A $16 million renovation project at Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan, is nearing completion. The project, which started back in June of 2011, is 70% finished, and is on track to be completed by next May 2013. Barry Jacobsen, CEO of Myrtue Medical Center, says employees have been working in some of the new areas of the facility, for  the past few months. That includes the new lab department and data center. Jacobsen says their main focus has been the surgery addition, an adjacent addition, and renovation of the radiology area. Those areas are near completion and should be done by late November.

Jacobsen says once those areas are open and equipment moved, patients will be able to use the facilities on January 1^st. The construction crews meanwhile, are continuing to work on the south patient parking lot as well and are on schedule to be completed in the next two weeks. He says once the surgery and outpatient clinics have relocated, crews will start working on the 2^nd floor. Work on the new business offices, respiratory therapy and sleep study rooms, is expected to begin in January.

A small addition has also been added on the north side as well as parking. Once the project is complete the Auble conference room will be on the north side for meetings. Jacobsen says one of the main corridors of the hospital has re-opened, and although the project isn’t expected to be completed until May of 2013, Jacobsen says the hospital is planning an open house towards the end of this year. The open house is likely to take place sometime this December.

(Joel McCall)

Shelby County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert said today (Thursday), rainfall amounting to at least 1.8-inches across parts of the County has lessened the danger of Extreme fire behavior, at least for the short term. Seivert says area fire stations and others with Fire Danger signs can move them from “Extreme,” back into the “High” category, through this weekend. Another update is expected on Monday.

w/ Ric Hanson

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Arrests have been made in back-to-back robberies of a western Iowa store in which the clerk was repeatedly shocked with a stun gun. Police in Omaha arrested 18-year-old D’Jay Betts on Tuesday and 22-year-old Loyal Brown on Wednesday. Both men live in Omaha.

Police say Betts and another man entered Exotic Gifts in Council Bluffs on Aug. 24th, and that Betts repeatedly attacked the store’s clerk with a stun gun while the other man stole merchandise. Betts and Brown are accused of returning to the store five days later, with Betts again attacking the same clerk with a stun gun while Brown took merchandise and money.  Betts and Brown remained in an Omaha jail this (Thursday) morning.

The City Council in Adair has voted to begin the search for a new Police Officer. The decision came during a meeting Wednesday night, and follows the recent firing of Lt. Josephine Weston, and the resignation of Police Chief Bob Koeneman. City officials have declined to release any details concerning the departures of the two law enforcement officials.

The City will begin advertising for the position in the Des Moines Register, Omaha World Herald and locally, soon. The person hired for the job will be required to live in Adair. Until that person is hired, deputies with the Guthrie and Adair County Sheriff’s Offices will continue to patrol the city of Adair.

Officials with Artistsignal.com, a digital distribution platform for artists, bands, and record labels, have announced two bands, one from Minnesota, the other from Iowa, has received $25,000 each, following a vote-driven, internet contest. “Crankshaft and the Geargrinders,” from Minnesota, and “Randy Burk and the Prisoners” from Iowa were announced as the winners of the contest, during which  fans could cast a vote every hour for 90-days.  Originally, there was only one $25,000 top prize designed to help an artist or band, jumpstart their career, but the online venue decided the top two musicians receiving votes would each receive the big prize.

Randy Burk and the Prisoners, whose lead singer is Atlantic native Randy Burk, will use  their prize money to record a new album at Iowa recording studio, The Sonic Factory. In a press release, the 39-year old Burk said “We could record anywhere in the country and have great contacts in Nashville and California, but think it’s important to keep the money here, rooted to the fans and community that supported us in this contest, helped us win, and support us everyday.”

Rainfall over the Atlantic area for the past 24-hours (7-a.m. Wednesday through 7-a.m. Thursday) amounted to 1.12-inches. That’s still three-inches less than average for September, with a little more than two-weeks remaining in the month. Total precipitation so far this year in Atlantic (Jan. 1st through August 31st), was 17.36-inches, which was 4.8-inches below the normal average. Excluding the 24-hour period which ends at 7-a.m. today, there have been only three other times this year that we’ve received rain exceeding one-inch: August 25th (1.86″); June 23rd (1.18″); and April 14th (2.35″).

Other rainfall amounts reported this morning include: 2.25″ in Oakland; 1.85″ in Harlan; 1.8″ in Audubon; 1.72″ in Irwin; 1.5″ at “The Valley” (Highway 71/I-80 in Cass County); 1.45″ in Carroll;  1.44″ near Avoca; 78″ in Exira; 77″ in Massena. Other rainfall across southwest Iowa ranged from .9″ in Shenandoah to 1.2″ near Emerson.

Tobacco retailers on the Iowa side of the Missouri River could see a big boost in business as Omaha leaders consider a new cigarette tax. The proposal would add 35-cents per pack to the cost of cigarettes sold in Omaha, which Omaha Tobacco Outlet owner Bob Wagner fears will send his store’s profits into the ashtray. “Any tax is horrible,” Wagner says. “My customers are so price-conscious, if they can get a carton from a competitor of mine who is three miles down the road, I’m going to be hard-pressed.” Omaha leaders are considering the cigarette tax hike as a way to help pay for the construction of a new cancer treatment and research center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. It could create 12-hundred jobs by 2020.

If the cigarette tax hike passes, Wagner guesses many Omaha smokers will make the short trip across the bridge to Council Bluffs to buy their cartons. “Certainly everybody wants jobs, but if this passes, at a minimum I’m probably going to have to let go of two people and then pray that I can keep my doors open,” Wagner says. He says a 64-cent per pack cigarette tax hike was first suggested, but that was cut to 35-cents a pack. He hopes the proposal will be defeated, but is worried.

“This is a direct hit, a gut punch to the blue collar workers in the city of Omaha,” he says. “You’re going to gut check them and then strap this tax to their backs and ride it all the way home. This is absolutely unbelievable.” Omaha is being asked to put up 40-million dollars for the cancer center. Construction could begin on the 323-million dollar facility next year, with opening in 2016. The city’s tax on bars and restaurants that was implemented a few years ago generates about 25-million dollars a year.

(Radio Iowa)

A crash involving a semi tractor-trailer on Interstate 80 in Adair County, blocked the eastbound lanes of traffic for nearly two-hours early this (Thursday) morning. The Iowa DOT says the accident happened on I-80 eastbound near exit 83, sometime after midnight. Both eastbound lanes of traffic were blocked until around 2:20-a.m. No other details are currently available.