(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, passed resolutions on two separate bids for two separate properties. Both bids were One-dollar, for properties located at 1014/1016 E. 3rd Street Place, the other at 1310 Chestnut Street. The latter was sold to Jay and Kelsi Eden, who, as previously mentioned, will begin the process of gutting a decaying, unsafe for occupation, home. The couple intend to “flip” the house, once extensive work is completed. The Council chose to allow them one-year for construction. Councilman Pat McCurdy..
Dexter Dodson, with Atlantic High School, placed a bid for 1014/1016 3rd Street Place. He intends to build a single family home on this lot using the students in the building trades program. McCurdy said he thinks it’s a wonderful idea.
Councilperson Elaine Otte, agreed, and said the project should benefit the school district’s Building Trades program.
The Council issued a recommendation to have City Administrator John Lund to proceed with making a request by City Attorney Dave Wiederstein to work with the Atlantic Community School District on the sale of the properties on E. 3rd Street Place.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic, Wednesday, approved the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget. Their approval followed a public hearing, during which there were no comments received.
City Administrator John Lund has said the proposed budget for FY 2024 totals $14,794,803, an increase of 4.36% – or $618,676 – over the City’s FY 2023 budget. He noted however, that the budget “Should be considered [to be] a tentative budget that may receive a total amendment shortly after it begins in July, 2023.” That’s because, he says, of the legislature’s failure to send a final budget with an overhaul to the property tax system in Iowa. Lun
Lund says “While this may seem like a modest change in budget, however, the one-time American Rescue Plan funding of $488,970 and unusually high local option sales tax dollars of $1,337,372 in the FY 2023 budget, which are not present in the FY 2024 budget, disguise several new structural revenues, new structural revenue losses, and new structural expenditures.”
Under the City’s budget, the combined property tax levy will increase from $16.56 to $16.79, in order “to favorably position the City if the Iowa State Senate’s version of property tax reform is implemented.” Lund says “The overall budget accomplishes key priorities of the Mayor and Council in funding for community beautification, housing economic development, and code enforcement support.” A seven percent increase in compensation to all City employees is included, along with MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) “allowing unionized employees to see this benefit.” The Council also approved the FY24 Ten Year Capital Improvement Plan following a public hearing in which there were also no comments. In other business, the Atlantic City resolutions adopting wages for seasonal parks and recreation and pool employees, and, setting salaries for appointed officers and employees of the City of Atlantic.
Atlantic City Councilman Halder speaks about an award presented to City Administrator John Lund (Ric Hanson/Photo) [Click to enlarge]
Lund thanked the Council, shook hands with Halder, and hugged the Mayor.
(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa received approval from the Board of Regents facilities committee to move ahead with work on two prominent buildings on campus. U-I Vice President, Rod Lehnertz, says they plan to remodel the seventh floor of the Van Allen building, which was built in the 1960s. Lehnertz says the space science and spaceflight hardware work done in the building is renowned nationwide. He says NASA expectations are high for research space and they need to keep up.
The other project involves expanding the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital into the empty seventh floor of the hospital. He says it would be a 40 to 49 million dollar proejct — with the actual cost pinned down through the construction. The Children’s Hospital has gotten nationwide attention for “The Wave,” where fans and players in nearby Kinnick Stadium turn and wave to the patients following the end of the first quarter of Hawkeye football games.
The full Board of Regents is expected to approve the proposals today (Thursday).
(Radio Iowa) – A report from a national agricultural organization says climate change is already impacting the production of Iowa’s key crops and it offers dire predictions for a more challenging future. John Piotti, president and C-E-O of American Farmland Trust, says shifts in rainfall patterns that bring extremes like drought and flooding, are combining with warmer weather to make it very difficult — if not impossible — to continue the way we currently farm.
The report says 80-percent of our cropland is at risk due to rising temperatures and rainfall changes. By 2040, the report projects only 33-percent of the acres now devoted to corn are likely to remain highly productive with the current corn varieties. Piotti says with the right tools and support, agricultural producers can continue to adapt to climate changes and help reverse the trends.
To ward off the worst impacts of climate change, Piotti says farmers and non-farmers can work to limit global warming and to increase the resiliency and profitability of farmland.
(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Wednesday afternoon, issued a statement with regard to recent incidents of alleged threats against the Southwest Valley School District. The statement said “During the late afternoon on or about Friday, April 14, 2023, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office along with Southwest Valley Superintendent Chris Fenster, were notified of a credible threat regarding a student threatening to harm other students and staff at Southwest Valley High School.
“Adams County Sheriff’s officials began their investigation immediately and the student was charged with Threat of Terrorism early Saturday morning. It was determined that the threat was made approximately 2-to 3 weeks prior. The School District and Law Enforcement received no prior knowledge of this threat until late Friday afternoon. Effective Saturday, the student will no longer be allowed on school grounds and is on GPS monitoring by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and the Juvenile Court Services. Safeguards were immediately put in place to ensure the safety of all Southwest Valley students and staff.
