(Atlantic, Iowa) – The cause of a fire that damaged part of the Atlantic Middle School, Tuesday afternoon, remains undetermined. That was the word from Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel, during a press conference at the Atlantic Fire Station, Wednesday. Cappel said the continued training area fire departments have received prevented a bad situation from getting worse.

The blaze broke out on the roof of the Atlantic Middle School building at around 12:37-p.m. Cappel said the flames were as high as 20-feet on top of the building, along with thick black smoke.

Atlantic School District Superintendent Steve Barber (left), & Fire Chief Tom Cappel (right)

Crews attacked the fire from the ground, shooting water from the hoses to the roof, while a ladder truck was being set-up.

The fire was contained within about an hour. Atlantic School District Superintendent Steve Barber said a dollar amount of the damage has not yet been tabulated. He said first and foremost, he was glad no one got hurt.

Barber said the damage was primarily from water used to fight the flames.

Insurance adjusters and other who are assessing the damage were on the scene Tuesday and today (Wednesday). As soon as they have a figure from mitigation companies, the Atlantic School Board will hold an emergency meeting to accept a “Not to exceed” number, and get the clean-up started.

Many have wondered how soon teachers, staff and others in the district can get back into the building. Mr. Barber said that’s undetermined right now because there is so much yet to do and much taking place behind the scenes.

Firefighters from Atlantic, Lewis, Marne and Griswold were on the scene, along with Cass EMS, Atlantic Police, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Cass County Emergency Management, and the Cass County Drone. Volunteers brought numerous bottles of cold water to help personnel deal with the heat and humidity.

DES MOINES – Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has announced that Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers have successfully concluded their deployment to the U.S. Southern Border to aid law enforcement and border security efforts. The mission – Operation Lone Star – provided the Department’s support to the Texas Department of Public Safety in the Del Rio area from July 10-20.  This support was in response to the June 10, 2021, request from Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey seeking law enforcement support from all 50 states. This request was made through Iowa’s existing EMAC, a national interstate mutual aid agreement administered by the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management that enables states to share resources during a disaster.

At the time members of the Iowa State Patrol were sent, border encounters had just reached a 20-year high. They rose again in June, topping 1 million for the fiscal year.  “The situation at the U.S. southern border was and remains a humanitarian crisis, with consequences that reach far beyond Texas and Arizona,” said Gov. Kim Reynolds. “As the federal government effectively ignores its constitutional duty to secure our border, states like Iowa must act. By participating in Operation Lone Star, Iowa law enforcement played an important role in promoting humanitarian aid as well as safety and security of all Americans.”  

Law enforcement officials are recovering elevated levels of weapons and illegal narcotics smuggled into America. There was a 300% increase in fentanyl seizures in May of 2021 as there were in the same month the year prior. Seizures increased again in June with this year’s total now 78% higher than all of 2020.  Iowa specifically saw 523 grams of fentanyl seized between January and May 2020. Over that same time period in 2021, roughly 6,641 grams of fentanyl was seized – an increase of 1,148%. According to Customs and Border Protection, 93% of heroin found in our country were originally smuggled across the Southern border.

A total of 28 Iowa Department of Public Safety law enforcement officers volunteered to assist the Texas Department of Public Safety with four key mission tasks including traffic duties, humanitarian efforts, tactical operations and human smuggling operations. Those officers included 12 road Iowa State Patrol Troopers, 12 tactical operators, three command staff supervisors and one bilingual investigative agent.  Iowa State Patrol Troopers paired with Texas Highway Patrol Troopers to provide law enforcement duties designed to ensure public safety in the Del Rio area. These officers also worked the heavily trafficked Rio Grande River crossing , helping with rescue efforts and addressing humanitarian concerns.

The mission of tactical operators focused on disrupting criminal activities with teams identifying and searching locations where human smuggling was occurring, identifying drug/narcotics offenses and performing surveillance activities designed to identify criminal activities.  The DPS deployment consisted of 12-hour shifts and concluded with 5,000 hours of duty time. The participating officers represented 5% of the Department’s sworn workforce.

