Funeral services will be held Saturday morning in Carroll, for a man who died at a hospital in Des Moines following a cement truck rollover accident Monday afternoon in Guthrie County. According to reports, 56-year old Randy Dean Barker, of Carroll, was driving a 2016 Mack cement truck southbound on Chestnut Road, south of Coon Rapids, when he came upon a disabled vehicle on the shoulder of the road.

When Barker applied the brakes and swerved left, the truck, which was fully loaded with cement, entered the shoulder/ditch area and came back onto the roadway. The vehicle went out of control and overturned onto the driver’s side. It skidded down the road before coming to rest. The accident happened at around 1:23-p.m., Monday.The cement truck, owned by Moorhouse Ready Mix, of Breda, sustained about $160,000 damage.

Barker was flown to Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, where he succumbed to his injuries. His funeral will be held 10:30-a.m. Saturday, at the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home, in Carroll.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new monthly report shows drought conditions continue to burden the rural economy in parts of 10 Plains and Western states. The overall Rural Mainstreet Index for the region rose slightly in August to 42.2 from July’s abysmally low 40.7. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with any number under 50 indicating a shrinking economy.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, says nearly 58 percent of bankers reported in August’s survey that drought conditions were having a negative effect on agriculture products in their area. Also, bankers expect farmland prices to decline by another 3.5 percent on average over the next year.

Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

GEORGE, Iowa (AP) — The start of the school year at one northwestern Iowa school district has been delayed after a colony of bats was discovered in a second-floor high school office. George-Little Rock superintendent John Eyerly tells the Sioux City Journal that an electrician installing a new phone system during the first week of August found evidence of bats while in the school’s liaison officer’s office.

The school has contracted with a pest control company to remove the bats. To allow enough time to complete the removal and sterilization, classes will now begin Aug. 28 for all district schools. School was previously scheduled to start Wednesday.

The bats’ removal, which will also include installation of some new insulation, will run around $50,000.

After holding its 6th Annual School Supply Drive, the Cass County Democratic Party delivered those donations to the schools in Cass County on 8-17-17. The schools were very excited at the large amount of donations given by the public and assured Sherry Toelle, Chair, that the supplies would be distributed to the neediest Cass County students.

“I am very thankful and happy that Cass County residents were so generous in giving our students needed school supplies. We had an outpouring of support from the community. I want to express my gratitude to those donors for opening their hearts and wallets to ensure that the children of the county have new, needed school supplies,” Toelle stated. “I want to express my gratitude to the media in Cass County who so willingly reported on the school supply drive, making people aware of the drive. I also want to express my thanks to my volunteers who distributed the drive’s flyers and who placed boxes out in the community. They know who they are and they are the best!” (Photo’s submitted)

Terri Smith & Sherry Toelle, Vice-Chair & Chair respectively, Cass County Democratic Party; Dee South and Larry Hunt, CAM School District

Katie Elwood, Griswold Schools; Terri Smith & Sherry Toelle, Cass County Democratic Party Vice-Chair & Chair respectively.

Gun rights activists are renewing their call to allow firearms at the Iowa State Fair after a violent incident on the fairgrounds Tuesday night. A man was stabbed and critically injured in a fight involving four young men on the southwest corner of the fairgrounds. Matt Windschitl, a Republican from Missouri Valley, says the comprehensive gun rights bill that passed this year originally included allowing guns at the fair.

” We had originally wanted to keep that provision in the bill but as we moved through the process there were a few items we had to remove from the bill in order to make sure we were building consensus and to get the necessary votes to pass the legislation,” Windschitl says. He says some lawmakers argued it’s a long-standing Fair Board policy to keep guns out.

“Why would we change that policy now,” Windschitl asks ” Now I personally believe it’s not the best policy. You shouldn’t disarm the law-abiding citizen. It’s their fundamental right to self-defense. But there was uncertainty with it.” Windschitl says he will try to talk to interested parties next year to see if minds have changed.

