w/ Ric Hanson

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The Atlantic School Board Monday, discussed, but did not take action on a possible change in the way Driver’s Education is taught in the District. Drivers’ Ed is currently only available during the summer, but Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein said with the trend in other area districts being to contract-out the service of Driver’s Ed instructor, it’s appropriate that Atlantic consider doing the same thing, because of the cost saving it would provide. That includes the areas of FICA and IPERS on the salaries the district pays, and wear and tear on the vehicles the district provides for the training.

Amstein says the district can realize a considerable savings by contracting-out the service, and potentially, offer the classes during the early Fall and Spring semesters, as well. They would be designed so as to not interfere with daily instruction.

The district currently pays about $25,000 in salaries and benefits for the Driver’s Ed instructors, along with the price of gasoline and wear and tear on vehicles. This past summer, there were more than 100 students taking Driver’s Ed in two class periods. Atlantic Activities Director Josh Rasmussen said smaller class sizes of about 20 or so would be a better learning environment for those students, instead of 50-per class.

The school would still collect money from the students for the classes. It would not be paid directly to the company or person providing the training. If the district decides to contract-out for those services, the earliest it would take effect would be the summer of 2013. Amstein said if a contract is worked out, it could also be an option in-place for the fall of 2013 and Spring of 2014.

Authorities in Montgomery County says three-people were transported to the hospital following a two-vehicle accident Monday afternoon. According to the Red Oak Police Department, both drivers and an infant passenger in one of the vehicles suffered non-life threatening injuries during the crash, which occurred a little after 3:30-p.m.

Officials say a vehicle driven by 32-year-old Peggy Sue Gurney, of Red Oak was hit at the intersection of East Corning and North 2^nd Street, as Gurney was traveling east on Corning, and 87-year-old Howard Austin McClelland, of Villisca, as McClelland was traveling west. Gurney, her infant son and McClelland were injured in the crash.

Officers cited McClelland for having no proof of insurance, failure to wear a seatbelt, and unsafe turning.

Police in Red Oak say a Malvern woman was arrested Monday on assault charges. Officials say 24-year-old Tonisha Christina O’Meara was taken into custody for allegedly assaulting separately, police and corrections officers. O’Meara was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

The Atlantic Board of Education, Monday, approved the assignment of Level 1 Investigators for the school district. Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein explained what a Level 1 Investigator is responsible for. He said they look into allegations against a building employee, in the areas of “inappropriate behavior,” or possible abuse. Amstein their findings are reported to his office, and if the allegations are deemed credible, he will make contact with the proper authorities, based on the findings the investigation. He said it’s a “self check” in each of the district’s buildings, to make sure there is no abuse going on, and that there are “qualified folks” to conduct the investigation.

If there is a conflict of interest, a separate investigator will be used from another one of the districts’ schools. The advantage of having multiple investigators, according to Amstein, is that depending on the situation, the district has the option of using a man or woman, depending on the allegation.

Currently, each of the schools in the District with the exception of the Atlantic Middle School, has one Level 1 investigator per building. On-line training is available for persons to be certified as a Level 1 investigator. Approval of those internal investigators is an annual occurrence required by the Board.

Wondering where your new polling site may be on Election Day? Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz says there’s now an “app” for that. “We’ve been working on this for the last six to eight months,” Schultz says. “Now it’s available on iPad, iPhone and Android.” Beyond finding your polling place, the new “app” helps Iowans register to vote, ask for an absentee ballot — and even track that absentee ballot once they’ve mailed it.  “You can check right on your phone to see if your absentee ballot’s been received by your (county) auditor,” Schultz says. Download the app, for free, in the Apple App Store or in the Google Play Market. “It’s a comprehensive app that is really a first of its kind, I think, in the country,” Schultz says.

He hopes to add new features for future elections, allowing people to follow real-time Election Night results via their smart phone or tablet. “More and more people are using tablets and smart phones. I mean, I don’t even use a computer much anymore. I use my tablet more than anything,” Schultz says. “I think a lot of people who use technology are going down this road and, obviously, those voters who don’t still have the general way of going to the auditor’s office and getting their absentee ballot request form and so forth, but this is a way in which we try and make it as easy and accessible as possible for voters here in Iowa.”

One of the apps lets Iowans report suspected voter fraud. Schultz, a Republican, reviewed Iowa D-O-T lists earlier this year and discovered almost 34-hundred people had registered to vote when they got their driver’s license or photo I.D., but were not eligible to vote. Schultz wants to check that list against a federal database, but the effort has been challenged in court. A lone Division of Criminal Investigation agent is combing through the list, however, and so far five people have been charged with voter fraud.

(Radio Iowa)

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have been very publicly voicing their support of the four Iowa Republicans who’re running for congress. On September 7th when Mitt Romney was speaking at a rally in Orange City, he pointed to Steve King — currently a congressman from northwest Iowa. “I’m looking here at Steve King,” Romney said. “This man needs to be your congressman again. I want him as my partner in Washington, D.C.” The Republican congressional candidate in northeast Iowa — introduced Paul Ryan at a rally October 1st in Dubuque. “How about Ben Lange, huh?” Ryan said immediately after getting the microphone. “We’ve got to send this guy to represent us.”

