(Emerson, Iowa) – A single-vehicle accident at around 8-p.m. Tuesday near the Mills/Montgomery County line, claimed the life of a man from Pottawattamie County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 52-year-old Richard Keith Snyder, from Treynor, died when the 1998 Chevy 2500 pickup he was driving crashed off of Highway 34, near Emerson.

The pickup was traveling eastbound when it left the road to the right, crashed through a fence and across a creek before striking an embankment. Snyder died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt. The accident remains under investigation.

The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office along with Emerson Fire & Rescue.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Iowa 3rd District Congresswoman Cindy Axne appeared in Atlantic Tuesday afternoon for a round table discussion with community leaders at the Atlantic Depot/Chamber Office. Among those in attendance was Mayor Grace Garrett, City Administrator John  Lund, Police Chief Devin Hogue, Chamber and economic development officials, SWITA Transit Director Mark Lander, and CCHS CEO Brett Altman.

In her opening remarks, Axne said because this is an election year, candidates tend to spend much of their time campaigning. “I feel like too often the official side of things people stop doing, so I want to let you know I’m still doing the official side of things,” and she wanted to make sure the needs community leaders are being met as much as possible.

She focused her time during the meeting, on things that are in the works in Washington, D-C, including the “Inflation Reduction Act,” and “Invest to protect” Act. With regard to the latter, it was recently passed out of the house, and it is aimed at trying to fix things locally, including police and sheriff’s units across the state and country, when it comes to receiving grants for staff and equipment. Axne said the problem is that small town Iowa is competing against large cities like New York, Chicago, L.A., Des Moines and others, for the grants.

The Invest to protect act, she said “Literally creates a separate pot of funding” from the major grants most law enforcement agencies pursue, but separate for department or units with under 125 staff. “We have condensed the [grant]  application to two hours,” instead of the multiple hours it would normally take to fill-out or have attorney’s handle the mind numbing task. That way, she says, the funding can be used for recruitment, retention and education bonuses, instead of for operational expenses only. Congresswoman Axne said the bi-partisan bill passed in the House. She suggested those in attendance contact their Senators to have the bill brought up when they return in November, “because we still have time to move some agendas forward.”

She says she’s also working on hearings for the Farm Bill and reducing the “red tape” for USDA Programs and bureaucracy. Axne said the House just passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which she says is designed to “put money back into people’s pockets.” She says the Act will: lower prescription drug prices and energy costs; hold corporations accountable for their share of taxes; and reduce the deficit without individual tax increases for Iowans. Axne said the tax rate for corporations should be at least 15%. There should be taxes on corporate stock buybacks, and encouragement for companies to invest in workers.

(Radio Iowa) – Congresswoman Ashley Hinson has been released from the Cedar Rapids hospital where she had been undergoing treatment for a kidney infection. Hinson entered the hospital Sunday night and was dismissed this (Tuesday) morning. In a written statement, Hinson said she is feeling much better and will continue resting at home. Hinson said she looks forward to being out on the road soon, but did not offer a time frame for resuming campaign activity. Hinson, a Republican, is seeking a second term in the U.S. House.

The televised debate tonight (Tuesday) between Hinson and Democratic challenger Liz Mathis of Hiawatha has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled.

(Radio Iowa)/KJAN) – It’ll be one of those weeks in Iowa where our attire may include both winter coats and shorts. This (Tuesday) morning, some communities experienced lows in the low 20s and wind chills below zero. Meteorologist Ashley Bury, at the National Weather Service in Johnston, says four Iowa cities had record low temperatures early today.  “We had 21 degrees at the Des Moines airport, which beat 22 degrees that we had in 1972,” Bury says. “At Lamoni, it was also 22 and Ottumwa was 22, which beat the records in 1972 when their lows were also 23. So just a degree lower for those three sites, but that did break our record today.”

In Atlantic, the 24-hour Low ending at 7-a.m. was not a record breaker, but after 7-a.m., we dropped to 16 degrees, and that broke the old record for Oct. 18th, which was 17 degrees, set in 1952.  The forecast is calling for an overnight Low of around 15, so the record Low statistic may change again.  Webster City broke a 70-year-old record this morning with 16 degrees, besting a record of 18 set on this date in 1952. If we can endure a little more cold, Bury says warmer weather is coming. “Another chilly night tonight, mainly in the low 20s again, maybe some upper teens, no records look like they’re going to be broken though,” she says, “but after that, we’re going to see some highs back in the 50s and even by the end of the week, Friday into the weekend, we’re going to see temperatures even in the 70s, so it’s gonna be nice and warm for October.”

While today’s highs are mostly in the low 40s, highs by Saturday may be near 80.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Auditor and County Commissioner of Elections, Kathy Somers, is reminding voters that the Cass County Auditor’s Office will be open Saturday, November 5, 2022, ahead of the November 8, 2022 General Election. The Auditor’s Office will be open on Saturday, November 5, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The office will be open for absentee voting and any other election business. The Auditor also reminds voters that they can vote absentee at the office during regular business hours through Monday, November 7, 2022, for the General Election.

The Auditor also encourages those who have received mailed ballots to make arrangements to have them returned to the Auditor’s Office. Due to recent legislation, absentee ballots must be in the Auditor’s Office before polls close at 8:00 p.m. on November 8, 2022 to be counted.

