The Fremont County Sheriff’s Department reports a teenager from Georgia who was trapped in a vehicle following a crash early this (Wednesday) morning, was transported to the hospital by helicopter, as a precautionary measure. The accident happened just after 1-a.m. on Interstate 29 northbound, near exit 10.

Officials say 49-year old Lonnie Lee Dickey, of Sioux City, was driving a 2006 Volvo semi and entering I-29 from the northbound exit ramp at Exit 10, when the semi’s trailer was struck from behind by a 2004 Dodge Ram pickup. The accident happened as the driver of the pickup, 33-year old David Michael Carroll,  of Georgia, was retrieving an item from the floorboard of his truck, and lost control of the vehicle, which was pulling a U-Haul trailer.

After the collision, the pickup and trailer left the road and traveled several hundred feet into an adjacent corn field. 13-year old Sadie Carroll was trapped in the truck for over an hour, while rescue crews used the Jaws of Life to try and free her. Officials say because of the excess extrication time, LifeNet was called to the scene. Sadie was transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Neither the driver of the semi, nor Carroll, were injured.

A dog traveling in Carroll’s pickup escaped from the vehicle and fled into the cornfield. It was described as being a 9-year old chocolate lab/pit bull mix. The dog answers to the name of “Coco.” Officials say alcohol is not thought to have been a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation.

(9-a.m. News 8/1) (Updated 4:18-a.m. Thursday, 8/2)

The Shelby County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) has announced the 1600th Street Bridge will be closed beginning Monday, August 6th. The bridge is located over an unnamed tributary of Pigeon Creek, just east of 208 1600th Street (near the Sylvan Kenkel residence), between Washington Townships 20 and 17. The bridge will remain closed for the next five-weeks, so that the bridge can be replaced.

Residents and emergency responders should plan now to take alternate routes. If you have any questions, call the Shelby County Engineer’s Office at 712-755-5954.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa state climatologist says the 2012 drought is even worse than the 1988 event and the worst since 1936. Climatologist Harry Hillaker told The Gazette that the heat and dry July has pushed this year’s drought above ’88 drought for breadth and severity. Hillaker says the 1936 drought in Iowa also was fueled by a torrid July, the hottest and second-driest in 140 years.
 
Climatologist Brian Fuchs at the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Neb., says “heat makes droughts drier, and droughts make heat hotter.” Fuchs says a high-pressure system that has kept many storms from watering the nation’s grain belt has strengthened and could remain as a rain barrier for two more months. The center reported last week that the drought covers two-thirds of the continental U.S.

w/ Ric Hanson

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Discarded smoking materials are believed to have been the cause of a fire in Atlantic Tuesday afternoon that caused extensive damage to a home on Front Street. Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees said the call from the residence owned by Bev Carroll and Shane Davis, at 511 Front Street, came in at around 3:30-p.m.

The Chief says Shane received a call from his children who were in the home along with a young friend, about smoke coming from a bedroom closet. The children, ages 12, eight and five, attempted to fight the fire but couldn’t. They escaped the home safely. Davis arrived at the house and attempted to gain access to the home, but couldn’t. McNees said the man eventually broke out a window and tried to use a garden hose to reach the flames.

Atlantic Firefighters arrived and were able to get the fire knocked down and the house ventilated within about 30-to 45-minutes. McNees said he doesn’t know if the kids had been smoking in the house, and they denied doing so, but there was evidence of discarded smoking materials in the closet.

The bedroom and closet sustained extensive fire damage, while the rest of the residence had extensive smoke damage. No injuries were reported, in association with the fire or the attempts to fight it.

w/ Ric Hanson

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The ongoing drought – combined with the global economic turmoil – is hurting business in nine Midwest and Plains states and increasing worries about the possibility of another recession.  A report released today (Wednesday) says July’s Mid-America Business Conditions Index plunged below growth neutral for the first time since 2008. The index hit 48.7, compared with 57.2 in June. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the drought will hurt farm income and the strengthening dollar hurts exports.
 
