No injuries were reported following a rollover accident Tuesday afternoon, in Mills County. Sheriff’s officials say Joseph Baughman of Bellevue, NE, was driving a 1996 Ford westbound on Highway 370 at around 3:45-p.m., when a white car…possibly a Ford Taurus…attempted to pass him at high rate of speed.

At the same time there was a vehicle traveling eastbound on Hwy 370. Baughman told authorities he had to take evasive actions to keep from all vehicles striking each other. He said the white car would not have had time to get over into the westbound lane without causing an accident.

When Baughman’s car hit the northbound shoulder, he over-corrected and lost control. The vehicle entered the south ditch where it rolled at least once before coming to rest on its top. Baughman refused Rescue, and said he was not hurt.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors held a short meeting in Atlantic, today (Wednesday). The Board approved a Tax Suspension for a resident in Anita who is eligible for it since they are a recipient of certain types of supplemental support other than Medicaid. A person’s eligibility status must be ascertained each year from Human Services before the month of June.

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman and Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall explained a Tax Suspension is different from a Tax Abatement. Sunderman said it means the taxes will be exempt from penalty, interest and tax sale, if monthly payments are made on-time and if taxes aren’t delinquent or owed when the house is sold, otherwise they will be due at that time.

The property in question is within the City Limits of Anita, in Section 28. In other business, the Board heard a report from Cass County Engineer Charles Marker, to request Board Chair Frank Waters’ signature on the final pay vouchers for Murphy Construction, with regard to the completed Nishnabotna River bridge project, and, Henningsen Construction, for work on the Lewis Road.

Marker said on Tuesday, they opened the bids up for Bridge Deck Patching. He says three bids were received. The low bid for the maintenance project was from Denco Highway Construction Corporation in Mingo, $234,092.50, which was under the engineer’s estimate. The company was awarded the project based on their experience and bid.

Marker says also part of the County is out of “Contract Rock” for maintenance of some gravel roads. The Stennett Quarry, which services the southwest corner of the County including the Griswold area, and the Jefferson Quarry, just north Greenfield along Highway 25, no longer have crushed rock available, but Marker says the Secondary Roads Department can make do with what it has on-hand.

He says there’s only 20-miles of road left to rock, six-miles of which is near the Anita area, 10-miles is near Massena. Some of the needed rock can come from the Corning site, according to Marker. And, Marker said they are starting their Project Pipe installation projects, which includes large cross-road pipes and culverts, and tearing up some roads as needed for the installation of those pipes and culverts.

Three people, an adult, a teenager and a child, were injured during a rollover accident Tuesday evening in Audubon County. The Sheriff’s Department says 18-year old Brandi Lynn Mulford, of Elk Horn, was traveling south on Goldfinch Avenue at around 6-p.m., when the 2001 Toyota Camry she was driving went out of control as it topped a hill on the gravel road, near 230th Street.

The car entered the east ditch and rolled onto its top. Mulford and her passengers, 6-year old Jordan Mulford, of Elk Horn, and 14-year old Carissa Schwab, of Audubon, were transported by private vehicle to the Audubon County Memorial Hospital.

Damage to the car was estimated at $8,000. Officials said the vehicle appeared to have been going too fast for the road conditions, but the accident remained under investigation.

The Shelby County Emergency Management Agency says Linden Road, between 1300th Street and Street F-32, will be closed for resurfacing work, and open to local traffic only, along with emergency vehicles. Residents and emergency responders should be aware heavy equipment will be present in work zone, and caution should be exercised when traveling through or near the work zone. Emergency vehicles MAY NOT violate a closed work zone.

The project is expected to last for about 3 weeks.

w/ Ric Hanson

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Officials with the Iowa Department of Transportation say they’ve just released the 2014 Iowa Transportation Map in the standard fold-out paper form, on the Internet, or through a mobile device viewing app. The front cover of this year’s map includes pictures of the Great River Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Burlington, a sunset over Iowa 76 between Waukon and Dorchester, and Interstate 235 in Des Moines with the Iowa Capitol in the background. The back panel includes a welcome message from Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The map shows all highways, airports, rail lines, lakes, rivers, and major county roads. Detail maps are shown for the state’s 16 largest cities that identify highways, major streets, and city boundaries. The map information also includes a chart to find mileage between select Iowa cities; and an index listing the cities shown on the map, along with their populations and map location.

