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Atlantic School Board to meet Wednesday evening

News

April 9th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic School Board will meet Wednesday (April 10, 2024) in the High School Media Center. Their meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., and includes action on setting the 2nd Budget Hearing as April 24th at 5:30-p.m., and the following resignations:

  • Chelsey Christensen, Kitchen, effective immediately
  • Terry Hinzmann, 8th Grade Girls Basketball Coach for 24-25 season
  • Terry Hinzmann, 7th Grade Boys Basketball Coach for 24-25 season
  • Holly Esbeck, NHS Sponsor for 24-25 school year
  • Alyssa Boltz, Assistant Volleyball Coach, Fall 2024 Season

The Board will also act on the following Contract Recommendations and/or Letters of Assignment:

  • Brett Johnson, Full-time Grounds Supervisor, starting April 11, 2024
  • Kerry Jepsen, High School Office Secretary starting July 1, 2024
  • Laura Horn, K-12 Librarian for 24-25 school year
  • Julie Coffey, ELL Teacher for 24-25 school year
  • Nicole Corpela, 2nd Grade Teacher for 24-25 school year
  • Cory Bartz, High School Math Teacher for 24-25 school year
  • Title I teacher, Schuler Elementary
  • Stacey Schmidt, Director of Student Services
  • Nick Bennett, Special Education Para thru TPRA Grant
  • Cambry Miller, Girls Swim Coach
  • Alyssa Boltz and Jesse McCann, Soccer coach stipends.

You can view the full agenda here: Public Agenda 04102024

Posted in News |

Clark Named Wooden Award NPOY

Sports

April 9th, 2024 by admin

LOS ANGELES — University of Iowa All-American Caitlin Clark was named the Wooden Award National Player of the Year, which is presented annually to the most outstanding women’s basketball player who achieves tremendous on-court success, for the second straight season. The announcement was made on Tuesday by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Joining Clark as a finalist for the esteemed award are Cameron Brink (Stanford), Paige Bueckers (UConn), Hannah Hidalgo (Norte Dame), and JuJu Watkins (USC). All five players are invited to Los Angeles for the 48th annual presentation of the Wooden Award.
The Wooden Award Gala will honor the Men’s and Women’s Wooden Award winners and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All-America teams in Los Angeles on Friday, April 12. Honorees were certified by their universities as meeting or exceeding the criteria of the Wooden Award.
The most dominant player in women’s college basketball recently led the Hawkeyes to their second straight National Championship and finished the season leading the nation in assists (8.9 assists per game) and in scoring (31.6 points per game). She became the first player to finish No. 1 in both categories in back-to-back seasons. Clark owns a career 3,900+ points and she recently became the first Division-I player to record 1,000+ points in back-to-back seasons. She is also the only player in NCAA DI men’s or women’s basketball history to lead her conference in scoring and assists in four consecutive seasons.
Clark is the first time that an Iowa women’s basketball player has won the Wooden Award. The West Des Moines, Iowa, native helped lead the Hawkeyes to their second National Championship appearance in school history in her final season.
2023-24 AWARDS  
– Wooden Award
– Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year
– Ann Meyers Drysdale Award
– Honda Sport Award
– Wade Trophy
– Associated Press National Player of the Year
– Naismith National Player of the Year
– USA Today National Player of the Year
– ESPN.com National Player of the Year
– The Athletic National Player of the Year
– Sporting News National Player of the Year
– AP, USBWA, USA Today First Team All-America
– Big Ten Player of the Year
– First Team All-Big Ten
– Big Ten Player of the Week; Nov. 13, Nov. 27, Dec. 11, Dec. 18, Jan. 2, Jan. 8, Jan. 15, Feb. 5, Feb. 19, Feb. 26, March 4.
– WBCA National Player of the Week; Nov. 14, Nov. 28, Jan. 3, Jan. 9, Jan. 16, Jan. 31, Feb. 6, Feb. 20.
– AP National Player of the Week; Nov. 14, Jan. 9, Feb. 20.

Posted in Sports |

Annual state auction is live online until April 24

Ag/Outdoor, News, Sports

April 9th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources annual spring auction is being held online until April 24. To view the firearms for sale and to register to bid, go to https://auctionsolutionsinc.com/auctions.

Items up for auction include firearms, bows, gun cases and scopes. The items are sold “as is” with no guarantee or warranty. The list of items for sale and the terms of service is available at https://www.proxibid.com/Auction-Solutions-Inc/Iowa-State-Firearm-Auction-2024/event-catalog/259840.

Iowans who are winning bidders are required to pick up their firearms on April 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the northwest corner parking lot/loading dock of the Wallace State Office Building, 502 East Ninth Street, in Des Moines.

The Iowa DNR reserves the right to reject any bids and withdraw any item from the sale at any time.

