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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce invites area residents to enjoy the lighted parade on Saturday, December 1st, through downtown Atlantic. The parade is an annual tradition and competition. For many years the parade theme has been “Just Believe.” The judges’ favorite float is awarded a two-foot traveling trophy and year-long bragging rights. The top three floats receive AtlantiCash prizes. Past parade winners include Heritage House, Red Oak Fire Department, Optimist Club of Atlantic, and Richter & Son Towing.
Entry forms can be submitted just prior to the parade to officials at the corner of 6th & Chestnut. Line-up will be on Walnut Street by 5:45 p.m. The parade starts with a bang at 6 p.m. as fireworks are set off above the Rock Island Depot. Led by the Scrooge Contest winner, the parade will proceed up Chestnut Street starting at 6th Street.
Other activities planned
Many family-oriented activities will take place before and during the parade starting off in the morning with a 5K Jingle Jog by the YMCA at 8 a.m.
The BPO DOES Cookie and Candy Walk will be from 9 a.m. to noon. at the Elks Lodge (6th and Poplar streets) through the bottom northwest door.
The Festival of Trees will be open for viewing at the Catholic Parish Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Santa will be in the Atlantic Rotary Club’s cabin in City Park under the newly-lit trees from 3 to 5 p.m.
Free horse-drawn wagon rides will trot through town from 3 to 5 p.m. starting at the north end of City Park. The rides are sponsored by First Whitney Bank, Wells Fargo, Atlantic Animal Health Center, and Audiological Services of Iowa.
A mainstay of hometown holiday celebrations, living windows will be featured throughout the downtown area from 5 to 6 p.m.
The Lullabye Foundation’s Bedtime Stories with Santa’s Helpers will also be from 5 to 6 p.m. at 405 Chestnut Street.
From soup to cider, spectators will find refreshments offered along Chestnut Street before the parade by several community organizations.
All of Atlantic’s holiday activities can be found on ChristmasinAtlantic.com. Events can be submitted to the calendar by e-mailing chamber@atlanticiowa.com.
The Walnut School District’s Board of Education is expected to decide during their meeting tonight, on whether or not to approve a proposed Charter School in the community. Public meetings on the matter have already been held, and during the Board’s meeting on November 12th, they discussed, but took no action on the Charter School application, pending review from the State Attorney’s Office.
If the board approves, the application will be sent on to the State Board of Education for their decision. A Charter School Committee, comprised of group of parents, a school district member and a community member, had first asked the School Board to consider the proposal for a K-through 12 Charter School as an option for their students, during a meeting on October 8th. Tonight’s Board meeting begins at 6:30-p.m.
No injuries were reported after a pickup struck a storage/utility building Sunday, in Montgomery County. Sheriff’s officials say a 1994 Chevy pickup owned and operated by Daniel Larsen, of Villisca, was backing out of the driveway from his residence, when the brakes failed. The truck hit storage-type building, causing an estimated $500 damage. The owner of the structure had not yet been identified, because they weren’t home at the time the accident occurred, and during the subsequent investigation. The accident happened in the alley in the 100 block of East 5th Street, in Villisca. No citations were issued.
A public hearing is set to take place December 3rd in Atlantic, with regard to proposed water and electric rate increases. Officials with Atlantic Municipal Utilities (AMU) are proposing a 7.5-percent increase in electricity rate, and a 10-percent water rate increase. If approved, the rates would add on-average, about seven-dollars per month to AMU residential customers’ bills.
The average monthly increase for residential electric customers in Atlantic would amount to about $4.50, while AMU’s rural electric customers would see a $7.50 increase. Residential water bills would increase by an average of $2.10 per month, under the proposed rate increases. The utilities’ commercial customers would see their electric bills increase $17.25 per month, while the water bill would go up by about $7.20 per month, under the proposal. The proposed rates would go into effect with all customer billings dated Feb. 1st, 2013.
AMU says the proposed increases in electric rates are the result of increased costs the utility pays for wholesale power, 75-percent of which is supplied by AMU’s ownership in a coal-fired power plant in Council Bluffs. 20-percent of their power is Hydro-generate, and derived from the Western Area Power Administration. 5-percent is purchased from a Wholesale energy provider. Costs to run coal-fired power plants have exceeded $5-million dollars, according to AMU, due to Environmental compliance regulations. Additional regulations are expected to result in another $1-million in capital costs for the coal-powered industry over the next three-years. Another factor contributing to the increased cost of wholesale electricity, is increases in costs to transport coal.
AMU says the proposed water rate increases are the result of inadequate cash flow needed to meet aging infrastructure and debt obligation requirements. A public meeting on the proposed changes will take place 5:30-p.m. Monday, Dec. 3rd, in the Atlantic Municipal Utility’s Business Office.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A national greyhound protection organization says greyhounds sustained 175 injuries while racing at Iowa’s two racetracks between January 2011 and July 2012, and 24 of the dogs had to be euthanized. The Des Moines Register reports that broken legs were the most common reported injury over the 19-month period at the tracks in Council Bluffs and Dubuque. Other common injuries were sprains, tears and other broken bones. The group says several dogs suffered more severe injuries, including a fractured skull and a broken neck.
