The U.S. Department of Labor has certified former employees of Plastic Professions/Owner Revolution in Atlantic for reemployment services under the Trade Act of 2015. This certification covers workers who are laid off due to lack of work on or after May 31, 2016, through Nov. 17, 2019.

Multiple informational meetings are scheduled to assist former employees of the reemployment services available after eligibility has been determined.

Worker Information Meeting Details:
When: Monday, Dec. 11
Where: Iowa Western Community College, 705 Walnut Street, Atlantic, IA  50021
Times: 9-11 a.m., 12:30-2:30 p.m., 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Reemployment services may include classroom training, on-the-job training, job relocation, and for workers 50 years of age or older, a wage subsidy. These services may be available to eligible individuals, as is appropriate, by working with IowaWORKS representatives on the development of reemployment plans. Local IowaWORKS representatives will also be in attendance at this meeting.

For additional questions or information, contact Nina Gotta at 515-281-9007.

An eastern Iowa man wanted by the U.S. Marshall’s Service on an outstanding Federal warrant, was arrested Wednesday evening in Guthrie County after a traffic stop and short foot pursuit. According to the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, at around 5:30-p.m., a Guthrie County Sheriff’s deputy conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle in the 100th block of S. 12th St. Place, in Guthrie Center.

Hoffman

During the course of the traffic stop, the deputy determined the driver of the vehicle, 53-year old Tony Hoffman, of Cedar Rapids, was wanted by the U.S. Marshall’s Service. During the traffic stop, Hoffman attempted to flee the deputy on foot. After a short foot chase, Hoffman was apprehended after the deputy deployed his Taser (an electronic immobilization device).

Hoffman was booked in on charges of Interference with Official Acts, Escape from Custody and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. The United States Marshall’s Service has placed a detainer on Tony Hoffman, and he will be transferred to their custody at some point in the near future.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by Panora EMS, the Panora Police Department, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Iowa Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Enforcement.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A fire that injured an electrical worker forced cancellation of classes at a parochial school in Council Bluffs. Authorities say the fire began around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. Albert Catholic School while the man was doing routine maintenance. Assistant Fire Chief Jim Wheat says the man was taken to an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital for treatment.

The fire was confined to the electrical equipment. School activities later Wednesday night were canceled, as well as classes today (Thursday) and Friday.

One person was taken into custody following a reported burglary in progress Wednesday, in Minden. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports deputies responded to 32065 335th Street just before Noon. Following an investigation, they located 45-year old Gregory Richard Shaplin, of Council Bluffs, and placed him under arrest at around 1:12-p.m.  He faces charges that include Burglary in the 3rd Degree and Criminal Trespass.

Pott. County Deputies arrested 41-year-old Matthew Malnack, of Honey Creek, at around 7-p.m. Wednesday. Malnack was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault by allegedly impeding the airway of his 41-year old wife.

And, 32-year-old Thomas Petrizilka, of Council Bluffs, was arrested early this (Thursday) morning, for Theft 5th Degree and Driving While Barred. Petrizilka was found to be operating a pickup that had stolen license plates mounted to the front and back.

An accident this (Thursday) morning on Highway 71 north of Brayton has claimed the life of a man from Texas. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2017 Dodge Challenger driven by 31-year old Nathaniel Ray Brockveldt, of Elgin, TX., was traveling north on Highway 71 at around 6:20-a.m., when for reasons unknown, the vehicle left the road and rolled several times before striking a tree and coming to rest on its roof in the northbound ditch. Brockveldt, who was not wearing a seat belt, died at the scene. The accident remains under investigation.

The State Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Audubon County Sheriff’s Office, Exira Fire and Rescue, and Brayton Fire, and the Iowa DOT.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa teenager has testified in the murder trial of his adoptive mother, telling jurors she refused to feed his sister days before she starved to death. Forty-three-year-old Nicole Finn has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the Oct. 24 death of 16-year-old Natalie Finn. She’s also accused of abusing two of her other adopted children, who investigators say were severely malnourished and living in squalid conditions in the family’s home.

The Des Moines Register reports that Jaden Finn told a Polk County jury on Wednesday that Natalie had become too weak to get up to eat. He told jurors his mother told his sister she wouldn’t feed her if she wouldn’t get up. Jaden also testified that their mother forced them to ask permission to eat, bathe or leave their room.

Iowa once again leads the nation in the percentage of high school students who graduate. Iowa Department of Education director, Ryan Wise, says 91-point-three percent of students in the class of 2016 completed high school within four years in Iowa and a national report says that the best in the country. The 2016 graduation rate in Iowa was up three-tenths of a percent from the year before and is up three percentage points during the last six years. The national graduation rate is about seven percent lower at 84-point-one percent.

New Jersey was the only other state to top 90 percent — at 90-point-one. Wise says the graduation rate is just one measure of success as the state has work to do to ensure all the graduates are prepared to succeed beyond high school.

(Radio Iowa/Dar Danielson)

Senator Chuck Grassley sent an early morning tweet, suggesting he’d been cut from the roster of senators who’ll work on a tax package. Grassley said he had been “dropped” as a member of the conference committee that will come up with a final version of the tax bill. Grassley mentioned President Trump in his tweet. Grassley said he wouldn’t be “in the front line fighting” for what he and Trump believe should be in tax package.

Grassley is the former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, the panel that writes tax policy. Grassley remains on the committee and, in his tweet, Grassley notes he is the committee’s “senior Republican.” Last week, Grassley sparked attention with a comment about the estate tax. Grassley said eliminating the estate tax rewards people who save and invest rather than those who spend “every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”

Earlier this week, Grassley told Radio Iowa his comments were not about people who live paycheck-to-paycheck but about two fictional people — one who saves and one who “doesn’t save anything.” Protesters have been leaving empty liquor bottles outside Grassley’s Des Moines office. A parody website called “booze women or movies” is now online, featuring Grassley’s original comment mixed with dance music.

(Radio Iowa/O. Kay Henderson)