(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Atlantic Police Department say nine arrests were conducted between January 20th and the 30th of January. Most recently:

• On Monday, Jan. 30, 44-year-old Orlando Mendez, of Atlantic, was arrested for Child Endangerment and Aggravated Assault.
• On the 29th, 25-year-old Ason Pisalil, of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intoxication.
• On the 28th, Atlantic Police arrested 42-year-old Laura Stogdill, of Atlantic, for two-counts of Compulsory Education Violation. She was cited and then released with a court date.
• On January 27th, 37-year-old Dale Saylors,of Papillion, NE, was arrested in Atlantic on three-counts of Theft in the 2nd Degree (Shoplifting), on three separate occasions.

Four people were arrested by Officers with the A-PD on January 26th:

• 24-year-old Kaylee Roach, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI, Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana-2nd offense, and Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia.
• 25-year-old Ason Pisalil, of Atlantic, was arrested on Cass County warrants for Disorderly Conduct and Public Intox.
• 19-year-old Tarzan Kochiro, of Atlantic, was arrested on a warrant for Failure to Appear (in court). And,
• 37-year-old Eric Mark, of Atlantic, was arrested for OWI and Driving While License is Denied or Revoked, Disorderly Conduct, Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree, and Interference with Official Acts.

On January 20th, 44-year-old Nathaniel Halterman, of Atlantic, was arrested by Atlantic Police, on an Audubon County warrant for Violation of a No Contact Order. He was turned over to Audubon County Sheriff’s Deputies.

Each of the aforementioned subjects were booked into the Cass County Jail, with the exception of Stogdill, and Halterman, who (as mentioned) was turned over to another agency.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two people wanted on separate warrants, were arrested Wednesday, at the Pottawattamie County Jail. 25-year-old Kaitlyn Louise Anglen, of Council Bluffs, was arrested on a Mills County warrant for Theft in the 1st Degree, Money Laundering-Conduct transaction, and Identity Theft over $10,000. And, 57-year-old Thomas Lee Chalupa, of Omaha, was arrested at the Pott. County Jail, on a warrant for Harassment in the 3rd Degree. Both subjects were being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

Sheriff’s officials said also, no injuries were reported following a collision Wednesday morning in Malvern. Vehicles driven by 29-year-old Matthew Schneider, of Buffalo, MN, and 20-year-old Kristina Boone, of Glenwood, collided at around 10:25-a.m. Wednesday. The accident happened when Schneider failed to yield upon entering the intersection at West 7th Avenue from northbound 2nd Street. His 2019 Ford struck a Boone’s westbound 2004 Chrysler, broadside.

(Radio Iowa) – Giving Iowa voters a chance to clarify the line of succession at the top of state government is on the legislature’s docket again this year. In 2018 when then-Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds took over as governor, the state’s attorney general said it appeared from his reading of the Iowa Constitution that Reynolds did not have authority to name Adam Gregg lieutenant governor. The House has approved a proposed amendment to Iowa’s Constitution making it clear new governors have the authority to appoint a new lieutenant governor. Critics like Representative Adam Zabner of Iowa City say the proposed amendment should include having at least 34 members of the Iowa Senate vote to confirm a new governor’s choice for the second highest position in state government.

“My concern is the lack of oversight from the legislature on who would be chosen for this position,” Zabner says. “For a position as important as lieutenant governor, I think it’s very important that the legislature have a say in at least confirming the appointment and making sure that it is a reasonable person.” Eighteen Democrats voted against the proposal. Representative Heather Matson, a Democrat from Ankeny, was among the Democrats who joined Republicans to pass it. Matson says the proposed constitutional amendment is written in clear language for voters and other details could be outlined in state law. very understandable

“Personally I’m supporting this amendment because it still provides an option for a future legislation to establish by statute any additional requirements they would like to actually filling that vacancy,” Matson says. It takes a significant amount of time for lawmakers to propose an amendment to the state constitution and the discussion on this topic started in 2019. If the Senate approves the resolution House members approved this week, Iowans will vote on the proposed amendment in the 2024 General Election.

(Radio Iowa) – The Wright County community of Eagle Grove is remembering a tragedy that made worldwide headlines 50 years ago tonight (Thursday). An explosion rocked the downtown business district, leveling the Chatterbox Cafe, a Coast-to-Coast store and a jewelry story. Fourteen people were killed, including a firefighter and the son of former governor Robert Blue. In a 2010 interview, then-Eagle Grove Fire Chief Gary Lalor reflected on the catastrophe. “There was one person in the Coast-to-Coast store living in an upstairs apartment and I do believe there were 12 people in the cafe,” Lalor says. “If memory serves me, we had one firefighter died of a heart attack enroute to the call actually within a few feet of scene, so quite a tragedy.”

