It’s been described as “The Happiest 5k in the World,” and it’s coming to Atlantic in October. Atlantic High School Seniors Erin Shannon and Steph Freund are part of the AHS Student Council, who is sponsoring the “Color Run” in Atlantic, on October 11th.

Color Run course (Click on image to enlarge)

The event begins at 8-a.m. Shannon says most of the runs typically take place in larger cities, but the Student Council wanted to bring it closer to home so area residents can experience the fun.

The Bakersfield, CA. Color Run in Dec. 2013 (Photo’s courtesy Patricia Borjon)

She says since it’s a 5k event, there will be four different stations who will throw colored powder at you as you partake in the event. Participants usually wear white so the colors are more vivid. She says it’s not a “Super competitive run…it’s just something fun you can go out and do.” And, you don’t even have to run. Walkers and joggers are welcome enjoy the event.

Steph Freund said she participated in a Color Run at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City a couple of years ago. 40-thousand people participated in that event, which was the biggest run they ever had at the time. She said it brings people together and can draw people from outside of Atlantic who may never have had the chance to enjoy it.

She said if it works out, the Student Council hopes to make it an annual event. Erin Shannon said other than for people to have fun, their goal is to raise money for the Student Council. She said they wanted to boost the “School spirit,” while at the same time boosting community spirit and raising money for Prom.

As with any walk or run event, there is a registration fee. It’s $30, which includes your registration, a commemorative bag to carry your personal items in, a t-shirt and a color packet to use at the end of the event. The run begins and ends at the Atlantic High School. Afterward, there’ll be music, snacks and when everyone is finished with their run or walk, they’ll open their color packets and throw them into the air, making for a bright, powdery rainbow. The powder is safe and washes easily from your clothes. It’s merely dyed corn starch which comes right off when you wash. Some people even water themselves down beforehand, so the powder sticks better for the culmination of the event.

Registration takes place from Sept. 1st through the 14th . Fliers will be posted around Atlantic in the days to come with more information, or follow the Atlantic Student Council on Twitter at “Atlantic StuCo.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Executives at Templeton Rye say they will change labels on bottles of their celebrated whiskey to be clear the alcohol is distilled in Indiana, not Iowa. Company President Scott Bush and Chairman Vern Underwood told The Des Moines Register the company would change its labels after the newspaper published a story in which industry experts questioned whether Templeton Rye met federal disclosure requirements.

Bush and Underwood also told the newspaper Templeton Rye was distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, using a stock recipe and not one derived from the whiskey’s prohibition era past. Since it began selling Templeton Rye in late 2005, the whiskey has been a big seller in Iowa and has emphasized its colorful history in the state.

The company is working to build an Iowa distillery.

A traffic stop early this (Friday) morning in Lenox, resulted in the arrest of a man wanted on an assault charge. Authorities says officers stopped a vehicle at around 1:15-a.m. on south Brooks Street, in Lenox.

German P. Rodriguez.

The driver, identified as 21-year old German Phillip Rodriguez, of Lenox, was known to be wanted on an arrest warrant for assault causing injury stemming from an incident that occurred on August 24th in Lenox.

Rodriguez was arrested and transported to the Taylor County Jail.

A Creston woman was arrested Thursday evening on charges of eluding and simple assault. According to Creston Police, 31-year old Erin Wallace was taken into custody at around 5:10-p.m. and later released from the Union County Jail on $1,000 bond.

A national report on climate change finds even with global warming, we’ll still have plenty of snow in the winters ahead in Iowa and across much of the country’s northern half. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says climate change is very gradual and snow blowers and shovels will remain necessities. Hillaker says the report from M-I-T didn’t exactly go out on a limb in predicting continued snowy winters for Iowa.

“When you think about it, that’s not really much of a surprise, I guess the basic mechanism on how we get snow is not going to be changing in a warmer world,” Hillaker says. “The number of opportunities may be decreasing but the storms could be just as intense but probably not as frequent as what we’ve been seeing in years past.” The Old Farmers’ Almanac forecasts the winter ahead will be colder than usual, then next summer will be hotter. The publication predicts winter temperatures, precipitation and snowfall will all be below normal, with the coldest period running from early December into the first half of January. Hillaker says it’s an extreme challenge to accurately predict the weather several months in advance.