In addition to the standard features mentioned, the 2014 map includes two Quick Response (QR) codes that can be scanned with a QR reader on a smartphone or other mobile device. Simply download a free QR application from your device’s online app store. One of the codes provides access to all the websites listed on the printed map, as well as a link to the online version of the map. The other provides a direct link to Iowa’s 511 Travel Information website: 511ia.org.

Copies of the 2014 map are available at the Iowa DOT’s 19 driver’s license stations, county treasurer’s offices, all six Iowa DOT district offices, Iowa’s 19 welcome centers, and the state’s rest areas. The map can also be ordered online through the Iowa DOT’s website.

The Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Iowa Tourism Office also distributes maps to all travelers requesting tourism information online and by phone. To order a free Iowa travel packet that includes the new map and 2014 Iowa Travel Guide, call 800-345-IOWA (4692) or visit traveliowa.com.

An electronic version of the map, accompanied by an assortment of city detail maps, is also available online at iowadot.gov/maps by selecting the “Transportation Map” link. Information for a mobile device map viewing app is available there as well.

w/ Ric Hanson

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Thousands of Iowans will be hitting the road over the Memorial Day weekend and they’re being reminded to watch out for construction zones. Mark Bortle, with the Iowa Department of Transportation, says one of the bigger projects in central Iowa is along Interstate 35 from West Des Moines, south to just beyond the town of Cumming.  “We still will be maintaining two lanes in each direction, but traffic will be a little bit more congested due to the closeness of the construction activity,” Bortle says. That project, which carries a price tag of just over $32 million, is expected to be completed later this year.

Other roadwork will impact travelers in western Iowa. “We have ongoing projects in the Council Bluffs metro area as we continue to rebuild the interstate system there and up in the Sioux City area…that will impact Interstate 29 traffic up in Woodbury County,” Bortle says. In northeast Iowa, motorists may be slowed down a bit if they pass through Waterloo.

“We’re doing some work on the I-380 bridge over San Marnan Drive and traffic is restricted to one lane in that normal three lane section,” Bortle says. While the DOT will not be doing work in most construction zones over the holiday weekend, Bortle says motorists should still slow down when they see the black-on-orange warning signs and merge into the appropriate lanes as soon as they can.

(Radio Iowa)

A portion of Interstate 29 in Council Bluffs was closed for several hours, Tuesday, after a semi tractor-trailer leaked acid onto the road. Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department said the northbound lanes of I-29 and I-680 southbound was closed near the 25th Street exit on the west side of the City.

The incident occurred sometime around 5-p.m. Traffic was allowed to resume a normal flow on the affected section of roads by around 8:30-p.m. No injuries were reported, and no other details were released.

Iowa State University crops specialist, Joel Dejong (Dee-young), says last week’s freezing temperatures have caused some widespread damage to western Iowa corn fields.  “A lot of northwest Iowa and actually even into southwest Iowa — although they didn’t even freeze — they had some damage in some fields also from radiation frost where it got cold so fast,” DeJong says. “We had temperatures in the mid 20’s, so obviously that’s going to cause come crop damage.” DeJong says in many instances corn had already emerged when the cooler temperatures had hit, and he believes most of the crop will recover.

“As I go dig fields, it looks like most plants have grown quite a bit since we had that frost and these nicer sunnier days help,” DeJong says. He says some plants look like they lost a leaf, but he says they will continue to regrow. DeJong says while the corn was damaged, soybeans are a different story.

“Soybeans once they emerge, their growing point is above ground. So, southwest Iowa reported several fields where they did freeze off emerged beans. I am not sure if I know of any emerged beans (in northwest Iowa) — maybe there was field or two out there. If there was, they are probably hurt pretty seriously,” DeJoung explains. Statewide, 40 percent of the soybeans have been planted and DeJong believes northwest Iowa farmers have perhaps planted as much as 60 percent of the intended soybean acreage. DeJong says farmers will want to start scouting for black cut worms based on their tracking of the adult larvae.

“We trap adults as they start moving up, they don’t live through an Iowa winter, so traps went out in mid-March and the first part of April,” DeJong says. He says the adults started showing up mid-April and he says they predict the worms will be big enough to start cutting off the plants by around May 27th. The agronomist says the day length and temperatures will determine how fast the cutworms will move into this area. He says as the corn growth slows down, so do the insects and other pests.

(Radio Iowa)