The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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(Updated 8:50-a.m. 3/8) —

About 100 people attended a meeting Tuesday night of the Griswold School Board, to hear the latest developments concerning the future of the district’s facilities. Superintendent Dave Henrichs told KJAN News the Facilities Committee has been exploring three options.

One was to consolidate the District’s building into one campus to be located at Griswold. Another was to eliminate one of the two Elementary buildings. The third option was to reconfigure the current facilities. Their recommendation to the Board was Option A – to consolidate all operations into one facility at the Griswold campus.

The Griswold School Board, he said, unanimously approved continuing down that path. The Facilities Committee will continue meeting with the KPE Architectural firm hired by the District, with a further goal of gathering more input from staff members and the community. From the input, they will start designing the plans for the new building along with a cost estimate.

The next Facilities’ Committee meetings will be held March 22^nd and April 4^th. At each meeting, the architects will update the group, ask for more input and add to the plan until it’s solidified. Afterward, there will be a series of community outreach meetings to inform the public about the plan and costs. At some point a final plan will be brought to the Board for approval, and the date for a bond vote will be set.

Henrichs said at the end of Tuesday night’s meeting, which he said was “very well attended,” surveys were handed out. They could be filled-out and turned back in, or taken home and returned later. From those that were turned in, Henrichs says there were a couple of suggestions with regard to specific planning issues, the rest were generally positive with the way the plans are progressing.

Dave Henrichs said he wants to thank the Facilities Committee for their hard work and due diligence in exploring the District’s options thoroughly and thoughtfully. He commended them and said they have spent a lot of time looking at the right information and did not come in with preconceived ideas and thoughts. They looked at the facts and figures to get to where they are now. He said also “Their job is not done yet, but I have faith they’ll do a great job.”

The key supporter of a bill that expands Iowa’s gun laws is calling the legislation a “big league” step toward undoing restrictions on Second Amendment rights. African American lawmakers, meanwhile, are citing the acquittal of a neighborhood watchman who shot teenager Trayvon Martin to death in Florida four years ago. Representative Ras Smith of Waterloo, an African American, says all Iowans ARE created equal — but he says not all are TREATED equally — because of their skin color.

“The impact of this legislation on people who look like me, but may not dress like I do when I’m here Monday through Thursday will be an increased risk of being killed,” Smith said. “As recently as April of 2016 there were cross burnings in Dubuque. I wonder if the those who set that cross ablaze may see ‘stand your ground’ as a ‘get out of jail free’ card.”

Smith then put a hoodie on over his suit and tie to illustrate how he and other African American men in Iowa might resemble Trayvon Martin.”With these tattoos…and these earrings, this is what I look like, so this is that threat that you can perceive every day,” Smith said. “So maybe I should teach those young men the mantra of ‘hands up, don’t shoot.'”

Some supporters of the bill say it does not go far enough. They want to be able to carry a gun — openly or concealed in a holster or purse — without being required to get a government permit.

(Radio Iowa)

SEYMOUR, Iowa (AP) – The mayor of a south-central Iowa town says the tornado that struck there has united his community. The National Weather Service says the EF2 tornado damaged several homes Monday night, destroyed a senior living facility and ravaged the schools buildings in Seymour, a Wayne County town of about 700 people.

School Superintendent Brad Breon told The Des Moines Register on Tuesday that the twister peeled off the school buildings’ roofs and damaged several school buses. Mayor Caleb Housh estimates that about two-thirds of the storm debris already has been cleaned up. He also says the tornado has “brought our community together.”

Elsewhere in Iowa, the weather service says an EF2 tornado damaged 80 homes and injured three people in Muscatine.

Police in Red Oak late Tuesday night, arrested 44-year old Jeremy Richard Hines, of Red Oak, for Domestic Abuse Assault. Hines was taken into custody at around 11-p.m. in the 1800 block of Sunnyslope Drive and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held without bond, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

Adair County Auditor Mindy Schaefer has issued the unofficial results of a Special Election in Adair that took place Tuesday. The results show Jeremy Marvin Gettler received a total of 57 votes to fill a vacancy seat on the City Council, in Adair. There were a scattering of 17 other votes. And, “Public Measure A” in Adair was approved by a vote of 86-0. There were a total of 86 votes cast during the election, out of a possible 513 registered voters, meaning 16.76% of the voters turned up at the polls.

