The Red Oak Police Department was called to the Red Oak High School at 11:00am on Tuesday for threats to a staff member. A male juvenile was arrested for Harassment 1st Degree for threatening to use a gun on a staff member. He was taken to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center and then transferred to the Juvenile Detention Facility in Council Bluffs. No further details are known at this time.

Atlantic School District Business Manager and School Board Secretary Mary Beth Fast has accepted a position as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Urbandale Community School District. The Urbandale School Board approved her hiring during their meeting Monday night.

Mary Beth has served the Atlantic School District since 2010. Prior to that, she was employed with the Griswold Community School District. Fast has submitted her resignation letter, with her job concluding at the end of the current school year. She will begin her new position with the Urbandale School District on July 1st.

Atlantic Community School District Business Mgr. Mary Beth Fast

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, Tuesday (today) issued a report on recent arrests. Last Friday evening, 28-year old Justin David Wendelboe, of Des Moines, was arrested after an Iowa State Patrol Trooper responded to a single vehicle accident at mile marker 85 of Interstate 80, in Adair County. An investigation determined Wendelboe was allegedly intoxicated. He was brought to the Adair County Jail where his Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) was measured at .231%, or nearly three-times the legal limit for intoxication. Wendelboe was arrested for OWI/2nd offense, Failure to provide proof of insurance, Operating a vehicle without proper registration, and open container. His was released from the Adair County Jail the next day on bond.

18-year old Morgan Lawrence Powell, of Des Moines, was arrested Feb. 15th in Adair, for allegedly violating a restraining order. She was released from custody the following day on bond.

And, on Feb. 15th, 47-year old Kaydean May Darling, of Greenfield, was arrested on an Adair County Felony warrant for Forgery. She was later released on her Own Recognizance.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s top attorney wants to excuse himself from defending the state in a lawsuit that challenges a new collective bargaining law. Attorney General Tom Miller announced Tuesday he wants to seek outside legal counsel to represent the state in a lawsuit filed Monday by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Iowa Council 61.

Miller says he wants to avoid questions about a potential conflict of interest because public sector unions have supported him in the past. His office has defended Gov. Terry Branstad in previous AFSCME lawsuits, but he felt the action was needed in “this highly charged legal dispute.”

AFSCME claims the law, which removes most collective bargaining rights for public workers, is unconstitutional. Branstad’s office says it won’t comment on the merits of the case.

The Glenwood Police Department reports three recent arrests, among them, 28-year old Nicholas K. Hunter, of Glenwood, who was arrested Saturday for OWI/2nd offense. Hunter was taken into custody following an investigation into an accident in Glenwood. A Glenwood Police Officer stopped at vehicle on S. Locust Street at around 12:40-a.m., Saturday, and noticed the 1998 Buick Century had both front air bags deployed and significant front end damage.

An investigation determined Hunter had struck a parked 1992 Chevy pickup in the area of Coolidge and Walnut Streets, in Glenwood. Damage to the pickup was estimated at $2,000, while the Buick had about $5,000 damage.

Glenwood Police said also, 49-year old Rochelle Dabney, of Pacific Junction, was arrested Saturday on a Pottawattamie County warrant for Probation Violation. Her bond was set at $2,000. And, on Monday, 47-year old Jeffrey Gross, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for OWI/3rd offense. His bond was set at $5,000.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – New Jersey-based megabus.com says it will resume service from Nebraska through Iowa to Chicago. Megabus.com said in a news release Tuesday that the service will begin March 1, with one bus daily in both directions and additional service on weekends and holidays as needed.

The buses will serve Lincoln and Omaha in Nebraska, stop in Des Moines and Iowa City/Coralville in Iowa and Moline and Chicago in Illinois. The service to Lincoln and Moline is new.

The company says Windstar Lines will provide buses and megabus.com will manage ticket sales and customer services. Megabus.com is based in Elizabeth, New Jersey. It announced in November that it was ending the service because low gas prices had reduced demand for service.

An IKM-Manning School bus loaded with 60 students, a chaperone and the bus driver was involved in an accident this (Tuesday) morning, in Shelby County. The Sheriff’s Office says three students and one adult suffered minor injuries, and were transported by Manning Ambulance to the Manning Regional Hospital, while the other school bus occupants were transported to school by IKM-Manning District buses.

The accident happened at around 8:15-a.m. east of Irwin, when the bus, which was traveling west on Shelby County Road F-24, struck a “Wide Load” sign on a vehicle that was turning north off eastbound F-24 onto Vine Road. The accident happened under dense fog conditions. Both vehicles were damaged in the collision.

Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputies, Iowa State Patrol Troopers, Iowa DOT personnel, along with rescue crews from Irwin, Defiance, Manilla and Manning, as well as Shelby County Emergency Management personnel, all responded to the scene.

Iowa motorists will likely have to pay considerably more to fill their gas tanks soon, according to a forecast from Triple-A. The motor club’s Iowa spokeswoman Rose White predicts the price of gasoline will rise at least 50-cents a gallon between now and Memorial Day, perhaps much higher. “Prices will be on the increase as more refineries switch to the more-costly-to-produce summer fuel blends,” White says. “That’s coupled with the higher demand you usually see with the onset of the summer travel season.”

On the plus side, White says there are no fuel shortages to worry about and crude oil inventories are up eight-percent from a year ago. “Crude oil prices remain low,” White says. “Right now, they’re still at $53 a barrel. A year ago, they were at $31 a barrel. Typically, with every $1 increase, you see retail pump prices increase 3 to 4 cents a gallon.”

While Iowa’s statewide average gas price is now two-30 a gallon, she says it’s possible some service stations could break three-bucks a gallon by summer. “We need to keep in mind that some of those communities might just have one single station in a rural area with low volume sales, but they still have the high overhead costs,” White says. “As a result, we always see a wide range of prices across the state.”

Among the state’s metro areas, Des Moines has the most expensive gas at two-44 a gallon, while it’s cheapest in Cedar Rapids at two-21. The statewide average of two-30 a gallon is two cents higher than the national average. Iowa’s highest-ever average gas price was $4.02 a gallon in July of 2008.

(Radio Iowa)