The Cass County Board of Supervisors will hold their regular weekly meeting, beginning at 8:30-a.m, Friday. During their session in the Board Room at the Cass County Courthouse, the Board will act on approving:

A tax suspension for a parcel of land in Section 5 of Bear Grove Township; An Assignment of Tax Sale Certificate for an 11-foot wide section of land in lots 1 and 5, Meredith’s Addition, in Lewis; An Abatement of tax for properties owned by the City Atlantic at 611 Linn, 1200 Birch and 1106 Poplar Streets, and Atlantic Municipal Airport buildings and land in Washington Township.

The Supervisors will also hear regular reports from the Cass County Engineer and Mental Health/General Assistance Coordinator.

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) – Retiring Des Moines Police Chief Judy Bradshaw isn’t done working yet. The Iowa Law Enforcement Academy announced Thursday that Bradshaw will become the assistant director Oct. 6 after she ends a 34-year tenure with the Des Moines Police Department.

Bradshaw will replace Mike Quinn, who was fired in June after female cadets and workers complained that he behaved inappropriately. Some have alleged the academy has a hostile environment for women.
Academy Director Arlen Ciechanowski says Bradshaw “brings an incredible wealth of law enforcement knowledge” to the academy, which trains Iowa police officers, jailers and dispatchers.

The 55-year-old Bradshaw says she’s eager to “share what I’ve learned in my career with Iowa’s future law enforcement leaders.”

A business in Shelby County has donated a building to help create a new alternative high school program for AHST-W students. The Daily NonPareil reports VCM LCC, a subsidiary of Nishnabotna Valley REC of Harlan, donated a 10,000-square-foot building at 919 N. Chestnut St. to the school district last week, which will open its doors for a new program to help students at risk of not graduating earn their high-school diploma.

Superintendent Jesse Ulrich said that Thursday was the first day for the new Viking Excel program, which will serve 10 students in 10th through 12th grades with an additional five or so students anticipated by the end of the year.

The AHST Community School District serves the communities of Avoca, Hancock, Shelby and Tennant, as well as secondary students from the Walnut Community School District through whole-grade sharing. Ulrich said Walnut had sent alternative students to programs in Atlantic and Council Bluffs, but AHST had left them in the mainstream high school program.

Creating an alternative program moved to the top of the district’s to-do list after an evaluation of the AHST programs focused on addressing the number of dropouts. Ulrich said the at-risk students were not being given learning opportunities to meet their needs. The new program will blend online learning with support from a teacher and an administrative assistant for about half of the school day.

The district received the building for free after inquiring about purchasing it from VCM. AHST couldn’t afford the original price, but the company came back and offered the building, which has been vacant for about four years after being leased to a telemarketing firm with about 150 employees.
Records from the Pottawattamie County Assessor’s Office show the property’s assessed value at $275,600.

Ulrich said an appraisal is being completed before the deed is transferred, which may require a couple months to complete. AHST hopes to use the remaining space for economic development in Avoca, while continuing to make its facilities a regional hub for education.

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The Audubon City Council will hold a special meeting tonight to approve a remediation plan set forth by the Iowa Public Information Board, in light of the Council’s violation of Open Meetings and Open Records Laws. During the 7-p.m. meeting, the Council is expected to read the agreement, and vote on approval. If approved, the agreement will be signed and returned to the IPIB and the Council will continue to implement the plan with regard to areas that may not already been addressed.

A copy of the remediation plan is available on the Audubon City Council’s website.

(a PDF copy of the plan can be found here: http://www.auduboncounty.com/webres/File/city-agendas-minutes/08-28-14/IPIB%20Remediation%20Plan.pdf )

One person was injured during a collision Wednesday evening, in Council Bluffs. According to Bluffs Police, 21-year old Nathan Maxwell Hall, of Council Bluffs, was transported to Creighton Medical Center in Omaha for treatment of possible, unknown injuries, after his 2007 Pontiac Vibe was hit at a high rate of speed by a 2001 Volvo driven by 21-year old Matthew Howell, of Council Bluffs.