Over the coming weeks, Iowa will continue to evaluate the needs on the border and whether the state’s law enforcement might be useful again to officials on the border. As with Operation Lone Star, any future decision will be subject to Iowa’s own law enforcement needs.

CORALVILLE– The Iowa Department of Corrections reports 75-year-old Vincent Duncan was pronounced dead due to natural causes at 1:10 p.m.  on Tuesday, July 27, 2021 in a hospice room of the Iowa Medical and Classification Center. Duncan had been serving a 25-year sentence for the crime of Sex Abuse-2nd Degree from Tama County.

His sentence began on January 3, 2014.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports five arrests. On Tuesday: 31-year-old Kassandra Lee Shoemake, of Sioux City, NE., was arrested at the Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Failure to Appear (FTA) on an OWI charge. She was being held on $3,000 bond. And, 41-year-old Michael Todd Rupe, of Glenwood, was arrested Tuesday afternoon, also for FTA on an OWI charge. His bond was set at $2,000.

At around 12:45-a.m. Saturday, 32-year-old Stuart Duane Haley, of Villisca, and 34-year-old Gwen Marie Vanderhoof, of Clarinda, were arrested following a traffic stop, and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance; Drug Tax Stamp violation, and Possession of drug paraphernalia. Bond for Haley was set at $5,300. Vanderhoof’s bond was set at $5,000.

And, on July 22nd, 30-year-old Zechariah Michael Stangl, of Springfield, NE, was arrested on Bunge Avenue, for Public Intoxication. His bond was set at $300.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans might be wise to order their holiday gifts now — in July — if they hope to have plenty of presents under the tree come late December, according to a logistics and supply chain expert at the University of Iowa. Jen Blackhurst, a U-I professor of business analytics, says many retailers simply aren’t recovering from the pandemic nightmares and a perfect storm is developing that will mean more shortages to come. “We’re seeing some pretty extreme delays with the chips not being available to put in the cars,” Blackhurst says. “If you’ve tried to order any kind of furniture, there’s five, six, seven months of delay.”

Blackhurst calls it the bullwhip effect, where a small change or glitch in demand or in the supply chain can quickly grow in severity. “There’s been recently a port in China that has lowered capacity due to a re-outbreak of COVID,” Blackhurst says. “That’s slowing the ability to move goods in, and more importantly, out of China, which is going to slow things down.” We’ve seen it repeatedly during the pandemic where certain items simply are unavailable and shelves are empty. Think toilet paper, cleaning products and hand sanitizer early on, while later it was webcams, furniture, lumber, video game consoles and countless other products.  “Come the holiday time, we’re going to see some delays and shortage of materials and goods and gifts,” Blackhurst says. “So, thinking about that right now and really understanding where your gifts would be coming from, things you want to have for the holidays, they could be, in fact, quite delayed.”

Many areas of the world are facing severe supply chain issues and it’s affecting a wide range of products, and she says it probably won’t be fixed by Christmas. She says, “If it’s a new toy that there’s going to be a lot of demand for, you’re going to have to start thinking about that now.” Blackhurst says one report tells how the price to purchase space on a shipping container from China to the U-S has risen 200-percent or more just in the past four months. She predicts we won’t see supply chains fully functioning again until mid-2022 at the earliest.

(Radio Iowa) – A northeast Iowa company, accused of creating hazardous waste, has reached a monetary settlement with the U-S Environmental Protection Agency. DCW Casing in Oelwein allegedly made the hazardous waste, in violation of federal rules. The company makes a blood product. DCW settled with the EPA by paying a civil penalty of slightly more than $80,000, plus bringing the facility into compliance with federal rules.

Two other businesses in the country have made similar settlements. They are located in Kansas City, Kansas, and Vinita Park, Missouri.