A Special Election was held Tuesday for patrons of the Tri-Center School District. The election was to fill a vacancy position on the Tri-Center School Board, a petition for which was filed earlier this year. According to the Pottawattamie County Auditor’s Office, there were only two names on the ballot. The winner, with 112 votes, was Katie Ausdemore. The other candidate, Jay Handbury, received just 27 votes.

A Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy early this (Wednesday) morning, arrested a man for Criminal Mischief in the 2nd Degree. A Deputy  was dispatched at around 1:50-a.m. to 211 Mulberry Street in Oakland, for a reported disturbance. After he arrived, the deputy spoke with a few individuals and took into custody, 30-year old Corey Andrew Stephens, of Oakland. Stephens was booked into the Pott. County Jail. Property damage from the incident amounted to $1,500.

New research from Iowa State University may help people who are struggling to make exercise a fun habit rather than an unpleasant chore. Alison Phillips, an assistant professor of psychology at ISU, says people are more likely to stick with exercise if they choose an activity they might eventually enjoy.  “That won’t happen right off the bat, but the good news is the more you do a behavior – any type of exercise – the more you’ll like it. But, I think it’s important for people to start out choosing something that they like relatively more than other activities,” Phillips says.

Previous studies have found, for many people, exercise becomes easier when it’s part of a regular schedule. Phillips says it’s also helpful for people to notice physical or “external” benefits of exercise. “Those are very important because the more you are rewarded with those external goals – if you lose weight or you become more fit – that will make you like the exercise activity itself more,” Phillips says. “That’s what I would refer to as an internal reward, something internal to exercise…so, liking the activity itself, not just what it brings to you.”

Phillips’ study involved monitoring the activity levels for people just starting to work out along with those who had been exercising regularly for at least three months. The results are published in the journal Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology.

(Radio Iowa)

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) – Wapello County has become the third Iowa county to approve a proposal for a higher minimum wage.  On Tuesday the county supervisors voted for a third and final time to raise the wage. Under the plan, on Jan. 1 the county’s minimum wage will rise to $8.20 an hour from the current national minimum of $7.25. On Jan. 1, 2018, the county minimum wage will increase to $9.15 and on Jan. 1, 2019, it will increase to $10.10.

The ordinance will apply to businesses in the unincorporated areas of Wapello County and within any Wapello County municipality that has not opted out of the county plan.     On Monday Linn County supervisors voted to raise its minimum wage. Johnson County supervisors voted a year ago to raise the wage.