(Updated/corrected info.)

Flames consumed a garage Thursday night, in Atlantic. The Atlantic Fire Department was called to the scene of the fire near 403 Birch Street, just before midnight. When crews arrived, the structure was fully engulfed in flames.  Fire Chief Mark McNees said they would be looking into a cause this morning. Additional details are currently not available.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The U.S. Department of Labor has fined Hy-Vee, Fareway and other grocery stores in Iowa and Nebraska nearly $130,000 for violating child labor laws.   The Des Moines Register reports that the Labor Department announced the fines Thursday. NONE of the stores in question are located in the KJAN listening area.

The department says the violations included allowing workers under 18 to perform hazardous jobs that are prohibited. That included loading or operating power-driven paper balers, meat slicers, bakery machines and motor vehicles. No underage workers were injured. The Labor Department report says Hy-Vee was assessed $68,200 for 27 violations at seven stores, while Fareway was assessed nearly $20,000 for 13 violations at eight stores. The violations would have happened since October 2011.

Representatives of Hy-Vee and Fareway say the stores are committed to maintaining a safe environment for young workers.  Scott Allen, spokesman for the U-S Department of Labor, singled out 20 Iowa stores for violations, including Hy-Vee stores in: Boone, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Urbandale, Waterloo and West Des Moines, and Fareway stores in: Ames, Clive, New Hampton, Norwalk, Ottumwa, Toledo and Webster City. Others include B-and-B Grocery in Des Moines, Big G Foods in Marengo, Buy Rite Foods in Lake Park, Bender’s Foods in Denver, Fiesta Foods in Hawarden, Truncks Country Foods in Reinbeck, and McNally’s Foods in Grinnell.

Gasoline prices in Iowa rose an average of 15-cents a gallon during July and one industry analyst says it’s a toss-up for what may happen to pump prices in August. Gail Weinholzer, spokeswoman for Triple-A-Iowa, says an increase in demand usually means a spike in prices and August is a busy month for travel.  “There are a lot of people doing their last-minute summer vacations, packing up the kids and the dogs and heading out to national parks,” Weinholzer says. “Demand is usually quite high in August which doesn’t cause us any problems, so long as there are no refinery issues or hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico that cause any disruption.”

Weinholzer says the weather in the Southern U-S can be a big factor in gas price fluctuations in the Midwest and nationwide. “We’ve seen how destructive hurricanes can be in the Gulf of Mexico, affecting oil rigs and refineries,” Weinholzer says. “We want to keep one eye on the Gulf as we travel this last part of the summer in August to make sure there aren’t any constricted supplies due to any late-summer hurricanes.”

Last summer, gasoline prices in Iowa were about 12-cents a gallon cheaper than now. As to where the prices will go in the month ahead, Weinholzer says it’s hard to predict. “It is very difficult because it’s so much determined by the weather,” Weinholzer says. “We saw with Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it had eight years ago so it’s very important the oil refineries, rigs and platforms in the Gulf not be disrupted during this heavy demand season.”

The  current average for a gallon of unleaded gas in Iowa is three-59. That’s four cents below the national average.

(Radio Iowa)