(Updated 2/10/14 9:20-a.m.)

The Audubon City Council will meet Monday evening, to once again take up the matter of who will serve as the City Clerk. In a meeting on January 13th, the Council voted not to reappoint long-time City Clerk Lora Hansen. The result of that action was a packed crowd filling the Community Room in the City Hall building on January 27th, demanding answers as why the Council made its earlier decision, and asking questions as to whether it violated State law in doing so. There were hints of possible legal action if the Council did not reconsider their decision.

During tonight’s (Monday night’s) session, according to the agenda, the County Attorney will review the Council’s action. That will be followed by a vote on a motion to rescind and void action taken by the Council with regard to the City Clerk appointment during the January 13, 2014 Council meeting. In addition, there will be discussion and/or consideration “Of applicants for City Clerk position and of tentative proposal, re: Expectations of current City Clerk, ” and the Council will act on the “Appointment of City Clerk or Interim City Clerk.”

Other business, includes a motion on a vote to schedule a public hearing on the acquisition or condemnation of 408 Market Street in Audubon. The Audubon City Council will also hear from Linda Weston, with regard to views in the local paper, and Office of the State Ombudsman.

The final item of business is a review of the proposed 2014-2015 Budget. The Audubon City Council meeting begins at 7-pm, Monday.

A Red Oak man with a long history of run-in’s with the law was arrested again, early this (Sunday) morning. Red Oak Police say 29-year old Kenton Jarvis Schooling was taken into custody at around 2:45-a.m., on a charge of Theft in the 5th Degree. Schooling was arrested at the Kum and Go Store on N. Broadway Street in Red Oak, and brought to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center, where he was being held on $300 bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) — Police are investigating a report of shots fired at Keokuk High School in the southeast corner of Iowa. Police Chief Dave Hinton tells the Keokuk Daily Gate City that the call came in just before 8 p.m. Thursday. Hinton says no suspects have been found and no one was injured, but that two bullet holes were found in a wing of the school building.

CARLISLE, Iowa (AP) — Police and school officials are looking into an incident in which a Carlisle High School student allegedly used a stun gun on a classmate. The Des Moines Register reports that the incident happened Friday afternoon when one student used a self-defense Taser on another student during the last period of the school day. Officials did not identify the students involved.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Pets would be better protected and animal abuse offenders punished more severely under legislation being discussed by Iowa lawmakers. Republican Representative Bobby Kauffman of Wilton says he hopes to prevent animal abuse by increasing criminal penalties. Lobbyists are also pushing for a bill in the Senate to ban the slaughter of horses.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An illness among the cats at the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center has shut down cat adoptions and visits to the shelter’s cat room. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that the shelter’s cat room will be closed at least until Monday. Viewing and visits to the cat room won’t resume until the room reopens.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Blackbird Bend casino in western Iowa, formerly CasinOmaha, is set to reopen in a brand new building on Wednesday. The Omaha World-Herald reports that table games, a restaurant and bar and gift shop are all coming back with the move to the new building.

The Omaha Tribe-owned casino, located in Onawa, Iowa, was shut down by Missouri River flooding in June 2011. It reopened in a portion of the old building about a year ago while the new casino was under construction.

Marketing director Mike Krysl says the new casino is next door to the old building and sits 6 feet higher than the old casino to prevent future flooding. Part of the old building will reopen in March as a bingo hall.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on Friday of 27-year old Megan Diana Reynolds, of Clarinda. Reynolds was taken into custody at around 11:35-a.m., on charges of Driving While Suspended and Failure to Prove Security Against Liability (Proof of insurance). Reynolds was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 cash bond.

Reports of layoffs following the recent purchase of a long-time Council Bluffs manufacturing plant, has City officials scrambling to keep the company open and its employees retained. The Omaha World-Herald says three employees of Griffin Pipe Products who declined to give their names, said they were placed on layoff status, Friday.

It was announced earlier in the week that U.S. Pipe and Foundry of Birmingham, Alabama had acquired a majority financial interest in Griffin Pipe. Griffin is a leading manufacturer of water transmission products for North American distributors, contractors, and municipalities. Mike Tuttle, human resources manager at the Council Bluffs plant, declined to comment.

Council Bluffs Mayor Matt Walsh said city officials will do everything possible to keep the Griffin Pipe Products Co. open and fully employed. Walsh estimated that about 250 people work at the local plant.

A bridge in northwestern Pottawattamie County that links motorists to Beebeetown and Harrison County will re-open next week, after being closed last August, with little warning. The Potato Creek bridge, located a few miles south of Interstate 680 on County Road L-34 in Pott. County, will be open with reduced speed limits, but it will be closed again in April, so crews can finish work on the structure.The Iowa DOT says the project will cost an estimated $700,000.

Having the bridge open should save commuters in the area around 10-to 15-minutes, and a detour of more than a dozen miles.

A Nebraska woman angry at the management of a Council Bluffs motel allegedly ripped out the pages of a bible and set them on fire in a trash can, Thursday night. The Omaha World-Herald reports 43-year old Carolettia R. Looney, of Omaha, was taken into custody after the incident at the American Inn motel on S. 24th Street, in Council Bluffs.

Police say Meyers admitted to having set the fire at around 8:30-p.m., Thursday. Sgt. Chad Meyers told the paper Looney was angry at the motel management because she’d told them she prepaid enough to cover four days of rent, which was disputed. A security guard extinguished the fire.

Authorities arrested Looney on suspicion of first-degree arson. Police said Looney was under the influence of alcohol at the time of her arrest. Looney remains at the Pottawattamie County Jail on a $25,000 bond.

A bill that would further deregulate telephone service in Iowa stalled at the statehouse this past week. More than two dozen lobbyists crowded into a committee room to argue about the bill, which would affect phone companies that use the Internet as the link between a call from one landline to the landline the caller’s trying to reach. Some giant phone companies say this new internet-based phone service will be slowed if they can’t get out from under the oversight of the Iowa Utilities Board. Michael Sadler is an executive with CenturyLink.

“My company is going to be investing billions of dollars in IP technology moving forward,” Sadler told legislators. CenturyLink, Verizon, and AT&T all want the service to be regulated by the Federal Communications Commission — like cellphones are. Critics say that would mean unhappy customers could no longer go to the Iowa Utilities Board for relief. Kerri Johannsen, a spokesman for the board, says recent complaints include dropped calls.

“We’re dealing with issues in consumer protection, especially in rural call completion,” she says. Rural phone providers oppose the bill. So do telecommunications giants Sprint and U.S. Cellular who worry how it will affect their connections with the other providers. Lawmakers say the issue needs more study and they’ve tabled the proposal.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governor Terry Branstad has asked the Iowa Supreme Court to overturn a district court order to reopen the Iowa Juvenile Home. Branstad announced his plans on Friday. Branstad says the children residing at the home in Toledo were not receiving the education and care they needed.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Wisconsin infant who was abducted and left out in the cold in Iowa has been reunited with his parents and is on his way home. Kayden Powell’s mother discovered him missing early Thursday morning from his bassinet in a Town of Beloit home. Police found him tucked in a storage crate outside an Iowa gas station in frigid temperatures more than 24 hours later.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Cedar Rapids police say they do not suspect a crime is involved in the death of a man whose body was found in a gazebo at a cemetery. Police spokesman Greg Buelow said yesterday that 64-year-old Stuart Smith-Dromey had been reported missing on Wednesday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a jury verdict that found a Cedar Falls woman was not negligent when she rear-ended a pickup truck stopped at a red light in 2008 because she had suffered a stroke just before the crash. Betty Schmidt, who was 75 in November 2008, was returning from grocery shopping when she rear-ended Dennis Hagenow’s truck. It was her first accident ever.