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Mercer lifts Pirates over Cardinals 6-5 in 11 innings

Sports

April 6th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jordy Mercer singled home Gregory Polanco from second base with one out in the 11th inning to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night. Polanco, who agreed to a $35 million, five-year contract earlier in the day, drew a walk from Seth Maness (0-1) with one out and made it to second on Josh Harrison’s infield single. Mercer slapped a single to right for his fourth career game-ending hit.

Kyle Lobstein (1-0) pitched two innings of relief for the win. Andrew McCutchen had three hits for Pittsburgh. Mercer, Harrison and David Friese had two hits each. Jedd Gyorko hit his first home run for St. Louis. Stephen Piscotty went 2 for 4 with two RBIs. Cardinals relievers retired 18 straight batters before Polanco’s walk started the winning rally.

 

Wind Advisories in effect for much of western/central IA on Wed.

News, Weather

April 5th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

MONONA-HARRISON-SHELBY-POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTIES: WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM TO 6 PM CDT WEDNESDAY.

SAC-CRAWFORD-CARROLL-GREENE-AUDUBON-GUTHRIE-DALLAS COUNTIES: WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM TO 7 PM CDT WEDNESDAY.

NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE INTO THE 30 TO 40 MPH RANGE BY MID MORNING. GUSTS TO 50 MPH WILL BE COMMON THROUGH THE LATE MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON. A GRADUAL DECREASE IN WIND
SPEEDS IS EXPECTED BY LATE IN THE DAY.

Wind Advisory Wednesday for counties in brown.

Wind Advisory Wednesday for counties in brown.

STRONG WINDS AND DRY CONDITIONS WILL RESULT IN AN ELEVATED FIRE
DANGER. ANY FIRES WHICH START COULD SPREAD RAPIDLY. ALSO, DRIVING MAY BECOME DIFFICULT, ESPECIALLY ON EAST WEST ROADS. BLOWING DUST MAY REDUCE VISIBILITIES AT TIMES IN OPEN AREAS, AND TRASH CANS AND OTHER OBJECTS COULD BE BLOWN ABOUT BY THE STRONG WINDS.

Hay bale fire just north of downtown Atlantic, Tuesday

News

April 5th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

An ember from a torch used to cut steel beams was the apparent causing of a fire that ignited several bales of hay Tuesday afternoon, just north of downtown Atlantic. According to Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon, firefighters were called to 101 Chestnut Street ata round 2:30-p.m. Crews brought the fire under control before the flames could spread to nearby county-owned storage buildings.

The still smoldering bales were brought from the scene to the compost pile a short while later. Crews left the original scene at around 3:20-p.m. and proceeded to the compost pile to soak the bales with more water in an effort to prevent a rekindling of the fire.

No injuries were reported.

Photo's courtesy Mike Kennon, Cass County EMC

Photo’s courtesy Mike Kennon, Cass County EMC

Bales2

Owner of restaurant charged with arson

News

April 5th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Police have made an arrest in connection with a fire that gutted a restaurant in Greene County. The fire was reported just after midnight on January 27 at the Pizza Ranch in Jefferson. A couple of weeks later, investigators announced they determined that the fire had been intentionally set. Now, the restaurant’s owner, 53-year-old Robert Schultz Jr., is facing charges of arson, criminal mischief, and insurance fraud.

(Radio Iowa)

Rolling Valley Girls Golf

Sports

April 5th, 2016 by admin

Coon Rapids-Bayard hosted the first of a series of golf meets for the Rolling Valley Conference girls.

  1. Boyer Valley 212
  2. Exira-EHK 239
  3. Coon Rapids-Bayard 246
  4. Charter Oak-Ute 252
  5. CAM 262
  6. Woodbine 274
  7. Glidden-Ralston 293

Claire Gambs of Boyer Valley was medalist shooting a 50.  Lindsey Anderson of BV was Runner-Up with a 53.

Rolling Valley Boys Golf

Sports

April 5th, 2016 by admin

Boyer Valley hosted the first of a series of golf meets for the Rolling Valley Conference boys this season.

