A water project and planned shutdown has prompted a boil order for Macedonia through next week. City Clerk Suzann Duede said that water was briefly shut off for the town on Wednesday afternoon as part of maintenance to the water infrastructure, which prompted a mandatory boil order.

Citizens are being advised to boil their water until 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9th. For more information, contact Macedonia City Hall at (712) 486-2323.

More local, and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, set in motion the process to accept bids for the Troublesome Creek Connector Trail pedestrian bridge project.

This is what the pedestrian bridge over Troublesome Creek will look like when it is installed.

The Council set June 30th as the bid letting date, with a public hearing on July 1st. Their action followed an update on the plans and details for the project, by Snyder and Associates’ Engineer Dave Sturm, who also provided a timeline for the start and finish of bridge installation.

Sturm said the Late Start Date is Sept. 15th, with 40 working days allowed, meaning it should be completed by sometime in November. The contractor, he said, has the option to start sooner in September, if they wish. The schedule allows them some flexibility. Sturm said the cost estimate for the project two-years ago, was $570,000, but while the price tag has gone up, it’s still under $600,000.

The Atlantic City Council will also set July 1st at 5:30-p.m. as the date and time for a Public Hearing on an Urban Renewal Plan Amendment. In other business, City Administrator John Lund provided the Council with City’s first Annual Tax Report, which helped to explain the general nature of property taxes, and how Atlantic compares to other communities our size in the State, along with how the tax burden has changed, over time.

The report also compares how Atlantic fares against other cities in southwest Iowa, with regard to the tax burden and other factors. He said “In southwest Iowa, we’re doing pretty good. Across the State, not as strong, but there are good reasons our tax levy is where it’s at. One reason is Tax Valuation. If you have a lot of expensive property, you can levy at a much lower rate and collect the same amount of money.” He cited for example, Clear Lake and Carroll, which are about the same size of Atlantic, but who have over $400-million worth of property. Atlantic he says, has about half that valuation. He said also, Atlantic has a high debt service levy, but that was necessary for the streets.”

Councilman Chris Jimerson pointed out Atlantic also acquired a lower interest rate for the street projects at just the right time, which saved the City some money. Mayor Dave Jones agreed. Jones said the City’s philosophy when the interest rates were low, was “Borrow now, get your stuff fixed, and somewhere down the road the interest rates will go up.” He admitted that’s taken longer than he thought it would, but “We’re still in good shape, and at least we’ll be ahead in the ball game when things start happening.”

Atlantic’s tax asking is $8.10 per thousand-dollars taxable valuation, which is fourth lowest for city’s in Iowa of comparable size. Harlan, Denison, Clarinda, Council Bluffs, Audubon, and Missouri Valley all have higher tax rates.

A woman from Union County was arrested on drug and other charges on May 30th, following a traffic stop. The Creston Police Department today (Thursday) reports 38-year old Sara Exline, of Afton, was taken into custody on charges of Driving While Revoked, Possession of Marijuana and Methamphetamine, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. She was later released from the Union County Jail on $5,000 bond.

The 7:07-a.m. report w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Red Oak Police, responding to reported incident of assault early this (Thursday) morning, ended-up taking a local man into custody on assault and drug charges. Officers were called to a residence in the 900 block of East Hammond Street, at around 3:30-a.m.

An investigation resulted in the arrest of 41-year old Eric Michael Huffstutlear, of Red Oak, on an aggravated assault charge, for allegedly threatening someone with a pocket knife. After he was taken into custody, Huffstutlear was allegedly found to be in possession of a controlled substance (marijuana). He was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $2,000 cash bond.

Police in Council Bluffs investigated a series of car break-ins reported at Oakland Court Apartments early Wednesday. The Daily NonPareil says according to police, a Council Bluffs woman reported seeing a burglary to a vehicle in the 200 block of North Second Street shortly after 1 a.m. The woman told police she saw a man walking near a green 2001 Chevy Blazer after hearing the vehicle’s car alarm sound. The suspect saw the woman and ran to a gray, sporty-looking car and drove away at a high rate of speed.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says there are ongoing concerns with the U-S-D-A’s response to the bird flu outbreak in the state. Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, was asked about the issue during a conference call with reporters. “I can only answer in what I have heard from various producers, and those producers have reported to me that they do not believe that the U- S-D-A is as responsive as they should be, “Ernst says. Ernst says she is concerned federal officials have not developed a plan to deal with the issue.

