(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will hold a regular, monthly meeting Wednesday. Their session in the High School Media Center begins at 5:30-p.m., and includes what we’re told is expected to be a 90-minute presentation on the Role of School Board Directors, from IASB Board Development Director LouAnn Gvist.

Later in their meeting, the Atlantic School Board will review and discuss the 2024-25 District Budget. Action items include setting the dates for Public Hearings, with regard to:

• The FY25 Certified Budget (Hearing #1)
• The 2024-25 School Calendar
• The FY 25 Budget (Hearing #2).

The Board will also act on approving the Girls Swimming Program for the Fall of 2024, and on bids for elevator repair at the Schuler Elementary School.  The next meeting of the Atlantic School Board is a work session on March 27th in the Central Office Conference Room at the Achievement Center, beginning at 5:30-p.m.

Spring Break for the Atlantic School District is March 28-29 and April 1, 2024.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A woman from Red Oak was arrested at around 8:30-p.m, Monday, on an Assault charge. Red Oak Police say 20-year-old Kaydence Reanne Fussell was taken into custody in the 400 block of E. Joy Street, and charged with Simple Assault – a Simple Misdemeanor. Fussell was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak say no injuries were reported following a collision at the intersection of Highway 34 and Broadway, Monday afternoon. The crash happened at around 4:15-p.m., when a motorcycle operated by Jarrett Ryan Maynes, of Red Oak, and an SUV driven by Kelly Jean Fort, of Stanton, collided, as the cycle was turning left to head south, and the SUV was traveling eastbound. Maynes was cited for Failure to have a valid motorcycle license. Damage to the 2006 Honda motorcycle was estimated at $3,500 (total loss). The 2024 GMC Yukon sustained approximately $4,500 damage.

(Whiting, Iowa) – One person was injured during a collision Monday night in Monona County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a car driven by 45-year-old David Martinez, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was stopped in the right-hand lane of southbound Interstate 29 at around 10:10-p.m., near mile marker 118. The vehicle did not have its lights on. A semi, driven by 53-year-old David Chumbley, of Halbur, was traveling south in the same lane.

When Chumbley saw the car, he swerved to the left to avoid striking it, but ended-up hitting the car. The collision caused the car to be pushed off of the road and into the west ditch. The semi continued south before coming to rest on the shoulder of the road.

Martinez – who was not wearing a seat belt – was flown by Wings Air Care to the UNMC in Omaha.

The Iowa State Patrol reports two people died and three others were injured in two separate crashes, Monday. The first, in Iowa County, took place at around 8:15-a.m. The Patrol says a semi was traveling east on Highway 6 Trail, when a 2006 Ford Fusion stopped, but then pulled out in front of the truck from northbound North Avenue, just east of Marengo. The semi struck the sedan on the driver’s side. One person died, two others were injured in the crash. The injured were transported to the Marengo Memorial, and UIHC Hospitals, respectively. No names were released, pending notification of family.

The second accident happened in northeast Iowa’s Butler County, at around 9:25-p.m., Monday. The Iowa State Patrol says a semi driven by 57-year-old Mark John Behrens, of Carroll, was westbound on Iowa Highway 3. A car driven by 31-year-old Brady Lee Cashatt, of Parkersburg, was traveling north on Quail Avenue in rural Clarksville. The car failed to stop at the intersection, and struck the semi on the left front side.

Following the collision, the semi rolled into the northwest ditch, and the car rolled over, coming to rest upright on the traveled portion of Highway 3.  Brady Cashatt died from his injuries. He was not wearing a seat belt. Behrens was transported to the Waverly Health Center by Allison EMS. The crash remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – A panel of lawmakers has placed a hold a proposed rule to require that Iowa casinos maintain lists of coaches, athletes and other officials who’d be barred from placing sports bets because of their involvement in college sports or fantasy sports. Representative Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids says the rule may have been spurred by the 2019 law that made it legal in Iowa to bet on sports – but it would have been unusual.

“There are 38 states that participate in sports gaming, but Iowa is the first one to request or require this list and so we’re sort of on the forefront here,” Jones says, “and I’m not sure these are waters we’re prepared to go through.” The process to block this regulation started in September, well before charges against Iowa State University athletes accused of placing illegal sports bets were dropped.

“What is problematic in this set of rules is that casinos are required to maintain a list of athletes, athletic trainers, coaches and other affiliated person or they can buy a subscription from a company that purports to do the same,” Jones says. “However, there’s only one entity that’s really doing this and their list, for instance, does not include the University of Iowa.”

Jones says it would be nearly impossible to keep an accurate, comprehensive and up-o-date list of all the sports figures that shouldn’t be betting on sporting events. “Every now and again somebody gets in a tizzie and they’re kicked off the team or there’s a suspension,” Jones says.

The legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee has used its authority to prevent the rule from taking effect until the spring of 2025. The rule would have applied to fantasy sports as well in-person sporting events. A resolution to nullify the rule altogether won House approval on a 92-to-one vote and awaits Senate action.