“Certainly, not very easily and there’s lots of outfits out there like the Farmer’s Almanac and some private forecasters that attempt to do that sort of thing,” Hillaker says. “I don’t know if anyone’s attempted any kind of study of how accurate those prognostications are, but certainly it’s very, very difficult and we’ve got a long ways to go in those longer-range outlooks.” While scientific advancements are making forecasts more on-target, Hillaker says no one can really predict now, at summer’s end, what the weather will be this winter.

“Certainly, the day-by-day forecasts, out a week or two, have gotten far, far better than they used to be just in the last 20 or 30 years, tremendous improvements,” Hillaker says. “On that longer range, say from 30 days on out, there’s some skill there, but still a lot of guess work.” The M-I-T study predicts some regions will see less snowfall, but the snowfall extremes may actually intensify. Hillaker notes, Iowa’s had above-average snowfall in seven of the past eight winters.

(Radio Iowa)

Cass County Engineer Charles Marker, today (Friday), provided the Board of Supervisors with an update on various county Secondary Roads Department projects. Marker said motorists on Interstate 80 in Cass County can expect to experience some detours in September. He said there was a pre-construction conference with the Iowa DOT earlier this month with regard to the I-80 bridge north of Marne (County Road M-56). A.M. Cohron is the contractor for the project.

Marker says the Interstate will be closed beginning September 8th during the overnight hours, from Sept. 8th through the 11th so the bridge deck surface can be removed. Traffic will simply be rerouted up the off ramp and back down to I-80 via the on-ramp on the other side of M-56 for the duration of the project. Motorists who normally travel north on M-56 to I-80 will need to go one-mile east on Boston Road and then north under the Interstate, and then back west in order to head toward Omaha, or, they may travel to the Walnut or Elk Horn exits to get back on the Interstate.

Other bridge projects include those involving deck patching. DENCO Construction has already completed one of the projects, located by “The Valley” across the Nishnabotna River. One of the nine projects planned has been dropped for now. That’s because the level of repair was more extensive then first thought, so the affected bridge deck is slated for replacement at a later date. Other work is set to begin along County Road N-28. Marker said bid-letting on the Landfill Bridge will take place in October, with work slated to begin Aug. 3rd, 2015.

And, Marker said a twin concrete box culvert north of the Marne Cemetery is finished, with only the dirt finishing work remaining.

w/ Ric Hanson

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The firing of a Des Moines woman who became an internet sensation for her drunken frolic in a fountain at a Kansas City Royals baseball game last summer has become the center of a dispute over Iowa Workforce Development unemployment judge independence.

Former unemployment appeals judge Bonny Hendricksmeyer says IWD Director Teresa Wahlert pushed her to justify her ruling in awarding the “fountain lady” unemployment benefits. Hendricksmeyer says she felt pressured by Wahlert after concluding Jessica McCoy was acting outside work responsibilities when she drunkenly waded into the Kauffman Stadium fountain a year ago and was later fired.

The issue is important because Wahlert, a political appointee, has taken over supervision of judges that decide unemployment benefit appeals cases. Federal regulations require judges to be insulated from political pressure.

Police in Red Oak, Thursday night, arrested a man wanted on a warrant out of Missouri. Officers observed 31-year old Bryan David Sapp, Jr., of Red Oak, at around 9-p.m. in the 300 block of north 2nd Street. The officers were aware a warrant for his arrest on a charge of Failure to Appear in court, on an original charge of Obstruction. The warrant was issued in Lees Summitt, MO.

Red Oak police officers made contact with Sapp and validated the warrant before taking him into custody and transporting him to the Montgomery County Jail. Sapp, Jr. was being held without bond, pending extradition to to Missouri.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Some lawsuits with less than $75,000 at stake will move through Iowa’s court system faster under new rules designed to cut the time and costs needed to resolve those disputes. The Iowa Supreme Court announced Thursday a set of new rules that will allow plaintiffs in smaller-value disputes to use an expedite process in which cases must be tried within a year. The rules limit the motions that can be filed before trial and give attorneys a maximum of six hours to present the facts of their side of the case to six-member juries.

Other rules pertaining to all civil cases will require litigants to disclose information to each other sooner. Justice Edward Mansfield says “people with valid legal claims were being priced out of our civil justice system.