The Atlantic Police Department, Friday, issued a warning to area residents about private debt collectors who are supposedly working for Verizon Wireless. The “debt collectors”are calling asking customers to go to onto a Verizon website they provide to pay off a certain amount of money you may owe.

The A-PD says you should always call Verizon directly to see if you owe anything on your account. Don’t use the website the caller has given, and if you have used the website the debt collector gave you, be sure and keep a close eye on your bank accounts. Always go through Verizon directly, on the website listed on your statements or call them directly at a verifiable number.

As always, with any debt collection or call you may receive, never give your personal information out to the caller, and never send money.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, at her first of two town hall meetings in Iowa, drew applause when she said Donald Trump should release his tax returns. For most of the hour-long town hall meeting at Coe College in Cedar Rapids she endured shouting and booing.

Ernst drew laughter and booing when she said many of the millions of people likely to lose insurance under the House GOP health care bill will willingly chose not to buy insurance once the mandates under the current law are lifted. She also faced shouts for suggesting climate change is a natural occurrence and booing when she said states should decide whether money is spent funding Planned Parenthood.

A second town hall meeting Friday evening will be held at Drake University in Des Moines.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A Des Moines lawmaker is questioning why the chairman of the state Senate Oversight Committee has refused to hold hearings this year, including delving into abuse of residents with disabilities at a state institution.

Democratic Sen. Matt McCoy of Des Moines tells The Des Moines Register he has requested several hearings but has been rebuffed by Republican Sen. Michael Breitbach of Strawberry Point. Breitbach says, “It’s my prerogative,” but would say little more.

McCoy’s latest request was for a hearing about problems at the Glenwood State Resource Center. Last month, 13 workers at the state institution were fired or quit and six were arrested after allegations that they mistreated residents with severe intellectual disabilities. Iowa inspectors reported in January that some staff members humiliated residents or struck them in the head.

Iowa’s entire congressional delegation is applauding the decision of the U-S Air National Guard to leave a specialized airplane at the Iowa Air Guard base in Des Moines. Iowa Guard spokesman, Colonel Greg Hapgood, says the R-C-26 airplane was first assigned on a temporary basis. He says it has a variety of uses. “Our pilot based at the 132nd Wing fly the aircraft to maintain their currency as pilots — but they also use it to do things like counter drug missions. And also they can provide information about emergencies here in the state of Iowa if need be, using that aircraft,” according to Hapgood.

Information from the Iowa congressional delegation requesting that the plane be kept in Iowa says it was used in missions for 10 federal and state agencies, and “helped seize 566-thousand-900 dollars in methamphetamine in fiscal year 2016. In fiscal year 2015, it helped seize 20 illegal weapons, over 500-thousand dollars in methamphetamine, and four-thousand dollars in heroin.”

The 132nd wing flew F-16 fighter jets before they were moved out, but the R-C-26 doesn’t look anything like a fighter. Hapgood says it is a twin-engine aircraft that has the look of a passenger aircraft.

He says the Iowa Air Guard is happy to see the plane stay in Des Moines. “It’s certainly just another tool in our toolbox to be able to keep Iowans safe here at home, and also to make sure that our pilots maintain their currency and their competency as an aviator,” Hapgood says.

The 132nd Wing is based at the Des Moines airport.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities blame arcing wires in an underground vault for causing a downtown Sioux City fire that led to explosions that blew manhole covers into the air. The Sioux City Journal reports that MidAmerican Energy dispatched a crew after learning of the fire and blasts Wednesday evening. The workers isolated the problem and restored service to several customers that had lost power.

Fire officials say a pressure buildup from the fire caused the explosions. No injuries have been reported.

Thousands of Iowans will be celebrating this St. Patrick’s Day with green beer or other forms of alcohol. Police are hoping those people are traveling with someone who’s sober. Sergeant Scott Bright is spokesman for the Iowa Department of Public Safety. “If people are going out to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, they should remember to take a designated driver with them,” Bright says.

Last year, St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Thursday and between the March 17 to 20 period, police across the state arrested 259 people for O-W-I. Bright says a lot of Iowans begin their St. Patrick’s partying early in the day. “They have a long weekend, they start to drink early in the morning, and then we see a lot of people driving who are intoxicated,” Bright says.

According to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, during a typical St. Patrick’s Day weekend, more than 25-percent of all crash fatalities involve alcohol. That figure rises to 50-percent between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m. There have already been 53 fatalities from traffic crashes in Iowa this year.

(Radio Iowa)