A public hearing will be held Thursday evening in Walnut over a proposed Loan Agreement in a principal amount not to exceed $1.06-million, for the purpose of paying the cost of refunding the outstanding balance of the City’s General Obligation Water Improvement Bond, series 2007, and Water Revenue Bond, Series 2007. The hearing takes place as part of the Walnut City Council meeting, which begins at 5-p.m., and will be followed by the possible adoption of the loan agreement.

The Walnut City Council will also discuss a possible Streetscape Enhancement project, and a request for Christmas Walk funds and Tourism funds. The Council will also act on a recommendation for Justen Tooley to serve a two-year term as Fire Chief, and discuss a budget amendment for the Fiscal Year 2012-2013 budget.

The Harlan Police Department reports one-person was injured in a two vehicle accident in Harlan last Thursday. Officials say a 2005 Ford driven by Cassie Voge, of Portsmouth, was traveling westbound on Highway 44 and stopped at the intersection with Highway 59 in Harlan. A 2004 Chevy driven by Shane Vandervort, of Council Bluffs, was traveling northbound on Highway 59 and also came to the same intersection.

Voge continued westbound into the intersection at the same time Vandervort proceeded to travel north. Officials say the front end of Vandervort’s vehicle hit the rear driver’s side door of Voge’s vehicle,  in the middle of the intersection. Voge was transported by Medivac Ambulance to Myrtue Medical Center. Vandervort was cited for failure to yield the right of way and driving under suspension. The accident caused $6,500 damage to the vehicles.

The Harlan Police Department says an investigation into an accident that occurred March 22nd resulted in a citation. In their report released today (Monday), officials said 29-year old Gabriel Brown, of Harlan, was arrested on charges of Striking Fixtures on a Highway, and Having No Insurance, after officers were called to a residence in the 800 block of Market Street, where a mailbox had been hit and destroyed. Brown was cited for the offenses and then released.

The following day (March 23rd), 26-year old Kevin Gaudette, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop. Gaudette was charged with OWI/1st offense, and cited for having an insufficient number of headlamps. The man was brought to the Shelby County Jail and later released on $1,000 bond. His preliminary hearing was set for April 11th.

Authorities in Page County have cited a Clarinda man following an investigation into a single-vehicle accident. Officials say 30-year old Steven Randall Stockton was cited for Failure to Maintain Control, Failure to have a valid license or permit, and Failure to show proof of insurance, after he lost control of the 1999 Oldsmobile he was driving, Sunday morning, in Clarinda.

Officials say Stockton was traveling south on 18th Street at around 1:20-a.m., when his car went off the road and landed in a ditch. The vehicle sustained $3,000 damage. A property owned by Jerry Edwards, of Clarinda, sustained $200 in landscape damage as a result of the accident, as well.

w/ Ric Hanson

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Iowa authorities have recaptured a man who escaped from a work release program in Council Bluffs over the weekend.  Fred Scaletta with the Iowa Department of Corrections says 56-year-old Carroll Wayne Walker was arrested on Sunday, and is being held in the Pottawattamie County jail.

Walker failed to report to work and didn’t return to the work release facility on Friday. He escaped less than a month after the Parole Board allowed him to transfer there on March 1.  Walker is in the middle of a ten-year sentence for second-degree robbery that he began serving in 2006.

w/ Ric Hanson

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A film that documents the dangers faced by one of the busiest fire fighting units in America will be showing in theaters across Iowa this month (April), including here in Atlantic. “BURN” follows Detroit’s Engine Company 50 as they battle both fires and city hall. John Jensen, a Des Moines firefighter who helped organize screenings of the film in a dozen Iowa cities, says Detroit has one of the highest arson rates in the world. “The economic downturn has left all these houses and buildings (in Detroit) abandoned and there’s people just going around setting them on fire,” Jensen says. “They have 500 structure fires a month.”

The firefighters in Detroit are put at an even greater risk due to a lack of funding and broken down equipment. Jensen film saw “BURN” while attending a conference in Phoenix. “It was very inspiring to me because, in the movie, one of the (firefighters) is injured in a wall collapse and he becomes paralyzed. They follow him through his rehab,” Jensen said. “It hit me right in the heart.”

Tickets to see “BURN” at theatres in Iowa are $15. A portion of the profits from the film will go the Leary Firefighters Foundation, an organization founded by actor Dennis Leary which purchases new equipment for firefighters. The film will be shown in Atlantic on April 24^th and 25^th, beginning at 7:30-p.m.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A monthly economic survey index for nine Midwest and Plains states jumped last month, suggesting improving economic growth for the region over the next three to six months.  The Mid-America Business Conditions index hit 58.2 in March, compared with 53.1 in February and 53.2 in January.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he credits the index jump to “the strongest new-orders growth in two years.”  The survey of business leaders and supply managers uses a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say 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.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press