The Atlantic School Board, Wednesday (July 14), approved the resignations of Amber Caudle – MS Paraprofessional, and Rob Hansen – HS Asst. Baseball Coach. They also approved Contract Recommendations for: Paul Iekel – 1/2 time Special Education Teacher at Schuler Elementary; Tori Dolch – Freshman Volleyball Coach; Adam Smith – Volunteer Football Coach; Katy Christensen, Vol. Volleyball Coach; Bruce Henderson – Vol. Cross Country Coach; Clair Acker, Jim Mullenix and Roger Warne – Substitute/Activity Bus Drivers.

In his report to the Board, Superintendent Steve Barber mentioned, that after speaking with Food Service Director Natalie Ritter, he was made aware the National Food Program would provide free breakfast for all students during the 2021-22 School Year, as part of COVID relief. According to Barber, “Familes who qualify Free and Reduced lunches also get reduced student fees, advantage in driver’s ed and other program discounts.” He said, with regard to free breakfasts and lunches, “One of our concerns is that, if everybody gets free breakfasts and lunches, that all the sudden no one is going to fill out the application. And it’s really important that everybody qualifies for Free and Reduced still fill out the application,” because “by having the percentage of Free and Reduced we do, we’re able to offer that free summer breakfast and lunch. If we go under a certain amount, we lose that [as well as]. Also our title programs benefit from your Free and Reduced percentage.”

He says the District will put into effect a campaign telling parents/guardians “We still want you to fill out these forms. There’s benefit for you besides the lunch program, for you to do that.” He said also, the “Grab and Go” food program the last week of July will look similar to what the district did last year with COVID because the Schuler Gym is being painted. Mr. Barber said also, computers are on schedule for delivery, despite concerns over supply shortages of computer chips.He said “Our I-Pads should be in yet in July, and the Chrome Books the first week of August. So we should be in good shape when the kids come on August 23rd.”

2021-22 Student Fees (Superintendent Steve Barber says the current fee structure has remained unchanged for the past three-years, and he sees “No reason to make any change for the upcoming school year.” Adult lunch prices have not yet officially been posted. Mr. Barber says “If these lunches need to be different than $3.95, we [the Board] will need to revisit next month.”

The Atlantic School Board awarded a 2021-22 Fuel Contract to Olsen Fuel Supply, Inc., for an estimated $85,000. It was noted that comparing the bids to those received last year, the district saw a significant increase in prices. The Board also approved (previously mentioned) Spring 2022 Coaching Contracts. And, they selected their priorities to send to the Iowa Association of School Boards in their dealings with the Iowa Legislature: Mental Health, Marketing-competitive wages, teacher recruitment and licensure, and local accountability and decision-making.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is slamming President Joe Biden’s quick withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. The Republican is a combat veteran and says Biden is haphazardly withdrawing troops with no plan for handling the consequences. “Let’s not forget that the radical extremists who planned and executed terrorist attacks on our soil nearly 20 years ago also slipped into the country,” Ernst says. “Failed board security combine with no forward-thinking or strategy around a potential terrorist resurgence in Afghanistan could lead to devastating consequences for our country.”

Ernst has introduced a bill she says requires military, intelligence, and homeland security branches to take a hard look at the increased risk that a hurried withdrawal from Afghanistan poses to our homeland. It would also require those same officials to analyze and explain to Congress what kind of illicit activities are being carried out at our southern border by terrorist groups and our adversaries around the globe. Ernst says this is not a partisan concern. “There is a lot of concern and it is not just from Republicans. I am working on many different avenues to of course support our interpreters overseas,” she says.

Ernst made her comments in a conference call with reporters and was asked if this was the same as the previous administration announcing a drawdown of troops. “There is no difference — and I was opposed to President Trump doing it as well. It’s ill-advised and certainly not what our military commanders were recommending,” according to Ernst. “So, I am just very disheartened, and I spoke out when President Trump announced that and I am doing the same right now.”
Ernst says there is one difference between the administrations and troop withdrawals.

“The only difference is, here we have a president who is executing it with not plan — as evidence by the interpreters that we are leaving behind,” Ernst says. Ernst says her bill called “The Preventing Terrorism from Hitting America’s Streets Act ” would require an assessment of the potential for Afghanistan to be used as a base of operation for international terrorism resulting from the rushed withdrawal of our military.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office today (Wednesday) released a backlog of arrest and incident reports from the past week. Tuesday evening, 35-year-old Pamela Louis Saul was arrested in the area of Honey Creek, following a single-vehicle accident investigation. Saul was charged with OWI/3rd offense, and issued multiple citations after her vehicle struck a bridge barrier. Late Tuesday morning, 20-year-old Noah Donald Groves, of Council Bluffs, was presented with a warrant at the Pott. County Jail, for Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree. Groves, who was being held in the jail on other charges, was then returned to the custody of Corrections staff.

Monday afternoon, 37-year-old Christopher Eugene Smith, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Theft in the 3rd Degree (taking license plates from another vehicle) and Driving While License Denied, Suspended, Canceled or Revoked. He was being held in the Pott. County Jail on $2,000 bond. Also arrested Monday afternoon, was 47-year-old David Daniel Good, for Driving While Barred/Habitual Offender. A 17-year-old male was arrested Monday afternoon, for shoplifting (Theft in the 5th), after allegedly stealing vape pens from a convenience store in Council Bluffs.

