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Des Moines Water Works won’t appeal lawsuit dismissal

Ag/Outdoor, News

April 12th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Des Moines Water Works’ board has decided not to appeal the dismissal of the utility’s lawsuit against three counties. The lawsuit dismissed March 17 by a federal judge accused the counties of allowing agricultural drainage districts to send nitrate pollution into the rivers the utility uses for drinking water.

Water Works CEO Bill Stowe said in a news release after the board’s decision Tuesday that “central Iowa will continue to be burdened with expensive, serious and escalating water pollution problems.” The Des Moines Register reports that the board had originally agreed to spend $1.35 million to pursue the lawsuit.

Stowe says the board “views these resources would be better spent finding other avenues to pursue environmental protection rather than legal action, like trying to affect public policy through lobbying.”

Skyscan forecast & weather data for Atlantic: 4/12/17

Weather

April 12th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

Today: Partly cloudy w/scattered showers late this afternoon. High 68. S @ 10-15.

Tonight: Cloudy w/showers. Low 50. NW @ 5-10.

Tomorrow: Showers ending early; P/Cldy to Cldy. High 66. NE @ 10.

Friday/Sat.: Variably Cldy w/scatt. Shwrs & tstrms. High 70 on Friday, 74 Saturday.

Tuesday’s High in Atlantic was 64. Our 24-hour Low (ending today at 7-a.m.) will be 30. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 62 and the low was 19. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 86 in 1916. The Record Low was 13 in 1957.

ELAINE LUNDBERG, 84, of Panora (Svcs. 4/15/17)

Obituaries

April 12th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

ELAINE LUNDBERG, 84, of Panora, died Monday, April 10th, at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. Funeral services for ELAINE LUNDBERG will be held 10:30-a.m. Saturday, April 15th, at the Faith Bible Church in Panora. Twigg Funeral Home in Panora has the arrangements.

Friends may call at the Faith Bible Church in Panora on Friday, April 14th from 5-until 7-p.m., with the family present.

Burial will be in the Lost Grove Cemetery near Harcourt, IA

ELAINE LUNDBERG is survived by:

Her sons – Mark (Sherry) Lundberg, of Orange City; KYle (Laura) Lundberg, of Cedar Rapids; Bruce (Cindy) Lundberg, of Houston, TX.

Her daughters – Pam (Richard) Bouilly, of McNeal, AZ.; Brenda (Rodney) Davis, of Mingo, IA; Beth Lundberg, of Johnston.

7 grandchildren ad 6 great-grandchildren.

DONNA McCABE, 80, formerly of Guthrie Center (Svcs. 4/14/17)

Obituaries

April 12th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

DONNA McCABE, 80, of Norwalk (& formerly of Guthrie Center), died Sunday, April 9th, at the Norwalk Nursing & Rehab Center. Funeral services for DONNA McCABE will be held 1-p.m. Friday, April 14th, at the Twigg Funeral Home in Guthrie Center.

Friends may call at the funeral home 1 hour prior to the service on Friday.

Burial will be in the Monteith Cemetery in rural Guthrie Center.

DONNA McCABE is survived by:

Her husband – Richard McCabe, of Norwalk.

Her daughter – Mary (Robert) Messinger, of West Des Moines.

Her son – Terry (Donita) Barrett, of Ankeny.

Her step-daughter: Shary Sargent (& Tim Zusphann), of Council Bluffs.

Her step-son: Scott (Elaine) McCabe, of West Des Moines.

Her brother – Gary Chambers, of Des Moines.

Her sister – Lois Mace, of Norwalk.

20 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great grandchildren.

Red Oak man arrested for OWI/2nd Tue. night

News

April 12th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

A traffic stop Tuesday night in Red Oak resulted in an OWI arrest. Red Oak Police say 67-year old Daniel Lee McCue, of Red Oak, was taken into custody for OWI/2nd offense, at around 10:10-p.m. at the intersection of Highway 34 and 200th Street. McCue was being held at the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 cash bond.

GOP lawmakers recommend $32 million cut to state universities

News

April 12th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

Details of the spending plans Republicans in the legislature have crafted are dribbling out at the state capitol, but these draft plans are not yet available online for public review. Representative Cindy Winckler of Davenport, a Democrat, says that is a concern because the House Appropriations Committee plans to vote on the G-O-P’s education budget today (Wednesday).

