Atlantic, IA— Officials with Cass Health have announced that Michael Egertsen, DPM, FACPM, AACFAS joined the medical staff full-time this month. He will offer clinic appointments and perform surgeries at Cass Health. Since 2016, Dr. Egertsen has worked for the Washington DC VA Medical Center providing foot and ankle surgery, advanced wound care, limb salvage, sports medicine, and more.

Dr. Egertsen is a member of the American Podiatric Medical Association, a board-certified Diplomat of the American Board of Podiatric Medicine, an Associate of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, and board-qualified by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgeons.

“When I was considering different careers within medicine, the podiatry providers I met were the happiest doctors, and patients absolutely loved them. Plus, I liked the complexity of what they did — there is a lot going on in your foot — so I knew it was a good fit for me,” said Dr. Egertsen. A native of Laurens, Iowa, Dr. Egertsen graduated from the University of Iowa and the Des Moines University College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery. He completed his residency with the Department of Veterans Affairs — Maryland Health Care System.

“It has always been my plan to come back to Iowa. A lot of my fellow residents and friends were shocked that I stayed in DC after residency and didn’t immediately head to a rural area. I’m thankful for the years I had with the VA, and the timing is finally right for me to move home. I’m excited to be at
Cass Health because I like to work in a hospital setting. I think it’s what is best for the patient, and it is important to me that the patient always stays the priority.”

Dr. Egertsen will begin seeing patients by appointment in early November.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak this (Wednesday) morning, arrested a woman wanted on a warrant. Authorities say 27-year-old Tori Shanelle Bergerson, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 8:45-a.m., in the 2400 block of N. 8th Street, in Red Oak, on the Red Oak P.D. warrant for OWI/1st offense. Bergerson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors visited with Jennifer & Mike Adkins, owners of The Rusty Lantern, and their family on Saturday, October 21st, 2023, to celebrate the Grand Opening of their new vintage store located in Downtown Atlantic. Jennifer and Mike moved to Atlantic in August of 2023. While settling in, the couple connected with Amanda Graham about a piece of furniture and inquired about her business she had for sale. After talking it over, the couple decided to purchase the business and quickly jumped in making the space their own.

Fast forward a few months, and The Rusty Lantern is now home to 15 vendors and 8 independent consigners that carry anywhere from primitive antiques, floral arrangements, wooden bowl, yearn, vintage jewelry, soaps, candles, and more. Baked goods along with canned and bottled beverages can be purchased to be enjoyed while shopping or to be savored in the cozy lounge area next to the custom-made fireplace.

The Rusty Lantern is an “occasional store” with hours of Thursday-Saturday 10am-4:30PM and occasionally on Sundays. Jennifer plans to adjust the hours of the store to accommodate holiday shopping based on customer demand. The Rusty Lantern is located at 402 Chestnut Street in Atlantic.

To learn more about the Rusty Lantern, call 612-400-5602 or visit their Facebook page.

(Afton, Iowa) – (UPDATED) – A special investigation by the State Auditor’s office has found a custodian hired to clean the preschool rooms in a southwest Iowa school district was paid for over 300 hours when he did not work. The Early Childhood Center is located on the East Union Community School District’s campus in Afton. According to a report released by the state auditor, the center’s director was not satisfied with the cleaning done by school custodians, so she hired her son in August of 2020 to clean the preschool area. After a tip last summer, district officials confirmed via security video that Hope Hall had clocked in for her son and Grant Hall was seen on video arriving to work several hours later. District officials fired the Halls. The state auditor’s special investigation concluded Grant Hall was paid for 217 regular hours and 85 hours of overtime he did not work. That’s about 44-hundred dollars of improper payroll payments over two years according to the auditor’s report.

The state auditor recommends that East Union Schools develop policies to prevent the appearance of favoritism and conflicts of interest when a relative of a district employee is hired and that relative is their supervisor.

A copy of the report is available for review on the Auditor of State’s website at Special Interest Reports.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors were hosted by Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services (IVRS) last Thursday October 19th. The Ambassadors welcomed the staff into their new office space, and learned more about the services IVRS provides. IVRS specializes in helping individuals with limitations to meet their employment goals. IVRS helps individuals identify occupations, community organizations and resources including financial assistance for education, to meet their individual employment goal. IVRS also provides employers with assistance in meeting their employment needs by matching individuals to open job positions.