The survey of business leaders and supply managers uses a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Any score above 50 suggests growth while a score below 50 suggests decline for that factor. The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Police in Red Oak report an Elliott teen has been arrested on forgery and possession of stolen property charges, following an investigation into stolen checks. 17-year-old Cheryl Ann Hallcock was taken into custody Tuesday on  two felony counts of Forgery, and two simple misdemeanor charges of Possession of Stolen Property. The teen was arrested in connection with an investigation to a report by a male victim of the crime that some of his checks had been taken and used without his consent. Hallcock was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs. Officials believe others were involved in the crime, and additional arrests are expected, as their investigation continues.

Officials say the shift away from round-the-clock institutional care for people with disabilities has led to layoffs at the largest employer in the Dallas County town of Woodward. Twenty-seven jobs at the Woodward Resource Center were eliminated Tuesday. Roger Munns, a spokesman for the state agency that manages the facility, says that adjusts staffing levels to the reduced number of disabled residents.”Both of our facilities, at Woodward and Glenwood, have worked very hard, vigorously, to try to find community or home-based placements for people with disabilities and we’ve been very successful, averaging about a dozen new placements from both places,” Munns says. “As a result of this, budgets and staff have been reduced.”

In the past five years, there’s been a 25 percent reduction in the number of full-time residents in the Woodward facility. “There are fewer people to care for,” Munns says, “and, obviously, you need fewer staff.” On Monday, nearly 700 people were employed to care for 181 disabled residents. A total of 27 staff positions were eliminated Tuesday, but some union workers who got layoff notices will be able to take the position of an employee in a similar job who has less seniority. As the number of Woodward residents declined in recent years, layoffs had been avoided through staff turnover.

“Normal attrition — people leaving for other positions — but there wasn’t very much turnover at Woodward,” Munns says. “There were very few people who left for the incentive for early retirement a couple of years ago. As a result, there are more people (on staff) than the budget can support.” The Glenwood Resource Center in western Iowa is the permanent home for 263 disabled residents. Managers of that facility say they’ll be able to manage reduced budgets without layoffs this year.

(Radio Iowa)

The Atlantic City Council will act Wednesday evening on a Resolution awarding a bid for the reconstruction of the Sunnyside Tennis Courts. The move will follow a public hearing on the plans and specification for the project, and approval of those matters. Bids for the project were due in to the City Clerk’s Office by the close of business on Tuesday.

Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring has been working on the project, and is set to present the plans and specs as prepared by Snyder and Associates Engineers. The plans and specs reflect the design requirements of the U-S Tennis Association, so that the project can receive a $50,000 grant. The project is expected to cost about $241,000. City Administrator Doug Harris has said the project will be paid for with $88,000 in 2012 Bond proceeds, $65,000 in grants from the USDA and Iowa Western Community College, along with two, separate payments of $44,000 each from the Atlantic Community School District.

In other business, the Council will hold the first reading of an Ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances, by adding a new chapter entitled “Illegal Dumping.” Cass County Landfill Director Wendy Wittrock has asked the county and cities to adopt the ordinance, so there could be consistent rules and enforcement, county-wide. The Council will also hold the first reading of an Ordinance amending the City Code, by adopting a section entitled “Private Wells,” as recommended by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the City’s consulting engineers. The ordinance would prohibit private water wells (except closed-loop systems), within 1,000-feet of “High risk sites.” It would still permit the use of closed-loop geothermal and heat pump wells, however, because those systems prevent human exposure to the water.

And, the Council will act on appointments to various Boards and Commissions, as suggested by Mayor Dave Jones. They include: Mary Ward and Katrina Sonntag, to the Board of Adjustment; James Behrens, to the Planning & Zoning Commission; Rollie Landsness to the Community Promotion Commission; Michelle Saluk and Steve Teague, to the Cable TV Commission; and, Linn Headlee, Sid Winchell, and Carolyn Hanson, to the Library Board.

The Atlantic City Council meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., Wednesday.