A man from Red Oak was arrested Thursday afternoon for Violation of a No Contact Order. According to Red Oak Police, 50-year old Richard Bryan Jenkins was taken into custody at around 4:15-p.m., in the 500 block of 4th Avenue. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa plans to use millions of dollars in federal pandemic funds on a long-term plan to improve data management across state agencies, a second information technology project that may not fit the purpose of the aid. State and federal auditors this week told Iowa’s executive branch to return millions of dollars to the state’s $1.25 billion coronavirus relief fund that were spent on new accounting and human resources software.

They determined the project wasn’t an appropriate expense. A state report shows the Office of the Chief Information Officer has been given $16.9 million in pandemic aid for a data collection initiative that was under discussion before the pandemic.

DENISON— Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources, today (Thursday) said late Wednesday afternoon, county officials notified the DNR of cloudy water in Willow Creek about four miles southwest of Denison. When DNR field staff investigated, they found that dairy farmer Harold Chapman had dumped about 400 gallons of milk on the ground after a cooler failed. The milk flowed about one-fourth mile before entering Willow Creek near the intersection of 220^th St. and Q Avenue.

When organic products like milk enter a stream, bacteria breaks them down — using up oxygen that fish and other aquatic animals depend upon. That can be deadly, especially in smaller streams. DNR staff checked the creek and collected water samples. Stream flows were high and they did not find any dead fish. DNR will consider appropriate enforcement action.

People with questions about waste disposal can contact a DNR field office for disposal suggestions and requirements.

(By FFA reporter Aspen Niklasen)- The Atlantic FFA chapter competed in the Southwest Iowa district Soils Judging Contest in Audubon on Monday October 19th. The team which consisted of Dylan Comes, Cooper Jipsen, Daniel Freund and Malena Woodward, got 5th place overall and earned a gold rating. There were 76 FFA members from 24 schools at the Contest. Cooper Jipsen placed 8th overall, Daniel Freund 13th, Dylan Comes 26th and Malena Woodward 28th. Team member Jipsen said “The pits were very hard to judge, because of the weather conditions, but we overcame the difficulties and rose to the occasion.”

Malena Woodward, Cooper Jipsen, Daniel Freund, Dylan Comes. (Photo & story submitted)

The Soils Judging Career Development Event is designed towards motivating students to gain knowledge on surface features, the soil profile, land capability and productivity, evaluation of land use and management practices, and suitability of soils for non-agricultural uses. Students also develop the ability to observe selected soil properties, and use these observations to interpret and evaluate these properties for recommendations for land use. “Soils judging has helped me learn more about what I should look for when Farming.” said Comes.

The day of the contest a sheet of snow started to cover the ground, and the temperature had dropped to the 30s. Team member Woodward said “there was 4 inches of snow covering the pits, the mud made it very slick, and the wind made the climate frigid. I was bundled up in layers to keep body heat.” Even with these non ideal weather conditions, the team trudged on.

After the contest took place, Mr. Miller, the Atlantic FFA advisor, felt good about the day’s competition. “I was impressed with the way our students performed. They made a lot of improvement in a very short amount of time.” Team members did not feel the same at first but changed their minds after they saw the results, Freund said “When we left we thought we did terrible, but when we heard the news we were excited. I am looking forward to judging soil from a different part of the state with my team.”

The Atlantic FFA chapter wanted to say thank you to Joe and Brittany Elmquist of Audubon County for hosting the event. Scott Hansen of Hansen Earthmoving who dug the soil pits, and Adam Hansen of Eagle Acres who provided tables.

The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education held a Special Meeting in the High School Media Room late this (Thursday) morning, and approved a temporary mask mandate effective Friday, Oct. 23rd. Superintendent Steve Barber told KJAN News…

(The mask mandate is in effect for 30 days and offers parents the opportunity to implement remote learning if they so desire.)

You may recall a petition was circulated online asking the School Board to mandate a mask policy in order to alleviate the likelihood of any further students being quarantined. The Board also received a letter from the Cass County Board of Health, requesting the mandate be placed into effect immediately.

Barber said the Board took into consideration the increasing spread of the Coronavirus, even though the actual spread through the district has been low, coming in at around one-percent.