John Archer, the G-O-P congressional candidate in the southeast quadrant of the state, got a similar shout-out from Ryan at a rally in Burlington last Tuesday.”That guy’s going to be your next congressman,” Ryan said of Archer. “Make sure it happens, all right?” And when Mitt Romney rallies with Republicans on a farm near Van Meter Tuesday, Republican Congressman Tom Latham will be there. Nick Ryan ran former Iowa Congressman Jim Nussle’s campaigns in 2000, 2002 and 2004 and he says there’s “no question” the competitive presidential race has been a factor in this year’s Iowa congressional races. But Ryan sees a reverse benefit as well.

“When you have strong congressional candidates working with a strong presidential campaign, good things are able to happen,” Ryan says. Ryan says all four Republican congressional candidates — two incumbents and two challengers — have all amassed valuable lists of volunteers in each of the four districts.This past Saturday’s statewide get-out-the-vote effort by Republicans — to benefit all the G-O-P candidates on the November ballot — is a case in point. “I’ve seen numbers that compare 2008 volunteer activity — phone call activity and door-knocking activity — to 2012 and our voter contacts in 2012 far out-pace what they did in 2008,” Ryan says. ”

Regardless of how it’s working, it’s working very well.” Latham’s congressional campaign is renting office space in Urbandale to the Romney campaign, but James Carstensen, a spokesman for Latham, downplays the idea there’s a strong connection with the Romney camp. “As far as running campaigns together, we just don’t,” Carstensen says. Carstensen says Latham believes if he runs a “strong, independent” campaign, it will benefit Republicans up and down the ticket.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

Health officials around the country are trying to track down patients who may have received a deadly dose of steroids used to treat back pain — but not here — as state epidemiologist Patricia Quinlisk says none of the material reached Iowa. “What the C-D-C is recommending at this time is to contact the people providers, health care, clinics who received one of those three lots and working with them contact all the patients who may have received one of the three lots. Since we never received any of the three lots we have not had to do that,” Quinlisk explains.

Dr. Quinlisk says the Massachusetts company has recalled not just the contaminated steroid, but every product on its shelves just to be safe. “There may be some of the things on that list that did make it to Iowa but its being recalled out of a total abundance of caution. It’s not even been something that’s been forced upon them, this pharmacy just doesn’t want to take any chances and is recalling everything,” she explains. At least seven people have died and dozens more are became ill from a rare form of meningitis linked to the steroids.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

U-S Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stood on a portion of a roughly 200-acre plot of land located near the Cass/Pottawattamie County line Monday afternoon, to announce a plan to extend the Conservation Reserve Program, in an effort to continue to conserve and restore wildlife and their habitats, especially the pheasant population.

US Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack speaks with property manager Gary Matters, Monday afternoon, near the Cass/Pottawattamie County line. (Ric Hanson photo)

The move comes in cooperation with Pheasants Forever, the Nature Conservancy, and other, similar groups and is being developed under the SAFE, or State Acres for wildlife Enhancement, Program. In March, Vilsack announced the USDA’s goal of enrolling One-million acres in a new CRP grasslands and wetlands initiative, through continuous signups.

Vilsack said Monday, the USDA is committed to adding 400,000 CRP state acres across the country, with a number of states having additional acres allocated under SAFE. About 20 states he says, will be able to add up to 280-thousand acres for all projects. In Iowa, 50,000 additional acres will be added to SAFE, that are directly related to pheasants’ habitat initiative, to try and increase significantly, the pheasant population.  He says in Nebraska, they’ll be adding acres to existing programs, instead of new acres, under SAFE.

That includes 74-hundred acres to the Prairie Chicken effort, which will add to the 21-thousand acres currently enrolled in the program in eastern Nebraska, and another 22-thousand acres will be added to the 31-thousand allocated acres for the Upland Bird Habitat Initiative. SAFE is currently capped at 1.25-million acres, nationally. Acres are allocated across 97 SAFE projects in 36 states and Puerto Rico. The Ag Secretary said sign-up for the additional CRP acreages won’t be possible, however, until after Congress, and more specifically, House of Representatives, has finished its work on the Farm Bill.

He says by connecting and educating people about the “economic driver” that conservation and outdoor recreation is, officials hope once Congress returns after the election, that they finish the work they started. Vilsack was asked if it was “Fair,” to hold a press conference in a swing state like Iowa, less than a month before the election, in a contested location for the Iowa House of Representatives. Vilsack was also asked if this was a role for the USDA, or an attempt to sway voters. He said Iowa is number one in the country in filter strips, number one in grassland reserve areas, and one of the leading conservation and CRP states, as well as wetland reserve states. Therefore, he said, it is “Appropriate and necessary, at the beginning of hunting season, to talk about habitat, to educate people about the link between habitat and conservation, and economic development and jobs.

Vilsack his stop was all about the SAFE Program, something he’s been working on all year long, and for the past four-years. He said in Iowa, about $3-billion dollars worth of sales and economic activity is associated with conservation and outdoor recreation. He says that generates $700-million for state and local governments, and helps to employ nearly 31-thousand people. The land Vilsack spoke on Monday, is managed by Gary Matters, of Council Bluffs. It’s owned by his father, Fred Matters, who is retired, and lives in Urbandale.