Shelby County Emergency Management Coordinator Alexander Londo said Saturday, that a 9-1-1 call was received at around 2:40-p.m. Saturday at the Shelby County EMA 911 center. The call was with regard to a combine & field fire near Highway 37 and Hazel Road.

Units from Earling Fire and Shelby County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched with mutual aid from Defiance & Irwin fire. Shortly after Earling fire arrived on scene a medical incident occurred.  Additional assistance was requested from Medivac & Harlan Police Department.

Harlan Fire and Rescue member Bruce Blum said in a social media post, that a firefighter was lost in the line of duty. No further information is available at this time.

(UPDATE) — Medivac Ambulance along with Atlantic Fire and Rescue were called to the scene of a two-vehicle accident on Highway 71 near Boston Road, Saturday night. The collision occurred south of “The Valley,” where the bridge is being repaired. One vehicle was said to be in the ditch on the south side of the bridge, the other on the road. The roadway was blocked at that location.

The call came in at around 7:49-p.m.  One person died as a result of the crash, which was reportedly a rear-end collision. Additional details have not yet been released.

(**10/22 – Corrects age of drivers) One person suffered what were described as minor, non-incapacitating injuries, during a collision Saturday afternoon, in Red Oak. Authorities say the accident happened at around 2:30-p.m., at the intersection of 2nd and Market Streets. Upon investigation, it was discovered a 2003 Ford F-150 pickup driven by 84-year old Darrell Lee Carlson, of Red Oak, failed to yield the right-of-way upon leaving a stop sign from Market Street across 2nd Street. The pickup broadsided a 2002 Oldsmobile Alero, driven by 37-year old Kenneth Franklin Frame, of Red Oak.

Carlson suffered minor injuries but was able to leave the scene without being transported to the hospital. Damage from the collision amounted to $13,000. Carlson was cited for Failure to Obey a Stop Sign and Yield the Right of Way. Red Oak Police were assisted at the scene by Red Oak Fire and Rescue, and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa City officials have named the black-eyed Susan as the city’s official flower. The City Council on Tuesday passed a resolution adopting the flower with gold petals and a black center.

The plant is native to Iowa city and attracts a wide variety of insects, including butterflies and bees. Its seeds are a favorite of songbirds, such as goldfinches, sparrows and chickadees. The flower’s colors are also shared by the University of Iowa.

Project GREEN, a local nonprofit group that supports city beautification efforts, says adopting the black-eyed Susan may inspire residents to plant native food sources for local pollinators.

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) — Simpson College students have staged a protest at the south-central Iowa school over faculty and program cuts announced last week. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that Simpson College President Jay Simmons announced last week that the college will cut 13 full-time employees, the art department, and French and German majors.

Students packed the Kent Campus Center on Friday to voice their anger over the cuts. Some students read a list of demands, including increased faculty representation at future board of trustees meetings. The trustees and Simmons were at a meeting at the center during the protests and allowed the students to be heard.

Simmons says the cuts were made because of low numbers of students majoring in art, French and German. Simmons says college leaders plan to hold student forums in the coming weeks.

The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will meet during a Work Session Monday, in the High School Media Center. No action is expected to be taken during their meeting, which begins at 5:30-p.m.

The Board will discuss: Early Literacy progress; the Pre-School Program; Facility Planning, and a Retirement Incentive Program. Superintendent Steve Barber is expected to issue a reminder to the Board, with regard to some upcoming dates, which includes:

• Parent/Teacher Conferences, Oct. 24th & 25th
• No School Oct. 25th & 26th
• The next Regular Board meeting: Nov. 14th, 5:30-p.m.
• No School Nov. 22nd & 23rd (Thanksgiving)
• and a Board Work Session that’s set for Nov. 28th, at 5:30-p.m.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — China’s propaganda machine has taken aim at American soybean farmers as part of its high-stakes trade war with the Trump administration. The publication last month of a four-page advertising section in the Des Moines Register opened a new battle line in China’s effort to break the administration’s resolve. U.S. farmers are a key political constituency for Trump, and Beijing has imposed tariffs on American soybeans as retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on hundreds of billions in Chinese imports.

China regularly disseminates propaganda in the West through its China Daily newspaper to try to influence public opinion in the United States and elsewhere. But the advertorial in the Register was unusual for deploying not a national publication in New York or Washington but a newspaper in the farm state of Iowa.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — The U-S Small Business Administration approved loans to more than 400 Iowa businesses during the just-ended fiscal year, helping them to start or expand operations. Jayne Armstrong, director of the S-B-A’s Iowa District Office, says the loans totaled nearly 170-million dollars statewide for the fiscal year, that’s up from about 155-million the previous year.  “Sometimes, there are bigger deals out there that they’re looking for expansions or buying commercial real estate,” Armstrong says, “and also times when they just need small amounts of working capital.”

Loans were approved to 405 Iowa businesses during the year, down from 455 the previous year. When the economy isn’t doing so well, that’s when people more often look to start their own businesses, so the decline in loan numbers is being interpreted as a positive. “We don’t really get too hung up on the dollar volume as much,” Armstrong says. “We’d like to put more money on the street and to help more small businesses but it’s going to fluctuate every year. As long as we’re meeting the needs of the small business community, that’s the most important thing to us.”

Figures from Iowa Workforce Development released today (Friday) put Iowa’s unemployment rate for September at two-and-a-half percent. That’s unchanged from August and is the second-lowest in the nation. While that’s great in one respect, it’s also making progress a challenge for small merchants and large employers alike.  “A lot of small businesses are having a difficult time,” Armstrong says. “One of the biggest issues is the workforce issue and being able to identify workers and to attract workers.”

The S-B-A report says the 400-plus loans created 12-hundred-58 jobs in Iowa and retained an additional 26-hundred-45 jobs. She says the S-B-A remains a critical resource for small start-ups and expansions.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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