The results of the election are unofficial until canvassed by the Adair County Board of Supervisors.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa House has approved a sweeping gun bill that includes a stand-your-ground provision and allows citizens to sue local governments that impose weapons restrictions. The Republican-controlled chamber voted 58-39 Tuesday along mostly party lines. The bill now heads to the GOP-majority Senate, where it has support. The legislation would allow people to use deadly force anywhere if they believe such force was necessary to avoid injury or risk to one’s life or safety.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — The National Weather Service in Davenport has confirmed three injuries and 80 homes damaged in Muscatine from a tornado that traveled nearly two miles as a line of severe storms moved across the state. The EF2 tornado struck at around 10 p.m. Monday with peak winds of 115 miles per hour.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa U.S. Rep. Steve King says he believes President Donald Trump’s assertion that his phones were tapped and called for an investigation. Trump on Saturday tweeted that President Barack Obama “had my wires tapped’ in Trump Tower, though he didn’t offer any proof. King told the Sioux City Journal Monday that those denials don’t “necessarily prove that there wasn’t a rogue intel operation going on that wasn’t encumbered by, or just decided not to be encumbered by, the legalities.”

HANLONTOWN, Iowa (AP) — An Oklahoma-based company has blamed an errant excavator for damaging a pipeline in northern Iowa that spilled nearly 47,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Magellan Midstream Partners said Tuesday that the excavator apparently didn’t check with regulators about the location of underground utilities, as required by Iowa law. Authorities say the leaking fuel was discovered during a snowstorm on Jan. 25 near Hanlontown in Worth County.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa House has approved a sweeping gun bill that includes a stand-your-ground provision and allows citizens to sue local governments that impose weapons restrictions. The Republican-controlled chamber voted 58-39 Tuesday along mostly party lines. The bill now heads to the GOP-majority Senate, where it has support.

The legislation would allow people to use deadly force anywhere if they believe such force was necessary to avoid injury or risk to one’s life or safety. Similar legislation in other states has gained national attention over its effect on gun-related violence.

The bill would make several other changes to Iowa’s gun laws. It would allow children under age 14 to use handguns with parental supervision and allow weapons on the Capitol grounds.

Authorities in western Iowa are asking for your help in locating a vehicle that was involved in a carjacking this (Tuesday) morning. Council Bluffs Police say just before 11-a.m., officers were dispatched to the 3200 block of 23rd Avenue, where a 26-year old Council Bluffs woman reported a carjacking incident.

Upon arrival officers spoke to the victim, said that while she was on the parking lot of Bucky’s, near South 24th Street and I-80, a male passenger exited another vehicle and approached her vehicle displaying a handgun. The suspect — a white male, approximately 30 years old, 6’0” tall, with a medium build — got into the passenger side of her vehicle and told her to “Drive” while pointing the handgun at her.

On South 35th Street, near Nebraska Avenue, the suspect told the victim to pull over so he could drive. When she stopped the vehicle, the victim got out of the vehicle and attempted flee the area by running across an empty grass field, at the southeast corner of South 35th Street and Nebraska Ave. The suspect then drove the car into the field after the female and may have possibly fired at her with the handgun. The female was not injured.

The victim managed to run back to South 35th Street where she flagged down a passing motorist who gave her a ride out of the area, to nearby business, where she notified authorities. Her car was a white 2007 Acura TL, 4 door, with Iowa plates FFW306.  Please call 9-1-1 if you see this vehicle.

The case is currently being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Division of the Council Bluffs Police Department. Anyone who witnessed this incident or has information regarding it, is encouraged to call detectives at 712-328-4728 or 712-328-STOP (7867) if they wish to remain anonymous.