One of the few remaining historic opera houses in Iowa will hold its first big event tonight (Friday) following the facility’s grand reopening in early April. De (dee) Heaton is the program director at the Corning Opera House in southwest Iowa. The structure was built in 1902.

Corning Opera House BEFORE restoration

“We completely restored from the roof to the basement,” Heaton says. “The auditorium is restored to look like the original and we added a conference room and a prep kitchen for catering.” Between 1870 and 1920, roughly 1,500 opera houses were built in Iowa. In recent years, several Iowa cities have taken steps to restore the structures.

Heaton says many opera houses are still standing, but have been abandoned. Some of Iowa’s recently restored opera houses are located in Elkader, Coggon, Clermont, Decorah, DeWitt, What Cheer and Dubuque. The Corning Opera House, which has room for about 300 people, will be used for concerts and movies and can be rented for wedding receptions and other special events. Tonight, the Corning Opera House will host a special screening of “The Last Ride” – a new movie about the life of 1940s and 50s country music star Hank Williams. “There are 10 historic theaters across the United States that get to premiere the movie and we are the only one in the Midwest,” Heaton says.

Corning Opera House AFTER restoration

 The movie will show today, Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. each evening. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students at the door.

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin has announced the City of Atlantic’s airport has received a grant amounting to $510,763 to assist the facility in meeting design standards. The funds were a portion of the more than $11.5-million awarded to 27 Municipal airports in Iowa, from the US Dept. of Transportation and F-A-A. 

Also receiving grant monies were these airports; Arthur N. New in Carroll, $236,700 – for the acquisition of replacement snow removal equipment; Creston Municipal Airport, $412, 408 – to enhance airport access; Guthrie County Regional Airport, $382,500 – for construction of a hangar building; Red Oak Municipal Airport, $142,106 – for the replacement of snow removal equipment; and Schneck Field in Clarinda, $313, 920 – for the rehabilitation of the runway lighting system. 

Senator Harkin, who is a member of the appropriations subcommittee which funds the DOT, said the funds will ensure Iowa’s municipal airports have the resources they need to update, repair or replace their facilities.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest Thursday of two Villisca residents. Officials say 19-year old Taylor Shane Luna, was arrested at around 11-p.m. Thursday, on charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct, following an incident which occurred at 2^nd Avenue and High Streets. She was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond. 

And, at around 5:45-p.m., 24-year old Kahla Ellen Morrison, of Villisca, was arrested for driving while revoked, for OWI test refusal. Morrison was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 cash bond.

Officials with the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic report CCMH has gone live with a new integrated information system, which is designed to stabilize and integrate the facilities’ technology solutions across the organizations, enable the hospital to control costs, and provide a higher level of patient safety and care. The new Health Care Information System (HCIS) includes all clinical and financial software, including scheduling, registration, laboratory, radiology, and several other applications. 

One change patients will notice, according to hospital officials, is the need to re-create their medication information in the new hospital system, as the previous list did not transfer to the new computer system. Patients who are seen in the CCMH Outpatient Specialty Clinic, are asked to bring either a list of med’s and dosage levels, or their actual medications to review with the nurses. Arriving 5- to 10-minutes prior to your scheduled appointment time will help to facilitate that process. 

This does not affect patients being seen at the Atlantic Medical Center, Southwest Iowa Surgery, Eye Associates, or the Southwest Iowa Mental Health Center.