The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office today (Thursday) said four people were transported from the Douglas County, NE., Jail to the Pott. County Jail this (Thursday) morning, to address their various warrants out of Pott. County. 30-year old Aryn Alfred Anzalone was wanted on a warrant for Theft in the 2nd Degree. 30-year old Rebecca Sue Cardona and, 23-year old Benjamin Daniel Reynolds were transported to Pott. County on warrants for Violation of Probation. And, 31-year old Autumn Anne Nicole Jones was transported to the Pott. County Jail, where she was wanted on three counts of Child Endangerment/Abandonment – Bodily Injury, and three counts of Abandonment of a Dependent Person.

AMES, Iowa – February 21, 2019 – The Iowa Department of Transportation will hold a public information meeting Thursday, March 7th to discuss the proposed bridge replacement on Pottawattamie County Road G-12 over Interstate 29, in Pottawattamie County.  The proposed project provides for removing the existing bridge and replacing it with a 2-span, pre-tensioned and pre-stressed concrete beam bridge that is 252 feet by 36 feet. Westbound traffic would be detoured during construction using I-29 northbound, U.S. 30, and I-29 southbound.  Eastbound traffic would be detoured during construction using I-29 southbound, Rosewood Road, and I-29 northbound.

All interested persons are invited to attend this meeting anytime between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. March 7th at the Desoto Bend Mini Mart, 15001 Desoto Avenue, in Missouri Valley. The meeting will be conducted utilizing an open forum format. Iowa DOT staff will be present to informally discuss the proposed improvements. No formal presentation will be made. The meeting space is accessible for persons with disabilities. However, if you require special accommodations at the meeting, please notify Scott Suhr, transportation planner, Iowa DOT District 4 Office in Atlantic, by calling 712-243-3355 or 800-289-4368. Those same numbers may be used for general information regarding the proposed improvements or public meeting.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — One of the people charged in a southeast Iowa slaying has pleaded not guilty. Des Moines County District Court records say 44-year-old Derrick Parker, of Chicago, entered the written pleas Monday to charges of conspiracy and first-degree murder. His trial is scheduled to begin April 30. Prosecutors say Parker conspired with four other people to kill 26-year-old Demarcus “Peanut” Chew. He was fatally shot in a car outside his mother’s Burlington home on Sept. 10, 2017.

One of the men , Antoine Spann, pleaded guilty earlier this month to conspiracy and other crimes and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors dropped a murder charge in exchange for his pleas. Spann’s plea agreement says he must testify against any others charged in the slaying.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — The partial collapse of a roof has forced classes to be canceled at a Waterloo elementary school. Waterloo Community Schools Superintendent Jane Lindaman told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that no one was injured when the roof section buckled Wednesday morning under the weight of snow at Lowell Elementary. The district had canceled all classes Wednesday, but Lowell’s students will be getting today (Thursday) off as well.

Lindaman says the district had been monitoring and removing snow as needed, saying the overnight snow “certainly came heavier, and there was plenty of it.” She says district officials will know more today (Thursday), about whether school can be held in the Lowell building Friday.

(Radio Iowa) — Snow is now piled everywhere across the state and that includes on the top of our homes. An Iowa State University Extension mechanical engineer says you shouldn’t have to worry now about that snow causing the roof to collapse. “There are things to watch for, to be concerned about, but overall we are not in too bad a shape yet,” according to Shawn Shouse. Shouse says you have to take into consideration the amount of water weight in the snow to determine if it might collapse the roof. You can find that out by taking a core sample of the snow and melting it.  “With the kind of snow density we’re having this winter — that’s going to be up to around three-and-a-half to four feet of snow depth to get to that kind of weight on a roof,” he says. “If this had been really wet heavy snow, we could be hitting close to capacity at two feet to get that capacity. But so far this winter, the snow has been relatively lightweight, not very dense.”

He says one thing to look for is an uneven distribution of the snow. “The roof works best when the load is uniform over the whole roof,” he explains. “If you’ve got a place where all the snow load is on one side of the roof and the other side is close to bare, that’s a little harder for the structure to handle, when you get uneven loading. So, there could be some situations where there could be some concern.” Icicles have formed along the rain gutters of many homes. Shouse says they’re nothing to worry about either. “If the ice gets to be really heavy hanging off the gutter — it might be okay to knock some of that loose if you can safely. But, probably that’s not a big concern,” Shouse says.

