The City Council in Audubon will holds its regular meeting this evening. The Council is set to discuss and possibly act on an abatement, an application for renewal of a Class C liquor license for a local bar, and, discuss: parking in yards; a listing agent for 118 E. Division Street; Compensation practices, and Raises.

The meeting begins at 7-p.m.

Republican Presidential hopeful Rick Perry will be in western Iowa today (Tuesday), holding several “Meet and Greet”-type events. The Governor from Texas will begin with a 10:45-a.m. event in Council Bluffs at the Main Street Cafe’ (102 S. Main St.).  This afternoon, Perry has stops in Clarinda (Glenn Miller Museum, 1:15-p.m.), Creston (3:30-p.m., Adams Street Espresso), and in Osceola at 5:30-p.m.

Perry will also be in west Central Iowa Monday, Jan. 2nd, with stops planned in Sioux City (12:30-p.m. at the Stoney Creek Inn), Carroll (Santa Maria Vineyard, 4-p.m.), and in Perry, he’ll hold  a campaign rally in advance of the Iowa Caucuses (6:30-p.m., at the Hotel Pattee).

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad says he’s opposed to enacting a user fee to help spruce up the state’s parks and would rather rely on the Iowa State Parks Foundation to generate donations for park maintenance. Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Roger Lande says Iowans have told him they would be willing to pay such a fee to improve state parks. The Sioux City Journal reports Lande raised the possibility of reinstating a user fee during budget talks with Branstad. DNR funding has declined since 2008 and with it the number of seasonal workers hired to maintain parks. Public complaints resulted in more money for maintenance and the number of seasonal workers should nearly double from 80 in 2011 to 150 for the year that ends June 30.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Three Republican presidential candidates, each claiming to be the truly conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, are launching bus tours today (Tuesday) through this early nominating state. Just a week before Iowa’s leadoff caucuses, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich prepared to rumble through small towns aboard their campaign buses. They’re looking for supporters one at a time and hoping to become a roadblock for Romney, who is looking stronger than expected. Romney returns to Iowa on Tuesday after a quick stop in his long-established stronghold of New Hampshire.

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann will continue her 99 county bus tour today (Tuesday, December 27th), visiting with voters in nine towns throughout Iowa. The Minnesota Congresswoman will be in Atlantic Tuesday evening at the Pizza Ranch Restaurant, beginning at 7:10 p.m.  Other stops include Council Bluffs, Harlan, Glenwood, Sidney, Shenandoah, Red Oak and Hamlin.

Bachman events, time and locations…

An investigation into a strange odor in Red Oak Monday morning led to the arrest of 5 people on drug charges. Police in Red Oak Police arrived at 1660 E Summit, and after an investigation, arrested 19-year old Timothy Gene Humphrey, of Omaha, 18- year old Ashley Ann Wood and 19-year old Jodi Michelle Booher, both of Shenandoah, 24-year old Madison Christina Parson, and 20-year old Brett Michael Donnelly, both of Red Oak, for gathering where a controlled substance was being used.

Humphrey was also charged with possession of a controlled substance. All five persons were brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on 1,000 dollars bond each. Red Oak Police was assisted in their investigation by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Some people, advocacy groups and Iowa school districts have been seeking innovative ways to battle bullying of students. A website being launched this month, http://ReportBullyingIowa.com, will take reports from students and parents and forward the reports to school districts. The website is run by the Eychaner Foundation, a Des Moines nonprofit group that says it wants to promote tolerance and nondiscrimination.

Iowa law requires school districts to report bullying cases to the Iowa Department of Education. But last year, more than half of Iowa school districts didn’t report any bullying. Foundation executive director Michael Bowser told The Des Moines Register (http://dmreg.co/tVCWsa ) there are many reasons for why reports aren’t being made, but he says the website could make it easier to report bullying.

Officials with the Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa (GSGI) say persons wanting to order and receive a wide variety of Girl Scout cookies won’t have to wait much longer, especially with the advent of a new ordering system. According to the GSGI, from the very first day of the program, girls will have packages of cookies ON HAND to sell door to door, at Cookie Booths, and to family and friends. Girl scouts will exchange cookies and payments in one easy step! No more taking orders, waiting weeks, and then returning for the delivery and collecting money.  The “Cookies Now!” program condenses all that work into one simple step. The Cookie Program will run January 13^th through March 4^th, 2012, in both Iowa and Nebraska.

In years past, the Scouts took orders, ordered the cookies from the supplier, then handed out cookies and collected payment about three to five weeks later. Officials say since the Girl Scouts, along with their parents and troop leaders, develop their sales plans, the direct sales also allow the girls to cultivate skills they can use: goal-setting, decision-making, money management, people skills and business ethics. They will have to decide whether to go door-to-door or set up cookie booths at public locations such as grocery stores. They will have to keep track of their sales and the money collected.