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Walnut City Council to meet this evening

News

December 1st, 2011 by Ric Hanson

The Walnut City Council will hold its regularly scheduled meeting this evening. On their agenda for the 5-p.m. session at City Hall, is: a request for possible business incentives; discussion with regard to a proposed trail plan for Pottawattamie County; the Appointment of a replacement Zoning Administrator; Discussion pertaining to: solid waste disposal, the City’s budget, and, the annual evaluation of City Employees’ salary.

KENNETH “KENNY” GIPPLE, 73, of Atlantic (Svcs 12-3-11)

Obituaries

December 1st, 2011 by Ric Hanson

KENNETH “KENNY” GIPPLE, 73, of Atlantic, died Wed., Nov. 30th, at the Cass County Hospice Center. Funeral services for KENNY GIPPLE will be 10:30-a.m. Sat., Dec. 3rd, at the Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Atlantic. Roland Funeral Service in Atlantic has the arrangements.

Visitation is open at the funeral home from 8am-6pm on Friday (12/1), where a Prayer service begins at 6-pm, with visitation resuming from 6:30-8pm.

KENNETH GIPPLE is survived by:

His wife – Dianne.

His son – Ken (Patricia) Gipple, of Chicago, IL. 

His daughter – Kimberly (Jeff) Blair, of Kansas City.

His sister and brother – Judy Rathman, of Atlantic, & Dan (Pam) Gipple, of Shell Knob, MO.

4 grandchildren.

BETTY MAEDER, 81, of Creston (Svcs 12-5-11)

Obituaries

December 1st, 2011 by Ric Hanson

BETTY MAEDER, 81, of Creston, died Wed., Nov. 30th, at the Greater Regional Hospice Home in Creston. A Mass of the Resurrection service for BETTY MAEDER will be held 10-a.m. Mon., Dec. 5th, at St. John’s Catholic Church in Greenfield.  Steen Funeral Home in Greenfield has the arrangements.

The family of Betty Maeder will greet friends at the church on Sunday (12/4), from 5-7pm. A Rosary will also be held at the church beginning at 4:30-p.m., Sunday.

Memorials may be directed to the Greater Regional Hospice, St. John’s Catholic Church, or the Holy Spirit Catholic Church. Online condolences may be left to the family at www.steenfunerals.com.

Burial will be in the Greenfield Cemetery.

BETTY MAEDER is survived by:

Her children – Jean (Michael) Black, of Ankeny; Regina (Kendall) Forney, of Thurman; Mark (Patty) Maeder, of Greenfield; Kathleen (Michael) Leahy, of Pennington, NJ; Roy (Teresa) Maeder, of Creston, and Burton (Kim) Maeder, of Orient.

Her brother – Edward (Marilyn) Blazek, of Prescott.

17 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, her in-laws, numerous other relatives, & friends.

Northern Iowa Beats Iowa State 69-62

Sports

December 1st, 2011 by Ric Hanson

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Anthony James scored 17 points, Matt Morrison added 14 off the bench and Northern Iowa beat Iowa State 69-62, picking up its fifth win in its last six meetings with the Cyclones. Marc Sonnen had 10 of his 12 points in the second half for the Panthers (6-1), who have won five straight since a loss at Saint Mary’s two weeks ago. Sonnen buried a pair of late 3-pointers to put Northern Iowa on top 58-54, and Seth Tuttle scored inside to give the Panthers a six-point lead with 2:05 left. Royce White and Chris Allen each scored 15 points for Iowa State (5-2), which was just 4-of-18 shooting from 3-point range and was outscored 17-8 down the stretch.

Wiley’s 17 Lead Boise State Past Drake 108-64

Sports

December 1st, 2011 by Ric Hanson

BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Drew Wiley scored a season-high 17 points and hit all five 3-point attempts to lead Boise State to a 108-64 victory over Drake on Wednesday night. Kenny Buckner scored 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting and Thomas Bropleh also had 16 as the Broncos (5-1) recorded season highs for points and 3-pointers, with 14. Anthony Drmic added 15 points for Boise State, which shot 61 percent and outrebounded Drake 43-24. Rayvonte Rice scored 19 points and Ben Simons 14 for the Bulldogs (4-3). Drake’s last lead was 8-6. Boise State responded with a 10-0 run and led comfortably thereafter while notching its highest total since scoring 113 against Eastern Oregon on Nov. 29, 2003. The Bulldogs were allowing just 59.5 points and hadn’t given up more than 65 before Boise State’s barrage. The Broncos led 45-23 at halftime.

