(Atlantic, IA) – The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that Atlantic has been recognized as a Neighborhood Champion for the 12th year in a row by American Express. Atlantic will participate in the 15th Annual Small Business Saturday this Saturday to support local small businesses.

“We’re proud to work alongside our business community to bring special activities and incentives to Small Business Saturday,” said Kelsey Beschorner, Executive Director of the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a day dedicated to celebrating the businesses that make Atlantic such a strong and unique place to shop.”

Founded by American Express in 2010, Small Business Saturday® is a day to celebrate the small businesses that help support communities nationwide. American Express created the Neighborhood Champion Program to rally local organizations and encourage participation in Shop Small® events across the country.

American Express recognizes communities that demonstrate strong engagement. Atlantic’s ongoing Shop Local Initiative, presented by First Whitney Bank & Trust, along with years of steady community support, has helped Atlantic consistently achieve this national recognition.

“This recognition highlights the incredible teamwork within our community,” Beschorner added. “Our businesses show up for Atlantic every day, and Small Business Saturday is a great reminder of how much impact we make when we show up for them in return.”

This year, the Chamber is also introducing the new Chestnut Street Tote Program. Beginning on Small Business Saturday, shoppers can purchase a limited-edition Chestnut Street tote bag exclusively at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce. The bag features the Chestnut Street ornament and includes a tag listing participating businesses offering special promotions for tote users. Only 85 totes will be available, making this a limited holiday collectible that encourages shoppers to explore and support businesses across Atlantic.

November 29th marks Small Business Saturday, a day dedicated to supporting the local businesses that create jobs, strengthen the economy, and help preserve neighborhoods. Shoppers are encouraged to stop by the Chamber from 10 AM to 1 PM to purchase a Chestnut Street tote, pick up AtlanticCash, browse holiday bundles, and learn about community-wide promotions.

Small business owners can learn more about participating in Small Business Saturday and download free marketing materials at www.shopsmall.com. Consumers can visit www.atlanticiowa.com to find deals, participating merchants, and more information about the Chestnut Street Tote Program.

Small Business Saturday is presented by First Whitney Bank & Trust.

(Radio Iowa) – The forecast is calling for a big winter storm to hit the state tonight (Friday). D-O-T Winter Operations director Craig Bargfrede says they have crews standing by. “Typically when we have an event like this that is forecasted and going to impact us over a holiday or over a weekend, we will shift people. We will have staff on board, bring folks in to deal with the event,” he says. He says something like this is part of normal winter operations. “It’s a natural thing that we do, especially with our full time staff,” Bargfrede says. “Volunteers from a winter seasonal position standpoint, we have those folks on board to help augment. And a lot of times they are really good at stepping in where we need to to fill in people.” Bargfrede says most winter operations workers have been through something like this already.

“Mother Nature doesn’t follow the nine to five type of Monday through Friday routine. Our staff are fully aware of it. Many have been through these types of things before and and they they accept the fact that we may have to be out there over the holiday,” Bargfrede says. Bargfrede says if you are traveling this weekend, check the Iowa D-O-T’s 5-1-1.org site to see the road conditions. “It’s a good resource anytime during the winter season, but especially during the holiday season, really looked at 5-1-1 for your source of information on road conditions and what’s going on out there on the system. Lots of lots of valuable information on that website,” he says.

(File photo) I 80 W Mile Marker 70. IA DOT Snowplow View 5:14-pm 2/1/15

Bargfrede says one of his biggest concerns is the potential for more high winds with this storm. “This could be a very impactful event from a visibility standpoint. So if you see ahead of you a big snow cloud, don’t just think that it’s just snow blowing around, there very could easily be a big orange Iowa D-O-T truck hidden in that snow cloud. So just be cautious,” Bargfrede says. He says give the plows plenty of room to do their job.

(Radio Iowa) – Today’s Black Friday shopping extravaganza, followed by Small Business Saturday, marks a vital kickoff to the holiday shopping season, which a University of Iowa College of Business professor says could be make-or-break time for countless Iowa merchants. Professor Peggy Stover, who directs the U-I’s Marketing Institute, says some businesses may have a so-so 11 months and they rely on this weekend’s events to kickstart consumers for December to meet their margins and stay afloat. “They’re very important, especially for the small retailers in Iowa, since so many of them are competing against your big box retailers,” Stover says, “and then you have, of course, the online retailers who have managed to carve out a significant market share of the holiday shopping.”

Not too many years ago, a majority of stores opened on Thanksgiving Day to beat the Black Friday deals, but there was a backlash that returned the holiday’s focus to family, reserving Friday for the shop-til-you-drop enthusiasts. Now, very few retailers are open on Thanksgiving, and even many grocery stores will be closed. “I think it’s both a great PR move by retailers, but it also comes on the heels of consumers just really realizing that the unsung heroes during the holiday season are the retail workers,” Stover says.

“They oftentimes are not able to enjoy the holiday season, much like the rest of us, because they have to work.” Many factors may impact the shopping season ahead, including interest rates, inflation, and credit card debt. Stover also says there’s a demographic change and a shift in mindsets coming, for which retailers will need to brace.”You have Gen Z and then the younger Millennials, who they would prefer to pay for an experience versus goods or a product,” Stover says. “Another thing to take into account is that Gen Xers are starting to retire, so now you’re losing a consumer base that could have had more disposable income.”

