DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – MidAmerican Energy has announced it has completed the installation of 13 wind turbines near Pomeroy as part of the company’s plan to expand  wind energy production across Iowa. In a news release issued Wednesday, MidAmerican says the turbines are the first of 258 the company is erecting at three wind energy projects in Iowa this year.

The turbines, which are supplied by Siemens Energy Inc., will add more than 590 megawatts to MidAmerican’s energy generation portfolio. That’s enough to power about 190,000 homes. The Pomeroy project is in Pocahontas and Calhoun counties. The remaining turbines will be erected in Cass, Adams, Adair and Marshall counties by the end of the year.

LOGAN, Iowa (AP) — A detective with the Omaha, Neb., police department has pleaded guilty to a drunken driving charge in Iowa. Online court records show 37-year-old Wendy Redding pleaded guilty on Monday in Harrison County District Court to first-offense OWI. She was arrested on July 3rd.

Redding was sentenced to 30 days in jail with 28 days suspended, placed on probation for a year and fined $625. Court records show as an alternative, Redding can serve two days in jail and attend an impaired driver’s course. But if she completes a weekend OWI diversion program, she won’t have to serve any jail time or take the course.

Omaha police spokeswoman Lt. Darci Tierney told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Redding is on paid administrative leave.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Aug. 31, 2011 – Road construction work on Iowa 192/South Expressway Street just north of Interstate 29/80 at exit 3 near Lake Manawa will cause intermittent lane closures in both directions beginning Tuesday, Sept. 6th, weather permitting, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Council Bluffs construction office.
Flaggers will be used to control traffic during the closure. The roadway will return to normal traffic patterns when workers are not present. Motorists are asked to consider using an  alternate route during this construction project.  This project is expected to be completed by Jan. 9, 2012.

The chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party has publicly rebuked a liberal activist group that has gained media attention by confronting politicians of both parties. Martha Scarpellino, a member of the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, described her group this way after they pestered presidential candidate Mitt Romney at the Iowa State Fair: “I’m with these guys: the loud, noisy question-askers.” The group also heckled the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee spoke at the Fair.

This past week Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement sent out a press release with details of how the group had “confronted” Republican Senator Chuck Grassley at a town-hall meeting in Carroll “for over an hour” and “demanded” that the senator not cut Social Security. A columnist for the newspaper in Carroll blasted the group’s “ambush tactics” during and after the event. Sue Dvorsky, chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party, issued a statement, calling the actions of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement members “unproductive and embarrassing.” She accused the group of being “less focused on results and more focused on creating chaos” that gets written about by the media.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement issued a statement in response, saying Dvorsky’s attack was “baseless” but it also quoted another C-C-I member as saying “sitting back quietly while career politicians debate cuts to our livelihood would be unacceptable.”

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

The Cass County Board of Supervisors have awarded contracts for two bridge and two road repair projects within the county. Cass County Engineer Charles Marker said the bids were received during a state letting on August 16^th. One of the bridges, number 306, is located on Olive Street (or 620^th), about two-miles south of Atlantic. The low bid of $725,996 was received from Murphy Heavy Contracting Corporation, out of Anita. The bid was slightly below the engineer’s estimate.

The other bridge, number 61, crosses Seven Mile Creek on Victoria Road, or south of Highway 92. There were also seven bids received, the lowest was from A-M Cohron, of Atlantic, in the amount of $644, 089, was also below the engineer’s estimate. The Supervisor’s approved both contracts, which will be forwarded back to the State for disposition. The Board also approved local letting Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) and Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) road maintenance or repair projects within the County.

Henningsen Construction of Atlantic was the lone bidder for the HMA patching project. Their bid amounted to $155,555. Marker says the project includes: 740^th Street, from Anita, west of the school, on north; Glendale Road (or, County G-27) from near Canby to Highway 148 south of Anita, and County Road G-43/Fletcher Chapel Road between Highway 71 and County Road N-28.

And, there were three bids for the PCC repair project. Marker says that includes: Atlantic Airport Road (G-30), west from the airport to the Pottawattamie County line; from the Airport south, on M-56 for a few miles. Gus Construction Company’s bid of $63,828 was the lowest of the three received. The Supervisors awarded the contract to the company, which is located in Casey.

And, the Supervisor’s approved the purchase of a John Deere excavator from Murphy Tractor, in the amount of $175,690. The machine will be used to clear away ditch debris.