When it comes to ice, you do want to be aware of ice that starts to form at the edge of the roof and expands upwards. These are known as ice dams.  “The risk there is it can start to back water up behind that ridge of ice at the edge of the roof and that water can start to work its way underneath shingles and possibly leak into the inside of the roof structure,” Shouse says. “In really bad cases it might even drip onto the ceiling. Inside the house you might see stains of water dripping onto your ceiling.” Shouse says you are better off to wait and let mother nature melt the snow and ice off your roof than you are trying to fix it yourself.  “The risk of climbing up on the roof and falling is far greater than the risk of the roof collapsing under snow load,” Shouse says. “So, yes it is very hazardous to get up there and try to rake snow off from up above or work on an ice dame on an icy roof.”

He says there is one device that people use on snowy roofs. He says you could use a long-handled roof rake to stand on the ground and safely rake snow off. “But even so, I don’t know that I would advise doing a lot of that unless you had a really unusual situation where you had uneven loading or an extremely deep drift of snow up there,” Shouse says.  He says the best thing to do is talk to a professional who knows how to deal with these issues and avoid injuring yourself.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — A group of Iowa legislators who are under the age of 40 have formed an “Iowa Future Caucus” to show bipartisan cooperation is possible. Twenty-nine-year-old State Senator Zach Wahls — a Democrat from Coralville — is one of the group’s co-chairs.  “I think we’ve brought together a good group of lawmakers who are really committed to trying to figure out what are the issues…that aren’t yet partisan and how do we make progress on those issues,” Wahls says. Their initial effort is to focus on ways to grow Iowa’s population and stop the so-called “brain drains.” Thirty-nine-year-old State Senator Zach Nunn — a Republican from Bondurant — is another co-chair of the group.

“What this team is bringing forward is the opportunity for collaborative work and we have a good foundation for this,” Nunn said. “Last year the legislature passed over 88 percent of all legislation on a bipartisan fashion. We’re not treading new group, but we’re really trying to grow where there is already fertile soil.” Thirty-eight-year-old Lindsay James, a Democrat from Dubuque, and 21-year-old Joe Mitchell — a Republican from Wayland — are the Iowa HOUSE members who are co-chairs of this group. Iowa is the 28th state to join the “Future Caucus” network. The Millennial Action Project has been promoting the effort since 2013. Steven Olikara, the group’s founder, says bipartisan “bridge building” is rooted in the tradition of America’s founding fathers. “The founding fathers, virtually all of them — Madison, Jefferson, Washington — all warned us of the dangers of extreme partisanship,” Wahls said. “In fact, that was one of the main themes of Washington’s farewell address.”

The Iowa Youth Caucus members met for dinner Tuesday night at the Des Moines Social Club and began brainstorming about issues they’d like to tackle. The group held a news conference Tuesday morning at the capitol. Six members of the Iowa Senate and at least a dozen members of the Iowa House are under the age of 40.

AMES, Iowa ― Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will host a MarketReady workshop for area producers in Atlantic next Tuesday, February 26. The training is designed to provide local food producers with the skills and knowledge needed to make sound decisions about diversifying operations into wholesale, retail, and institutional market outlets. The workshop will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cass County Community Center, 805 West 10th St., Atlantic. Pre-registration is required for this event, and the registration deadline is this Friday, Feb. 22. Registration can be done by stopping in the Cass County Extension Office, visiting the website (below) or calling (712) 243-1132.

This training will focus on best marketing practices when dealing with these market outlets, including communications and relationship building, regulations, packaging and labeling, grading, pricing, logistics, and more. The workshop will wrap up with a buyer panel from 2-3 PM. The intent of this part of the program is for buyers to meet farmers and producers, and for both sides of the sales transaction to understand what the other needs in order to supply and buy local food.

Cost for the workshop is $20 per person or $35 per couple (or two employees from the same farm). The fee includes training materials, lunch, and refreshments. Pre-registration is required by 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22. To register, visit www.extension.iastate.edu/cass, stop by the Cass County Extension Office, or call (712) 243-1132 by 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22. For more information about the workshop, contact Emily Coll, program assistant with ISU Extension and Outreach Local Foods and Value Added Agriculture Programs, at ecoll@iastate.edu or (515) 296-0586.