“On Monday, to provide the continued safety of all students and stuff at Southwest Valley School District, extra law enforcement was put in place. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office did this in conjunction with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office to alleviate any uncertainty within both the Corning and Villisca communities. Moving forward, for the remainder of the school year, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office will maintain a presence within the Southwest Valley School District daily,” not only for safety concerns, but also “:to provide staff and students support at this time.
“Late Monday afternoon, April 17, 2023, Superintendent Chris Fenster notified the Sheriff’s Office about alleged threatening posts on social media by the same student. The Sheriff’s Office began investigating the threat immediately. The Sheriff’s Office collaborated with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the alleged threats Monday afternoon and throughout the day on Tuesday. At this time, both the Adams and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office do not have any evidence that the alleged threats made on social media are credible.
“On Wednesday, April 19, 2023, informational meetings were held with the high school students and staff to provide transparency to the situation and offer additional support. Additional security measures will be implemented during all Southwest Valley activities, including Prom and Graduation.
The Adams County Sheriff’s Office continues to work with the Southwest Valley School District. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.”
(Multiple area counties) – Large hail and heavy rain pummeled parts of western and southwest Iowa, Wednesday evening through late Wednesday night. Some areas also saw street flooding as the result of heavy rain. There was photographic evidence of funnel clouds spinning their way downward. Some reached the ground, officially becoming a tornado.
National Weather Service reports and posts on social media showed the extent of the hail damage, which was most severe in Mills, Crawford and Sac Counties, where hail ranging in size from quarters to tennis balls and baseballs, fell and caused heavy damage to vehicles, siding and other property. Widespread hail damage reports came in from Ricketts, Kiron, Schleswig and Charter Oak, inc Crawford County, while just pea-size hail was observed a little after 7:30-p.m., in Atlantic.
Street flooding was reported at some locations in Mills and Pottawattamie Counties. KETV in Omaha says the Classic Café in Malvern had its roof pounded by hail the size of golf balls, and was forced to deal with severe leaking. The restaurant’s owner said water came down so hard it seemed like it was raining inside, but when the storm hit, her staff sprung into action and used everything available to them to capture the leaks and mop-up.
Tornados were observed near Macedonia, Sidney and Thurman, while multiple funnels clouds were observed elsewhere, including as far north as Kiron, in Sac County. There were no reports of injuries stemming from the recent storms. (Click on the images below to enlarge). Parts of eastern Nebraska also experienced damage from large hail.
Mills County, via the Mills County Scanner Facebook Page 
Crawford County EMA Photo
Crawford County EMA Photo
Crawford County EMA Photo
Mills County, via the Mills County Scanner Facebook Page
Kris Murray says the experience he gained a year ago will help as he prepares for the NBA Draft. Murray announced last week he will skip his senior season at Iowa. He explored the draft process last spring before returning for his junior season.
Kris says watching his twin brother, Keagan, go through the process last season also helped.
Murray averaged better than 20 points and nearly eight rebounds this past season in being named a third team All-American. He says returning for his junior season helped him in his goal of playing in the NBA.
The NBA Draft Combine is next month in Chicago.
Drake football coach Todd Stepsis says a three game winning streak to close last season has provided the Bulldogs with off-season momentum. Drake stumbled to an 0-8 start in 2022 but won their final three games, including a victory in the final home game that knocked Butler out of the FCS playoffs.
The defense has been solid but the key to improvement will be an offense that averaged just over 17 points per game last season.
After guiding the Bulldogs to those three wins Luke Bailey leads an experienced quarterback group.
Stepsis says the Bulldogs are deeper and more experienced at anytime since the pandemic. He expects around 45 fourth and fifth year seniors to be on the roster.
Drake closes out spring drills Saturday afternoon.
(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics received approval today (Wednesday) to lease a building in Sioux City as part of an effort to keep a program that produces doctors. David Kieft told the Board of Regents that the building houses the Siouxland Medical Education Foundation family medicine practice and its three-year residency program.”This is the only such search residency facility west of Des Moines,” Keift says. He says the program has been highly collaborative with the University of Iowa Family Medicine Residency.
“The program may be failing in its existing operations and so the University of Iowa has agreed to a 10-year lease agreement for the facility. It’s with Siouxland Medical Education Foundation,” he says. Keft says they hope the University of Iowa intervention will keep the Siouxland program from closing. Two other programs have closed in the past three years, resulting in 12 fewer family physicians in Iowa per year.
The U-I-H-C will pay all operating costs of the building and has the first option to buy it. The initial lease term would commence in June 2023 and end on June 30, 2033. There are two five-year renewal options.
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