(Mills County, Iowa) – A man from Pacific Junction was injured Thursday morning in Mills County, when the vehicle he was driving collided with a semi on 202nd Street. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a 2004 Ford driven by 46-year-old Corey Manley was traveling east after completing a gradual turn in the 55000 block of 202nd Street. A 2016 Freightliner semi driven by 50-year-old Arthur Sales, of Council Bluffs, was westbound, when, according to a witness, the car came around the corner “out of control.” The witness, who a was traveling westbound about a car’s length in front of the semi, said he had to pull off to the side of the road to avoid a collision. When he looked in the rear-view mirror, he just saw “A cloud of dust” after the Ford hit the semi.

Sales saw the car coming, but was unable to avoid the collision. The semi pushed into a ditch during the ensuing collision. Corey Manley was transported to Methodist Hospital by Glenwood Rescue.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports five arrests from over the past week. Wednesday evening, 57-year-old Timothy Scott Tompkins, of Omaha, was arrested on I-29, following a traffic stop. Tompkins was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Bond was set at $2,300.

Tuesday evening, Mills County Deputies arrested 55-year-old Jolene Kay Christensen, of Omaha, following a traffic stop on I-29. She was also arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Bond was set at $2,300.

There were two separate arrests Monday, in Mills County. At around 12:14-a.m., 25-year-old David Ben Jorgensen, of Omaha, was arrested on Highway 34 at Kidd Road, for Theft in the 1st Degree. Bond set at $10,000. And, at around 9:40-a.m., Monday, Mills County Deputies arrested 53-year-old Melissa Renee Pedersen, of Carroll, on a warrant for Driving While Barred. She was taken into custody at the Greene County Jail. Bond was set at $2,000.

And, last Sunday, 22-year-old Orland Estrada, of Omaha, was arrested for Simple Assault. Bond set at $300.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percent in March. Last month’s two-point-eight percent unemployment rate is half a percent lower than it was a year ago. The percentage of working age Iowans who have a job or are actively looking for one increased to 68-point-two percent. Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend says it’s a sign people who quit a job or retired during the pandemic are returning to the labor market. “Even though it’s a positive sign the unemployment rate is dropping we really are focused on getting more Iowans back in the workforce,” Townsend says. “We were at about 69.5% before the pandemic and so we want to get back that number or even higher.”

The retirement rate was higher than projected during the pandemic and Townsend says there are a combination of factors prompting those people to return to the workforce. “Whether it’s due to inflation impacting their retirement savings and if they’re on a fixed income, it’s not going as far as they planned…and older workers who may have retired earlier than they had planned wanting to come and because we have so many open jobs they can be more selective,” Townsend says. “Obviously the higher wage has gone up significantly across all industries, so there’s greater opportunity to earn more money in today’s job market.”

Government records indicate 27-hundred workers started new jobs in March. Nursing and residential care facilities were responsible for most of the thousand or so jobs added in the health care sector.  “Nursing has always been the highest demand occupation,” Townsend says. Over the past three months, Iowa’s manufacturing sector has bounced back from what Townsend describes as a weak fourth quarter. “We’re doing well in manufacturing. We’ve added 700 jobs in March. We’ve added almost 2000 jobs in the last three months in manufacturing. We’re up 3900 jobs in manufacturing since last March. We’re up 3800 jobs in construction since last March,” Townsend says. “Manufacturing and construction are trending in the right direction in Iowa.”

There were about a thousand job losses in Iowa’s transportation, warehousing and utility industries. Townsend says that may be due to supply chain issues. The leisure and hospitality industries in Iowa have added more than 51-hundred jobs since last March as the sector continues to bounce back from pandemic closures.

(Adel, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Dallas County report a man died during a single-vehicle accident today (Thursday), south of Dawson. Dallas County Deputies and Dallas County EMS were dispatched at around 12:40-a.m. scene in the 12000 block of 160th Street. When Deputies arrived, they located a truck, on it’s top, in the north ditch of 160th Street.

Deputies located a single occupant inside of the vehicle who was deceased. The occupant was identified as Kurtis Gustaveson, 29 years old, of Perry, Iowa.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation. The Perry Police Department and the Perry Fire Department assisted in this investigation.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports a man was arrested at his home Wednesday afternoon. 40-year-old Mark Anthony Weems, Jr., of Creston, was taken into custody on two Union County warrants charging him with 2-counts of Theft in the 1st Degree, Theft in the 3rd Degree and Theft in the 4th Degree. The second warrant was 2-counts of Theft in the 5th Degree. Additional details were not provided.

Weems, Jr., was being held in the Union County Jail on $23,600 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, passed resolutions on two separate bids for two separate properties. Both bids were One-dollar, for properties located at 1014/1016 E. 3^rd Street Place, the other at 1310 Chestnut Street. The latter was sold to Jay and Kelsi Eden, who, as previously mentioned, will begin the process of gutting a decaying, unsafe for occupation, home. The couple intend to “flip” the house, once extensive work is completed. The Council chose to allow them one-year for construction. Councilman Pat McCurdy..

Dexter Dodson, with Atlantic High School, placed a bid for 1014/1016 3^rd Street Place. He intends to build a single family home on this lot using the students in the building trades program. McCurdy said he thinks it’s a wonderful idea.

Councilperson Elaine Otte, agreed, and said the project should benefit the school district’s Building Trades program.

The Council issued a recommendation to have City Administrator John Lund to proceed with making a request by City Attorney Dave Wiederstein to work with the Atlantic Community School District on the sale of the properties on E. 3^rd Street Place.