Officials say Howell’s car had been involved in a hit-and-run accident near 29th and Broadway before fleeing north on 29th at speeds of about 60-to 70-miles per hour. A witness said the car “blew through the stop sign” at the intersection of 29th and Avenue B at around 6:10-p.m. at speeds estimated at 70-to 80-mph, and collided with Hall’s Pontiac.

After the initial impact, the Volvo went airborne and hit a power pole. The car then spun around while airborne, and landed on a legally parked, unoccupied 1994 Saturn. A small fire that started in the engine compartment of the Volvo was quickly extinguished by local residents.

Howell and a passenger in his car were trapped in the vehicle, but were extricated and transported to Creighton Hospital, along with Nathan Hall. Damage from the crash amounted to $16,000.

The Mentor in Violence Prevention program is teaching Iowa high school and college students how to prevent sexual assault. M-V-P coaches the students to intercede when they recognize signs of looming sexual violence. Iowa State University student Tucker Carrell participated in M-V-P while in high school and says sometimes it’s hard to speak up, but it’s important to act.

“I know one of the biggest things that we consistently talked about and that I really took from this whole program was just listening to things happen, being that bystander,” Carrell says. “It really almost hurts you more and affects you more because you hang on to that and you remember that as well as letting you know whoever is committing some kind of action or harmful act know that’s okay or think that is okay.”

A recent study found one in five women are sexually assaulted while in college. Alan Heisterkamp, director of the Mentors in Violence Prevention Leadership Institute, says silence in the face of disrespect or assault condones sexual violence, so the program teaches bystander intervention.

Heisterkamp says, “You may think that it’s wrong but if we speak out or respond in a way to correct the behavior, often times the abuse or the inappropriate comments can come back on me because the culture of that system doesn’t support those prosocial behaviors.” Carrell and Heisterkamp made their comments on the Iowa Public Radio program, “River to River.”

(Radio Iowa)

Republican Congressman Steve King says the reaction will be “politically nuclear” if President Obama bypasses congress and issues an executive order granting some sort of legal status to illegal immigrants. “First, the president has no constitutional authority to make up laws as he wishes they would be, but he threatens to do so anyway,” King says. “…If the president does this and five to nine or more million people get a ‘you are now legal’ slip from the president of the United States, that throws us into an instantaneous constitutional crisis.”

Congress faces another deadline in September to approve a federal budget or pass a stop-gap measure to avoid a government shutdown. King says those discussions may break down if President Obama uses an executive order on immigration policy. “This would be the most blatantly unconstitutional act by any president of the United States ever if he does what his trial balloons and his own threats have promised to do,” King says. “And so, as the intensity of that gets closer and closer, it’s more and more likely that something like that will happen.”

Reports indicate President Obama is considering executive action that would make more undocumented immigrants eligible for green cards and place more people on the “deferred action” list, so deportation proceedings are delayed. White House spokesman Josh Earnest says it “would be a shame” if Republicans in congress decide to shut down the government over the immigration issue.

(Radio Iowa)

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON TODAY (8/28) FOR ALL OF THE COUNTIES IN THE KJAN LISTENING AREA. 

Flash Flood Watch for counties shown in green.

WIDESPREAD RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS UP TO 3 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT THROUGH MIDDAY THURSDAY. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE EFFICIENT RAIN PRODUCERS…MEANING THE ENVIRONMENT IS SUITED FOR RAINFALL RATES IN EXCESS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR AT TIMES.

WITH THE ANTICIPATED RAINFALL RATES ON TOP OF AN ALREADY VERY SATURATED GROUND…A FLASH FLOOD COULD OCCUR IN A VERY SHORT TIME FRAME AND IS ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS AT NIGHT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS BE ISSUED.