(Atlantic, Iowa) – The first meeting of the City of Atlantic’s Parks and Rec Department Board and their new Director, Wyatt Adderton, will take place at 5:15-p.m. Monday (Feb. 20), in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall.

Old business on their agenda will include, but is not limited to:

1. A Hotel/Motel Tax presentation by SWIPCO Community Development Specialist Ashley Hayes, as it pertains to the Splash Pad Project.
2. Vote to prioritize an increase in the Hotel/Motel Tax to go for splashpad and improvements at Sunnyside Pool.
3. An update on the Splashpad project from Splash Pad Executive Committee member Ali Pieken.
4. An update on a replacement trail for the Schildberg Recreation Area, Lake #1.
5. A vote on Frank Saddlemire’s request to write a grant for new signs, with regard to the Sunnyside Park Disc Golf course.
6. And, an update on the Camblin Shelter painting project at Sunnyside Park.

New Business includes:

1. Plans for replacing trees in the parks (The Forestry service did this for Sunnyside Park in 2015).
2. A meeting of the Park Party
3. Plans for Sunnyside Pool
4. Discussion with regard to new playground equipment.

The Parks & Rec Board meeting will conclude with regular reports from Director Adderton and Assistant Director Jeff Christensen.

(Grand Junction, Iowa) – A single-vehicle accident Saturday night west of Grand Junction, in Greene County, claimed the lives of a man and a woman from Jefferson. The Iowa State Patrol reports 32-year-old Ryan Michael Vaughn, and 41-year-old Shiena Marie Hadley died after being ejected from a 2006 Chevy Colorado pickup that crashed. Neither occupant was wearing a seat belt. The Patrol says it’s unclear who was driving the vehicle when the accident occurred.

The pickup was westbound on Highway 30, west of T Avenue, when it went out control, entered the south ditch and rolled before striking a tree before coming to rest in the ditch. The crash – which occurred at around 9:11-p.m., Saturday, remains under investigation.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest on Friday night of 61-year-old Roger Dean Dykes of Red Oak. Dykes was arrested at approximately 11:55 p.m. in the 1500 block of N 5th Street for Domestic Assault 1st Offense. Dykes was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on no bond.

The following is a press release from the Indianola Police Department, with regard to the deaths of two adults….

(Waukee, Iowa) – Here’s an update to our post on Thursday night, about an murder-suicide investigation in Waukee. The following is a Press Release from the Waukee Police Department….

(Radio Iowa)- The Iowa D-N-R will start a series of series of town hall-style meetings Monday where local staff provide updates on the recently completed hunting seasons and possible changes to hunting rules and regulations.
Wildlife Biologist, Todd Gosselink, they hope for some good interaction.

Gosselink says there are often questions that come up and this is a chance to provide some answers.

Gosselink says he hasn’t heard of any major concerns with the most recent hunting seasons.

The first meetings are Monday at the DeWitt Community Library at 7 p-m and at the Waverly Public Library at 6 p-m.
Here is the schedule for the rest of the meetings:

• February 21st: Bloomfield, 6 p-m, Wapello County Conservation Board Pioneer Ridge Nature Center; Creston, Southern Prairie YMCA 6 p-m; Des Moines Izaak Walton League, 6:45 p-m; Lakeview Speaker Park Shelter House; Perry Forest Park Museum Building, 7 p-m; Otter Creek Lake & Park Nature Center in Toledao at 7 p-m.
• February 22nd: in Algona,6:30 p-m. at the Waters Edge Nature Center; Okoboji, 6 p-m, Maser Monarch Lodge; Onawa,6 p-m, Lewis and Clark State Park visitor center, Ventura, 7 p-m, Iowa DNR Wildlife Office; February 23rd, Chariton, 6:30 p-m, Chariton Community Center; Council Bluffs, 6:30 p-m, Council Bluffs Fish and Game Club, Decorah, 7 p-m, Franklin W. Olin Building, Room 102, Luther College; Dubuque, 7 p-m, EB Lyons Nature Center at Mines of Spain; Iowa City, 7 p-m, Johnson County ISU Extension Office; Wapello, 6 p-m, Langwood Education Center.

(Radio Iowa) – All of those tax documents and forms should have arrived in the mailbox by now and Iowans may be setting aside some time this weekend to get it all organized. If you want to hire a tax preparer, Bao Vang at the Better Business Bureau encourages you to do your homework first.

When it comes to choosing the right kind of tax preparer for you personally, Vang says much will depend on the complexity of your tax situation.

Vang says if a tax preparer can’t verify their credentials, has a record of bad reviews from previous clients, or their business practices don’t seem convincing — don’t do business with them. The deadline for filing federal returns this year is April 18th.

(Radio Iowa) – Pella police say a child died Thursday after being hit while sledding. Police say the five-year-old child entered the roadway on a sled from a hill near an intersection and was hit by a pickup truck around 5:30 p.m. The child was taken to the Pella Regional Health center, but died shortly after arriving there.

The name of the child and driver have not yet been released.

DES MOINES – Governor Reynolds announced today that Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo is resigning.

“I want to thank Dr. Lebo for her many contributions to my administration and the Department of Education over the last three years,” Gov. Reynolds stated. “From her very first day on the job, Ann was immersed in the pandemic’s impact on education. She supported Iowa’s schools in their transition to remote learning during the spring of 2020 and developed our Return to Learn plan for the fall. I will be forever grateful for her leadership and student-centered approach during that challenging time, and I wish her much success.”

Lebo joined the Department of Education on March 13, 2020, at the early onset of COVID-19 in Iowa. Just days later, Iowa schools closed for the remainder of the school year, then led the nation in reopening in August.

“It has been a tremendous honor to work alongside the dedicated team at the Department of Education and serve Iowa schools, administrators, educators, and students,” Ann Lebo said. “The last three years have been some of the most challenging of my career, but also incredibly rewarding. I’m proud that Iowa was on the leading edge of prioritizing in-person learning throughout the pandemic and I’m thankful for Governor Reynolds’ leadership in that effort. Now, I’ve decided to explore new opportunities and I look forward to seeing where they lead.”

Lebo’s resignation is effective March 14, 2023.

(Radio Iowa) – Nursing programs around the state are asking lawmakers to create a tax incentive for nurses who agree to guide nursing students through something similar to an apprenticeship. Dr. Candace Chihak is chair of the nursing department at Briar Ciff University in Sioux City. She says these nurses are called “preceptors” and they are currently volunteering their time. “All of our students at all levels, a lot of times they will go one-on-one with a practicing nurse,” Chihak says. “…They’re working with patients on their unit with a practicing nurse, learning their skills in how to care for patients.”

Seniors at Briar Cliff who are studying for a bachelor’s degree in nursing are to spend 120 hours with a licensed nurse who agrees to be a preceptor. “That 120 hours they’re working they’re working that nurse’s shifts, they’re taking are of that nurse’s patients,” Chihak says, “but they’ve got that safety net of having that nurse there to make sure everything’s going smoothly, that they’re making good decisions before they graduate and are completely on their own.”

Chihak says it’s hard to find nurses who’ll volunteer to be preceptors and providing some sort of state financial incentive would help.  “There’s such a huge nursing shortage right now and you need to be practicing at least a couple of years before you take on the role because you’ve really got to feel confident in what you’re doing and there’s so many new nurses, but we’ve had so many leaving the field and the ones that are there so overwhelmed and burned out that we’re looking for a little extra incentive for them.”

A handful of states offer income tax credits to doctors or nurses who agree to be preceptors for medical or nursing students. A proposal to establish a one-thousand dollar Iowa income tax credit for nursing preceptors will be considered in a House committee next week.