A woman from Exira was transported to the Audubon County Memorial Hospital by Audubon Rescue, following an accident this (Friday) morning, on a one-lane bridge. The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office says the accident happened at around 8:50-a.m. on 250th Street, west of Highway 71. It occurred when vehicles driven by 31-year old Bethany Jean Johnston, and 75-year old Karen Kaye Olsen, both of Exira, were approaching a one-lane bridge from opposite directions.

Johnston was already on the bridge, driving a 1997 Toyota, Olsen was approaching it in her 2000 Ford. Authorities say because the bridge approach has an incline, neither driver could see the other and the vehicles sideswiped each other.

Olsen was transported to the hospital following the collision. Damage from the mishap amounted to $5,500.

(12-p.m. News)

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports 54-year old Kelly Marie Erickson, of Massena, turned herself in at the Cass County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday, on charges that include felony Possession of Methamphetamine 3rd/Subsequent offense; Possession of Tramadol without Prescription; Prohibited Acts; and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Erickson was released later that day on $5,000 bond.

On Thursday, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 24-year old Drew Ashton Gagnon, and 22-year old Heidi Lynn Murphy, both of Sac City, on District Court warrants for Probation Violation. They were taken to the Cass County Jail and  released today (Friday), on their own recognizance.

The Cass County Memorial Hospital’s Board of Trustees will hold several closed sessions next week to interview candidates for the hospital’s next Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The meetings will be held at various locations in Atlantic on Sept. 19th,20th, 22nd and 23rd.

Pat Markham, former CEO of the Cass County Health System, is currently serving in an interim role as CEO. She was selected by the Board to help run the facilities after Todd Hudspeth was terminated earlier this year when he agreed to an Alford Plea with regard to a check forgery case in Buena Vista County.

ELK POINT, S.D. (AP) – South Dakota authorities have confirmed that a body recovered from the Missouri River was that of a missing Iowa college student.
The Union County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that the medical examiner’s office in Sioux Falls says the body was that of 23-year-old Tom Patterson. He disappeared in the water around 5 p.m. Sept. 4th near a beach about four miles southwest of Elk Point, SD.

Authorities have said witnesses reported that Patterson was trying to help some companions swim from the Nebraska shoreline back to South Dakota when he was swept away by the current.

Patterson was from Frostburg, Maryland, and was a student at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa.

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State University’s president intends to propose a two-tier tuition structure that would impose a higher rate for juniors and seniors than the rate for freshman and sophomores at the Ames school. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports President Steven Leath mentioned the plan Wednesday during his 2016 Presidential Address. He described it as a “reasonable approach that reflects the higher costs associated with more advanced and increasingly specialized coursework, learning opportunities, personalized instruction, smaller classes that you get as you proceed through your undergraduate education.”

Leath says state funding has not increased at a rate comparable to the university’s enrollment growth. He provided few specifics from his plan, which he said he will submit to the Board of Regents for consideration.

Officials with the Cass County Health System in Atlantic, say the next “Healthy U” session at the Cass County Memorial Hospital, is all about “Tummy Troubles.” The session which takes place at Noon on Sept. 22nd in CCMH Conference Room #2, will be presented by Dr. Edna Becht.

Dr. Becht says “Everyone deals with digestion issues at some point. We’ll cover general information about digestion, indigestion, self-care and at-home treatments, and when you need further evaluation.” Dr. Becht is the newest physician at Atlantic Medical Center. She provides comprehensive family medicine services, including obstetric care. Dr. Becht recently completed her family medicine residency at Memorial Family Medicine in South Bend, Indiana, and is a graduate of Des Moines University.

Healthy U is a free educational series offered by Cass County Health System that focuses on a different health topic each month. All registered attendees receive a healthy boxed meal in addition to the educational program presented by medical professionals. To reserve your seat for the session,  call 712-243-7479.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest at around 7:30-a.m., Thursday, of 21-year old Todd Michael Murray, of Creston. Murray was taken into custody for Driving Under Suspension, following a traffic stop on Highway 25, near 130th Street, in Union County. Murray was released from the Union County Jail after pleading guilty before the Judge.

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

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LEHIGH, Iowa (AP) – The mayor and city clerk of the small Webster County city of Lehigh have quit, and another City Council member says she may resign. Former Mayor Paula Martin told the Fort Dodge Messenger she resigned because of issues discussed at a Monday council meeting. She declined to give details, and minutes of the meeting weren’t available. City Clerk Kathy Gambill declined to say why she had given her two-week notice. Council member Kay Timmons says she’s considering resigning. The council will hold a special meeting Monday night.

Council member David Hrubes wouldn’t comment on the resignations but says he was surprised by Martin’s decision. Martin was mayor or a council member for most of 25 years before retiring. She again became mayor in 2014 after another mayor resigned.

Iowa’s Secretary of State is touting voter registration efforts on the campuses of 38 colleges and universities in Iowa. “It’s vitally important to make your voice heard and to be a voter.” Iowa Secretary of State Paul is also unveiling a new website that can produce electronic reminders for all Iowa voters — including the more than 300-thousand college students in Iowa.

“One of the most powerful features of the MyIowavote is the ability of a person to opt in to a series of reminders to vote,” Pate says. “So once you’re in, it will remind you that you have a school board election, you have a county election, and it will tell you where to go vote and give you the polling sites and the polling hours.” “My Iowa Vote” was created with “Turbo Vote” software. It will generate a text message, reminding voters where to go — and when — to get their ballots cast. Colleges and universities in Iowa have used the Turbo Vote software to tailor voter engagement campaigns on each campus.

Rachel Zuckerman is student body president at the University of Iowa. “Young people cannot wait until the future to start voting,” she says. “We need to bring our activism to the ballot box now and we need to bring our youthful energy into our democracy to get our elected officials to care about these issues that matter to us.” University of Northern Iowa student body president Hunter Flesch says a “voter palooza” on October 10th in Cedar Falls is part of the “all around push” to get students on his campus registered to vote.

“We all understand that this year is an extremely vital year to get students involved in the voting process,” he says. “However, being involved in the governmental process is something that goes beyond just this election. We want to create a culture not just at UNI, but in the state of Iowa that reminds students that they have a voice and that they can effect real change by voting not just in presidential elections, but also the local elections.”

Iowa State University student body president Cole Staudt says there are voter registration drives on the Ames campus every day.  “We could have a tremendous impact on this election and every election moving forward,” Staudt says. Elisabeth Niebuhr Of Le Mars, a senior at Buena Vista University, says more than 200 students signed a petition asking for a satellite voting station on the Storm Lake campus. “It is our civic duty and it is something, like all of my peers have said, shapes and will shape our country because we are the next biggest generation and we are the game changers,” she said. Emilee Harris is president of the “Democrats Club” at Grand View University in Des Moines. Harris says there are now more than 75 million millennials in America.

“If we got out to vote, we would have our voices heard,” Harris says. Robert Lyons, the student body president at Simpson College, says 62 percent of Simpson students voted in 2012. “Millennials are voting and we’re voting in greater numbers every year,” Lyons says. “Simpson students will be at the polls in November and I encourage other college-age millennials to join us.”

Millennials are people between the ages of 18 and 35. The new text reminders about voting are available for ANY Iowa voter.

(Radio Iowa)