And now there are seven. Another person has entered the race for U-S Senator-Elect Joni Ernst’s vacant Iowa Senate seat. The Daily NonPareil reports David Sieck, a Mills County area farmer, announced on Monday, he’s running for the District 12 senate seat. Sieck decided to run in hopes of giving a stronger voice and representation to the district.

Sieck is a lifelong resident of Iowa and a founding member of Responsible River Management, which works to find solutions to river management issues on the Missouri River, among other duties. He was vice chair of the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee and a recipient of the Grassroots Award in 2014 with the Iowa and National Corn Growers Association.

His Mills County family farm is a fourth-generation operation. Sieck says he’s concerned the district could lose out on its potential if not represented properly. Fostered correctly, he said, the district’s businesses and families could prosper greatly.

In addition to Sieck, the other six candidates are Redding-area cattle rancher Tracee Knapp, former Montgomery County Supervisor Margaret Stoldorf of Red Oak, farmer Seth Watkins of Clarinda, Charla Schmid of Red Oak, Fremont County Supervisor Cara Marker-Morgan and State Rep. Mark Costello.

The Republican convention for the special election will be held in Clarinda on Thursday night. The special election itself will take place on Dec. 30th.

Senator Tom Harkin flew to Oslo, Norway, Tuesday so he could attend today’s (Wedneday) Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and see the man he nominated win the award. Harkin nominated Kailash Satyarthi for the Nobel Prize, for his campaign against child slavery. “What he would do is he would get people together, he would find a factory where they have a lot of these bonded kids working in bad conditions…and they would go there and rescue these kids,” Harkin says, “hurry them out, put ’em in their trucks and take ’em back to a sanctuary.” Harkin first met the man in 1991.

“And so, in 2005, I said to Ky: ‘I’m going to nominate you for the Nobel Prize,'” Harkin said. “He’s such a modest person…In 2006, I renominated him, then I started bringing in more people.” Satyarthi, who is from India, calls child slavery an “intolerable….crime against humanity” and he has said that he hopes by winning this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, more people will acknowledge that child slavery exists — and must end in our lifetime.

This year’s other Nobel Peace Prize winner is 17-year-old Malala, the young Afgan girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban for being an advocate of women’s education. It will be followed by an evening banquet that Harkin will attend, along with past Nobel laureates and other dignitaries, like Norway’s royal family. The banquet will begin at noon Iowa time. Harkin’s trip is a quick one. He plans to fly back to Washington, D.C. Thursday, anticipating votes in the U.S. Senate.

(Radio Iowa)

The Cass County Conservation Staff is inviting you to join them at Atlantic’s Schildberg Park Recreation Area on Saturday, January 3rd, 2015. Staff will be giving ten-minute presentations regarding the Trumpeter Swans every half-hour beginning at 11:00 a.m. with the last one being presented at 2:00 p.m. There will also be time to view the swans through spotting scopes and witness random swan feeding sessions.

Hot chocolate, cookies, grilled hotdogs, and other snacks will be provided free of charge with donations being accepted (for swan care). The Schildberg Recreation Area is located on the northwest edge of Atlantic, on the north side of Highway 83. (Note: If the weather is bad or if the swans are not at the park, the program will be held at the Atlantic Public Library from 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. with a light lunch available).

The event is being sponsored by the Cass County Conservation Board, Atlantic Parks and Recreation, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the Atlantic Public Library.

DES MOINES – The State Interagency Missouri River Authority (SIMRA) will meet in Des Moines Dec. 12 to hear a presentation of “Navigation on the Missouri River” from Steve Engemann, president, Hermann Sand & Gravel, and a presentation from Seth C. Wright, attorney with Polsinelli PC about the Missouri River flooding lawsuit, Ideker Farms, Inc., et., al. v. United States of America, currently pending in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

The lawsuit is brought by farmers, landowners and business owners who sustained losses from one or more floods occurring in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014.

SIMRA seeks stakeholder input and makes recommendations on policies affecting the Missouri River. The group will meet at 10:00 a.m. to noon in Conference Room 3E/W in the Wallace State Office Building, 502 E. Ninth St., Des Moines. The meeting is open to the public.