Firefighters from several area communities battled the flames through the night. The Iowa National Guard and the Iowa State Patrol assisted in the search and rescue effort for victims in the rubble. Cranes were used in the effort from nearby Fort Dodge. Lalor says it’s still unclear what caused the blast. “I don’t believe they ever came to an absolute set-in-stone reason for this,” he says. “The utility company reconstructed I think every piece of pipe out of all the buildings and I don’t believe they ever came to an absolute conclusion.”

Chief Lalor died in 2016. A plaque honoring the memory of the victims was placed on the outside wall of the Ben Franklin store in Eagle Grove in 1993. No formal ceremony is planned to remember the victims on this anniversary.

(Radio Iowa) – A central Iowa elder care facility is being fined after a resident endured something reminiscent of a horror story from Edgar Allan Poe. Multiple media outlets are reporting that the Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Center in Urbandale is being fined $10,000 by the state after a resident was mistaken for dead. Reports say the unidentified woman had been in ill health and was found by a staffer early on January 3rd with open eyes and no detectable pulse or breathing.

The woman was placed in a body bag and taken to a funeral home, where she was found, about an hour later, still alive and gasping for air. She was rushed to the hospital and was eventually returned to the care center, where she died two days later.

ATLANTIC, IOWA – In January, the American Heart Association launched HeartCorps, a new initiative in conjunction with AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cass Health was selected as a host site for HeartCorps and is pleased to welcome Killy Buliche to this new role.

Buliche is employed by the American Heart Association as a HeartCorps Service Member and works alongside Cass County Public Health to support our local Pacific Islander community in preventing and managing chronic diseases through education and interventions. Over the next year, she will work to strengthen and supplement efforts to drive health equity, including controlling blood pressure, improving nutrition security, reducing tobacco use, and promoting health and wellbeing in our local Pacific Islander community.

Photo cutline: The Atlantic Public Library invited Cass County Public Health to display information for American Heart Month. HeartCorps Service Member Killy Buliche shows off the heart health information that is presented in English, Spanish, and Chuukese.

“I really like to help other people in our community and to make them healthy. I like to help – that’s how I am,” said Buliche. She is originally from the Micronesian island of Lekinoch and has lived in Atlantic for almost 20 years.

According to the American Heart Association, nearly half of all Americans have high blood pressure. People living in rural areas and under-resourced communities face the highest death rates due to hypertension. Heart disease is the number one killer worldwide, with strokes ranking second. The goal of HeartCorps is to help meet public health needs of local communities by providing support to communities who are underserved, as well as providing pathways to good quality public health-related careers.

Update #2: On 02-02-23 at 10:00am the Council Bluffs Police Department received information from the Shreveport Louisiana Police Department that they have Devin Akins in custody. At this time all suspects involved in the case have been arrested.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – An official with the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division today (Thursday), reported three people wanted in connection with a murder investigation, have been taken into custody. At around 6:30-p.m., Wednesday, 20-year-old Angelina Michaelson, of Council Bluffs, turned herself-in to authorities, and was being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail. At around 6:30-a.m. today (Thursday), 19-year-old Trebor Carman, and 20-year-old Dontre Hudson, were arrested by the Southwest Iowa Fugitive Task Force, at a location in Omaha. Both were transported to Douglas County, NE. Corrections, and are awaiting extradition to Council Bluffs. One other suspect, 30-year-old Devin Adkins, remains at Large. (No photo available)

Three other suspects, who are 20-years of age, were also arrested, as we previously announced. They include: Keshawn Houtz-Mayfield; Traavon Thomas and Treianna Hudson. All of the suspects are from Council Bluffs. Each of the suspects face Felony charges of 1st Degree Murder and Robbery in the 1st Degree. The charges are the result of the January 8, 2023 shooting of 19-year old Tucker Dobberstein, who was found inside of an apartment, shot in the chest.

If you have any information regarding the location of the remaining suspect, Devin Atkins, please contact your local law enforcement agency.

Previous story: https://www.kjan.com/index.php/2023/02/3-out-of-seven-suspects-allegedly-involved-in-death-of-a-ne-man-are-arrested-4-others-sought-on-felony-warrants/?fbclid=IwAR1CpEAkkhPaziRb-yqe7Hu32wdlJNg5yexk7iNpP1l-kVSGqmP-3BoGmrU

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The seven member Cass County Compensation Board will meet 7-p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023, in the basement meeting room at the Cass County Courthouse, in Atlantic. The Board will elect officers for their Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary.