“In the beginning it was very difficult to respond because there were so many cases of the bird flu that were appearing in all of these various states,” Ernst says. “However, many months have gone by now, and the U-S-DA has had time to implement a stronger strategy. I have not seen that yet, or heard that from those producers who have been affected.”

There have been 73 probable or confirmed cases of the bird flu in Iowa thus far, with some 30 million birds in 17 counties impacted. Ernst says one of the biggest concerns is the response time when producers believe their flock is infected. “In one case it took nine days for the U-S-D-A to respond from the time the initial call was made to the time when they actually showed up on the farm,” according to Ernst. “Nine days is too long when it only takes 48 hours for the infected bird to die. That is way too long.”

Ernst says Iowa producers have also raised concerns about differences in payments made to them for the dead animals. “There is nowhere on-line that they can find out exactly what type of payments are made, what the payments are for, there’s no breakdown,” Ernst explains. She says producers want to know why payments at one facility can be different from another. “So many of the farmers who have the same types of flocks — maybe the same age of birds — are being paid a different rate than another flock. So, there’s a lot of inconsistency there,” Ernst says. “What we are asking the U-S-D-A for is a transparency, a break out of what the farmers are being paid for and why it might differ from another farmer on a nearby production facility.”

Ernst says they need answers to those questions to ensure everything is being handled properly. “We need to get to the bottom of it. We need to be sure that we are protecting our Iowa producers,” Ernst says. Senator Ernst says she continues to remind her colleagues about the issues as she says very few people outside the impacted states are knowledgeable about the problem.

(Radio Iowa)

Legislators of both political parties have voted to reverse Governor Branstad’s order to close the state-run Mental Health Institute in Mount Pleasant. Under the plan that cleared the House and Senate last night (Wednesday), the M-H-I in Clarinda also would remain open until mid-December and legislators are asking state officials to find a private company to run the unit there for 15 elderly patients. Representative Dave Heaton, a Republican from Mount Pleasant, got emotional during House debate last night (Wednesday).

“We responded to the majority of Iowans who want to see these facilities remain open,” Heaton says. “…This is our last chance. I think we are carrying the message of Iowans to the governor, to ask him to reconsider his position on this issue.” Senator Amanda Ragan, a Democrat from Mason City, says closing the two Mental Health Institutes would be a step backward. “This compromise is a win-win for the governor, the legislature and, most importantly, Iowans who count on those services to assist family members and friends who suffer with severe mental illness,” Ragan said.

The proposal would reopen the inpatient program in Mount Pleasant’s M-H-I for people with the “dual diagnosis” of substance abnse and a mental illness, plus Heaton says the plan asks the governor to let the facility continue offering services for adults with acute mental illnesses. “To allow us at least one more year at Mount Pleasant in our MHI before he can figure whatever else he wants to do,” Heaton says. “And at the same time to allow Clarinda to remain open and provide services to those seniors who are seriously suffering from mental health issues, a difficult population.”

Some of Clarinda’s elderly patients are extremely frail and a few are convicted sex offenders who may be too aggressive to be placed in traditional nursing homes. The proposal to keep the two Mental Health Institutes open, at least temporarily, was included in a massive budget bill that outlines over one-point-eight BILLION dollars worth of spending for the Iowa Department of Human Services, the Iowa Veterans Home, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Public Health.

The bill easily passed the Senate on a bipartisan 33-17 vote, but narrowly cleared the House on a 51-42 vote.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Corn and soybean producers are keeping a close eye on the bird flu outbreak, concerned that the loss of nearly 45 million birds might reduce demand for poultry feed made with the grains and send prices lower. Todd Hultman, a grain market analyst for DTN, an Omaha, Nebraska-based agriculture market data provider, says there appears to be no significant impact to commodity prices in part because demand remains strong from other sources, such as hog and cattle producers.

The amount of grain fed to chickens and turkeys is relatively small compared to how much is harvested. About 1 billion bushels each of corn and soybeans went into turkey and chicken feed last year. That’s out of 14 billion bushels of corn and nearly 4 billion bushels of soybeans.