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News, Sports |

Iowa ag secretary: Bird flu case in Texas dairy worker not a cause for alarm

Ag/Outdoor, News

April 9th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa agriculture officials are closely monitoring new developments with highly pathogenic avian influenza in the country. The U-S-D-A reported dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas tested positive for the virus last month. Earlier, avian flu was confined to domestic poultry and other bird species. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says other confirmed cases have been reported in Idaho, MIchigan and Ohio.

“What happens is, you’ve got cows that start to go off feed,” Naig says. “They might run a fever, their milk production drops, and that’s how folks started to realize and pick up that they had a problem. So, that certainly affects the health of dairy herds and the profitability of dairy, but, the good news is, those dairy cattle recover, just like you and I get over the flu.”

Last weekend, the Centers for Disease Control issued a health alert to inform clinicians, state health departments and the public of a case of avian influenza in a person who had contact with dairy cows presumed to be infected with the virus. Though the case was confirmed in a farm worker in Texas, Naig says the public should not be alarmed.

“There’s only ever been two confirmed cases of high path avian influenza in humans,” he says. “One was in Colorado a few years ago, related to a poultry site. And, the second one now is a dairy worker, a worker at one of these positive sites who had a lot of contact with those cattle and milk. So you can understand why that might have happened, but there is no indication that it moves from person to person.” Naig adds, the avian flu doesn’t constitute a food safety issue.

“As long as you are drinking pasteurized milk,” Naig says, “the milk that you and I buy at the grocery store, or that kids are drinking at school during a lunch hour, that is pasteurized. That kills any viruses and bacteria that are of concern, that’s where I can say this is not a food safety issue, but one that we are watching very closely, trying to anticipate how we can stay ahead of it here in the state of Iowa.”

More information regarding avian influenza is available on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s website.

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

Gov Reynolds says landmark season should impact Lisa Bluder’s pay

News, Sports

April 9th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder has done a phenomenal job and her pay should reflect that.

Reynolds, though, is not suggesting what Bluder’s salary should be. Fran McCaffrey’s been coach of the men’s team at Iowa for 13 seasons and his annual salary this year is about three-point-two MILLION. Bluder, in her 24th season as the Iowa women’s coach, is earning 310-thousand dollars worth of bonuses due to her team’s run in this year’s N-C-Double-A tournament. That’s on top of her one-point-four MILLION dollar salary for this season.

Governor Reynolds spoke with reporters outside her Iowa Capitol office on April 9, 2024. (RI photo)

Iowa’s governor says the Hawkeye women have changed the landscape of women’s sports, capped by a championship game that was the most-watched basketball game since 2019 — surpassing college men’s basketball and N-B-A games over the past five seasons.

While speaking with reporters earlier today (Tuesday), Reynolds praised National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark and her Hawkeye teammates.

Reynolds played six-on-six girl’s basketball for Interstate 35 and graduated from the high school in Truro in 1977. Bluder graduated from high school two years later after playing six-on-six basketball at Linn-Mar. Bluder went on to be a three-year starter for the University of Northern Iowa women’s basketball team.

Posted in News, Sports |

Hawkeyes Finish 7th, Kent Ties for 9th at Calusa Cup

Sports

April 9th, 2024 by admin

Naples, Fla. – The University of Iowa men’s golf team concluded the final round of the Calusa Cup on Tuesday afternoon at Calusa Pines Golf Club. The Hawkeyes finished 7th as a team, just five shots off 5th place. Iowa was 28-over par (293/298/301 = 892) after 56-holes. Freshman Noah Kent was the low scorer for Iowa at 2-over par (71/73/74) tying for 9th.

Kent shot 2-over (38) on the front nine before carding 36 (E) on the back nine for a final round 74 (+2). Kent eagled a par five with a putt that came from off the green. Just 10 players eagled throughout the tournament.

Senior Mac McClear tied Kent for the low round of the day at 2-over. McClear had three birdies in the final round, tying sophomore Hogan Hansen and freshman Max Tjoa, for a team high. McClear finished the tournament at 8-over par to tie for 22nd.

Junior Ian Meyer placed 26th at 9-over par.

Florida won the tournament at 3-under par. Scotty Kennon of Wake Forest won the individual medalist at 6-under par.

HAWKEYE NOTABLES

Iowa led the field with 162 pars as a team.
Noah Kent was one of 10 players to record an eagle.
Kent led the field in pars with 39.
Kent’s par four average of 4.03 (+1) tied for fifth in the field.

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes return to Iowa City where they host the Hawkeye Invitational at Finkbine Golf Course April 13-14.

Posted in Sports |

NAIA bans transgender athletes from taking part in women’s sports

Sports

April 9th, 2024 by admin

The Council of Presidents of the colleges and universities of the N-A-I-A has voted unanimously to ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports competitions. Corey Westra is the commissioner of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, which includes Iowa N-A-I-A schools Morningside, Briar Cliff and Dordt Universities, along with Northwestern College. He says the decision was made after a lot of examination.

