An informational meeting is being held this (Tuesday) evening in Council Bluffs, about the next steps in a massive 480-million dollar construction project in southwest Iowa. Troy German, an engineer with the Iowa Department of Transportation, says the next phase in rebuilding the Council Bluffs interchange at Interstate 29 and Highways 92 and 275 will be getting underway in about two months. “The majority of the traffic impacted is going to be the Highway 92-275 section,” German says. “We’ll be going down to one lane in each direction across the interstate.”

The construction should be starting in late May and German says by June 1st, traffic will be down to one lane on the highways. “Part of that we need to raise the interchange up, that’s a part of the rail relocation,” German says. “We’re putting all of the railroads into a single corridor so that will open up the rest of the project to be constructed.”

Given the scale of the project and the many thousands of cars passing through that area daily, German says great care has been taken to plan the best ways to proceed.  “We’ve done about $120-million worth of work and now in the next three years, we’ll see about that much annually,” he says. “The project as a whole is pretty massive so we’ll be taking it in pieces.”

The informational meeting will be underway from 4 to 7 P-M at the Lied Multipurpose Complex at the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs.

(Radio Iowa)

The Harlan Community School Board of Educators, Monday, approved a bid for a new air handler system for the high school gymnasium. Superintendent Justin Wagner said the district set aside $390,000 in PPEL funding for the project. However Wagner said the four bids were surprisingly lower. “Well one of the bids was over $300,000 but the others were under. In speaking with our folks and trying to prognosticate on it, they said what happened was a little bit of a bidding war which worked well for us.”

Ray Martin out of Omaha was the lowest bid at $220,000 and Wagner says it was great news. “They’re a big company so they are reputable and they do this work. Obviously there was a lot of savings and that money will go back to our contingence funds in case something happens. A couple of years ago our roof collapsed, that’s what that money is for so we try to be conservative with that.”

The work on the High School Gymnasium air handler will begin following graduation. Wagner mentioned the HEA and the Board continues to work on an agreement and expects that will be approved at the next school board meeting on Monday, March 24^th.  

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman, Tuesday, provided an updated list of candidates who have submitted their papers for nomination to County offices in advance of the June 3rd Primary election. Each of the candidates are Republicans.

As previously mentioned, incumbent Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall is seeking re-election, and is currently unopposed. Atlantic residents Mary Ward and Jess Ehrman are running for the Recorder’s position made open by the retirement of Joyce Jensen, and David Wiederstein is running for County Attorney, a position currently held by Dan Feistner. Feistner has not yet filed for re-election. The last day to file nomination papers is March 26th.

Sunderman reports District 2 Supervisor Gaylord W. Schelling and District 3 Supervisor Mark A. Wedemeyer filed their papers for re-election, today (on Tuesday).

Authorities in Harlan report a Harlan man was arrested Saturday after an incident involving a female subject. The Harlan Police Department says 33 year old Wayne Vohs was arrested when officers were called to 2004 23rd Street by a female who reported Vohs allegedly took her phone preventing her from calling 911 when she felt threatened.

Vohs was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with obstruction of emergency communications. The Harlan PD states when Vohs was released, he was observed making a phone call to a person protected by a no contact order per his release. Vohs was arrested again near the same location and taken back to jail where he was charged with violation of a no contact order.

The H-PD reports also, 48 year old George Hadfield of Harlan was cited for failure to have a valid driver’s license and operating a non-registered vehicle on Friday. Hadfield was cited and released. And last Thursday, 29 year old Keith Wyatt of Harlan was cited for allowing a dog to run at large when the dog was reportedly seen running in the 1100 block of Hill Street.

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (AP) – Bullying from some players’ parents and other critics of the program have driven two girls basketball coaches away from their coaching jobs at district schools in the northeast Iowa city of Independence.

Assistant coach Rob Ratchford said Monday that he and head varsity coach Rod Conrad had endured too many menacing or irate phone calls before and after games.  Ratchford says “there were threats made, you know, about wanting to fight and stuff like that.”

Ratchford says he’s happy with how the district handled the situation. District officials have declined to comment.

w/ Ric Hanson

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The Atlantic Fire Department  was called to the scene of a reported large brush fire near the Schildberg Quarry Recreation Area this (Tuesday), morning. Atlantic Police Lt. Dave Erickson was first on the scene at around 7-a.m.  He told KJAN News the blaze, which was in a muddy area off of north Chestnut Street, on the northeast side of the quarry, was likely accidental. Erickson said a fisherman probably started the fire and smoldering embers caught the nearby brush on fire. Erickson and the firefighters weren’t able to directly access the fire due to the extremely muddy conditions.  The flames were put out and fire personnel were back at the station within about 45-minutes.

The Atlantic School Board, Monday night approved an early retirement incentive for teachers, that could reportedly save the district about $1.8-million over the next five years. District Business Manager and Board Secretary Mary Beth Fast told KJAN News the offer is being made available to those teachers who are age 55 or older, and have served the district full-time, for at least 10-years. Fast said the district will provide $25,000 for each eligible employee, over a 3-year period. The money will be paid to a third-party administrator, to cover eligible medical expenses.

That includes medical premiums, out-of-pocket co-pays, prescriptions, Medicare supplement premiums, which in-theory, could last much longer than 3-years, depending on how fast the money was used-up. The funds she says are not taxable to either the employee or the district. The first payment would be made on behalf of the teachers, on July 1, 2014. Interested teachers have until March 31^st to submit their application for the Early Retirement plan.

According to Fast, the district has never offered anything like this before. In the past, they’ve usually just offered cash, which is taxable. The current incentive offers retirees the opportunity to remain on the district’s medical insurance plan or they can find their own. The incentive addresses concerns people may have, with regard to health care reform

Fast says there are, at present, 14 teachers who have expressed an interest in applying for the incentive. A meeting will be held this Friday afternoon beginning at 3:45 in the High School Media Center for all interested persons, where additional information will be presented on the offer.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board approved the termination of Head Tennis Coach Shawn Petersen, and the 2014-2015 School Calendar, which will be based on 1,080 hours of instruction instead of 180-days. They also approved May 22^nd, 23^rd and 27^th as make-up days for snow-day class cancellations this year.

A Taylor County man died over the weekend during a snowmobiling accident in northern Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says 51-year old Mike Garner, of Lenox, was killed when the snowmobile he was operating on a trail in Namakagen, WI., went out of control prior to entering a curve, and hit a tree. The crash occurred at around 5:10-p.m., Sunday. Garner died at the scene.