“So we have a very short time period for individuals to have input on this bill,” Winckler says. Republican Representative Cecil Dolecheck of Mount Ayr says he has been getting feedback from lobbyists who represent institutions that are going to see budget cuts.

“From the comments and stuff that I’ve been getting, the public is fairly well aware of what’s already in the bill,” Dolecheck said, laughing. Winckler said: “I would imagine that some of the public is, but not all of the public and until it’s online, it isn’t a public document.”

Republicans plan to reduce state spending at the state universities by 32 million dollars in the coming year. The University of Northern Iowa’s budget reduction would be about half of what Republican legislators are recommending for the University of Iowa and Iowa State University.

(Radio Iowa)

Murphy has 5 RBIs in Nats’ 8-3 win over Cards

Sports

April 12th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

WASHINGTON (AP) — Daniel Murphy homered, doubled twice and tied career highs with five RBIs and four hits and the Washington Nationals defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 8-3 on Tuesday night. Matt Wieters and Jayson Werth also hit solo shots to help Washington earn a second home series victory.

Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez (1-0) allowed two runs — one earned — over seven innings. He allowed six hits before retiring his last 11 batters. Lance Lynn (0-1) allowed six runs — four earned — and five hits and four walks over five innings.

Randal Grichuk and Aldemys Diaz homered for St. Louis. Bryce Harper walked three times against Lynn to reach base in nine straight plate appearances going back to Monday, tying a career high set last season against the Chicago Cubs and manager Joe Maddon. He also doubled in the eighth.

The Cards and Nationals are at it again today (Wednesday), beginning at 2:10-p.m. Central Time on KJAN, with the 1st pitch at 3:05 from Nationals Park in Washington, D-C.

Iowa early News Headlines: Wed., April 12th 2017

News

April 12th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A longtime Iowa research center for sustainable agriculture is on the chopping block in the Republican-controlled Legislature. A GOP-led budget committee voted Tuesday for an education bill that includes cutting nearly $400,000 from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. The legislation will require more votes before it can be finalized. The bill also includes cutting $1.5 million from the Iowa Flood Center at the University of Iowa.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have released the names of five people killed in a fiery Mason City crash. Police in Mason City say an officer discovered the accident scene around 2:40 a.m. Monday. On Tuesday the Mason City Police Department identified the driver as 20-year-old Zachary Hartley. His four passengers were identified as 17-year-old Donte Foster, 18-year-old Roderick Lewis, 14-year-old Sydney Alcorn and 19-year-old Alex Wiebke. All of them lived in Mason City.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque woman accused of beating to death her ex-husband with a baseball bat has again been found not mentally competent to stand trial. The Telegraph Herald reports that the finding for 53-year-old Dolores Flynn was released Tuesday. Flynn has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in the January 2016 baseball-bat slaying of 72-year-old Gary Breckenridge.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Education Department says the state’s high school graduation rate has increased for the fifth year straight, even as dropout rates increased slightly for the first time since the 2009-10 school year. In a news release Tuesday, the department said 91.3 percent of students in the 2016 graduating class graduated within four years, up from 90.8 percent from the previous year. Iowa’s annual dropout rate was 2.8 percent last year, up from 2.5 percent the previous year.

Westphalia man sentenced to 5 years on child porn conviction

News

April 11th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

A man from Shelby County was sentenced today (Tuesday), to 5-years in prison following his conviction on child pornography charges. 40-year old Matthew E. Gross. of Westphalia, will also be required to serve five years of supervised release following his conviction for the receipt and possession of Child Pornography.

Gross pled guilty on November 3rd, 2016 to a two-count indictment, charging him with possession and receipt of child pornography. He had received child pornography images from at least as early as February of 2014 and up to August of 2014. In addition, Gross was found in possession of child pornography images on or about September 25, 2014, in his Westphalia residence.

The investigation into his case was conducted by the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Investigation, the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Iowa schedules 2019 home game with Middle Tennessee

Sports

April 11th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Iowa will host Middle Tennessee in a 2019 game that will mark the first meeting ever between these two programs. The schools announced Tuesday that Middle Tennessee would play at Iowa on Sept. 28, 2019. Middle Tennessee officials said the school will receive $1.55 million for making the trip to Iowa.

Middle Tennessee has played Big Ten teams six times in its history. The Blue Raiders have faced Illinois three times, Minnesota twice and Purdue once. Middle Tennessee is playing Minnesota again this season. The Blue Raiders already had scheduled a Sept. 14 home date with Duke in 2019. Two more nonconference games will be announced later.