The report was compiled from records gathered by Grey2K USA, based in Somerville, Mass. The research found that the Council Bluffs track, which has races year-round, had 106 dog injuries, while the Dubuque track, which offers races between April and October, had 69 injuries.
Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Hal Trosky Junior, who briefly played in the major leagues and was the son of the late Cleveland Indians great Hal Trosky Senior, has died. He was 76. Mike Trosky, the younger Trosky’s son, says his father died Friday at a hospice house in Hiawatha after being diagnosed with lung cancer in August.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A 42-year-old Nebraska man has died after his pickup crashed into a light pole and rolled in western Iowa. Christopher Thacker of Bellevue, Nebraska crashed early Saturday at the intersection of Interstates 29 and 80 in Council Bluffs. Police says Thacker was thrown from the truck and pronounced dead at the scene. Police say Thacker was the only person in the truck.
FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) — An historic Fort Madison hotel building has burned to the ground, and the flames claimed two businesses housed in the building. Davenport television station KWQC reports that the fire broke out around 4 a.m. Saturday, and flames quickly engulfed the old Metropolitan Hotel, which housed a book store and a computer repair company.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A national greyhound protection organization says greyhounds sustained 175 injuries while racing at Iowa’s two racetracks between January 2011 and July 2012, and 24 of the dogs had to be euthanized. The Des Moines Register reports that broken legs were the most common reported injury over the 19-month period at the tracks in Council Bluffs and Dubuque.
DENVER, Iowa (AP) — Farmland sales are happening at a brisk pace this fall partly because farmers are worried about the tax increases that may take effect January 1st if Congress can’t address the fiscal cliff. The worries about possible increases in capital gains and estate taxes are adding to the normally busy time for farmland sales after harvest in Iowa and Nebraska. Des Moines lawyer Bill Hannigan of the Davis Brown firm tells the Des Moines Register that anyone thinking of selling farmland should do so before the end of 2012.
Jim Hain, vice president of agricultural sales for Omaha-based Lund Company says his firm is the busiest it has been with farmland sales. He says the possible tax law changes and the current high prices have prompted more people to sell.
While authorities have declined to release the name of the teen killed in an Adams County crash Friday morning, a local funeral home has identified the victim. The Powers Funeral Home website says 16-year old Dalton Hribal, of Creston,died from injuries he suffered in the crash near Prescott, at around 8-a.m. Friday.
Dalton Hribal (Powers Funeral Home photo)
Hribal was a passenger in a Honda mini-van driven by an as-yet still unidentified 17-year old. The driver was transported to the hospital in Corning. The teens were not wearing their seat belts when the van crested a hill on a gravel road, went out of control and rolled, ejected Hribal, who died at the scene.
The funeral home says Dalton is the son of Christy Ann (Lowe) Hribal and Shane Joseph Hribal. He was educated in Creston School system, where he was active in wrestling and football. His sister MyKenna is in the 7th grade at the Creston Middle School. Dalton also worked at Fareway grocery store in Creston. Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday, November 28, 2012 at Creston High School Gymnasium in Creston.
(Additional funeral information can be found at: www.powersfh.com)
A pair of studies done this year and in 2010 found the number of Iowans diagnosed with cataracts rose by five-percent in just those two years. Ophthalmologist Dr. Bonnie An Henderson says she doesn’t think there’s been any sort of outbreak that’s causing the lenses in Iowans’ eyes to cloud over. “People are living longer, they’re healthier, they’re more active,” Dr. Henderson says. “They are noticing that they’re having more symptoms earlier on and they may be having eye exams earlier and therefore, they’re being diagnosed with cataracts. I think the increase in diagnosis is one of the main causes why you’re seeing a higher statistic.”
While many perceive cataracts as being a disease that only afflicts the elderly, it can often appear in people as young as their 40s. Eating carrots or wearing sunglasses won’t have any impact either as there’s no way to prevent it, Henderson says, it’s just a part of aging. “People worry that if they’re looking at their computer, which, everyone now stares at their computer all day, they’re worried that looking at their computer increases the risk of developing a cataract and that’s just not true,” Henderson says. “Staring at the computer may be hard on your eyes for eye strain or dry eyes or headaches, but it does not cause cataract formation.”
After significant advances over the years, the surgery to have a cloudy, cataract-laden lens removed is now about a ten-minute procedure. Plus, Henderson says, the new lens that’s implanted can be modified to correct a patient’s other vision problems. “That lens actually decreases a patient’s dependence on glasses both for distance and for reading and there’s another lens for people who have astigmatism,” Henderson says. “It’s now become more of a refractive procedure as well as a medical procedure and it really helps the overall functioning and improves the quality of life.”
The survey found 15-percent of Iowans questioned in 2010 had cataracts while the figure rose to 20-percent in 2012. Henderson says the larger study found more than half of all Americans would develop cataracts by the time they’re 80, though she believes the figure is much higher and many people just don’t have the condition diagnosed.
(Radio Iowa)
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