Police in Council Bluffs are investigating the robbery early this (Wednesday) morning, of a convenience store on North 16th Street. Officials say at around 2:55-a.m., a white male entered the Bucky’s store at 15 North 16th Street. The man approached the counter, displayed a handgun, and demanded money. He got away with an undetermined amount of cash. No injuries were reported.  The suspect was described as being about 5-feet 8- to five-feet 10-inches tall, and weighing about 150- to 160-pounds. He wore dark clothing with gloves, a baseball cap with a light colored bill, and a red bandana around his face. Anyone with information about the robbery, is asked to call the Council Bluffs Police Department at 712-328-4728.

The Iowa Transportation Commission, Tuesday, approved more than $1.5-million in funding for Safe Routes to School Program projects, nearly $5.3-million for 11 statewide Transportation Enhancement Program (TEP) projects, and more than $1.2-million for six Recreational Trail Program projects. The appropriations were approved during the Commission’s meeting in Ames, Tuesday. In our area, the I-DOT Commission approved $236,000 for the Shenandoah Safe Routes to School Program. The program was created in Iowa in 2005, using federal transportation funds. Its purpose is to increase the number of children safely walking and bicycling to school.

The I-DOT Commission also approved a $530,000 award to the Iowa Department of Natural Resource and Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, for the “Great River Road Scenic Byway” and “Loess Hills Byway” projects, and $554,000 to Golden Hills Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D), for the “Interpreting Iowa’s Byways” project, which involves the development and implementation of an Interpretive Master plan. Funds for the projects come from the Statewide TEP.

And, the DOT Commission, Tuesday, approved a $300,000 Recreational Trails Program award to Coon Rapids and Creating Great Places, for the Herndon to Coon Rapids segment of the American Discovery Trail.

Legislators are likely to engage in a spirited debate over what kind of bullets may be fired at doves. Last year, in uncharacteristically speedy fashion, lawmakers voted to legalize dove hunting in Iowa. But Senator Dick Dearden of Des Moines and others are upset with the Iowa Natural Resources Commission’s decision to forbid hunters from using lead shot when firing at doves. “People talk about the legislature sneaking this (law) through and the reality is they snuck through that (restriction),” Dearden says. “They came through at the last minute and made the rule.” The rule requires the use of steel shot for dove hunting, but a resolution that would nullify that rule is pending in both the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate. Representative Henry Rayhons, of Garner, stopped by a local gun shop last week and heard lots of complaints about steel shot.

“It’s not as accurate,” Rayhons says. “It’s harder on the guns and it’s darned near twice as expensive.” Critics say animals, like ducks and eagles, die after eating the lead shot lying on the ground that didn’t wind up in a bird. Dearden, a life-long hunter, accuses those opponents of using the lead-shot issue as a smoke-screen to try to derail the entire dove hunting law. “It’s all about doves,” Dearden says. “It has nothing to do with eagles or anything else.” Dearden says he got plenty of hate mail after spearheading passage of the dove hunting law last year.

“My favorite was a woman who said: ‘You’re a sick old man. I hope you die while hunting mourning doves,'” Dearden says. “I emailed her back and said: ‘So do I.'” Critics of lead shot say it’s a danger to humans, too, who eat bird meat that’s riddled with lead fragments. One study suggested lead particles have been found up to a foot and a half away, causing a greater risk of lead poisoning to humans than previously thought.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is addressing concerns about his agency’s plan to close 259 U-S-D-A offices, labs and other facilities. Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, told reporters in a teleconference Tuesday, that the closures are in response to Congressional budget cuts. The goal is to trim USDA expenses by $150 million a year. Vilsack said the plan involves $90 million in savings through reduced travel and supplies. The office and lab closures would account for the remaining $60 million in savings. Vilsack does not anticipate widespread layoffs as nearly 7,000 USDA employees took early retirement last year and many workers will be given the opportunity to transfer to other offices. Critics of the plan have raised concerns about the possible effect on food safety.

“I want to be very clear about this – the office closings we announced in the food safety area are about administrative personnel. They are not about inspectors,” Vilsack said. “We did not deal with the inspector issue at all. We’re still going to be in every single plant. The inspectors will continue to do the work that they’re doing in those plants and it will have no impact whatsoever on our responsibility to ensure the safety of the food supply in the United States.” In Iowa, the so-called “Blueprint for Stronger Service” would close three Farm Service Agency offices in Appanoose, Decatur and Union Counties. In addition, a Natural Resource Conservation Service office in Jefferson County would be shut down. Vilsack said public hearings will be held within 90 days in the counties where offices are to be closed.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Authorities have identified a southwest Iowa man who died following an ATV accident Tuesday afternoon, north of Shenandoah. According to officials, 63-year old Lyle Green was riding the all-terrain vehicle on family property about a mile and half north of Shenandoah when the accident occured at around 4:30-p.m.  At about that same time, the Shenandoah Fire Department was called to a field fire, and, while details concerning the accident are not available, sources say the ATV accident was the cause of the fire.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in their investigation of the incident, by the Iowa State Patrol, DNR, the Fremont County Coroner’s Office and Shenandoah Fire/Rescue.

