(Atlantic, Iowa)  – Coca-Cola Days 2023 will be held September 22nd & 23rd in Atlantic. The event is the second largest collectors’ show in the United States and includes a tailgate barbecue open to the public, a Show, Swap & Sell, Coca-Cola themed raffle and many more activities for all ages. This year’s featured theme is, “Coca-Cola Days…An Iowa Classic” and will be held at the Cass County Community Center.

T-Shirts for the 2023 Coca-Cola Days celebration are now available for $20 at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, 102 Chestnut Street, from 8 AM – 5 PM, Monday – Thursday: Friday 8 AM-3PM. The T-shirts are a District Tee with a soft, polyester and cotton blend. T-shirts can be shipped for an additional fee.

Left to Right: Kurt Roberts, Bailey Smith, Kelsey Beschorner, Dolly Bergmann, Kathie Hockenberry, Jolene Roecker. (Photo courtesy the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce)

For more information on Coca-Cola Days, please visit www.atlanticiowa.com, call the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce at 712-243-3017, email chamber@atlanticiowa.com, or pick up a brochure at the Chamber office. Coca-Cola Days is sponsored by Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company and the Atlantic Community Promotion Commission.

Cedar Falls, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety, on behalf of the Cedar Falls Police Department, say a suspect is charged in connection with a Sexual Assault that occurred last April, in Cedar Falls, and a Burglary on March 10th, in Waterloo. On Monday, May 22, 2023, the Division of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Criminalistic Laboratory was able to confirm the DNA obtained at both crime scenes matched 25-year-old Asante Walker-Garcia Adams, of North Liberty.  Adams has been charged with two counts of Sexual Assault 2nd and two counts of Burglary 1st, both Class B Felonies.

Both Agencies were assisted in the investigation and arrest by the Iowa City Police Department, Linn County Sheriff’s Office, University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Police Department, Cedar Valley CrimeStoppers, the DCI Major Crime Unit, DCI Sex Offender Registry Unit, and the DCI Criminalistics Laboratory.

Asante Walker-Garcia Adams

If you have any information you are asked to contact the Waterloo Police Detective Division 319-291-4340 #3, Cedar Falls Police 319-273- 8616, Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers 855-300-TIPS or your local law enforcement agency.

A Criminal Charge/Warrant is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Police in Council Bluffs report an arrest was made today (Wednesday), in connection with the death of a woman whose body was found in a ditch. 61-year-old Ivan Samuel Brammer, of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody on charges that include Abuse of a Corpse, and Theft in the 2nd Degree. Brammer is charged in the death of 60-year-old Ilene Gowan, of Council Bluffs.

Ivan Brammer

Authorities say that on February 15, 2023, Ilene Gowan was reported as being missing to the Council Bluffs Police Department. According to Gowan’s daughter, her mother had not been seen or heard from since February 13, 2023. Gowan’s deceased body was located on February 26, 2023, in a roadside ditch in the area of 152^nd Street and Old Mormon Bridge Road, near Crescent, Iowa. View an affidavit for the case Brammer Affidavit

On May 23, 2023, an arrest warrant application was submitted and approved, charging Ivan Brammer with the aforementioned offenses.  The investigation into the circumstances of Gowan’s death remains active. The State of Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office, after Gowan’s autopsy, indicated an unknown cause and manner of death.

Cedar Rapids, IA – Personnel with the Cedar Rapids Fire Department safely extricated a trapped private utility contractor from a trench collapse, Tuesday morning. In the social media post, the F.D. said that at approximately 9:39-a.m., Tuesday, Joint Communications Agency Dispatchers received a call for a trapped worker in the 600 block of 1st Ave SW. Rescue teams with specialized training and equipment were immediately sent to the scene. Upon arrival, a single adult male was located trapped from the waist down in a collapsed work space where he had been repairing utility lines to a nearby business.

Crews deployed shoring tools and made their way into the 8 to 10 foot-deep hole and began the process of removing the victim while preventing further collapse. The victim was conscious and able to communicate with responders as the rescue proceeded. Ultimately, the victim was removed from the trench and sent to a local hospital with unknown injuries to his lower extremities. Firefighters then cleared the work site and removed their safety equipment. Cedar Rapids Sewer employees were dispatched to the scene and used digging equipment to remove soil from the edge to prevent further collapse. Area Ambulance and Cedar Rapids Police also assisted on-scene.

Photos via the Cedar Rapids F.D. Facebook page.

Officials say “This was a significant rescue for CRFD. Rescue teams have trained annually on these types of scenarios since 1996, but this is the first time a worker has been trapped in the City limits and required this type of specialized response.”

(Radio Iowa) – Volunteers are needed once again this summer to drive around and track the bat population in the state. D-N-R wildlife diversity biologist, Stephanie Shepherd, says the volunteers record the noises bats make as the fly through the night.The D-N-R has teamed with Iowa State University for the last ten years to track the bat signals with they can use to identify the species of bats. Shepherd says the survey begins 30 minutes after sunset and takes roughly two-and-a-half hours to complete.

