It’s the most wonderful time of the year with local band Popcorn Button returning to the Elks Lodge to provide a holly jolly night of music and dancing on Friday, December 30th. As always, admission is free and dancers and listeners of all ages are invited to attend.

The sixteen-piece band will be playing a variety of classic Big Band era hits along with some special yuletide charts that will deck the halls and jingle bell rock all night for everyone to dance the night away to. There are even rumors that Santa Claus himself will be coming down to jam with the band to relax after his big day of deliveries.

Popcorn Button, founded in 2010, is a group of volunteer musicians from all walks of life. Many hail from the Atlantic community, including many alumni of Atlantic High School. Also featured are students and recent alumni from Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa, Buena Vista University, and the community at large.

Since 2012, the band has operated the Popcorn Button Community Music Scholarship. This award supports young musicians from the community as they attend honor bands, band camps, and music lessons.

Holiday Ball is a free public event. All ages and dancing abilities are invited and encouraged to attend on Friday, December 30th at the Elks Lodge on 501 Poplar Street in Atlantic. A free will donation will be accepted at the door to defray the band’s operating costs. For more information on Holiday Ball or the scholarship, email info@popcornbutton.org or visit www.popcornbutton.org.

Deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Friday evening, arrested a woman from Pottawattamie County. Officials say 18-year old Sarah Jeanette Croson, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 6:20-p.m., following a traffic stop near the intersection of Boxelder/Highway 34, west of Red Oak.  Croson was taken into custody for Driving While Barred. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.

Firefighters from Westphalia and at least four other departments responded to a house fire Friday night, at around 6:15-p.m., at 107 4th Street, in Westphalia. Scanner reports indicated crews from Earling, Panama, Harlan, and Portsmouth were called to the scene. When Westphalia Fire arrived on the scene, the roof of the single-family structure was fully engulfed in flames.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Photos submitted to KJAN

A central Iowa man was injured during a head-on, wrong-way vehicle collision Friday night, in Pottawattamie County. The Iowa State Patrol reports 22-year old Ryan I. Evans, of Johnston, was driving a 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse eastbound in the westbound lane of Interstate 80 about two-miles north of the exit to Highway 6 on the east side of Council Bluffs, when his car struck a 2013 Freightliner semi. The accident happened at around 10:11-p.m. in the right lane of westbound I-80.

Following the collision, the car came to rest in the median, and caught fire. The semi, driven by 57-year old Marvin L. Fielder, of Omaha, came to rest in the west ditch. Fielder was not injured in the crash. Evans, who was wearing his seat belt, was flown by LifeNet to the UNMC in Omaha.

The Patrol says the accident remains under investigation, but alcohol does NOT appear to be a factor in the crash.

Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department report officers were involved in the pursuit Friday afternoon, of a stolen vehicle. The vehicle was seen at around 3:20-p.m. traveling southbound on the South Expressway. The vehicle eluded officers when they attempted to stop it and they pursued it through the city. At one point the vehicle left the traveled portion of the roadway and also drove in the wrong lanes of traffic on two other occasions.

Officers were able to follow the vehicle until it went into Omaha and communicated with dispatchers who relayed the information to Omaha Police Department (OPD) Officers. A short time later, OPD officers located the vehicle in the 5800 block of South 14th Street. Two suspects were also located in the area.

The OPD Auto Theft Unit is handing the investigation. Police have not yet released the names of those two suspects.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state official credits increased use of overdose antidotes for a decline in deaths due to heroin and pain pills in Iowa. The director of the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy tells The Des Moines Register that first responders now have more training and experience in how to respond to overdoses. He says more also carry antidotes like naloxone, which can counteract the effects of narcotic overdoses.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court seems to agree with Kevin Costner that there’s no better place to play baseball than on fields cut out of the corn. The court on Friday cleared the way for a 24-field baseball complex at the “Field of Dreams” movie site in Dyersville, upholding a lower court’s decision that the City Council properly rezoned the property from agricultural to commercial.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sioux City police have revealed the name of an officer who fatally shot a South Dakota man during a traffic stop, as well as more details of the shooting. The Sioux City Journal cites a department release Friday that says Officer Dylan Grimsley fatally shot 36-year-old Daniel Anthony Riedmann, of Dakota Dunes, South Dakota, on Wednesday. Police say Riedmann ignored commands to show his hands and unlock the door of the SUV. Police say a gun was found in the vehicle.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating a Des Moines house fire that injured three firefighters. The Des Moines Register reports that the fire is believed to have started in the attic of the house Thursday night. Des Moines Fire Department spokesman Brian O’Keefe says one firefighter was injured when he fell through an opening in the attic roof to the floor below. A second dislocated his shoulder moving fire equipment, and a third was injured when the house’s ceiling collapsed.

According to the schedule released by the Governor’s office on Friday Lt. Governor and soon to be Governor Kim Reynolds is set to make a stop in Atlantic next week. Reynolds is scheduled to tour the Ann Wickman Child Development Center in Atlantic on Friday, December 16th at 10:15am.  The center is located at 703 Linn Street in Atlantic.

From Atlantic Reynolds will head to Indianola to meet with Warren County Economic Development at 12:45pm.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Government statistics significantly understate the number of children in the U.S. who were killed by unintentional gun discharges last year. The Associated Press and USA TODAY Network found 141 deaths of minors were attributed to unintentional or accidental shootings in 2015. That’s 83 percent higher than the 77 deaths that the Centers for Disease Control reported Thursday.

Advocates for stricter laws and new technology meant to keep guns away from children argue that the deaths are largely preventable. They say the undercount is significant because it informs the policy debate.

CDC officials say their statistics are low because they rely on death certificates. Some coroners list deaths in which one child unintentionally shoots another as homicides. The AP and USA TODAY Network relied on determinations made by investigating agencies.

Police in Council Bluffs say a Nebraska man was arrested this (Friday) morning, in connection with the theft of a car whose owner left the engine running to warm-up the vehicle. 36-year old Brian James Johnson, of Omaha, was apprehended following a short, two-block foot pursuit that began as Officers began to question him about the incident. Johnson was arrested for Theft in the 2nd Degree, Possession with the Intent to Deliver/Methamphetamine, and Eluding. The drug charge was added after Officers found a quantity of meth in Johnson’s possession.

The incident leading up to his arrest began when authorities were notified at around 9:10-a.m., that at Buick LeSabre reported stolen earlier in the morning had been located by the owner, at the Days Inn parking lot at 3619 9th Avenue. GPS tracking allowed the victim to find her vehicle at the hotel. She met with law enforcement at scene and identified the vehicle as being hers.

The Council Bluffs Police Department thanks the citizen(s) who assisted in locating and apprehending the suspect. The incident they said, “Further highlights the dangers of leaving the keys in the ignition when warming up your vehicle on cold mornings.”