The complete agenda is available on the SIMRA website at www.iowadnr.gov/InsideDNR/BoardsCommissions/InteragencyMoRiverAuthority.aspx

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A judge has declared a mistrial in the case of a Georgia man charged with first-degree murder in the death of a roommate whose skeletal remains were found in an Iowa basement in 2012. The Fort Dodge Messenger reports Judge Gary McMinimee ordered the mistrial Tuesday in the case of 55-year-old John Green, of Blairsville, Georgia. Green is accused of killing 58-year-old Mark Koster, who was reported missing in 2010. His remains were found buried in the basement of Koster’s Sac City home.

McMinimee made his decision after Sac City Police Chief John Thomsen testified investigators interviewing suspects “minimize the crime” because “bad people” don’t want to admit their roles. Defense attorney Charles Kenville argued that mischaracterized Green. McMinimee agreed, declaring a mistrial. A new trial will be scheduled.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Officials have apprehended a man accused of escaping from a work release facility in Iowa. The state Department of Corrections says 29-year-old Justin Lee Miller was back in custody Monday. He is being held at the Polk County Jail.

Officials say Miller was placed on escape status from a Sioux City work release program in August, after an unexcused absence. Additional information about Miller’s return is not available. He is serving time for convictions of willful injury, assault and escape. He was transferred to the work release program in June.

A public hearing will be held Wednesday morning in Atlantic, with regard to an amendment of the Fiscal Year 2015 Cass County Budget. On Nov. 19th, the Board of Supervisors discussed the budget and scheduled the hearing for 8:30-a.m. Wednesday, in the Supervisor’s Board Room at the Courthouse.

During last month’s meeting, Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman explained the amendment is NOT related to a shortage of funds. In fact, he said, the “Jumpstart Program” was allowed to continue, which means the flow-through funds may be four-million dollars more than what was expected. The amendment allows the funds to be spent.

The funds are administered through SWIPCO (The Southwest Iowa Planning Council), are paid to contractors for work on disaster recovery and housing assistance. The funds can also be used to assist local governments in the areas of Public Safety and Communications.

In other business, the Board will hear from a representative with West Central Community Action (WCCA), with regard to a request for continued, matching funding. WCCA will also deliver its annual report. And, Cass County Weed Commission Larry Randel will present his annual weed control report to the Board.

Sheriff’s officials in Union County say an Adair County woman was transported to the hospital in Creston following a single-vehicle rollover accident Monday afternoon. 18-year old Alison Metzger, of Orient, was traveling north on Highway 25 at around 2-p.m., when she came over a hill and saw another vehicle passing a vehicle as both of those vehicles were traveling southbound.

Metzger said she had no choice but to swerve onto the shoulder to avoid a collision. When she took evasive action, the 1998 Plymouth Neon she was driving went into the east ditch, and rolled onto its top. Metzger was transported by private vehicle to the Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston, to be checked for possible injuries.

The car sustained $5,000 damage. No citations were issued.

The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education, Monday, approved the District’s participation in a Financial Planning Program (FPP). Superintendent Mike Amstein told KJAN News the action came after the Board heard from FPP advisor Gary Sinclair. He says based on that presentation, the Board thought the FPP would be beneficial in preparing budgets and formulating budget scenarios for the upcoming year, as well as up to the next five-years.)

The Board authorized the purchase of the full FPP package in the amount $10,000, of which the District is responsible for $5,700. The cost will likely be paid for through the Capital Projects because it’s non-instructional software. Amstein says the FPP will be greatly beneficial in determining the outcome of specific financial scenarios, especially with regard to the amount of money the District receives from the State in the form of Supplemental Aid.

He says it allows them to project what their income will be regardless of whether the State aid is zero percent or as much as five-percent, and it takes into consideration student enrollment. It helps in determining the tax rate, where there staffing needs are the greatest and other costs. Last year, school districts were forced to try and determine their budgets for the upcoming year without having known for certain the amount of Supplemental Aid they would be receiving, because the legislature took so long in reaching a decision on the matter.

Amstein said instead of “Being in a position where you have to sit on your hands a little bit, we can be a little more proactive in taking a look at the different scenarios that might come into play so we’re not having to wait for the last minute to go ahead and start punching in the numbers.”

In other business, the Board discussed the possibility of hosting a Legislative meeting for local legislators to come and visit with Atlantic School Board members, as well as those in Griswold and CAM. The details are still being worked out, but the tentative plan is for the week of January 5th. Additional information will be released once all the facets of the meeting are hammered out.

With Ric Hanson.

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