The Freese-Notis forecast for Atlantic & the KJAN listening area, and weather information for Atlantic.
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The Freese-Notis forecast for Atlantic & the KJAN listening area, and weather information for Atlantic.
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WINTERSET, Iowa (AP) – Rainstorm damage to U.S. Highway 169 has required its closure north of Winterset, the site of Madison County’s annual Covered Bridge Festival.
Iowa Transportation Department officials told Des Moines television station KCCI they hope to have the highway reopened before the end of the year, but that largely depends on the weather.
People headed to the Oct. 11-12 Covered Bridge Festival will have to use Iowa Highway 92 or approach Winterset from the south.
ROCKWELL CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa authorities are trying to find out how illegal drugs got into the state prison in Rockwell City. Prison spokesman Fred Scaletta told Des Moines television station KCCI in an email, that “a large amount of what is believed to be illegal drugs were discovered” during a routine inspection last week.
Prison officials won’t comment on the quantity or type of drugs found until the investigation is finished.
Officials from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration are expected to be at the minimum-security prison on Wednesday to investigate and classify the drugs.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) serving Nebraska, South Dakota, The Kansas Plains and Southwest Iowa is warning schools and school districts in the BBB’s service area, about possible fake invoices for educational supplies. In the past few weeks, there has been a rush of complaints filed against “Scholastic School Supply” claiming to have either a Nevada or New Jersey address. Both addresses have turned out to be mail drops.
BBB of Southern Nevada received its first complaint against “Scholastic School Supply” on August 20, 2014, and since then has received more than 70 complaints from schools across the country. So far there have been two from schools in Nebraska and one from a school in Kansas all stating that they received invoices for products they had not ordered.
The company’s online BBB Business Review at bbb.org/southern-nevada has also received more than 3,000 inquiries. An Alert is posted there so visitors, checking on this company, are able to confirm the suspicious nature of the invoice. The company maintains a mail drop in Sewell, New Jersey, as well as Las Vegas, and BBB New Jersey has received more than 20 complaints so far.
The bogus invoices have been for $647.50 for the bulk purchase of “English-Language Arts Practice Books” or $388.50 for math workbooks (although the amounts and products could change at any time). Complainants say they cannot reach the company to inquire about the products or amounts allegedly owed, and all have denied ever doing business with the company previously.
BBB President and CEO Jim Hegarty urges schools not to pay the invoices but to send them to the local Postal Inspector and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as their state’s attorney general or consumer protection agency. So far, none of the complainants have sent money; however, BBB has no way of knowing if any schools have unwittingly paid the invoice, since they would not have filed a complaint.
To date, BBB has received complaints from schools in 27 states, including Iowa. Scholastic, Inc. has issued the following statement regarding the fraudulent use of their name and trademarks. “Scholastic School Supply is not affiliated with Scholastic, Inc. It is a company that is illegally using Scholastic’s name and trademark. We only recently became aware of them, but our legal department has demanded that they cease and desist using Scholastic’s name and trademark, which they have agreed to do but have not done yet. In addition, we have been investigating this company and will continue to do so, and if we determine that this company is allegedly violating any other laws, rules or regulations, we will take prompt appropriate action.”
Schools and other organizations should remember the following tips to help avoid scams:
. Encourage your treasurer to watch for invoice scams.
. Make sure the invoice is coming from a valid source.
. Check out the company that is sending the invoice.
. Centralize purchasing and billing so that the person or persons paying the invoices know what was ordered and who the vendors are.
. Do a basic Internet search to see if other organizations have reported similar problems.
For More Information: To check on a business in your area or to report a scam, go to www.bbbinc.org.
Officials with the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn say two Brown Bag Lunch programs have been lined up to take place at the Museum. The first will be this Thursday, September 18th with “It Takes a Village to Raise a Hausbarn.” Freda Dammann is the director of the German Hausbarn, a 350-year-old structure moved from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany to Manning, Iowa. She will be speaking about the Hausbarn and her experiences with the project.
Then, on September 25th, Tom Lundskær-Nielsen will present “Hans Christian Andersen: From the early fairy tales to the life parables.” Lundskær-Nielsen is a Senior Lecturer in Danish at University College London. He’ll discuss The Tinderbox, Little Claus and Big Claus, The Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, and The Fir Tree.
