The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce has announced Cass County Health System as the newest Community Investor Member. The new partnership with Cass County Health System gives the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce more financial support, allowing the organization to continue to improve existing programs and activities and develop new programs for the entire membership.

Officials say the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce continues to work towards goals within their strategic plan to maintain their mission statement: Business based and community minded through partnership, outreach and promotions.

For more information on the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce’s membership opportunities, strategic plan, programs, events and Board of Directors visit www.atlanticiowa.com. You can learn more about Cass County Health System at www.casshealth.org.

(Press Release)

At least six Iowa cities are hosting special bicycle rides this (Wednesday) evening to remember cyclists who’ve been hurt or killed in crashes. It’s called the Ride of Silence and cyclists by the hundreds will gather in some communities for a slow-speed, silent parade for miles through their downtowns and outlying areas. Police cars with lights flashing and no sirens often lead and trail the rides.

Beforehand, it’s tradition to read off the names of those cyclists who’ve been lost. This year, the list will include Joleen Stork of Glidden, a 60-year-old who was killed in Carroll County last month when she was hit from behind by a pickup. Rides are being held in Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids and Marion, Des Moines, Mason City, Sioux City and Sergeant Bluff.

(Radio Iowa)

A special investigation by the state auditor’s office concludes the former city clerk in a small northwest Iowa town made more than 36-thousand dollars worth of “improper and unsupported” transactions with city money. The City of Boyden has about 700 residents. The auditor’s review concludes former City Clerk Beth Sipma paid herself nearly 31-thousand dollars MORE than she should have during the 22 months she had the job.

Sipma also made more than three-thousand dollars worth of personal purchases with the city’s money. Auditors discovered she used the city’s credit card to buy United Airlines tickets to Scotland. Toward the end of her tenure, Sipma used a personal check to pay the monthly bill on the city’s credit card for those tickets. But she also appears to have gone on an overnight shopping trip to Minnesota at city expense — staying in a hotel, eating at a restaurant and buying items like a dresser, sheets and curtains at IKEA, all charged on the city’s credit card.

It was a banker who first noticed the unusual spending on Boyden’s city accounts and called the mayor. Sipma resigned shortly after city officials confronted her and the mayor says Sipma admitted she had done a “terrible thing.” The state auditor has forwarded the report on Sipma to state and county law enforcement.

(Radio Iowa)

Beginning Monday, May 23, 2016, and ending Sunday, June 5, 2016, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Atlantic Police Department and law enforcement agencies throughout Iowa, will be participating in a “Click it or Ticket” Special Traffic Enforcement Program, or, STEP. During the program, you’ll see an elevated presence of law enforcement officers on the road.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics show that passenger vehicle occupants are buckling up more during the day but not enough at night.  The May 23 – June 6, 2016 Click It or Ticket mobilization focuses on seat belt violators 24/7, but a strong enforcement effort will be made between the nighttime hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., due to the significant number of violators and fatal crashes during that time.

Iowa’s seat belt compliance rate is at 93 percent, one of the best in the nation but, still, too many of the state’s traffic fatalities are unbelted. In 2014, nearly 9, 400 people nationwide lost their lives as a result of not buckling their seat belt. That same year in Iowa, 118 of the 322 crash fatalities were not buckled up.

As you travel near or far this Memorial Day, remember to buckle up in the back seat as well as in the front.  Rear seat passengers are three times more likely to die in a crash if they are unbuckled.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa utilities regulators have declined to act quickly on a request to allow a Texas company to begin construction on an oil pipeline across Iowa.
Dakota Access had asked the Iowa Utilities Board to start Tuesday on the 1,150-mile pipeline that will carry a half-million barrels of oil a day from northwest North Dakota across South Dakota, Iowa and into south-central Illinois.

Construction begins this week in the other states and the Dallas-based company says it must start in Iowa now or risk running into winter and another farm planting season. The board decided Tuesday to take time to consider comments from opponents, which indicate they want no construction in Iowa until all required federal permits are approved. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hasn’t issued permits for river crossings.

Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs Executive Director Colonel Robert King (Ret.) has announced that in a recently adopted administrative rules amendment, the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund Honor Guard Reimbursement is increased from $500 in a twelve month period to $1,000. The change became effective May 18th, 2016. The Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs manages The Iowa Veterans Trust Fund.

The Honor Guard Reimbursement was established to reimburse various veterans service organizations who provide military honors at funeral services for our states veterans when a military honor guard is unavailable.

Colonel King said “Several honor guards around the state are providing many more services than the $500.00 reimburses them for their support of our veterans and families. We want to insure that we are reimbursing these honor guards for their expenses in regards to the services they are providing.”

All other details of the administrative rules 14.4(11), ARC2491C remain the same. Only the dollar amount changes.