 

(as said)”Two years of work in study group at our Council of Presidents level in the N-A-I-A. Our National Council of Presidents is our governing body,” Westra says. Westra has been the co-director of the N-A-I-A national tournaments for women’s basketball and volleyball that have been held in Sioux City the last several years.

 

(as said)”When you look at the N-A-I-A as a whole, you know, it’s a decision that’s about fairness in competition and this is an organization the N-A-I-A that has been committed and worked very, very hard to promote and grow women’s sports,” Westra says. “That goes back over 40 years back to Title Nine, the N-A-I-A was at the forefront of having women’s sports and having a championship opportunity for women’s sports.” Westra says the new policy expands to cover regular season sports.

 

(as said)”The prior policy only dealt in championship competition and it wasn’t encompassing of maybe where we are today on this particular issue of transgender athletes participating,” he says. Westra says he supports the decision as a lot of though went into it.

 

(as said)”It’s a decision that was wise. It was a decision that I think was done with tremendous deliberation,” he says, “this was not a ‘hey we’re gonna just throw something on the table and vote on it,’ not at all. I think you can look at it from many angles, and at the end of the day, I think it’s better to have a clear policy than to not.” The policy takes effect with the start of the 2024-2025 fall ports season in August.

Posted in Sports |

Montgomery County resident updates Supervisors on proposed CO2 pipeline status

News

April 9th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A rural Montgomery County woman, today (Tuesday), provided an update for the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, with regard to efforts by Summit Carbon Solutions to obtain a route for a carbon capture pipeline through the County. Jan Norris from West township read the following statement to the Board:

“Summit has filed 14 new Phase II dockets routes using a different LLC name, SCS Carbon Transport.The new 30 mile Adams/Montgomery county docket number is HLP-2024-0006. A couple years ago, the county filed an objection to eminent domain on the original Summit docket. If you are still opposed to eminent domain, please file an objection to this new docket number.

“This afternoon (Tuesday), the Senate Ways & Means subcommittee will be holding a hearing on a bill that would create a declaratory order and also, importantly, help for appeal bonds. I certainly hope our senator, who appears to have land in the new corridor, will support the bill. PHMSA’s new draft regulations are now open to public comments. Anyone wanting to participate can sign up to share their concerns. On May 7, the IUB will be holding a public hearing on Restoration of Agricultural Lands During & After Pipeline Construction. I would assume our inspector Snyder & Associates will be in attendance.

“In an April 1 article about CO2 pipelines, North Dakota Dept of Mineral Resources Director, said, “We’ve got to overcome this (Not in my backyard) attitude. We are going to need everything we can get, from… any place that will send it, if we want that extra 10 billion barrels of oil,” Does that sound like sequestration to you?

“Summit will be required to hold public information meetings for the new routes. If they follow the spring schedule, that the IUB denied, we might expect our local meeting to be as early as the first week of June. But some of you might know better. I found it notable that on March 28 Bremer County filed a letter giving notice to Summit of their hazardous liquid pipeline ordinance. THEY are not backing down.

“Once again, I urge you hold discussion on the pipeline issue. All 5 members of this body should be allowed to participate, and including public input would be even better. I apologize for having to be here so often, but there are potentially 154 homes in Montgomery Co who don’t get to pass. We deserve better.”

Posted in News |

Drake introduces Ben McCollum as its new basketball coach

Sports

April 9th, 2024 by admin

New Drake basketball coach Ben McCollum hopes to take the program to the next level. After 15 years and four division-two national championships at Northwest Missouri State the Storm Lake native takes over a Bulldog program that enjoyed six straight seasons of 20-wins or more and three trips to the NCAA Tournament under former coach Darian DeVries.

 

McCollum hopes to build on the success enjoyed under DeVries.

 

McCollum interviewed for the Drake job six years ago when DeVries was hired.

 

McCollum feels the Drake job was the right fit for him and his family.

 

McCollum’s first chore is to rebuild the roster. More than a half dozen players from last year’s team are in the transfer portal.

 

McCollum on the challenge of moving to division one.

 

McCollum hopes to have his staff in place in about a week.

Posted in Sports |

Danish Windmill to hold “It Takes a Village” daycare fundraiser April 14th

News

April 9th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Elk Horn, Iowa) – The Danish Windmill,a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organizations, is continuing its “It Takes A Village” fundraiser, on Sunday April 14. All tour admissions generated on Sunday will be donated to local daycare facility, Kids in the Village. General admission is $5.00 / person ages 13 and up. Tour the windmill for a good cause. View our new exhibits and see the windmill in action.

Windmill Manager Shaun Sayres says “We’ve partnered with local businesses to ensure food options for each Sunday. This Sunday will feature Norse Horse Tavern, open 11-2 serving breakfast sandwiches and Danish hotdogs. Come enjoy a Spring day in the Danish Villages and help support a vital organization.

We will have additional fundraising days on Sunday April 21, and Sunday April 28.” Additional details are forthcoming.

Posted in News |