RAGBRAI 2019 is just a few days away. Atlantic Police Chief Dave Erickson says his department has been working to prepare for the overflow of vehicle and bicycle traffic that will be visiting our town. He says “This will be a very busy 24 hours for our department and we will be working hard to keep traffic moving smoothly through town,” but warns that “Residents can expect delays all throughout town on Sunday July 21st and the morning of July 22nd. If you live along the official route through town, expect more delays. When possible try to back in to residential driveways ahead of time to make it easier and safer to access the street when needed.”

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Erickson says “We will have officers or volunteers at many intersections on both days helping direct traffic. Our goal is to keep things moving through town as smoothly as we can. With 15 thousand+ extra people expected to be visiting our town, an expectation and understanding that travel will be congested and take longer than normal will be appreciated!”

Listed below are areas that citizens can expect road closures, no parking, and congested intersections.

Members of the Exira/EHK School Board, Monday, voted to share wrestling with Audubon, and the services of Transportation Director Steve Humphrey with IKM-Manning. The wrestling agreement has also been approved by the Audubon School Board.  In other business, the Exira-EHK Board approved the appointments of Tami Jacobsen as Board Secretary, and Karli North, Treasurer/SBO. They also approved the hiring of social studies teacher Alex Hanson to replace Ian Hunt. Hunt resigned to return to his home school district.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is doing his best to straddle a very thin line as to whether President Trump’s tweet on Sunday about four Democratic women in Congress was racist. Grassley was asked about the president’s tweet, which said the four black, Muslim or Hispanic women should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Grassley did not specifically call the comment racist, but did address the topic. “Racism is wrong,” Grassley says. “I think the American people deserve more civility in their politics. I hope I promote civility. If I haven’t, I ought to be called out for it.”

Democrats in the U-S House say they’ll pass a resolution condemning the president’s tweet as racist. Grassley, a Republican, is remaining on the fence. “Democratic elected officials should avoid name-calling,” Grassley says. “Everybody ought to be treated respectfully. That’s true of these members of Congress and that’s true of the president.”

Reports say Iowa’s other U-S Senator, Republican Joni Ernst, when asked Monday if she thought Trump’s comment was racist, said, “Yeah, I do.” Later, Ernst was asked by a C-N-N reporter to repeat her statement as to whether the comment was racist. She responded, “Uh, yeah. They’re American citizens,” and called the president’s comment “not constructive” and “not helpful.” The president’s tweet targeted New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib and Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. Omar is the only one of the four who was born outside the U-S. She came here as a refugee from Somalia as a child.

(Radio Iowa) — A northwest Iowa man is charged with reckless discharge of a firearm after a bullet hit a woman in the next room at a Super 8 motel in Willmar, Minnesota. Officers learned that 34-year-old Joey Schipper of Sheldon, Iowa, had a negligent discharge of a small caliber handgun. The round traveled through the wall and into an adjacent room, at which time it struck a 68-year-old woman from Backus in the leg. The woman was a motel guest. She was transported to Rice Memorial Hospital ER by ambulance. Her injury is non-life threatening.

DYERSVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Officials say expansion by a Dubuque-based insurance broker is expected to bring more than 25 jobs to Dyersville. The Telegraph Herald reports that Cottingham & Butler announced Monday that it will begin operating this fall in leased space that’s under construction.

Cottingham & Butler’s Andy Butler says company officials have considered new locations as a way to accommodate current and future employees who live outside Dubuque. He says the new location is a way “to reach out to them and access an even larger talent pool.”

Cottingham & Butler employs 950 workers across 19 locations. About 650 work in the Dubuque area.

The Griswold School Board, Monday evening, approved two new hires and three resignations. Superintendent Dave Henrichs said the new hires include: Theresa Engler – Middle School High School Para-educator/Head Cross Country Coach; and Gene Straight – Middle School Science Teacher, They accepted the resignations of: Helen Riley – Middle School/High School Para-educator; Matt Leighton – Head High School Wrestling Coach, and Steve Vance – Assistant Wrestling Coach.

Henrichs said also there was a bit of a snag in getting the District’s Lewis property deed transferred to the new owners. He said ownership of the Lewis Building was transferred on July 2^nd, but they learned from Cass County representative said that the legal description was not accurate, so they have to back through a couple of processes and hold a public hearing to finalize the deal. With regard to the Elliott Building, Henrichs said that legal description has recently been finalized, and the Board, Monday, approved a Resolution of Intent to sell. The final step, a public hearing date, was also set on the sale of the property. Both Public Hearings will take place August 19^th. A Special Board meeting will then be held August 22^nd to finalize the transfer of the Deeds.

In other news, Superintendent Henrichs said the Administration shared with the Board information about tax rates for next year. He said the District’s Budget was approved March 18^th, but the State made some changes to the funding formula after that date. That means the levy rate increased one-tenth of a penny, from a Board approved $14 and 1.8-cents to $14 and 1.9-cents. Their goal was a standard $14.02, so that keeps them in-line with what was acceptable.

Henrichs said the same school officials currently in place (Business Manager/Treasurer, Board Secretary and District Attorney), were re-appointed by the Board for the 2019-2020 School Year. He said they also received an update from Estes Construction with regard to the Elementary Building project, and variety of changes orders were approved. All those changes affect the District’s Budget. He said currently the budget is approximately $76,000 over. The biggest factor was $190,000 in change orders. However, because the District invested the bond proceeds, it received $140,000 in interest, which compensates for the overage and leaves them still under budget for the project.