w/ News Director Ric Hanson

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An old scam is making a comeback. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office is making the public aware of a scam that is currently going around in our area.

The scam involves a person who — in most cases — calls, claiming to be a grandchild or another relative. The individuals claims they are in jail and need money.

The Sheriff’s Office encourages anyone receiving a call of that nature to be extremely suspicious, and to ask questions of the caller, that only your grandchild or other relative would know the answers to.

In addition, before offering any financial help or information, you should to attempt to contact your grandchild or other relative yourself, to verify the story being told to you. You may recall, a year or so ago, we told you an area resident received a similar call from a person claiming to be a man’s grandson who was in jail in Canada.

When the resident asked the caller a question only his grandson could answer, the person on the other end of the phone became upset and eventually hung-up. The man later called his grandson to confirm he was NOT in trouble with the law.

Plenty of rumors are floating about the looming flooding in Council Bluffs and the city is taking steps to separate truth from fiction. Art Hill, a spokesman for Council Bluffs, says they’re launching a 24-seven flooding hotline so people can get answers to any questions right away.

“We are establishing an information line,” Hill says. “It’ll always be staffed by a person to relate information they’ve been hearing and whether or not it’s correct.” He says the city is also updating its website constantly with the latest flood data. Hill urges Council Bluffs residents and business owners to register on the city’s Code Red notification system.

“If, geographically, your home or business is in a location that might be impacted in some way, you’ll get either a phone call or a text telling you about it,” he says. Hill says officials want to make sure all residents with special needs get help in case there is an evacuation due to flooding — or some other emergency.

“Whether it’s because of limited mobility or age, they (should) register with the city and in the event of an evacuation, we’d have the information.” The information line is (712) 328-4672 and the website is: www.councilbluffs-ia.gov

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A company that operates long-term care facilities is selling nine centers in Nebraska and Iowa, including the Beatrice Manor.

Careage Management LLC of Sioux City, Iowa, has reached an agreement to sell the facilities to The Ensign Group, which operates 87 skilled nursing, assisted living, home health and hospice services in eight western states.

Beatrice Manor is an 87-bed facility and employs nearly 100 people.

The other Nebraska centers being acquired are in Falls City, Randolph and Wayne. The Iowa facilities are in Fort Dodge, Clarion, Hawarden, West Bend and Cherokee.

Dan Myers, the president of CEO of Careage, says the new company plans to retain current employees.

The sale is expected to close July 1.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Flooding along the Missouri River in the Omaha area is forcing Amtrak to disrupt its California Zephyr passenger train, which travels between San Francisco and Chicago.

Amtrak says Tuesday that service will be temporarily suspended between Denver and Chicago for at least six days because of predicted flood crests and additional closures of Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks in the Omaha area.

Amtrak says in a statement the suspension of service is effective with an eastbound train on Thursday from Emeryville, Calif., and a westbound train on Friday from Chicago. The disruption is expected to continue through at least June 14.

There will be no Amtrak service in Iowa, except in Fort Madison, Nebraska, and in Fort Morgan, Colo. Daily service will continue between Chicago and Galesburg, Ill.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State transportation officials say Interstate 29 in western Iowa is in the path of the rising Missouri River, and parts could be closed within days.

The Department of Transportation on Tuesday released an initial assessment of the state and federal highways most at risk.

It includes I-29, U.S. 275 and Iowa 333 in Hamburg, where a massive sandbagging operation is under way to protect the town. Other parts of I-29 are on the list, including north of Council Bluffs, near Crescent and near Loveland. A section of Interstate 680 in Council Bluffs is also at risk.

Officials have also included Iowa Highway 2 in Fremont County and state Highway 127 near Mondamin (mahn-DAY’-min) in Harrison County.

The DOT says it will update the list as the river rises.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – June 7, 2011 – Nighttime construction work will cause lane closures on eastbound Interstate 80 between Madison Avenue (exit 5) and U.S. 6 (exit 8) near Council Bluffs from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. beginning Tuesday, June 7, until Saturday, June 11, weather permitting, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Council Bluffs construction office. 

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey posted speed limits and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles and wear seat belts.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office has investigated two mobile home fires in parts of western Iowa this week. Each fire resulted in serious injury or death to its occupants and each home had no working smoke detectors.

On Saturday June 4, 2011 at 9:34 PM, firefighters responded to a fire at 227 12th St. in Fontanelle. Upon arrival, firefighters found the two occupants lying on the ground outside of the home. Each had sustained burn injuries. Both 63 year old Susan Davis and 60 year old Howard Burgher were transported to the Adair County Hospital before being transported via life flight to the University of Iowa Burn Unit.

Howard Burgher died at the Burn Unit on Sunday morning; an autopsy is scheduled to determine the cause of death. Susan Davis remains in critical condition at the U of I Burn Unit.

Local fire officials requested the Office of the State Fire Marshal investigate the cause of the Fontanelle fire. Investigating agents determined the fire was accidental and started by the careless discarding of smoking materials. Additionally, the pace of the fire was accelerated by the excessive storage of combustible materials. These storage items also restricted access to exits. There were no working smoke detectors in the home.

Today (Tuesday) at 2:15 AM, firefighters were called to 3510 North 9th St., Lot #213 in Carter Lake, on report of a fire. Upon arrival, Carter Lake Police entered the home and rescued the single occupant, 74 year old Donna Thomas.

Thomas was transported to Creighton Hospital in Omaha, before being transported via life flight to the St. Elizabeth Burn Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. The woman sustained life-threatening injuries.

Local fire officials requested the Office of the State Fire Marshal investigate the cause of the Carter Lake fire. Agents determined that the fire is accidental with the fire originating from an electrical short in the wiring of a small appliance near Thomas’ bed.

Additionally, the pace of the fire was accelerated by the excessive storage of combustible materials. These storage items also restricted access to exits. There were no working smoke detectors in the Thomas home.

Officials with Syngest, Incorporated, say the Honeywell Corporation has been selected to help the California-based company design a proposed first-of-its-kind processing facility in southwest Iowa, that will produce ammonia from biomass. The plant will process as much as 400 tons of biomass each day to produce nitrogen fertilizer, which helps reduce fossil fuel emissions and will be sold to U.S. agricultural companies and farms.

Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) has agreed to provide front-end engineering (FEED) support and a wide range of technology that will comprise the plant’s fully integrated control system, process simulators and field instrumentation. Additionally, the proposed facility will use a pressure swing adsorption technology developed by Honeywell UOP to purify hydrogen used in the plant’s processes.

SynGest CEO Jack Oswald says “Honeywell’s unparalleled skills in renewable fuels and bioproducts, and special expertise in automated process design and controls will add enormous value to SynGest’s commercial-scale projects once implemented.”

SynGest’s Menlo facility will be the first carbon-negative bio-product project of its kind in the world, and will reduce greenhouse-gas-emissions by 150%. The project will eventually create 360 skilled constructions jobs and 40 fulltime employees. Purchasing/ transportation of the biomass and sales of ammonia, and support services will add $10 million of new income to nearby communities.

The Adair County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, are scheduled to hold the first reading of an Ordinance pertaining to the Voter approved Local Option Sales and Service Tax (LOST). Action on the ordinance is set to take place at 9:30-a.m., and will be followed by consideration of the next reading, a resolution to approve the ordinance, and signing of the ordinance, number 26-A.

In other business, the Board will act on accepting the resignation of a Conservation Board member, and the signing of a 28-E agreement with Cass County, for the sharing of engineering services provided by Engineer Charles Marker.

They’ll also hear from Judge Gamble, with regard to a courthouse ceiling matter.

The meeting begins at 9-a.m.