AtlanticFest, presented by First Whitney Bank, will be held this Saturday, August 13th rain or shine. This annual community festival serves as a fundraiser for the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce. The funds from AtlanticFest are used to continue to grow the event and to help improve other upcoming events. It also helps support businesses based programs.

Downtown Atlantic will be filled with fun activities for the whole family to enjoy. Come early and enjoy a pancake breakfast or start the day off with a run through town in the Annual Road Race with chip timing coming back this year. The Annual Tractor Ride will also be taking place, kicking off at the Cass County Fair Grounds at 8 AM. There will be crafters from all over Southwest Iowa, as well as some of the best food vendors to help satisfy any appetite. Kids can enjoy the pony rides and bounce house while adults can relax in the beer garden or play in the 2nd Annual Bags Tournament. The 18th Annual Car Show and Motorcycle Show will be taking place once again this year. There will be free entertainment throughout the day, including local favorite Glass House Prophet beginning at 7 PM in the beer garden.

AtlanticFest needs more than 1,000 volunteer hours to make it successful. Everything from the Road Race at the beginning of the day to cleaning up the cans after the last band performs is done by volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering please contact the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, Chamber@atlanticiowa.com or 712-243-3017.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office is reporting several arrests. On August 2nd, 31-year old Tony Martin Mayo, Jr., of Lewis, was arrested on a charge of Domestic Abuse/Simple Assault. Mayo was taken to the Cass County Jail and was released the following day on $300 bond. On August 3rd, 22-year old Alex Lee Pleis, of Lewis, was arrested on a Cass County Sheriff’s Office felony warrant for Conspiracy to Deliver Marijuana. Pleis was taken to the Cass County Jail and later released on $5,000 bond.

On August 4th 24-year old Ashly Marie Rollins, of Atlantic, was arrested on two district court warrants for Failure to Appear. Rollins was taken to the Cass County Jail where she remains held on $4,000 bond. On August 6th, 27-year old Aaron Scott Redfield, of Omaha, was arrested in Cass County on a charge of OWI 1st Offense. Redfield was taken to the Cass County Jail and released the following day on $1,000 bond.

And on Sunday, August 7th, Cass County deputies arrested 22-year old Zachery Charles Vance, of Bellevue, NE, on charges of OWI 2nd Offense and Driving While Revoked. Vance was taken to the Cass County Jail and was released later that day on $2,000 bond.

The Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund (SWIHTF), in accordance with grant money received through Federal Home Loan Bank and Iowa Finance Authority, is seeking low to moderate income homeowner applicants in the counties of Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie (excluding Council Bluffs), and Shelby for housing repairs.  SWIHTF is nearing the end of their waiting list, and needs more homeowners interested in participating in the program.

Community Development Director Amber Carcel says “SWIHTF has maintained a waiting list of 300-500 names or approximately three years long for many years, but it is now below 100 names.  What this means for the low to moderate homeowners in our region is less waiting time until your name comes to the top of our list.”

The FHLB repair program can assist owner occupied households to eliminate health and safety hazards and to conserve energy in their homes.  Examples of assistance include electrical, heating, plumbing, handicap accessibility, windows, etc.  The assistance is in the form of a five year forgivable loan with the average assistance amount being  $5,000 per home in repairs.

Applicants must be the owner of record, reside in the home, and meet income guidelines.  The condition of the home must be suitable for repair. Interested applicants should contact SWIHTF at 712-243-4196 for more information.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will make her first visit to Iowa since narrowly winning the state’s lead-off presidential caucuses. Clinton’s campaign announced Monday that she will speak at a rally Wednesday afternoon at Lincoln High School in Des Moines. Her campaign says Clinton will discuss her plans to improve the economy.

Clinton’s visit will come less than a week after Republican nominee Donald Trump held an event Friday in Des Moines. Trump also has made recent stops in Cedar Rapids and Davenport.

The Atlantic Police Department reports three recent arrests. On Friday, 38-year old Aaron Sarsfield, of Atlantic, was arrested for Domestic Abuse/Simple Assault. Saturday, 25-year old Mark Fredericksen, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Probation Violation. And on Sunday, 24-year old Aaron Knight, of Plattsmouth, NE., was arrested for OWI. All three men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

An Iowa woman attended the funeral of her brother this weekend nearly 64 years after he died in a military plane crash in Alaska. Airman 3rd Class Wayne Dean Jackson of Downing, Missouri was one of 52 men who died in a 1952 military plane crash in Alaska. Remains were recovered from the wreckage site and then in March the military identified some remains as being Jackson’s. Vicki Kelso Dodson of Nevada, Iowa, who claimed Jackson as a brother, said Iowans and Missourians gave him a great welcome home Saturday.

“Complete towns were out waiving flags with their hands over their hearts and it was just amazing…it was really overwhelming,” Dodson says. Jackson’s mother died 17 years ago, and Dodson says she always wanted to bring him home.  “He’s out of the ice, he’s home, he’s off the mountain. And his mother is looking down, I know she is, his mother and dad, he’s home,” Dodson says.

Of the 52 men that died in that crash, remains from 33 have been identified. The military intends to continue searching for the remains from the others.

(Radio Iowa/MissouriNet)