(Elk Horn, Iowa) – The Exira-Elk Horn/Kimballton School District’s Board of Education met in a regular monthly session, Tuesday night. The Board discussed updates with regard to the Exira weight room renovation. Superintendent Trevor Miller said they’re looking at other school districts offer their students and the community.

The total cost estimate is $421,000. Mr. Miller said the goal is to get construction started in about a year or so. During the facilities discussion, Superintendent Miller shared with the Board an update on potential projects at both the Elk Horn and Exira campuses.

Invision Architecture and Boyd Jones are working to provide anticipated costs for the projects. Miller says they hope to get going on those projects by next Summer. In other business, the Board approved the Fiscal Year 2022 Audit as presented. Mr. Miller said the audit revealed typical issues faced by many districts and government entities, but nothing substantial.

The FY23 audit just wrapped-up this week. The results won’t be available for several months. The Exira-EHK Board approved a snow removal bid from Duane Christofferson in the amount of $275 per snow incident. They also approved a MSA (Modified Supplemental Amount) for At-Risk/Dropout Prevention request to the SBRC of $160,211. And, the 2023-24 Early Notification Incentive for Early Retirement was approved as presented.

The Board approved the purchase of a used, 12 passenger van from Bob Brown Chevrolet, for $42,705. And, as we’ve previously mentioned, the Exira-EHK Board, Tuesday, approved a Superintendent Sharing Agreement with the Audubon Community School District. The Audubon School Board approved the agreement during their meeting Monday evening. The agreement means Trevor Miller will oversee both districts effective July 1, 2024.

The Board approved the resignations of a Food Service employee (Cindy Gries) and an Associate (Dee Hill-Gorger). They also approved the hiring of an Elementary Special Education Teacher (Riley Simpson).

Their regular next meeting is 5-p.m. January 16, 2024, in the High School Conference Room in Elk Horn.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Mills County say two separate arrests took place, Tuesday morning (12/19/23). 43-year-old Renee Lynn Adams, of Hastings, was arrested on a warrant for Failure to Appear. Bond was set at $1,000. And, 39-year-old Joshua Dean Cooney, of Villisca, was arrested in Fremont County, on a warrant for Violation of Probation. His bond was set at $10,000.

(Radio Iowa) – A big celebration is planned for a central Iowa state park that is turning 100. Pete Hildreth of the Iowa D-N-R says things get underway today (Thursday). “Iowa D-N-R staff and members of the Friends of the Ledges will host a 100th anniversary kickoff event at the Boone City Hall Auditorium,” he says.  The park is near Madrid and has four miles of trails that include sandstone ledges that are 100 feet above the Des Moines River. That kickoff begins at 6 p-m.

“That event will be highlighted by a program on how Ledges became one of Iowa’s first state parks, as well as information and displays on events projects and changes coming to Ledges in 2024,” Hildreth says. He says everyone is encouraged to take part in the celebration. )”The Friends of the Ledges members will present details on how to get involved in the year-long celebration, as well as the creation of an endowment fund to help preserve the resources of the park in the next century,” he says.

The park also features several structures built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Red Oak Police have arrested a man wanted on an active Red Oak P-D warrant for a Controlled Substance Violation and Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp. 53-year-old Joshua Norman Fuller was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon, and was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $30,000 cash-only bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Today (Thursday) marks the arrival of winter, and soon enough, we’ll be dealing with big piles of snow. Aaron Steil, a consumer horticulture specialist at the Iowa State University Extension, says the drought has been tough on our landscaping this year, and some recent plantings, trees and shrubs may already be stressing as the colder weather settles in. Steil says it’s normal for some shrubs to turn brown or orange at this time of the year.

“Eastern red cedar, for example, tends to get kind of a brownish color in the winter, but it’s more dark green during the summer,” Steil says. “It’s been a pretty stressful growing season. Most of the state has been on the dry side this year and the last couple of years, and so it’s starting to build up, especially on younger or less established plants in our landscape.” Homeowners may be concerned about their trees and other plants being damaged by a heavy, wet snow, especially if their limbs are sagging.

“Most of the time, plants do a pretty good job of shedding that snow off all on their own,” Steil says, “but if you do have a younger plant, or an evergreen that seems to be very weighed down by snow, you can go out and brush it off using your hand or a broom.” If you want to clear that snow off yourself, he says there is a right way — and a wrong way — to go about the process.

“Just make sure you do it in an upward motion instead of a downward one,” he says, “so that you don’t stress branches that are bending down even more.” Steil says ice can do infinitely more damage to young plants than snow, however, he says you need to resist the urge to try to remove ice from their frozen boughs and limbs.

“You’re likely to do more damage than good. If you try to go out and remove ice from shrubs and trees in your landscape, you can go out and maybe prop something up with a board, if you’re really worried about it,” Steil says. “Otherwise, trying to break it off or throwing hot water on it to try to melt it off, all of those always do more damage than help.”

The best thing you can do for an ice-coated tree, he says, is to leave it alone and let the sun warm it up.