldiers from our state who were the casualties of World War One. Department of Cultural Affairs communications officer, Michael Morain, says three-thousand-576 Iowans lost their lives while serving in World War One.”We have about 27-hundred names and images from that total,” Morain says. “We are asking Iowans to help us out and fill in some of those missing pieces.”

Morain says they are putting together an honor roll of those who lost their lives as part of the historical society’s ongoing commemoration of the 100th anniversary of America’s entrance into the war. That’s where you can help them fill in the blanks. “We have a website where folks can check in and scroll through it and see who is on the list — and if anyone is missing form that list or if there are missing photos — those are the ones that we are really looking for,” Morain explained.

The website is: iowaculture.gov/honorroll. He says if you look through the list and find someone you know is not there, you can send in their picture and information. The names already on the list include Merle Hay of Glidden, who was among the first men to die, and Wayman Minor of Centerville, who was among the last soldiers to die in the war. The first U-S woman to die during active service in the war was Marion Crandall of Cedar Rapids. The State Historical Society also has an exhibit called “Iowa and the Great War,” which Morain encourages you to see and learn more about the effort and sacrifices of Iowans.”Both in the trenches and back here at home and how that war really shaped the way Iowa thought of itself and the sweep of history here in Iowa,” according to Morain. “So it’s a really interesting exhibit with lots of great artifacts that tell the story.”

The “World War I Honor Roll” with the photos and names of those who were killed in action, went missing, or died of disease, wounds or accidents, will go on display at the State Historical Museum of Iowa next year on Memorial Day weekend.

Police in Red Oak, Sunday morning, arrested 38-year old Tyler Gregory Jennings, of Red Oak, on an assault charge. Jennings was arrested at around 9:45-a.m. In the 500 block of N. 4^th Street, following an investigation into a physical domestic assault. He was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held without bond for Domestic Abuse Assault/1^st offense – A Simple Misdemeanor.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A top official for Senate Republicans in the Iowa Legislature says an investigation into alleged sexual harassment within the office is complete, but there will be no report about it and no information will be shared with the public. Ed Failor, senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, told The Associated Press that additional information cannot be shared publicly because it’s a personnel issue.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa Western Community College professor and literacy advocate has donated hundreds of books to a county jail. Nicole Juranek is a communications professor at the community college in Council Bluffs. The Daily Nonpareil reports that it was Juranek’s third annual donation to the Pottawattamie County Jail. But this one more than doubled the 300 she donated in her first two years.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City man has been released from prison less than two months into his seven-year sentence for shooting his 3-year-old sister in the face with a BB gun. The Sioux City Journal reports that a judge reconsidered 18-year-old Adrian White’s sentence earlier this week and suspended the remainder of White’s prison term. Prosecutors say White shot the preschooler twice in the face in May. One BB fractured the girl’s jaw and the other entered her eye and lodged next to her brain.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Judicial Branch data shows that more than three-fourths of those who took Iowa’s bar exam passed this year. The Des Moines Register reports the state had a 78 percent pass rate this year, compared to 68 percent in 2016. Of the 260 people who took the Iowa bar in 2017, 204 passed. The percentage of people who passed the exam on their first try also increased in 2017.