Counselors work one on one with individuals to determine their needs and have opportunities that will help them thrive in areas of interest.

Ambassadors (Left to Right): (Front Row) Melissa Stevens-Shudac, Kelly Stoll, Stephanie Bernal, Peg Christensen, Rehna Lensch, Alyson Peters, Ellen Sokolowski, Katie Shaw, Amy McNeese, Gina Scheidle
(Back Rows) Emily Kennedy, Jim Kickland, Alex McAfee, Beth Speiker, Todd Gross, Keith Leonard, BJ Hart, Frank Hardee, Jennifer Easten-Hutchinson, Peg Christensen, Sally Rolf, Lana Westphalen, Steven Stott, Jeremy Butler, Tori Gibson, Rick Miricle, Kathie Hockenberry, Julie Waters, Dolly Bergmann, Megan Sramek, Ruth Sears, Anne Quist

IVRS begin outreach efforts before individuals enter the workforce by working closely with the schools in Cass County. IVRS help students transition into the workforce or help prepare for college assisting with resumes, college and job applications, and help once the individual has made the decision for their future. IVRS teams cane make the necessary accommodations to help the individual be successful.

Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services is located at 704 Walnut Street, Suite 3 in Atlantic. For more information about IVRS call 712-304-0067 or visit their website at https://ivrs.iowa.gov

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday, approved the bid of slightly less than $2.19-million dollars for a bridge replacement project. Four contractors submitted bids for the 250^th Street bridge project over the Nishnabotna River. The winning bid – which was under the engineer’s estimate, came from A & M Cohron and Son, at $2,189,000.

The bridge was damaged by what was termed a “bomb cyclone,” in March, 2019. The same storm caused flooding in Montgomery County, and elsewere.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report the arrest on Tuesday, of 47-year-old Lori Lynn Gilleland, from Elliott. Gilleland was taken into custody in the 1600 block of North Broadway Street. She was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and booked on a charge of Theft in the 5^th Degree. Bond was set at $300.

OSCEOLA, Iowa (KCCI) — City officials in Osceola say a town hall meeting will be held Thursday evening to discuss a water shortage that has resulted in about 5,500 people possibly being left without reliable running water in just a few months. Businesses and homeowners now must conserve water or face penalties on their water bills.West Lake provides drinking water for the town. The water levels are so low that the spillway is dry. Osceola Water Superintendent Brandon Patterson says the lake is at the lowest level he’s seen in 20-years. The water level is down 75 inches.

Patterson has asked the town to make some hard choices, including mandatory conservation. Now, he’s set up a town hall this week to talk about the water shortage and what’s next. One idea is to change the West Lake underwater intakes to suck in more water. The other is to build a new $100 million reservoir, but that could take years.

The town hall meeting is at 7 p.m., Thursday at the Clark County Fairgrounds event center in Osceola.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa could be in store for a warmer-than-normal winter ahead, according to the long-range forecast from the Climate Prediction Center. State climatologist Justin Glisan says the report calls for a warming trend for the upper Midwest during the climatological winter, which runs from December 1st through February 29th.  “This goes hand in hand with being in a moderate-to-strong El Nino,” Glisan says. “Typically, El Nino winters are warmer than average and that can have an impact on the type of precipitation we get.” A warmer winter might make you think we’d have less snow, but he says that’s not always the case.

“If we look at snowfall patterns going back to 1950, with moderate-to-strong El Ninos, we typically see less snow but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we see less precipitation,” Glisan says, “however, if we look at the Climate Prediction Center’s precipitation outlook, no clear signal there.” Glisan says precipitation in Iowa varied from past winter seasons.

“If we look at the last few El Nino winters that we have had, 2010, 2016 and 2019, we’ve kind of been all over the board in terms of precipitation,” he says. “2010 was the 45th wettest, 2016 was the 31st wettest, but then you go to 2019, very wet conditions and the third wettest on record.” While the report predicts the winter ahead may be warmer for Iowa and the region, it shows above-average precipitation for much of the southeastern U-S, and below average precip across parts of the north.

(Elliott, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest at around 1:30-p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 24), of 36-year-old Demarcus Jermer King, from Elliott. King was taken into custody in the 2500 block of 130th Street, on a Montgomery County Bench Warrant for Violation of Probation. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $10,000 bond.