A man from Audubon County was issued a warning for Failure to Yield upon left turn following an accident Monday afternoon, in Atlantic. According to the Atlantic Police Department, Jerry Jensen, of Hamlin, was traveling north on Hospital Drive at around 2-p.m., when he failed to yield for a southbound vehicle at the intersection with 7th Street/Highway 6. The other vehicle, driven by Carrol Trewet, of Atlantic, was in the process of making a right hand turn when the vehicles collided in the middle of the intersection.

No injuries were reported. Damage from the collision amounted to $5,000.

The Shelby County Emergency Management Agency reports a 5-ton vehicle weight restriction is now in-place for a bridge over Silver Creek on 660th Street. The bridge is located just west of the intersection of Ironwood Road and 660th, in Shelby Township Section, east of 931 and 933 on 660th.

The weight limit will be in effect until further notice. Emergency crews should plan an alternate route to residences in the affected area.

The C-E-O of the Iowa Restaurant Association says there’s one main issue the state’s hospitality industry hopes the 2017 legislature addresses. Jessica Dunker says her association wants a uniform minimum wage throughout the state. “We would really like to see the legislature step in and strengthen preemption laws,” Dunker says, “so there is one minimum wage and one tip wage across the entire state.”

County boards of supervisors in Johnson, Linn, Wapello and Polk Counties have voted to raise the minimum wage at the local level. The state’s minimum wage is 7-dollars-and-25 cents ($7.25) an hour, identical to the federal minimum wage. Dunker says the Iowa Restaurant Association isn’t opposed to raising the state’s minimum wage, but if that’s the legislature’s decision, her group would like to see the increase phased in over a period of years. Dunker met this week with bar and restaurant owners in the Sioux City area. She says hospitality businesses in border areas like Sioux City face unfair competition in neighboring states because of Iowa’s liability insurance laws.

“There are some things in Iowa law that make it more difficult to both obtain insurance and also make it easier for people to go back to restaurants and bars, even if the restaurants and bars aren’t responsible for unfortunate incidents,” Dunker says.

Iowa is among 30 states with laws that allow someone who has been injured by an intoxicated person to sue a bar or restaurant where that person may have been served alcohol. South Dakota law exempts bars and restaurants from that kind of liability and Nebraska has a more limited law regarding such lawsuits. Governor Terry Branstad has said he’s interested in passing “tort reform” in 2017, but he hasn’t specifically mentioned the part of state law that covers lawsuits filed against bars and restaurants.

(Radio Iowa)

Fears are rising among some immigrants in Iowa that the incoming Trump administration could force them to leave the country or at least make it harder for them to become U-S citizens. Janet Toering, executive director of the Webster City-based group All Cultures Equal, says lifelong Iowa residents can’t fathom the terror that’s striking some of our undocumented neighbors.

“We don’t have the capacity to understand what a new administration might mean to some people that are struggling so hard,” Toering says. “They’ve heard things, there’s lots of misinformation and lack of knowledge.” In a worst-case situation, she says hundreds of undocumented immigrants in Hamilton County alone could be forced to leave and a mass deportation would have a serious impact on the workforce.

“They’re in our school systems, they follow the rules and laws as best they can and they’re trying to make things happen,” Toering says. “When there’s a change in the administration that has threats to that, it’s not only a threat to them personally but it’s a threat to the companies and the businesses they work with and the communities they live in.”

Toering’s organization is devoted to helping immigrants with job opportunities, learning English and learning how to fit in. She says scripture instructs us to welcome strangers. “It doesn’t matter what country you’re from or if you’re just moving from town to town as a U.S. citizen, we’re strangers if we don’t know each other,” Toering says. “Sometimes it’s hard to meet each other, especially in this world where we’re all on our cell phones rather than meeting and greeting and talking to one another.”

A community discussion is planned at 10 A-M Saturday at the All Cultures Equal center in Webster City.

(Radio Iowa)

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) – Loras College officials say a beloved building must be demolished because it would be too expensive to make repairs that maintain the structure’s historic value while making it more accessible to people with disabilities. A March 16 fire severely damaged the 126-year-old building, which was part of the Loras College Visitation Complex in Dubuque.

The Telegraph Herald reports officials intended to rebuild, but Loras President Jim Collins announced Monday that “fiscally it would have been irresponsible to move forward.” Collins wouldn’t say how much it would cost to fix the building, and officials are still determining how much it will cost to demolish the structure.

Officials think the fire was caused by a lightning strike.

The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will meet in a Special Session Wednesday evening at the Middle School Library, to review Superintendent search survey results. The survey had been posted on the District’s website, with patrons having been asked what traits they would like a new Superintendent for the District to have. 450 surveys were returned. Ray and Associates, the search firm hired by the School Board in October, will go over the results with the Board during the meeting, which begins 5:30-p.m., Wednesday.

The Board will also act on approving the Superintendent search brochure and application, as well as review stakeholder interview groups membership, role and procedures. They’re also expected to review the search timeline. The goal, according to the Board, is to have a new Superintendent in-place by the end of February.

Current Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein will be retiring at the end of this school year.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports an investigation into a disturbance late Monday night in Cass County, resulted in the arrest of a man on a warrant. 34-year old Rodney Dale Fulton, Jr., of Council Bluffs, was arrested by Cass County Deputies at around 11-p.m. on a warrant for Failure to Appear on a charge of 5th Degree Theft/Possession of Stolen Property. Fulton was transported by Cass County Deputies to the Cass/Pott. County line and transferred into the custody of Pottawattamie County Deputies, who brought him to the Pott. County Jail.

The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office reports also, a Corrections Officer at the Pott. County Jail suffered facial cuts and bruising, during an assault by an inmate at the jail late Monday night. Officer Mitchel Fryman, of Omaha, was reportedly pulled into a cell by his protective vest, by 31-year old Michael P. Dieckmann, of Council Bluffs. The Officer fought with Dieckman for about 2-minutes. Dieckmann, who was also injured during the incident, faces a charge of Serious Assault with the Intent to Inflict Serious Injury.