Sunday night, seven juveniles (five males and two females) ranging in age from 15-to 17, were arrested/cited in Council Bluffs, for Minor In Possession. The Sheriff’s Office said they had received a call about 15-to 20 juveniles at a residence in the 16,000 block of Crystal Lane, who were drinking under the legal age.

A traffic stop in Hancock on an unplated, speeding Chevy Malibu Sunday night, resulted in the arrest of 34-year-old Kaci Jean Perkins, on numerous charges. They include: Operating a non-registered vehicle; Possession of drug paraphernalia; Poss. of a Controlled Substance/1st offense; PCS/Marijuana-1st offense; PCS/Methamphetamine-1st offense; and Speeding. Sunday morning, 36-year-old Rachel Nicole Adams was arrested in Crescent, following a traffic stop. Adams was charged with Driving While Barred and on a warrant for Failure to Appear.

Friday night, 43-year-old Richard L. Hildebrand, II, was arrested in Crescent for OWI/1st offense. Thursday afternoon (July 8), 31-year-old Joseph Vincent Martinez turned himself-in to the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office. He had been wanted on a warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense, causing bodily injury. And, just before 9-a.m. Thursday, 35-year-old Christopher James Malone was arrested on active warrants, including for Violation of Probation. His arrest was the result of a traffic stop in Council Bluffs.

(Radio Iowa) – The numbers for planes, trains, and automobiles continue to show a rebound in traffic following drops during the COVID pandemic. The Department of Transportation’s Stuart Anderson gave a report on highway traffic today (Tuesday) to the state Transportation Commission. “We are continuing to be really close to pre-pandemic levels. Our June numbers were at one percent below the June of 2019 levels,” Anderson says.

Anderson says there is still some impact from workers telecommuting.”I think on some of our really heavy commuter routes traditionally — those are lagging some more than some of our other routes,” according to Anderson.  He cites the I-235 route through Des Moines as an example where numbers are lower as some businesses haven’t returned to in-person work. He says the most recent air travel numbers reflect the recovery. “The May numbers grew pretty healthfully from April. We are actually at about 70 percent of the May 2019 level,” Anderson says. “And I think some of the numbers that we get from T-S-A looking at throughput at our commercial service airports in Iowa indicate that we are going to see a lot more growth as we get the June numbers and then July. I think this is rebounding faster than expected.”

Anderson says freight traffic has also rebounded. He says the rail freight traffic hasn’t fully recovered in part because of the situation with cars and trucks are not being shipped as heavily right now.

(Radio Iowa) – The man convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts won’t be sentenced tomorrow (Thursday) after all. Defense attorneys for Cristhian Bahena Rivera have filed additional motions. Earlier this week, defense attorneys filed a motion after an inmate at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility claimed a second inmate told him that -he- killed Mollie Tibbetts in Brooklyn in July 2018 and planned to dump her body near a Hispanic man to make the Hispanic man appear guilty. In an additional motion filed Tuesday night, this second inmate claims he saw Tibbetts bound and gagged at a trap house — a place where illegal drugs are sold.

The new defense motion also refers to 50-year-old James Manuel Lowe, who allegedly ran a trap house in New Sharon. Defense attorneys Chad and Jennifer Frese say they have learned that Lowe had dated Sarah Harrelson of Montezuma. She’s the mother of 11-year-old Xavior Harrelson, who has been missing since May 27. The Freses claim that prosecutors suppressed evidence and there should be a new trial for Bahena Rivera. That motion will be heard Thursday morning in Montezuma. Judge Joel Yates has put Bahena Rivera’s sentencing on hold after the hearing on a motion for a new trial.

In an update to our Adair County Sheriff’s report on Monday, the Union County Sheriff’s Office today (Wednesday) said 43-year-old Niels Curtis Mikkelsen, of Orient, was arrested July 4th by an Adair County Deputy in Union County, for Operating a vehicle While Intoxicated, following an investigation into an accident. His preliminary breath test (PBT) registered .153, or nearly twice the legal limit for intoxication.

Authorities say Mikkelsen was driving a 2014 Dodge RAM bucket truck registered to Alliant Energy/Interstate Power and Light, when he failed to maintain control while traveling westbound on 110th Street a little before 2-a.m. The truck entered the north ditch and struck the backside of an unoccupied 1993 Toyota pickup that was parked in the ditch. The pickup is registered to John Weeks, of Orient.

Damage to the pickup was estimated at $8,000. The bucket truck sustained approximately $7,000 damage.

A rollover accident between Exira and Hamlin Tuesday night resulted in two juveniles being transported to the hospital for treatment of unknown injuries. Audubon County Sheriff Todd Johnson said the Sheriff’s Department received a call about a rollover accident at around 9:35-p.m. in the 2,500 block of Highway 71. When Deputies arrived, they found the vehicle – a 2005 Chevy Impala – on its top in the ditch. Audubon and Exira Fire and Rescue responded to the scene and transported the juveniles to the hospital.

The Sheriff says it’s believed the vehicle was traveling left of center on Highway 71, when the driver over-corrected, causing the car to go out of control. Additional details are currently not available.