410 AM CST WED JAN 11 2012

Counties included in the Advisory: CRAWFORD-CARROLL-GREENE-AUDUBON-GUTHRIE-DALLAS-POLK-CASS-ADAIR-MADISON-ADAMS-UNION-TAYLOR-RINGGOLD

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DES MOINES HAS ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 6 PM CST THURSDAY. THE COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON WITH WINDS INCREASING BETWEEN NOON AND 3 PM AND WILL PREVAIL THROUGH THURSDAY. NORTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS APPROACHING 45 MPH ARE POSSIBLE.

A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT WINDS OF 30 MPH ARE EXPECTED. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT…ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. USE EXTRA CAUTION.

300 AM CST WED JAN 11 2012 …STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS THROUGH THE DAY…

.STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS WERE BEGINNING TO SPREAD INTO NORTHEAST NEBRASKA EARLY THIS MORNING BEHIND A COLD FRONT. THE COLD FRONT AND THE STRONG WINDS WILL OVERSPREAD EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA DURING THE MORNING. A PERIOD OF SNOW SHOWERS OR FLURRIES MAY ALSO ACCOMPANY THE WINDS LATER THIS MORNING. WINDS

COUNTIES INCLUDED IN A WIND ADVISORY: HARRISON-SHELBY-POTTAWATTAMIE-MILLS-MONTGOMERY-FREMONT-PAGE

…WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 6 PM CST THIS EVENING…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA/VALLEY HAS ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 6 PM CST THIS EVENING. STRONG WINDS WILL DEVELOP BY LATE THIS MORNING AND LAST THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 25 TO 35 MPH. GUSTS UP TO 45 MPH OR HIGHER ARE POSSIBLE.

STRONG WINDS MAY MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT. LOOSE OBJECTS SUCH AS TRASH CANS MAY ALSO BE BLOWN AWAY. LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS MAY ACCOMPANY THE WINDS WHICH COULD REDUCE VISIBILITY.

A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT SUSTAINED WINDS OF 30 MPH OR HIGHER ARE EXPECTED. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT, ESPECIALLY FOR LIGHT WEIGHT OR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. USE EXTRA CAUTION.

An Atlantic man was arrested on theft charge, Monday. According to the Atlantic Police Department, 48-year old Mark Allen Anderson was taken into custody for 5th degree Theft. Anderson was booked into the Cass County Jail and later released on bond.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held this (Tuesday) morning in Lewis, for a new fire station that’s been over three-years in the making.

Lewis Fire Station, Jan. 2012

Lewis Mayor Don Cohrs said the preliminary design for the station was approved by the City Council in October 2009, after they took into consideration the costs and space required. When a committee was formed, it was determined the facility needed to be 6,500 square feet, if it was to store all the equipment necessary to respond to emergencies. Cohrs said the project got off the ground when the City applied and was approved for, a nearly $281,000 I-Jobs 2 grant, through the State of Iowa. Cohrs said in addition, with a grant from the Lewis Fire Association’s Building Fund, and funds from the City, the project was completed at a cost of nearly $420,000.

The Mayor said the City benefitted while construction was underway, from all of the construction crews who spent their money in town, at the local convenience store, café and Post Office.

Former IA Gov. Chet Culver listens as Lewis Mayor Donny Cohrs talks about the new facilty

Cohrs credited former Governor Chet Culver with creating the I-Jobs initiative that made a significant impact in financing, not only for the Fire Station project, but other needed projects within the community as well. Governor Culver, who was in attendance at the event, congratulated the Mayor and other City officials who worked long and hard to see the process through.

Culver said the purpose of the I-Jobs initiative, was to help eastern Iowa recover from the floods of 2008 and other natural disasters that year. He said they discovered during that process, that there were many communities with needs that had gone unmet, because funding was not available through Federal agencies. That’s when his administration created the Iowa Jobs and Infrastructure concept, the best part of which, he says, involves no taxpayer dollars. Instead, the money comes from bonds paid off through 17 casinos in the State.

Former Gov. Chet Culver talks about the I-Jobs Initiative in Lewis

Culver said the second part of the I-Jobs program was added to help communities with major infrastructure projects not associated with the floods and disasters. He says the result was a State that was transformed and modernized, and that includes the small community of Lewis.

Culver said people who put their lives on the line, like firefighters, deserve the most modern facility and equipment possible, so they can do the very best job possible.