Given uncertainty in the economy, inflation, tariffs, and layoffs in the public and private sector, Stover predicts a modest two-percent growth in holiday sales. That’s well below last year’s four-percent rise.

(Red Oak, IA) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest at around 11:15-p.m. Thursday, of 28-year-old Tucker Evan Webster, from Shenandoah. Webster was arrested in the 2700 block of Highway 48, on an active Montgomery County warrant for Violation of Probation. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 cash-only bond. Officers with the Shenandoah Police Department assisted in Webster’s arrest.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – A Nebraska man who caused an emergency landing on a flight diverted to Cedar Rapids is now scheduled to hear his sentence. KCRG reports 24-year-old Mario Nikprelaj, of Elkhorn, NE, pleaded guilty in federal court to interference with flight crew members and attendants on September 23rd. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. January 13 in Cedar Rapids. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years.

Nikprelaj was arrested from a SkyWest flight from Omaha to Detroit on July 17. According to a federal complaint, the captain was told about Nikprelaj and flight attendants described him as an “unruly passenger” before take off. Flight attendants told the captain that Nikprelaj was leaving his seat against orders. He flipped off the flight attendants and returned to his seat. He was sat in the plane’s exit row.

According to a criminal complaint, he later tried to open an emergency exit door and fought with other passengers. At one point, he threatened to kill a flight attendant. The flight attendant told him to remain in his seat and he grabbed her arm. The captain called the Eastern Iowa Airport and said he needed to make an emergency landing. The call took place about fifteen miles from the airport.

Passengers helped subdue Nikprelaj until the plane landed at the Eastern Iowa Airport, where he was detained.

(Radio Iowa) – A recent study found artificial intelligence appears to be a greater threat to entry level jobs for software developers and computer programmers and a Drake University computer science professor says it appears professional experience makes someone more resilient as A-I influences business decisions. Chris Porter is director of Drake’s Artificial Intelligence program.

Drake’s A-I major has been offered since the fall of 2020 and Porter says it’s been designed to give students the right experience — and he warns them to not rely solely on Chat G-P-T and other forms of artificial intelligence to solve problems.

“Students who major in AI at Drake, maybe half their curriculum is technical and the other half is philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, design, law,” Porter said. “…So I tell them, you know, ‘The digital ethics course that you take is just as important as the machine learning course you take because you can automate machine learning, but being able to solve ethical problems, like, your employer’s going to rely on you to have that know how and have that ethical outlook and be able to lay out the issues and that’s not something that you can easily automate at all.’ And why would we?”

Chris Snider, who teaches digital media classes at Drake, says one of their priorities is helping students land internships and have classroom experiences that are like an entry level job — so when students graduate they’re applying for that next step up the job ladder.

Snider and Porter made their comments during a recent appearance on Iowa Press on Iowa P-B-S.

BUTLER COUNTY, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Thursday night, said in a statement that on November 27th, 2025, the Iowa State Patrol (ISP) requested assistance from the DC with regard to an officer-involved shooting that occurred near the intersection of C13 and Franklin Avenue, in Butler County, Iowa.

The statement said that at approximately 9:10- a.m., Thursday, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from a victim reporting a man shooting into their residence. The 911 caller reported multiple individuals were trapped inside the residence. ISP troopers and Butler County deputies responded.

When law enforcement arrived on scene, an ISP trooper made contact with a male subject carrying a firearm that matched the description of the subject provided by the victim. Shortly after the trooper made contact with the subject, an exchange of gunfire between the subject and the trooper ensued. After the exchange of gunfire, the subject fled into a nearby residence.

An ISP Tactical Team responded to the scene and was able to safely remove multiple individuals from the residence. Once the individuals were secure, an ISP Negotiator established contact with the subject and the subject surrendered and was taken into custody by ISP. The subject suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. The subject is currently receiving medical care, but is expected to survive.

The investigation determined the shooting was not random, and there was a connection between the victims and the subject.

The troopers and deputies involved in the incident were uninjured. The trooper involved in the exchange of gunfire with the subject has been placed on critical incident leave, according to department policy.

This is an ongoing investigation and no further details will be released at this time.

(Radio Iowa) – A retired Iowa State University sociology professor has combined his love of woodworking and music to help out young musicians. Paul Lasley played the upright bass for years in a local group, but took up the violin after retiring four years ago. It was smaller and easier to handle, and a nod to his great-grandfather who played what he calls the fiddle. One of his favorite old fiddles broke and he decided to try to bring it back to life.

He began looking for fiddles to fix at thrift stores and through relatives.

Lasley says he likes the challenge of getting the violins to sing again. Lasley decided to donate the revamped instruments, remembering his start in elementary school band in Queen City, Missouri.

Paul Lasley and one of the violins he’s working on. (ISU photo by Christopher Gannon)

His parents couldn’t afford a new instrument, so the school gave him a beat up metal clarinet that stood out among the newer clarinets other kids played. Lasley says it gives the beginners an instrument that looks good that they can start on.

Lasley so far has donated 18 to the Iowa State Center’s Stephens Auditorium instrument drive, which are loaned out to local school districts.

If you have a violin or parts to one that you’d like to donate, you can email Lasley at lasley@iastate.edu.
You can also donate other musical instruments to local band and orchestra programs or drop them off in the cart in the Stephens Auditorium ticket office lobby in Ames.