WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Waterloo firefighters rescued two young girls from a burning home. Waterloo Fire Battalion Chief Ben Petersen said the 2-year-old and 3-year-old girls were taken to the hospital after the fire along with an adult man who escaped the home and a firefighter who was injured during the fire.

The condition of the home’s occupants wasn’t immediately available Sunday. The firefighter was treated and released. The fire was reported around 12:45 a.m. Sunday. The two girls were rescued from a bedroom inside the home. Petersen said the fire was extinguished quickly, but the home sustained fire and smoke damage.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Legislature convenes Monday with majority Republicans in the position to set the agenda for another year. Leaders say top topics likely will include tax policy, finding more workers to fill jobs and funding education and health care programs. The state’s financial condition is good with a surplus of nearly $300 million.

Discussion may include providing grants or tax credits to help working families pay for child care, funding the children’s mental health program created last year and considering a sales tax increase to pay for water quality and environmental programs.

Democrat presidential candidate John Delaney will make a campaign stop in Cass County, Monday evening. The American attorney and businessman will be in Cumberland at the Middle of Nowhere Restaurant (112 S. Main St.) for a meet and greet from 5-until 6-p.m. There, Delaney will speak briefly about his campaign for President and take questions from the audience. Reserve your seat for the event on his campaign’s website.

Delaney served as a United States Representative for Maryland’s 6th congressional district from 2013 to 2019.

(Updated 1/13) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors will meet in a regular session at 9-a.m. on Tuesday (Jan. 14th), in their Boardroom at the Cass County Courthouse. On their agenda for the day, is the interviewing of an applicant for the County Engineer’s position and a related closed session. Prior to the interview, the Board will act on assigning a Tax Sale Certificate for Lot 1 – Block 7, & Lot 6 – Block 6, and a vacated street between the two lots, Massena First Addition.

The Board will also receive a Quarterly report from Conservation Director Micah Lee, and regular department head reports, as available. As time allows, they will review the FY 2020 Budget and review the FY 2021 Budget, with consideration of funding requests for library contracts, an ambulance service contract, and individual departmental budgets.

The Atlantic City Council will hold a regularly scheduled session 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, in their Chambers at City Hall. On their agenda, is the recognition of Sondra Martin for her 5-years of service to the Atlantic Public Library. The Council will then move to act on approving a change order for the Ash Street Sanitary Sewer Replacement Project, which would allow certain residents in the area of East 22nd Street, east of Olive Street, to connect to the existing sewer system.Two couples in the area currently have septic systems.

The Community Development Committee met last month to review the proposal and found at least one of the residents would bear considerable cost should the City make the extension. Expanding the sewer system from the east would cost nearly $29,000, and from the west, over $86,000. Since the City’s Comprehensive Plan calls for that area to see growth of low-density, single family development in the long-term. Officials say when development occurs in that area, the City will need to extend the sanitary sewer. City Administrator John Lund says it may be more budget-friendly to pay for the extension with utility revenue than require the development to be sequestered within a TIF (or, Tax Increment Financing) District, and paid for through property taxes. The CDC unanimously recommends the Council approve the extension, and allow Joe and Kendra Garvey, and Robert and Denise Sharp, to pay for their connections to the system. Lund says the change order will ease the “Administrative red tape and paperwork between Snyder and Associates (Engineers) and the City.”

In other business, the Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, will act on orders to: Appoint Melissa Ihnen to the Planning and Zoning Commission; Re-appoint Barb Barrick as the Atlantic City Clerk; Appoint David Wiedersteen as City Attorney; and other, administrative matters.

The Audubon School District’s Board of Education will hold a brief, Special session this Wednesday morning (Jan. 15th), to act on approving a Resolution Ordering an Election to be held (in March) on the issuance of $7.5-million in General Obligation Bonds. The meeting takes place 7:30-a.m. in the Boardroom at the Audubon High School.

