About 2,000 inmates in Iowa prisons endured last week’s extreme heat without air conditioning. Iowa Department of Corrections spokesperson Lettie Prell says staff members are trained to administer first aid for heat exhaustion, but there have been no incidents reported. Most of the state’s nine prison facilities are air conditioned.

The exceptions are the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility and the housing units at the Anamosa State Penitentiary. There are also some housing units at Mitchellville and Clarinda that rely only on fans. Prell says she’s not aware of any discipline problems related to the recent heat wave.

“If you’re talking about fights, there are always other reasons why there may be some tensions within an institution and it’s hard to say how many are caused only by the heat or if it would not have happened if it hadn’t been summer,” Prell said. Newer buildings in the Iowa prison system are air conditioned because security doesn’t allow for open windows. Texas prisons face lawsuits over the lack of air conditioning, but Prell said she’s not worried about that happening here.

Three young teens in Guthrie Center face possible felony charges in connection with vandalism that caused about $10,000 of damage in the city in late June.

The Guthrie Center Times reports the vandalism occurred on June 27 or June 28 during the late night hours.  Several local businesses and pieces of equipment were spray painted, while several vehicles owned by Wetzel repair had windshield, headlight, and taillight damage.

Guthrie Center Police Chief Mike Herbert tells the Guthrie County Times that the teens could face class C felony criminal mischief charges because total damage from vandalism was about $10,000, which is the threshold for those felony charges.  He says two 15-year-old males and one 13-year-old male are suspected in the vandalism after a trail of evidence led back to them.

No other details about the case are available.

The Atlantic Police Department reports a local teen faces an OWI charge.   On June 28, 18-year-old Dillon Lee Foote of Griswold appeared at the Cass County Jail to be booked and released on a charge of OWI 1st offense.

w/ Brett Johnson

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ONAWA, Iowa (AP) – A Nebraska man has been given five years of probation for his role in a plot to shoot an Iowa man. 
 
The Sioux City Journal reports (http://bit.ly/Nd1MZe) that 20-year-old Joseph Roberts, of Omaha, had pleaded guilty. Roberts was given a suspended five-year prison term in addition to the probation sentence he received on Monday.
 
Authorities say 32-year-old Darren Hieber, of Mapleton, hired Roberts and 19-year-old Timothy Culley to shoot him on March 8 in Mapleton. Police say it was the second time Hieber hired someone to shoot him to gain sympathy from his ex-wife. 
 
Hieber also was shot on Feb. 5. Brady Chapman pleaded guilty in that case and was given two years of probation. 
 
Culley was given five years of probation. 
 
Hieber faces trial on July 31.

–AP

The Cass Board of Supervisors will hold a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday morning.

 On the agenda is a report from Cass County Attorney Dan Feistner regarding the assignment of county held tax sale certificates of purchase to the City of Cumberland.

Also on the agenda is a secondary roads update from the County Engineer.

The meeting of the Cass County Board of Supervisors will be on Wednesday at 9:00 AM at the Cass County Courthouse.

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The Atlantic Airport Commission will have a regularly scheduled meeting this morning at the airport terminal.

In older business, the commission will hear an update on the Fly Iowa Airshow coming to Atlantic in September.

New business on the agenda includes an update on the parallel taxiway grading project.  Final plans on that project will be presented as well more details about specifications, bid documents and opinion of probable construction costs.  A resolution will also be made setting a bid date and public hearing for the project.

The meeting of the Atlantic Airport Commission begins at 9:00 at the Atlantic Airport Terminal.

The Atlantic School Board will hold a regularly scheduled meeting this evening.

Consent agenda items for tonight include a report from superintendant Dr. Mike Amstein, approval of contracts and/or letters of assignment, approval of amended contracts and/or letters of assignment, approval of volunteer coaches, and approval of resignations.

Other action items on the agenda tonight for the Atlantic school board include the first reading of an ordinance pertaining to access to student records, the first reading of an ordinance about internet usage policy, approval of the lease for the portable classroom to be used at Washington Elementary, and approval of the purchase of healthy choices vending machine for food service.

The meeting of the Atlantic School board begins tonight at 7:30 at the Atlantic High School Media Center.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The hot and dry weather is taking a toll on Iowa crops, with the condition of corn and soybeans continuing to decline.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says in Monday’s weekly report that only 46 percent of the corn is in good to excellent shape. That’s the lowest level for the first week of July since 1993. A week ago, it was 62 percent.

Forty-eight percent of soybeans are in good to excellent condition, down from 59 percent last week.

The USDA says 88 percent of topsoil moisture and 82 percent of subsoil moisture are short or very short.

Iowa had 100-plus temperatures from Wednesday through Saturday. The highest temps so far this year were on Saturday with eight communities reaching 105 degrees. There was no widespread rain.