The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce is inviting the public to attend a planning session with members of the Iowa Architectural Foundation (IAF) on Friday, June 17^th at 4 p.m., at the Historic Rock Island Depot. The Iowa Architectural Foundation is currently facilitating a Community Design Program for the Atlantic area that focuses on the entrance corridors, signage, and directional signage located within the community. 

Ann McCurdy, Executive Director of the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, says they started on this project last year, and saw the results of the program in communities like Avoca. McCurdy says they are “Excited at the opportunity to bring it to Atlantic to address some of our unique challenges.”

Initially, the Chamber saw it as a great opportunity to bring in experts to Atlantic to have them look at our entry ways and the lot in question at 7th and Olive. McCurdy says “While we’re excited to move forward with plans for 7th and Olive, the Chamber wanted to ensure that we, as a city, were creating a plan for all of Atlantic in terms of signage and design standards.” She says they didn’t want it to turn into something that just happened ”By piecemeal,” and working through the Community Design Program gives officials access to experts who can provide a framework and a phased plan of how the project can move forward successfully.

During the session, members of the IAF team will talk with residents about their design preferences as well as hearing first-hand their ideas and reflections about the community. Light refreshments will be available. For planning purposes, the Chamber asks that you RSVP by calling 243-3017.

The Community Design Program assists communities by providing a very open and public decision-making process that brings civic groups, elected officials, and concerned citizens together with design professionals to visualize solutions for community betterment. Founded in 1989, the Iowa Architectural Foundation (IAF) is a charitable organization that promotes awareness and appreciation of architecture and design.

The Coca-Cola Days Committee of the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce has announced that the 2011 “Coca-Cola Days” t-shirt is now available. The theme for this year’s event is “Celebrate with Coca-Cola: 125 Years of Fun!” The shirts are black and available in both long and short sleeves.

Short sleeves are $16 and long sleeves are $22, and prices include tax. Ann McCurdy, Executive Director of the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, says “The design this year has a more vintage feel, which goes along well with the 125th anniversary of Coca-Cola.” The 2011 brochure and raffle tickets for a one-of-a-kind Diet Coke machine will both be available by the end of the month. 

Coca-Cola Days is held annually on the 4th weekend of September, making it September 23-24 this year. The event draws collectors from across the country to Atlantic to show, swap and sell memorabilia. The event also includes a tailgate dinner and parade.

For more information about Coca-Cola Days, please contact the Chamber at

243.3017.

Iowa’s largest utility says it is -not- switching off the lights in one of the state’s smallest towns, left nearly vacant after many residents fled approaching flood waters. Tina Potthoff, spokeswoman for MidAmerican Energy, says she wants to separate fact from fiction as the Missouri River rises and swallows up more acres in southwest Iowa.

“There’s been a lot of rumors circulating that we are shutting off power,” Potthoff says. “That is not the case. We are monitoring the situation on an hourly and daily basis. At this time, we do not have plans to shut off the power in Hamburg.” Potthoff says MidAmerican will only cut off the electricity in certain cases — at the request of the customer, if the utility determines the situation is hazardous or if city or emergency officials make the request.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

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BLAIR, Neb. (AP) – The Missouri River is now expected to rise 2-feet higher at Blair, Neb., than experts predicted previously. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it revised its prediction for the river near Blair because of new information it received about how fast the water is moving at that point.

The Corps now says the river will rise to between 32 and 34 feet next week after releases from Gavins Point Dam increase to 150,000 cubic feet per second. The river at Blair was already at 30.16 feet Friday. That’s well above the flood stage of 26.5 feet.

The Corps says the gauge at Blair doesn’t collect data on the flow rate, so a team was sent out to collect that. This adjustment doesn’t affect other locations on the river.

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A district court judge in Pottawattamie County Thursday, sentenced a Council Bluffs woman to 50-years in prison for her role in the stabbing death of another woman. Fourth District Court Judge James Heckerman handed down the sentence against 22-year old Lisa Reeves, who pled guilty to second-degree murder for the January 14^th death of 39-year old Tammy Rocha. Reeves’ attorney, public defender Greg Jones, said his client pleaded guilty because of the possibility of spending the rest of her life in prison if convicted of first degree murder.

Reeves was originally charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree robbery and conspiracy. She will be eligible for parole after 35 years. Prosecutors alleged that it was Lisa Reeves who stabbed Rocha seven times with a knife in front of the Reeves residence in Council Bluffs, after Rocha stole four rings and a cellphone from her the night before.