  1. Coon-Rapids Bayard 178
  2. Charter Oak-Ute 172
  3. Glidden-Ralston 188
  4. Exira-EHK 190
  5. CAM 196
  6. Boyer Valley 199
  7. Woodbine 209
  8. Adair-Casey 246

Owen Pevestorf of Coon-Rapids Bayard was the medalist with a 36. Oliver Conner was Runner-Up with a round of 42.

BRAD CHARLES SHEEDER, 53, of Guthrie Center (Svcs. 04-07-2016)

Obituaries

April 5th, 2016 by admin

BRAD CHARLES SHEEDER, 53, of Guthrie Center died Sunday, April 3rd in Guthrie Center.  Funeral services for BRAD CHARLES SHEEDER will be held Thursday, April 7th at 10:30am at First United Methodist Church in Guthrie Center.  Twigg Funeral Home in Guthrie Center has the arrangements.

Visitation will be held Wednesday, April 6th from 5:00pm-7:00pm at Twigg Funeral Home in Guthrie Center.

Burial will be Thuesday in the Union Cemetery in Guthrie Center.

Online condolences may be left at www.twiggfuneralhome.com

Ombudsmans’ office sees increase in complaints

News

April 5th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

The annual report from the state Ombudsman shows complaints and questions increased by seven percent in 2015. Acting Ombudsman Kristie Hirschman complied the report. “We’ve been consistently increasing our complaints the last few years — not by a lot — but consistently a little bit every year without an increase in staff,” Hirschman says. “The complaints that we receive that we agree to investigate do seem to be more complex.” The Ombudsmans’ office doesn’t look into every complaint or call they get.

“The primary reason that we use to decline a complaint is if there is an available grievance or appeal process that they haven’t taken advantage of, because it is only fair to give the agency the opportunity to resolve the complaint before we get involved,” Hirschman says. On the other end of the spectrum, Hirschman says they sometimes step in because of the circumstances.

“There’s some complaint that just because they are so egregious on face value, we jump in whether there’s a grievance process available or not,” Hirschman explains. “There’s several…that come to mind that we’ve highlighted in our annual report. One of those being the inmate who was shackled in the shower.” The Ombudsmans’ office recommended the jail install a lockable gate on the shower to deal with high risk inmates instead of keeping them in shackles. The office agreed to look into more than 44-hundred complaints last year, and the majority of those dealt with the prisons or jails.

Hirschman says the Iowa Legislature’s intent through the years has been to have the Ombudsmans’ office focus on corrections complaints so inmates at the state and local level have a place to go with their complaints. She says state law makes the letters to the Ombudsman from prisoners confidential, and they cannot be read by the jail or prison staff. Complaints about county government were second on the list this year.

“In the past actually, the Department of Human Services has consistently been our second highest level of complaints — you know somebody took their kids, they are not taking action against an abuse situation or a child support problem, or they are not getting their food stamps — but this year, county complaints were higher,” Hirschman says. The annual report shows 69 percent of the cases accepted by the officer turned out to be unsubstantiated. Hirschman says many times there was not intentional wrongdoing by local governments, there were factors that cause them to mishandle some issues.

“Lack of resources, lack of planning, lack of understanding of different situations or interpretations in the code. There’s new rules passed every year and I’m sure it is difficult for everybody to stay on top of those, even if it is their job, especially in smaller communities,” Hirschman says. Hirschman says her office works with the people involved in these situations to come to a solution.

Hirschman was appointed the acting Ombudsman with the retirement of Ruth Cooperrider. She has applied for the job and says the state is in the process of filling the position permanently, and that decision will likely come after the legislative session. For more information on the annual report, go to: www.legis.iowa.gov/Ombudsman.

(Radio Iowa)

Bluffs man arrested in Cass County on a warrant

News

April 5th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Sheriff’s Deputies in Cass County, Monday, arrested a Pottawattamie County man on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. 20-year old Russell Logan Barker, of Council Bluffs, was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $2000 bond.

2016 Boys Preseason Soccer Rankings

Sports

April 5th, 2016 by admin

2016 Boys Preseason Soccer Ranking from Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association

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