The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will meet in a regular session this (Wednesday) evening at 5:30, in the Media Center at the High School. During the meeting, the Board will hear a special presentation with regard to the Girls Swim Team, act on approving a contract with Gaylord Schelling as Head Varsity Baseball Coach and a Cost Proposal for RSP & Associates, with regard to an Enrollment Analysis.

The analysis will be used to project enrollment trends, in advance of a public hearing on a possible bond issue for additions and or improvements to existing District facilities. If the Board approves RSP and the $12,000 cost of the analysis, the company is expected to have a lengthy report ready for presentation and review in March or April at the latest.

Discussion items during the meeting will cover: The schedule for a possible bond hearing, vote and related matters, as well as the 2017-18 Budget. Prior to adjournment, the Atlantic School Board will enter into a closed session to discuss a possible real estate purchase.

Governor Branstad is urging lawmakers to pass a package of tougher traffic laws, including a crack down on texting while driving. “I’m asking you to take a hard look at these recommendations and evaluate which can be put into law to make our roads safer,” Branstad says.

Branstad says his worry is “distracted” driving and he has proposed boosting penalties for drivers who hit motorcyclists, bicyclists or pedestrians.  Motorists caught texting while driving. Senator Tim Kapucian, a Republican from Keystone, says the ultimate goal should be “hands-free” cell phone use within a vehicle. “Most of the newer vehicles have that capability,” Kapucian says. “I’ve always said our professional drivers are required to do that, the truck drivers, and as far as I’m concerned, we’re the amateurs on the road.”

Kapucian is chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. He expects the panel to review these and other proposals related to distracted driving but he’s not predicting what may pass. At least 402 people died in crashes on Iowa roadways in 2016 and state troopers say excessive speed was a factor in many crashes. Neither the governor nor Kapucian are proposing changes in posted speed limits or suggested increased fines for speeding at this point, but Senator Kapucian is concerned that too many motorists are weaving through traffic and driving too close to other vehicles.

“When I was in drivers’ ed, I specifically remember we were taught to respect the other driver,” Kapucian says, “and it just appears we’re in a ‘me first’ world today.”Governor Branstad discussed traffic safety near the end of his “Condition of the State” message yesterday. The governor read part of a letter from the parents of a bicyclist who was killed by a motorist who was texting while driving.

(Radio Iowa)

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A driver from western Iowa was cited for a Dallas County collision during which a West Des Moines police officer died. Online court records say 38-year-old Jeanette Keifer, of Stuart, was cited for failing to yield. Authorities say Keifer turned her car left into the path of 47-year-old Shawn Miller on Aug. 3 on U.S. Highway 169 near Interstate 80. Online court records don’t list an attorney who could comment for Keifer.

Authorities say Miller was driving back to West Des Moines on his personal motorcycle after testifying as an investigating officer at a court hearing in Adel. He’d been with the West Des Moines Police Department for 26 years.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Tuesday, reported the arrest Monday afternoon, of 27-year old Christopher Lee McDaniel, of Pacific Junction. McDaniel was taken into custody on a Warrant for Willful Injury, Willful Injury and Domestic Abuse Assault. He was being held without bond, in the Mills County Jail.

Christopher Lee McDaniel

Afton Police Chief John Coulter reports a woman was arrested last week for Unauthorized Use of a Credit Card. 50-year old Mary Ellen Tucker, of Afton, was taken into custody at around 6:30-p.m. on Jan. 3rd, and later released after posting bond.