Face coverings are required in all buildings when social distancing is not possible. The board will reevaluate based on COVID-19 statistics in the district and Cass County. Superintendent Barber says it’s fortunate the District has been able to maintain a low number of the virus cases, considering how long school has been underway.

You can view the school board meeting in its entirety through this link.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The murder trial for a Sioux City man charged with killing his girlfriend’s 19-month-old daughter has been pushed back to next summer. The Sioux City Journal reports that a judge on Wednesday agreed to continue 24-year-old Tayvon Davis‘ trial to July 13. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to the continuation. Davis’ trial had been set to start next week. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, child endangerment resulting in the death of a child and multiple acts of child endangerment in the 2018 death of the toddler.

An autopsy showed the girl had several blunt force injuries to her head and a kidney and had suffered fractures to her vertebrae and ribs.

Sheriff’s officials in Union County have taken two reports of theft. A man from Afton, reported Monday, that sometime between 3:00 and 4:30 AM that morning, while his vehicle was broken down between Creston and Afton, someone entered his vehicle and took his Taurus .40 cal gun. The weapon has an estimated value of $400.

And, a man from Diagonal reported Wednesday, that sometime in the past week or so, someone took batteries and battery cables from a bulldozer owned by Larry Schultes while it was near the Clarke Union County Line. The loss was estimated at $400.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are crediting a Mason City police dog with finding a 2-year-old boy who wandered with his dog from his family’s rural home and through a wooded are near a creek this week. The Globe Gazette reports that the incident happened Tuesday, when the boy’s family reported him and the dog missing. Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s deputies searched the property and called in a drone to help search for the boy, but it was Mason City K-9 Kilo who tracked the the boy along a creek to a neighbor’s property.

The boy was found sitting on a cinder block with his dog by his side. Officers say he had taken off his wet shoes, socks and coat, but was not in need of medical attention.

Two semi’s were involved in an accident Thursday morning on Interstate 80 in Cass County, but there were no serious injuries. Cass EMS, Anita Rescue and Wiota Fire were dispatched at around 6:45-a.m. to the crash in the construction zone on I-80 westbound, at mile marker 63, where the road funnels down to one lane. Trooper Ryan Devault tells KJAN News one semi left the road and entered the median, but stayed upright.

(The second semi went out of control and struck the first semi, resulting in a complete lane blockage.)

The impact pushed the first semi into the cable guardrail, causing damage to the DOT guardrail. The driver of the semi that went into the median was trying to drive out of the median mud, when his rig was struck. The driver of the first semi was identified as 42-year old Amos Dorival, of Fayetteville, NC. The second semi was driven by 46-year old Mahdi Guled, of Edmondton, Alberta Canada. One of the drivers hit his head on the steering wheel, but both drivers refused medical treatment at the scene.  Trooper DeVault said there’s no reason drivers should be involved in an accident in that area, since it is well marked as a construction zone that funnels down to one-lane ahead.

He says semi’s seem to have the most difficult time navigating through the construction zone.  Assisting the Iowa State Patrol at the scene was the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa Dept. of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division and Roads Dept., along with the aforementioned rescue units.

(Radio Iowa) – Despite the damp weather we’ve experienced over the past couple of days, open burning bans remain in effect for 18 Iowa counties. State Fire Marshal Dan Wood says that’s not common for this time of year. “Usually it’s less than that, but usually we’ve had more moisture where this year has just been very much a drought statewide,” he says. Burn bans are not issued by the State Fire Marshal’s office. Local fire chiefs and emergency managers in each county determine there’s an elevated fire risk and issue the ban on open burning in a county. The State Fire Marshal’s website lists the burn bans that are in effect.

Most of the 19 counties are in the western half of Iowa. “Having a very dry summer and now a very dry fall we’ve had a lot of counties go with these burn bans,” Wood says, “kind of sounding the alarm for the dangers of their being field fires.” A recent western Iowa field fire was one-and-a-half miles wide at one point. Fire officials advise farmers to have a disc nearby as combines roll through a field. If a fire is sparked, the disc can be used to turn over crop residue and create strips of soil to stop a fire from spreading. On a couple of days this fall, northwest Iowa farmers have been advised to halt the harvest due to high winds that could quickly spread a fire sparked by a combine.

In this area, counties with burn bans still in effect until further notice, include: Audubon, Cass, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, and Pottawattamie.