Afterward, they will discuss compensation of elected officials, followed by consideration and action on compensation recommendations to the Board of Supervisors.

(Radio Iowa) – As egg prices bound, backyard chicken flocks are gaining in popularity, but the practice of chicken keeping demands plenty of planning and patience before it pays off. Christa Hartsook, the small farms program coordinator for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, says the amount of money you have to invest to get started depends on how large an operation you want to launch. “Your basic costs are going to be in a little bit of equipment,” Hartsook says. “You’re going to need specific waterers and feeders for baby chicks. You’re going to need a specific area to keep them in that you can keep them nice and enclosed, and definitely very warm while they are in that early stage of life. Your biggest costs are going to be in the chick itself and in the feed.”

Most chicks range from three to six dollars each, but before you start counting your chickens, Hartsook says you’ll need to make sure you can legally keep the birds in the backyard.  “I always recommend that folks check with their community first and foremost, so that they can determine what particular regulations are guiding their community,” Hartsook says. “It may be in terms of the overall number, a community may not allow roosters, you may have property setback limits, so definitely check and read your community ordinances.” There are all sorts of breeds from which to choose, and you’ll also need to decide if you want chickens for eggs or for meat. Plus, if you’re going to be raising them in Iowa, certain heavier breeds are better able to withstand the state’s frigid winters.

Hartsook says she’s getting a lot of calls lately about backyard chickens, as spring will arrive March 20th. “People are just very concerned about the rising costs and we use eggs a lot in our daily diets,” Hartsook says. “Another great thing about chickens is it’s a relatively easy enterprise to get started with. It doesn’t cost a whole lot, then it’s a great way for folks to make that connection back to their own food source, and then maybe even provide some responsibility for kids.” For the same reasons egg prices are inflated, supply chain issues are pushing up the cost of chicken feed — and the cost of chicks, too.

“Chicks are a little higher because we are seeing a lot of interest in getting started with backyard chickens, so you’re definitely not going to get chicks tomorrow and then see eggs the next week,” Hartsook says. “You’re not going to see any kind of return really on chicks until fall. It’s five to five-and-a-half months before a chick is mature enough to have egg production.” If you’re considering starting a backyard flock, there’s a free online course through the I-S-U Extension: https://store.extension.iastate.edu/product/15129

(Radio Iowa/KJAN) – January is usually the coldest and driest month of the year, but State Climatologist Justin Glisan says the numbers went against the averages this year. “Little over 24 degrees is the average temperature for the state and that’s about five degrees above average so top 30 warmest Januarys on record,” he says.

KJAN weather records for the month of January in Atlantic, show that we were on average, 4-degrees warmer than normal, 8-degrees warmer on the Low side of the thermometer, and thanks to rainfall and four days of snowfall, we ended-up slightly more than six-tenths of an inch wetter than normal. The Average High for Jan. 2023 in Atlantic was 33.6 degrees (the norm is 29.4). The Low averaged out to 15.5degrees (9.3 is the norm), and we received 1.47-inches of precipitation (rain/melted frozen precip.). We would normally be much drier, at .84-inches. Snowfall amounted to 1.9 inches. The warmest day was January 10th (49-degrees). The coldest day (24-hour Low) was Jan. 30th, at -5 degrees. The snowiest day was January 27th (.8″).

Justin Glisan says January in Iowa saw more rain and snow than normal. “We’re about an inch above average — we came in at just under two inches of precipitation snowfall in any rainfall that fell — and preliminarily in the top 10 wettest Januarys on record.”He says half the state saw more snowfall than normal. “As January is the driest month it doesn’t take a lot to be above average, but definitely above average snowpack across the northern half of the state anywhere from five to 10 inches above average. You look at southern Iowa in a snow drought so below average snowfall for that portion of the state,” Glisan says.

The severe weather in January was not limited to snow and blizzards, as two tornadoes touched down in eastern Iowa. “Very weak tornadoes, E-F-zero, E-F-one, on the ground for 10 minutes five mile track. Some damage along that path, but nothing catastrophic,” he says. The tornadoes were rare and record-breaking. “The earliest calendar day tornado for the state of Iowa. So we broke a record there. And it was these were the first tornadoes that we’ve seen across the state since January 24 1967, when we saw 13 tornadoes in eastern Iowa, which was a part of a larger tornado outbreak across Missouri, Illinois and Iowa,” Glisan says.

Glisan says the early short-term outlook for February is slightly warmer and wetter.