For more information about the 2022 General Election contact the Cass County Auditor’s office at 712-243-4570. More information can be found on the Cass County elections website at https://www.casscountyia.gov/county-government/elections/general-elections/.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors held the first public hearing this (Tuesday) morning, on the sale of the County-owned farm on the southwest side of Atlantic. Board Chair Steve Baier said before the building on the land that housed the Willow Heights residential care facility became vacant, the property was appraised by Vanguard Appraisals at more than $1.1-million dollars. Now that the building has been vacant for nearly one-year, the appraised value dropped to $354,400. The Board unanimously passed a motion to move forward with the sale of the farm. The next step is for a request for proposal (RFP) from auction services, realtors and interested parties, and an interview with them. The deadline is October 31^st.

County Engineer Trent Wolken said the Concrete Box Culvert (CBC) on Boston Road was completed last week, and the road is open. The CBC on 610^th/Chestnut concrete was poured last week, but they’re waiting for the concrete to cure. In the mean time, crews are getting read to set back fill in-place.

Wolken said there are two bridges set for bid letting in November. One is Bridge #32 on Victoria Road, west of Highway 71. The other is south of the Anita Sale Barn. In January there will be a letting on Bridge #319 on Highland Road, over Indian Creek. There was a bid-letting for a CBC on Fairview Road, on Monday (Oct. 17).

There were two bids ($329,896.05 from Gus Contruction, and Jensen Construction, for $524,685.25. The engineer’s estimated cost for the project was $358,000. The Cass County Supervisors approved the bid from Gus Construction. Wolken said work on the project is expected to begin next Monday, Oct. 24^th.

(Radio Iowa) – Harvest season is underway in Iowa with drought conditions ranging from severe to extreme — and forecasts show those conditions will likely continue well into winter. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, says there are a few benefits to the dry weather, like how the tractors aren’t getting mired in mud. “People, when they’re ready to harvest, are going to be able to get out and harvest because there’s nothing really slowing them down,” Todey says, “though the thing that may slow them down in some cases is that beans may be too dry or something like that. I was hearing people waiting until the evening when it’s a little more humid to do some harvesting.” Todey says the soil continues to dry out and dry deeper across wide sections of Iowa.

“Soils are very dry at this point,” he says, “so soil moisture recharge is a concern and a very serious concern because of some dryness expanding all the way back into 2021 that we didn’t quite recover from completely.” Todey says there are a number of harvest time hazards for farmers and passing motorists due to the dry conditions. “I was driving through southern Minnesota last night and somebody was doing a bean field that looked like there was a fog over the bean field because there was so much dust kicked up,” he say. “I saw somebody tweet, too, that it was a good thing that they had auto-steer because I’m not sure they could see where they were going because of the dust that’s being kicked up. So, multitude of problems because of very severe drought.”

Many locations in Iowa are now showing six-to-eight-inch precipitation deficits for the year.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican Chuck Grassley says not concerned by a new poll that shows his bid for an eighth U.S. Senate term may be his toughest race since 1980. A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released this weekend shows nearly two-thirds of voters surveyed about Grassley’s race against Democrat Mike Franken have concerns about Grassley’s age. That includes more than a third of the Republicans who said they’ll vote for the 89 year old, despite their concerns about his age. “If people think I can’t do the job, they ought to follow me around,” Grassley says. “I go to bed at 9. Get up at 4. (Run) two miles in morning. Get to the office before 6. Usually in the office until 6:30, quarter ’til 7. I have a full schedule when I’m in the office — you know committee meetings, caucuses, interviews like this that I do 52 times a year.”

Grassley made his comments this (Tuesday) morning during an interview with Iowa radio reporters. Grassley has been emphasizing his more than four decades of experience in the Senate, but only a third of Iowa Poll respondents said they view Grassley’s tenure as an asset. If he’s elected, Grassley will be the longest serving senator. If Republicans win a majority of seats, he’ll be the president pro tem of the Senate — which makes him fourth in line to the presidency. “I don’t know whether people understand the seniority system but it’s a reality and you have to work within that system,” Grassley says. “Iowa’s going to be number one when I’m number one. Iowa’s always been number one for me. I love the people of Iowa. I love working for them.”

Grassley says if Iowans elect his opponent to the senate, Franken will have little seniority compared to the influence he’d have, perhaps as chairman of the Budget Committee in 2025 if Republicans have a majority in the senate. Grassley’s seniority positions him to return as chairman of the Judiciary Committee for the next two years if Republicans win more seats than Democrats this November.

(Griswold, Iowa) – The Superintendent of the Griswold Community School District reports their Certified Enrollment and BEDS numbers. Dave Henrichs says Certified Enrollment is the number of students who live in the District, regardless of where they attend school. It’s the one the District will submit to the State. BEDS is the Basic Educational Data Survey, which includes the number of students who attend Griswold, regardless of where they live.

Henrichs says a big reason for the decline in students, has to do with Open Enrollment.

In other matters, the Griswold School Board, Monday evening, were informed they do not have to take action on Board of Directors redistricting, because of a formula that districts use to determine how big a district can become, with regard to the ideal district population. In Griswold’s case, the range is 700 to 850.

There remained questions about whether or not that number is based upon the individual district or a total of all the districts added together.

The Griswold School Board approved the replacement of all existing outside facility lights (not including the athletic field), at a cost of $8,707, after rebates and incentives. The move is expected to pay off in terms of energy savings amounting to $5,000 per year, or a 1.66 year payback. The Board also approved a bid of about $17,000 from Larson Painting out of Council Bluffs, the same company who painted the high school gym,

The Griswold School Board decided not to change the current early retirement policy.

The Board approved the hiring of Carla Wilson as Assistant Girls HS basketball coach, and the resignation of Matt Spanaugle as Assistant HS baseball coach.

City of Atlantic officials report that the railroad will be doing work today on the olive street intersection and parts of the road will be closed. 3rd & Olive will be closed as well as Commerce & Olive. Please plan accordingly.