In an update to our earlier reports, officials with the Harlan Police Department today (Thursday) said they were still investigating a bomb threat incident at the Harlan High School located at 2102 Durant Street, and following up on leads. Meanwhile, they are continuing to ask for help from the public. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the H-PD at 712-755-5151.

Police Chief Frank Clark said the incident began to unfold when authorities were notified by school officials at around 12:16-p.m. Wednesday, that was bomb threat had been received at the Harlan High School. Officials would not disclose how the threat was conveyed. Authorities say at around 12:20-p.m., officers arrived at the school and learned district officials followed protocol and evacuated about 1500 students to two separate, safe locations.

The high school and grounds, along with the parking lot were searched, and with no evidence of an explosive device found, the building was turned back over to school officials at around 3:10-p.m. While the search was underway, law enforcement was in contact with the Iowa State Fire Marshal’s Office and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Other agencies that assisted in handling the incident include: Deputies with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office; crews with the Harlan Fire Department; The Iowa State Patrol; Harlan Community School District officials; Shelby County Emergency Management; Shelby County 911; the City of Harlan Public Works Dept.; Medivac Ambulance Service; Shelby County Public Health, and Myrtue Medical Center.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A group trying to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 presidential race has hired several staffers in Iowa.  The “Run Warren Run” campaign announced Thursday that it had opened an office in Des Moines and hired an Iowa field director and four other field organizers in the early-voting state. The field director is Blair Lawton, an Iowa native who worked for President Barack Obama’s 2012 Iowa campaign.

The campaign is being organized by MoveOn.org and Democracy for America. They held their first Iowa meeting in Des Moines last month. The activists are trying to persuade Warren to seek the Democratic nomination in 2016, but the Massachusetts senator has said she isn’t running.

MoveOn plans to spend $1 million on its Warren effort and Democracy for America has pledged $250,000.

A truck driver from New Jersey has died on a crash on Interstate 680 in western Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol reports 48-year old Jeffrey Hall, of North Brunswick, NJ, died this (Thursday) morning, after the semi he was driving went off the road and into the median. When Hall swerved back onto I-680 westbound, the trailer hit the guard rail and the 2005 International rolled onto its left side before continuing north and west and going through the guardrail.  Hall was ejected from the cab of the truck as it rolled. The semi came to rest in the north ditch.

The accident happened just before 7-a.m. near mile marker 21. The State Patrol was assisted at the scene by Neola Fire and Rescue, and deputies with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office.

More area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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A hearing on a motion for a new trial and an arrest of judgment will be held today in Council Bluffs for a Pottawattamie County man found guilty of first-degree murder last November in connection with the death of an Atlantic woman. Attorneys for 63-year old Robert A. Reynolds, of Oakland, filed the motion for a new trial on Dec. 31st.  The hearing takes place at 1:30-p.m.

Reynolds’ attorneys cited in their motion the grounds for a new trial would include the trial not being in Avoca, a jailhouse phone call, and other issues discussed in the judges’ chambers. Reynolds, who was found guilty of shooting to death 64-year old Patricia Kinkade-Dorsey during the early morning hours of April 8th 2013, was to have been sentenced Jan. 21st.

Police in Creston are investigating the theft of change boxes from washing machines at the Executive Apartments. The theft, which took place sometime between 3-p.m. Monday and 3-p.m Tuesday, resulted in a loss of about $268.

(7-a.m. News)

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The owner of dozens of Casinos across the U-S, including two in Council Bluffs, has filed for bankruptcy protection. Omaha television station WOWT reports Caesars Entertainment filed for bankruptcy protection early this (Thursday) morning. The company owns 53 properties, and 18 of them were included in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Two of the 18 are located in Council Bluffs: Harrah’s Council Bluffs and Horseshoe Council Bluffs. A statement from the company says, “There are no planned job reductions as a result of this action. The business performs well at an operating level but the balance sheet still needs to be addressed.”

Caesar’s is trying too shed more than half of its $18.4 billion debt burden. The company has been negotiating with creditors and lenders for months on a reorganization plan that would turn the division into a real estate investment trust – one to own properties and the other to lease properties – promising creditors cash or new debt.

Caesars says the voluntary filing gives companies a chance to restructure their businesses to restore their finances without being forced into bankruptcy. The company says all properties will remain open for business. It also says rewards programs will remain the same and services offered at casinos and hotels will operate as normal.

Caesars casinos struggled after missing out on the casino boom in Asia. The company was also reluctant to upgrade and expand in its traditional U.S. markets. The operating division employs 36,000 people at 38 casino-hotels including the flagship Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.

A Villisca woman who was arrested twice Tuesday, was arrested again early this (Thursday) morning. Red Oak Police say 21-year old Amanda Lee Smith was taken into custody a little after 2-a.m., after being stopped in the 1200 block of Senate Avenue, in Red Oak. on an OWI charge.  Smith was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Early Tuesday morning, Smith was arrested for an OWI-drug related. Later that same day, she was arrested for Theft in the 4th Degree.

U-S Senator Joni Ernst says the bill authorizing the Keystone X-L pipeline is one of the first pieces of legislation she is working as she begins her term in Washington, D-C. “I do believe that this bipartisan legislation is a great step forward and it is an engine of opportunity to grow a better and stronger economy,” Ernst says. “And it really does show, it demonstrates that Republicans and Democrats can work together, certainly work together to find ways to make American stronger. And I believe this bill does that.”

Oil prices have been in a free-falll in recent weeks with gasoline prices following. Ernst says some lawmakers my see that as a reason to have less urgency to pass the bill to bring oil into the U-S from Canada. “We do have lower prices at the pump right now — which I am thankful for — however, as we look at the Keystone X-L pipeline, this does provide infrastructure for the future,” Ernst says. The Republican from Red Oak says they need to look at the total impact of the pipeline. “We can’t be short-sighted, because how long are these gas prices going to remain low? That is a question we don’t know. But we need to look long-term at opportunities that exist, and part of the infrastructure is the Keystone X-L pipeline,” according to Ernst.

She is hopeful they can gain enough bipartisan support to pass the bill in both the House and Senate and possibly override a presidential veto is necessary. Ernst was asked about the ongoing debate in Iowa on water quality and nitrates in the water. “This is something that needs to be addressed at the lowest possible level and that starts with the communities and it does start with our farmers and our conservation techniques,” Ernst says. The former state senator says there are already some voluntary programs in place and they have shown success.

“I do think that a number of areas have seen reduced nitrate levels across the state of Iowa, so I do think that those programs work, they do need to be implemented,” Ernst says. “A lot of that funding comes through the state, we do have other funding sources through the federal government too, but again I do think those communities and the state need to figure out what is appropriate for that type of community.” Ernst says she was recently talking with representatives of a southwest Iowa community that is trying a program.

“It’s a very small rural community, and what they are doing is a type of filtration process through a wetland area,” Ernst explains. “And that was just implemented not all that long ago, so I am anxious to see what their water levels are looking like with the numbers and types of contaminants.” Ernst made her comments during a teleconference with reporters.

(Radio Iowa)