The programs begin at noon and are free and open to the public. As the name suggests, guests can bring a lunch to enjoy during the program. Programs are scheduled through the end of the year and can be found at danishmuseum.org.
Questions about the programs should be directed to Tova Brandt at 712-764-7001 or curator@danishmuseum.org.
(Updated 4-a.m.)
Today – Partly sunny, with a high near 76. South southeast wind around 5 mph.
Tonight – Partly cloudy, with a low around 55. East wind 3 to 5 mph.
Thursday – Partly sunny, with a high near 73. Southeast wind 5 to 11 mph.
Thursday Night – A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 59. Southeast wind 8 to 11 mph.
Friday – Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Breezy, with a south wind 9 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.
Friday Night – A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 68. Breezy. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday – Showers and thunderstorms likely. Partly sunny, with a high near 79. Chance of precipitation is 60%
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Several roads around the Iowa Capitol will be closed Wednesday (today) due to a visit from Vice President Joe Biden, according to the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Biden will join with a Catholic social justice group called Nuns on the Bus on the Capitol’s West Terrace.
Between 7 a.m. and noon, Grand Avenue will be closed from East 12th Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, and Walnut Street will be closed from East Seventh Street to East 12th Street. For people attending the event, the entrance is at East Seventh Street and Locust Street.
Biden is considering running for president in 2016. His visit comes just days after former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed Iowa Democrats at Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual fundraiser. Clinton is also weighing a 2016 bid.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court on Wednesday will offer a short video to high school students about the state constitution. The nine-minute orientation video will be available to social studies classrooms across the state. The high court is encouraging schools to show the video prior to two oral arguments that will be streamed live on the judicial branch website.
The video includes an explanation from Chief Justice Mark Cady on how the state constitution is used to resolve disputes between residents. Justice Daryl Hecht also explains the appeal process and what happens during oral arguments.
The court is releasing the video in partnership with the state Department of Education and the Iowa State Bar Association to celebrate Constitution Day, a national holiday honoring the U.S. Constitution.
Back from a long trip to Hawaii the UNI Panthers prepare for Saturday’s homecoming contest against Northern Colorado. The Panthers are 0-2 following a 27-24 loss to Hawaii. UNI coach Mark Farley who says the Panthers need to learn how to make plays at key times. There have been many positives in the first two games but the ground attack is not one of them. Senior running back David Johnson has only 80 yards of rushing to date.
Farley says the ground game needs to improve as the Panthers look down the road at the start of Missouri Valley Conference play. Northern Colorado opened with a 13-12 loss at UNLV and followed that up with a 28-20 win over Houston Baptist.
(Learfield Sports)
Three weeks into the season the Iowa Hawkeyes rank 92nd in the country in rushing and are tied for 89th in total offense. While those numbers may seem alarming for an offense that returned a number of starters from last year, they apparently aren’t to head coach Kirk Ferentz, who told the weekly Big Ten teleconference that he is not surprised by his teams lackluster start. The Hawkeyes are 2-1 as they get set to visit Pitt and Ferentz says the offense is trying to find the right rhythm and right mix.
Ferentz defended third year offensive coordinator Greg Davis who has been heavily criticized for his love of the horizontal passing game. Ferentz says there is no obvious solutions to fixing the offensive woes. Since beating Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl after the 2009 season the slide to mediocrity has been steep. In the last four plus seasons the Hawkeyes are 29-25 overall and just 15-17 in the Big Ten and while the negativity has grown even louder in the wake of another loss to Iowa State Ferentz says it is something they need to put behind them.
The challenge this week is preparing for their first road test at 3-0 Pitt. Pitt’s James Conner ranks second in the nation with 544 yards of rushing. In his third year at the helm Paul Chryst has developed the Pitt offense into one of the best running attacks in the nation. The Panthers have averaged 344 yards on the ground in their 3-0 start, which ranks fourth in the country. Despite the gaudy numbers Chryst says there is plenty of room for improvement.
Chryst says the run game will get a challenge from an Iowa defense that has always prided itself on stopping the run under Kirk Ferentz.
(Learfield Sports)