Reeves; her father, Brian Reeves; and two other men were arrested in the hours and days following Rocha’s death. Brian Reeves pleaded guilty to three lesser charges in the case and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in May. He’ll have to serve seven years before he’s eligible for parole.

A jury found Clarence Woolsoncroft guilty earlier this month of second-degree murder and two lesser crimes for his involvement in the fatal stabbing. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 20^th.

Eric Long — who is Lisa Reeves’ boyfriend — pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact and was sentenced to two years in prison.

An Iowa Farm Bureau expert says the continued flooding is eventually going to impact all of us in the pocketbook. I-F-B director of research and commodity services, Dave Miller, says lots of crop acres have already been covered in water. He says the Dakotas and eastern cornbelt in Ohio and Pennsylvania have seen at one-and-a-half million acres in corn that hasn’t been planted, and that number could rise with the June 30th acreage report.

Miller says at least 100-thousand acres of Iowa farmland will be impacted by the Missouri River flooding and another 50-thousand could be indirectly impacted. The loss of acres cuts the supply of corn and beans and increases their price. Miller says the corn price increases eventually lead to higher food prices.

Miller says the speed of the increases depend on how close the food product is to the actual corn. He says for example the increase will probably show up fairly quickly in corn tortillas and other ingredient type products. The impact on pork and beef prices takes a little longer.

Miller says that because the initial response is for producers to liquidate some of their breeding herd and there is then more meat on the market. But he says six to nine months from now we’re likely to see higher pork, beef and egg and poultry prices as they use corn as a major feedstock. Miller says prepared foods tend to be slower to rise.

Miller says price increases in fast food and “white table cloth” restaurants take longer to develop, but he says once the prices go up, they don’t usually come down very fast, even if commodity prices fall. Miller says there is a chance things could change — but it’s more likely to get worse than better.

Miller says this crop has a long way to go, and most of the potential is for things that could lower the overall yield and reduced crop yield and higher prices. Miller says there’s a strong potential for a drought later in the year, which would add another negative to what’s already happened.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)

Governor Branstad is scheduled to take an aerial tour of the flooding along the Missouri River in western Iowa this afternoon (Friday). Branstad, who will be joined by Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division Administrator Derek Hill, will also meet with officials in Council Bluffs. Volunteers are filling sandbags in several cities to prepare for a drastic increase in flows from the Gavins Point Dam, near Yankton, South Dakota, next week. In Sioux City, Fire Chief Tom Everett says volunteers at the Long Lines Family Rec Center could end up filling half-a-million sandbags.

“That operation at the Long Lines Center is one of the most heartening things to go look at,” Everett said. “I mean, people are working hard in the heat that we had making sandbags for the whole region and Sioux City.” Everett hopes to have the supply of sandbags far outweigh the demand when the heaviest flood waters arrive next week.

“So, if an emergency happens and a levee breaks somewhere, we have the resources to immediately go address it instead of having to fill bags to do so,” Everett said. Levees have been built to protect Sioux City’s water treatment plant, although it is not directly in the flood’s path. Sections of entire Iowa towns could be flooded for months. Mills County Emergency Management spokesperson Sheri Bowen says her office has fielded more than 250 calls from residents with concerns about their homes.

“Over half of those calls have been about how can we relocate? We need a site to put a camper or we need a place to rent. So, we’re providing those resources,” Bowen said. In Mills County, the greatest threat for flooding exists in Pacific Junction and in a rural area between the Missouri River and the Loess Hills.

“A lot of those folks are preparing…they haven’t moved yet, but they have a plan and know what they’re going to do,” Bowen said. The Missouri River in Mills County reached a record height of 35.65 feet in July 1993. The current forecast has the river rising to over 40 feet this year. The Red Cross has set up a 24-hour shelter at the Sidney High School in Fremont County, where some of the worst flooding is expected in and around the town of Hamburg.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s officials in Shelby County say a northern Iowa man suffered non-life threatening injuries during a motorcycle accident Thursday afternoon, in Defiance. 72-year old Thomas Johnson, of Arnolds Park, was riding a 1993 Honda motorcycle southbound on Highway 59 at around 12:30-p.m., when the cycle went out of control due to heavy rain and a slick road surface.

When the cycle went down, Johnson was thrown off, and came to rest on the highway. The cycle continued on its side into the west ditch. Defiance Fire and Rescue transported Johnson to Myrtue Memorial Hospital in Harlan, where he was treated for his injuries.

The motorcycle sustained minimal damage during the crash.