The Atlantic Volunteer Fire Department is holding its ninth annual can tab collection event to benefit the Shriners Hospital for Children. Second Assistant Fire Chief Tim Cappel says they collect tabs not only from local businesses and individuals, but other area fire departments, as well.

Aluminum can tabs twisted off cans or aluminum bottle caps are being accepted. Cappel says each year, many of the same people or organizations collect tabs for the cause. Many local businesses and restaurants are also helping collect the tabs, which take a while to accumulate, just to make a pound of aluminum. It takes 15-to 16-hundred tabs to make a pound.

Cappel says over the past nine-years, they’ve collected over 14,561 pounds, which means $10,000 has been redeemed by the Shrine Hospitals for the AFD’s efforts. Cappel says the department has a great relationship with the Shriners organization in Altoona, which has helped the grandson of local family recover from severe burns. Shriners are committed to providing the best care for children in specialty areas of Orthopaedics, Burn Care, Spinal Cord Injury, and Cleft Lip and Palate, regardless of a family’s ability to pay.

The Atlantic Fire Department will be collecting can tabs at the Depot this (Thursday) evening, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in front of the Depot on north Chestnut Street. If you can’t drop off your tabs this evening, you can drop them off at any other time at the Atlantic fire station, any fire station in Cass County, Cappel’s Ace Hardware and other participating businesses.

RED OAK, Iowa (AP) – Engineers with the Iowa Flood Center are mapping the East Nishnabotna River as part of an effort to better track areas at risk of flooding when heavy rainfall occurs.  The Daily Nonpareil reports that the data collected by the engineers on Wednesday will be used to create computer models and maps that’ll show what land likely will flood at a variety of river levels.

Engineer Tony Loeser sat on shore with a laptop Wednesday while his colleague, Dan Gilles, kayaked the river in a zig-zag pattern.  Gilles’ kayak had two pieces of equipment to help map the river. He had a sonar device that measured river depth by bouncing sound waves off the river’s bottom. He also had a global positioning device to measure latitude, longitude and elevation.

Creston Police say two people were arrested on separate charges Wednesday, and two thefts were reported. 36-year old Amanda Atkins, of Creston, was arrested on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault, and 60-year old Joline Logan, of Creston, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. Logan was later released from the Union County Jail on $1,000 bond, while Atkins was being held in the Ringgold County Jail, awaiting a bond hearing.

And, The Carter Agency in Creston reported to police Wednesday, someone took a Dewalt Radio from an apartment that was being worked on. The theft, which took place sometime between 4:30-p.m. Tuesday and 9:30-a.m. Wednesday, resulted in a loss of about $175. A Creston resident reported to police that someone had siphoned gasoline from the tank of her vehicle parked outside a home in the 800 block of N. Cherry Street. The incident happened sometime between 6:15-p.m. Tuesday and 7-a.m. Wednesday. The loss was estimated at $40.

We’re beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel with regard to the Highway 6/7th Street reconstruction project, here in Atlantic. Scott Suhr, Iowa Department of Transportation District 4 Coordinator, in Atlantic, says plans are to open Plum Street into Orschelen’s on Sept. 8th, and then close the east end of the project for removals. Weather permitting, the project should be finished by the end of this month.

During the construction process, four-way stop lights are flashing at the intersection of 7th and Hospital Drive, near the Hy-Vee Shopping Plaza, and three way lights are flashing at 7th and Olive Streets. City leaders remind motorists that you must stop at the lights and remember the right-of-way rules. Mayor Dave Jones and other City Council officials say it seems a number of motorists are making rolling stops or not stopping at all when they coming to the intersections, which has the potential of creating a serious accident.

Jones said the police department is stepping-up an increase in the number of tickets being written for red light violations, and motorists need to slow down, and be more observant.

An incident in the 1000 block of E. Coolbaugh Street in Red Oak, Wednesday, resulted in the arrest of a teenager on an Intimidation with a dangerous weapon, charge. Red Oak Police say 16-year old Michael Wade Hamilton, of Red Oak, was arrested just before 11-p.m. Wednesday, after allegedly threatening to use a knife on a family member. The teen was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs.