Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources say a Boil Advisory remains in-place for the City of Prescott. The Southern Iowa Rural Water Association (SIRWA) and DNR reported Wednesday that a contractor had struck a water main, causing it to rupture and for the City to lose water pressure, which could have introduced bacteria into the drinking water.

The line was fixed and pressure restored, but the Boil Advisory remains in effect until test results on samples of the water come back clean for bacteria. If all the samples come back bacteria free, the advisory will be lifted, most likely sometime late on Friday.

Residents of Prescott should continue to boil their water intended for consumption. Once it comes to a boil, they should let it continuing boiling for one minute and then let it cool. It is then safe for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth and food preparation.

The Atlantic Police Department reports an accident and arrest occurred, Wednesday. Taken into custody for Driving While Revoked, was 56-year old Douglas Howard, of Atlantic. Howard was booked into the Cass County Jail.

The accident happened at around 1:25-p.m. near the intersection of 10th and east Mahogany Streets. Officials say a vehicle driven by Lee Clarken, of Atlantic, was headed west on 10th when he became distracted. His vehicle hit a legally parked car registered to Scott Wood, of Atlantic. There were no injuries reported, and the damage amounted to $6,000. Clarken was cited for Striking an Unattended Vehicle.

Atlantic Zoning Administrator John Lund reports the Atlantic City Council will hold a public hearing beginning at 5:30-p.m., Wed., Jan. 22nd, with regard to a request from Plummer Investments to rezone a lot of land from R-3 (High Density Single Family), to C-1 (Highway Commercial). The meeting will take place in the City Council Chambers, at City Hall.

A change in the zoning designation for the section of land will allow Plummer Investments, of Atlantic, to remove a 133-year old structure in poor condition on the southwest corner of the intersection of 7th and Olive Streets, and allow the lot to continue natural expansion of the Highway Commercial zone abutting 7th Street (Highway 6). Lund says in addition, “It will expand upon the commercial investments already made in the immediate vicinity, and improve the general condition of the neighborhood.”Questions regarding the rezoning proposal should be addressed to Zoning Administrator John Lund, at 243-4810.

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County report a Glenwood woman was being held on $15,000 bond in the Mills County Jail, for allegedly violating the terms of her probation. 35-year old Wendy Lynn Meadows was taken into custody at the Mills County Jail, after a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Nicholas Hunt, Chair of the Cass County Community Foundation, and Brett Irlmeier, Chair of the Audubon County Community Foundation are issuing a reminder to non-profit organizations in their respective counties, that the deadline for submitting grant applications is February 1st, 2014.

This year, $109,000 each is available for nonprofits in Audubon and Cass Counties. Detailed application procedures, fact sheets, and a link to the application form can be obtained online at http://omahafoundation.org/swiowa. Applications will only be accepted through the online system. Contact any board member for additional information.

Please contact Dennis Nissen at 800-794-3458 or dennis@omahafoundation.org or Denise Cardos at denise@omahafoundation.org with grant application-specific questions. All completed applications will be considered at the March board meeting with notification of results in early April.

Only organizations providing charitable services in Cass and Audubon County are eligible in their respective counties. They must be able to demonstrate broad community/county support and supply a copy of their 501(c)(3) IRS determination letter. Requests for general operational funds will not be considered.

The Shelby County Chamber Board of Directors announced Wednesday that their Executive Director has resigned. In a press release, the Chamber of Commerce announced Dawn Cundiff resigned, effective this past Tuesday, January 14^th. Board member Denny Siemers said, “We want to thank Dawn for her 11 years of service to the organizations and especially her work to grow local business and to promote the great opportunities Shelby County has to offer.”

The Chamber has begun a search for a new Executive Director to lead the Chamber in the coming year.  Job responsibilities as the Executive Director include providing leadership and direction in fulfillment of the Chamber’s mission, initiatives and goals, professionally representing and promoting the Chamber and its businesses in the community and through partnerships and having responsibility for daily operations of the Chamber of Commerce.

Interested individuals should e-mail a resume, cover letter and salary expectations to shelbycountychamber@harlannet.com

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

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The Iowa Department of Education has released its 2013 Condition of Education report Wednesday. Jay Pennington, the department bureau chief for information and analysis services, says the report gives a wide overview of several areas of the education system. “You certainly see more diversity in the state, which means a larger increase of our student population are minority students. We certainly continue to see an increase in poverty,” Pennington says. “When we look at things like our schools we see there’s a need for more broadband. At the same time, we also see more students having access to computers than ever before.”

The report says student enrollment is 20-point-two percent, up from 14-point-nine percent in the 2008-09 school year. Forty-one-percent of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches which is up from 27 percent twelve years ago. The four-year graduation rate for the Class of 2012 was 89-point-three-percent. The report includes a couple of special sections — including one which evaluates the impact of the voluntary preschool program on third grade students. Pennington says they compared the students’ kindergarten scores and saw a “significant increase in those scores” as they transitioned into kindergarten. They next looked at the scores of the students once they hit third grade. He says they found some increases for third graders, but the “affect size was relatively small.”

“Certainly I think that’s good news, but that’s not quite the slam dunk that we like to see,” Pennington says. Another area examines how students fare when a school district retains its teachers. “School districts that where high achieving at time A and time B were able to retain a significant larger portion of their teacher workforce when compared to school districts that were lower achieving at time one and time two,” according to Pennington. There were 348 school districts in the 2012-13 school year, compared to  351 the year before.  Pennington says the state looks at all the numbers is getting a picture of how the education system is performing.

“It doesn’t grade us on an A, B, C, or D scale…education is a complex area and this report provides a number of different types of metrics,” Pennington says. The full report is available on the Iowa Department of Education’s website at: www.educateiowa.gov.

(Radio Iowa)

A rarely-issued High Wind Warning is posted for a large portion of western and central Iowa for much of today (Thursday). Meteorologist David Pearson, at the National Weather Service, says motorists can expect to be dodging garbage cans, recycling bins and anything else that’s not nailed down.  “We don’t issue these too often so it is somewhat of a big deal,” Pearson says. “Wind gusts to 50 miles per hour wouldn’t be out of the question, even a bit higher.”

Some of the alerts say winds may reach 60 miles an hour — or stronger.  “At that point you can start even seeing some damage to structures,” Pearson says. “It’s possible, especially tree damage, too.” At 74-miles an hour, it would be considered hurricane strength. Blowing snow or dust could make driving hazardous. The winds will be more than a nuisance to anyone driving a high-profile vehicle. Pearson was asked for his advice for drivers of trucks, vans or campers who have to get from Point A to Point B.

“You need to not go and that’s just being honest as there’s not a whole lot you can do,” Pearson says. “Obviously, it depends on the vehicle and the experience of the person driving. The wind’s going to be out of the northwest so if you’re taking Interstate 80, west to east, that wind’s going to be hitting your broadside and the effects could be pretty dangerous if the wind’s high enough.”

A Wind Advisory has also been posted for parts of southwest, south central and central Iowa. Today’s warnings and advisories covers parts of Iowa and five other states: Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas.

(Radio Iowa)