If approved by voters in the Audubon Community School District, the bonds would be used to pay for a school improvement project at the high school, which was built over 50-years ago and saw an addition constructed in 2006. School officials have said the building is in need of a replacement HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system, as well as simple upgrades to classrooms.

The School Board had previously decided to handle the projects all at once, in order to save money, as opposed to piecing work on the various projects out over a period of time. And, they voted to approve Denovo as the Construction Manager for the projects, which would begin in the Summer of 2021. Public meetings are planned to better explain the work needed, as well as the bond issue.

Red Oak Police report the arrest at around 2:45-p.m. Saturday, of 47-year old Rondy Ruby Porter.  The Red Oak woman was taken into custody in the 100 block of W. Grimes Street, following a traffic stop. Porter was charged with Driving while license revoked, a serious misdemeanor. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:55 a.m. CST

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A former nursing home worker has been given two to five years’ probation for abusing a nursing home resident. The Courier reports that 61-year-old Michael Ritchie Kane, of Westgate, pleaded guilty earlier this month to dependent adult abuse with injury. In exchange for his plea, Kane was granted a deferred judgment, meaning the offense will come off his record if he successfully completes probation. Kane had worked at Ravenood Specialty Care in Waterloo, and investigators say that in June 2018, he pinched and punched a resident there, attempted to suffocate the patient and threatened to shoot him.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — At least one death in eastern Iowa is being blamed on a winter storm that slicked Interstate 80. The Iowa State Patrol reports a westbound semitrailer on I-80 crashed early Saturday morning in Cedar County east of Iowa City. The Patrol says roads were completely covered in ice when the semitrailer left the road and overturned, killing a passenger in the truck. The victim’s name had not been released by late Saturday afternoon. The storm system brought high winds and snow to much of Iowa Friday overnight into Saturday. Around 2 inches fell in areas of eastern Iowa, including Davenport.

HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities blame severe storms sweeping across southern portions of the U.S. and into the Midwest for the deaths of at least 11 people, including two first responders. High winds, tornadoes and unrelenting rain have battered large swaths of the country. Officials say a police officer and a firefighter in Lubbock, Texas, were killed Saturday after being hit by a vehicle at the scene of a traffic accident. Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power from Texas to Ohio, sections of flooded highways were closed in Oklahoma and Arkansas and hundreds of flights were canceled at Chicago’s airports.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Supreme Court Acting Chief Justice David Wiggins says he’s retiring, a vacancy that will give Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds an opportunity to build an even more conservative court. The 69-year-old Wiggins says Friday he will retire March 13. He was appointed to the court by Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack in 2003. He was named acting chief justice in November after the unexpected death of Chief Justice Mark Cady. Wiggins is one of the two remaining Democratic appointees on the seven-member court. Reynolds just received the names of three nominees Thursday to fill Cady’s vacant seat.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – Much of eastern/southeastern Iowa remained under a winter storm warning or winter weather advisory through Saturday evening, as a system that began in the region Friday moved eastward, leaving behind dozens of vehicle crashes and injuries from falls in slick conditions. The system brought high winds and snow the southeastern quarter of Nebraska on Friday overnight into early Saturday. The system dropped 4 inches in the Des Moines area on Friday, were police responded to 46 vehicle crashes — two with injuries. Around 2 inches fell in areas in eastern Iowa, including Davenport. But central and eastern parts of Iowa also received a thin coating of ice, making travel and even walking on sidewalks dangerous.

Another round of snow was expected Sunday, Monday evening and toward the end of the week, with the possibility of quick couple of inches during each occurrence.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – A former nursing home worker has been given two to five years’ probation for abusing a nursing home resident. The Courier reports that 61-year-old Michael Ritchie Kane, of Westgate, pleaded guilty earlier this month to dependent adult abuse with injury. In exchange for his plea, Kane was granted a deferred judgment, meaning the offense will come off his record if he successfully completes probation. Kane had worked at Ravenood Specialty Care in Waterloo, and investigators say that in June 2018, he pinched and punched a resident there, attempted to suffocate the patient and threatened to shoot him.