They are looking for volunteers in Pocahontas County, Dubuque County, two routes in Franklin County — one in southwest Franklin and one in southeast Franklin, and then southwest Marshall County. The survey routes are run in June and July.

If you might be interested in monitoring bats, go to the D-N-R web page at iowadnr.gov/vwmp to sign up.

(Red Oak, Iowa/UPDATED) – Police in Red Oak arrested three men on separate charges, Tuesday. At around 1:15-p.m., 35-year-old Travis Ray Thompson, of Red Oak, was arrested on two Red Oak Police warrants for Felony Theft in the 2nd Degree. Bond on each warrant was set at $5,000. Thompson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail.

At around 12:33-p.m., Tuesday, 38-year-old Randon Daniel Phelps, of Red Oak, was arrested on a Red Oak Police warrant for Stalking, an aggravated misdemeanor. Phelps was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.

And, Officers with the Red Oak Police Department conducted a traffic stop Tuesday, in the 700 block of N. 7th Street. As a result, Bradley Clark Perry, of Red Oak, was arrested for Driving While License Revoked, as serious misdemeanor. Bradley was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The pace of the current G-O-P presidential campaign hasn’t reached the level of the last one eight years ago, but South Carolina Senator Tim Scott entered the race yesterday (Tuesday) and will be in Sioux City today (Wednesday), plus former Vice President Mike Pence is making stops in Des Moines and Ottumwa.

Gloria Mazza, chair of Polk County Republicans, says it’s sort of like watching the candidates and potential candidates play chess right now. “You know: When do they make this move or that move?” Mazza says. Pence has said he hasn’t decided yet whether he’ll run for president, but last night at a Polk County G-O-P fundraiser Pence urged the crowd to ask hard questions of the people who are official candidates. “Men and women of Iowa, do your part. Do freedom’s work. We’ll keep you posted on our plans, I promise,” Pence said.

Bud Hockenberg, a veteran of innumerable Iowa campaigns, isn’t giving odds on how well Pence might do in the Iowa Caucuses. “I can’t speak for other people,” he said. “It’s kind of an open process and it’s quite early.” Dylan Engelbrecht, president of Drake University Republicans, says it was good to hear from Pence — but he expects to hear many other candidates on Iowa college campuses in the coming months. “We’re just welcoming everyone, no matter who they are, just to hear their ideas,” Engelbrecht says, “and that’s what the Caucuses are ultimately about.”

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says she hasn’t made a final decision on a bill to limit State Auditor Rob Sand’s access to some information, but Reynolds says Sand — the lone Democrat in statewide office — has gone too far in some of his investigations. “The constitution states that there shall be an Auditor of State and it’s the legislature’s responsibility to set what those duties are,” Reynolds says. “This doesn’t limit his access to information, but it does say that just information that he’s curious about, he doesn’t have access to that.”

The bill would prohibit the auditor from accessing things a person would expect to be kept private, like medical records or police reports. Sand says if the bill is signed into law, he’ll let the public know whenever state officials refuse to turn over records — and Sand says it will make Iowans wonder what they’re hiding. Reynolds says there’s an arbitration process in the bill that would let three people appointed by her, by Sand and by the agency involved decide if records should be turned over.

“The auditor’s office is part of the executive branch,” Reynolds says, “and I think Iowans expect the executive branch to be able to work things out.” The bill would also prevent the auditor’s office from seeking a court order to get access to documents from another statewide officeholder, like the governor, or a state agency. Sand says the bill’s arbitration process gives the governor’s office the final word on access to information because it prevents the courts from determining if any denials are justified. Reynolds says the private sector uses arbitration.

“I think it’s ridiculous, you know, if my agencies have some conflict we bring them in, we set them down and we ask them to work it out and for the first place to go or to go to the courts to have executive branch agencies competing against each other, the taxpayers have to pay for it twice,” Reynolds says, “and I just don’t think it’s unreasonable that we can’t come to some resolution through the arbitration process.”

Reynolds made her comments during a recent appearance on Iowa Press on Iowa P-B-S.

(Anita, Iowa) – Firefighters from Anita and Wiota were called to the scene of a house fire near 6th and Locust in Anita, Tuesday evening. Anita Fire Chief Eric Steffensen told KJAN News they were paged out at around 5-p.m.  When they arrived, there was heavy smoke coming from the attic.

Steffensen says the resident was able to get out of the structure with their pets. He said also, there ended-up being a lot of fire in the attic, so most of the damage came from water and smoke.

The cause of the fire remains undetermined at this time. Chief Steffensen said he wants to “Thank everyone who helped, including the Wiota Fire Department.”  Crews from Anita were on the scene until around 6:54-p.m. No injuries were reported.