(Radio Iowa)

Officials at Iowa State University have issued a statement in response to a student’s racially-charged social media post. The original post to Snapchat involved three students standing by the “Black Engineering Building” sign on the Ames campus. A screenshot of the post, which included use of the “N” word, quickly spread through other social media. Martino Harmon, the Senior Vice President for Student Affairs at ISU, called the post “racist, thoughtless and hurtful” and added it’s “particularly troubling in light of the recent occurrences in Charlottesville.”

The student who Snapchatted the photo told the Iowa State Daily newspaper that he deleted the post shortly after it was sent, saying he “realized how stupid it was,” but then noticed someone on his Snapchat had already screenshot the picture. A university spokesperson said due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, ISU can not release any information about disciplinary action.

(Radio Iowa)

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Public Safety is confirming that recruits at its basic training academy were treated last month for heat-related illness. Department spokesman Alex Dinkla said Thursday that two of 20 recruits needed medical treatment following academy activities. He said he believed they are trooper candidates and remain part of the academy, which started May 30 at Camp Dodge in Johnston and remains ongoing.

Dinkla said he still hasn’t “been told” other basic information about the incident despite receiving an Aug. 1 inquiry about it from The Associated Press. That includes whether they were hospitalized and whether the academy is changing any procedures in light of the cases. He says he doesn’t know the gender of those involved.

Dinkla says medical information is “confidential and protected from disclosure.” He says injuries are common in the academy.

A special meeting of the Atlantic School District’s Board of Education will be held 11:30-a.m. Friday, in the Media Center at the Schuler Elementary Building. On the agenda is the resignation of Nichole Waterman, High School Level 3 Para-educator.

The Board will also act on Contracts and/or Letters of Assignment for the following:

• Jessica Mendez, FS to 5 hours/day
• Loretta Barringer, Special Ed Bus Driver
• Lory Erickson, School Bus Driver & Clerical Transportation Para
• Ann Hinton, Bus Aide, 5.2 hour day
• Jeff Kerrick, Route Driver & Noon PS Route Driver
• Heather Burg, FS 6-hour day.

ATLANTIC- Officials with the Cass County Health System announced today (Thursday), that Dr. Autumn Keiser will be joining the Atlantic Medical Center in the fall of 2018. She is currently a third-year resident at Siouxland Medical Education Foundation in Sioux City, Iowa. Dr. Keiser will provide the full spectrum of family medicine care, including obstetrics.

Brett Altman, CCHS CEO said “We are so pleased to have Dr. Keiser join our staff. One of our goals is to provide more services locally and it all starts with recruiting outstanding physicians and specialists. The Siouxland Medical Education Foundation’s family medicine residency program is known for their excellent training in obstetrics. Dr. Keiser has chosen to immerse herself in this area and will bring great experience to our team. In addition to prenatal care and routine deliveries, she will also be available for caesarean section deliveries.”

Autumn and Craig Keiser

Dr. Keiser and her husband, Craig, are both originally from the Omaha area. In a press release, she said “We are both very close to our families, so proximity to Omaha was very important. Ultimately, we chose Atlantic because of the family-like welcome we received. We feel that Atlantic is a great community with everything to offer!”

Dr. Keiser earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She went on to the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, graduating with her medical degree in 2015. She is currently serving as Chief Resident and will complete her family medicine residency training in the June 2018. Dr. Keiser is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa woman charged with attempting to vote twice for Donald Trump last fall has been sentenced to two years of probation and a $750 fine.
District court Judge Robert Hanson said in a sentencing order posted Tuesday that the felony election misconduct conviction will be expunged from Terri Lynn Rote’s record once she completes probation and pays the fine. Rote, who is 56, pleaded guilty last month.

Rote, a Trump supporter, was arrested Oct. 21 after showing up at a Des Moines early voting site to cast a second ballot for Trump in the Nov. 8 election. She told police she believed Trump’s claims that the election was rigged and she feared her first ballot would be changed to a vote for Hillary Clinton.