Romney to air Iowa ad, signaling play for caucuses

News

December 1st, 2011 by Ric Hanson

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is shifting his Iowa campaign into a more aggressive phase, launching his first TV ads in the state with a spot in which he declares he knows about how economies grow. In the 30-second spot set to begin running Friday, Romney says the right answer for America is to stop the growth of the federal government and to start private-sector growth. Romney’s decision to start spending money on paid advertising in Iowa just five weeks before the Jan. 3 caucuses signals a belief that he can fare well in the state even though his 2008 bid was tripped up there. The move comes as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has emerged as Romney’s chief challenger for the nomination.

NWS Forecast for Atlantic & the surrounding area Dec. 1st, 2011

Weather

December 1st, 2011 by Ric Hanson

Today: A slight chance of rain and snow after noon. Cloudy, with a high near 39. Windy, with a calm wind becoming north between 19 and 22 mph. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Tonight: Cloudy during the early evening, then gradual clearing, with a low around 14. Blustery, with a north wind between 14 and 17 mph becoming calm. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 40. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 8 and 11 mph.

Friday Night: Rain likely, mainly after midnight. Cloudy, with a steady temperature around 35. South wind between 8 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Saturday: Rain before noon, then rain and snow. High near 36. Calm wind becoming north northwest between 7 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.

Saturday Night: A 50 percent chance of snow, mainly before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 20.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 29.

Wednesday’s High in Atlantic was 50. Our 24-hour low ending at 7-a.m. today will be recorded as 15-degrees.  At 6-a.m, it was 26-degrees).

Iowa lawmakers blast Corps of Engineers in hearing on river management

News

December 1st, 2011 by Ric Hanson

A U.S. House subcommittee held a hearing Wednesday to discuss the management of the Missouri River. Iowa Congressman Steve King has introduced legislation that would require the Army Corps of Engineers to revise its management policies to increase the total amount of storage space within the Missouri River reservoir system that is allocated for flood control. King told the panel Corps officials initially stated they would not alter their policies because they felt the flooding this past summer was a “500 year flood” event.

“I want to emphasize that we have 150 years of records and they’re declaring a 500 year event,” King said. “If you had 10,000 years of records and (flooding) happened a couple times a millennia, you might be able to say this is a 500 year event. No mortal can tell you it’s a 500 year event.” The Corps announced in early November that it would change how it manages the river. King believes Congress should still take charge of flood control in the Missouri River basin.

“We have to tell them…if we don’t tell them, (the Corps) will slide back to being run by the environmental interests as opposed to the first priority, which should be protection from flooding downstream,” King said. Many lawmakers have blamed the Corps of Engineers at least in part for the severity of the flooding that destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and reduced miles of highways and interstates to rubble. Congressman Leonard Boswell said the flooding “requires us to change our policies.”

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Gingrich gets standing-room-only crowd in Council Bluffs

News

December 1st, 2011 by Ric Hanson

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich attracted a standing-room-only crowd in Council Bluffs last night (Wednesday). Gingrich’s status as a candidate gaining in popularity drew Drake University student Mike McInereney to make the two-hour trip to see Gingrich at what was billed as a “Slice the Deficit” event.  “It was more focused on creating jobs in America, you know, reducing regulations on certain industries, so people really enjoyed it,” McInereney said. “It was awesome.” Gingrich called the federal government bloated and wasteful.

“It’s an embarassment,” Gingrich said. “We don’t have to tolerate the government being stupid — and it’s expensive.” Gingrich has been getting rapped by rivals for proposing what they call “amnesty” for illegal immigrants. Gingrich told the crowd in Council Bluffs it’s a “hopeless” promise to suggest there’s a way to deport all the illegal immigrants who are here today. Gingrich, in turn, promises that as president he would secure the border within a year by using unmanned drones and fences in high-traffic areas. Teresa Butterbaug, an engineer from Council Bluffs, says Gingrich has handled the issue well.

“I like the way he stood for the immigration, especially shutting the borders,” Butterbaug says. Gingrich is  due to publicly sign a border security pledge today (Thursday), one of several campaign events scheduled in the central Iowa area.

(Radio Iowa)

Potential Winter Storm this weekend….

News, Weather

November 30th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

See the forecast map from the National Weather Service http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/fxc/dmx/wx/File.png

A significant storm system is expected to affect the state late Friday night into Saturday. Rain is expected in the southeast with snow in northwest Iowa. Some moderate to locally heavy snow accumulations will be possible in the northwest by Saturday Night.