(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett, Wednesday, issued a reminder to persons who operate ATV’s and UTV’s…

The Mayor, during the Atlantic City Council meeting, also encouraged property owners to take care of weeds on those properties.

She reminded residents and property owners also, that they are not to blow grass onto City streets when you mow. The offense is a violation of City Code, and poses a safety hazard for bicyclists and motorcyclists. In other business, during the Council Committee reports, Councilperson Elaine Otte said the Housing Committee continues to look at what the options are, with regard to the new Prairie Hill housing development project, located on the Atlantic’s southeast side.

In early April, the Atlantic City Council approved the purchase of a little more than 41.5-acres of farmland for $830,000 from Jim Comes, now known as the Prairie Hill housing development project. The City is financing the project through a general obligation debt. The revenue sources toward the debt payments would be lot sales and farmland leases as the city sells lots for the construction of new homes and leases on the unused portions of the subdivision for farm use. Atlantic City Councilman Gerald Brink says they want to see the project happen and are currently looking for alternatives.

Otte said the City did not receive a grant they had applied for, with regard to the project.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council approved an Order allowing the Cass County Fair Association to set an electric sign on City Property at the corner of 7^th and Olive Streets. The sign will be in-place until July 30^th. The Cass County Fair runs from July 27^th through August 2^nd. They also passed the first reading of an Ordinance with regard to Parking Regulations on Palm Street, as it pertains to the Atlantic Food Pantry. Earlier this Spring, Pantry officials requested the City allow parking along the west side of Palm Street on Thursdays, between 6^th and 7^th Streets from 11:30-a.m. Until 1:30-p.m. The amendment would allow the cars to line up for the drive-through pantry distribution.

The Council approved a parking lot closing permit for LC Clinic’s Open House at 507 Chestnut, for their branch office. The lot, located between Chestnut and Poplar, will be closed from 10-a.m. Until 3-p.m on August 6^th. And, they approved a street closing for Adams Auto Accessories at 309 Walnut, on July 23^rd, from 5-until 9-p.m., with regard to a car show/open house and benefit for Travis Young. The closure affects Walnut Street, from 3^rd to 4^th Streets, during the hours mentioned.

The Atlantic City Council tabled action on a Resolution authorizing a development agreement with Boose Building & Construction, and the authorizing of an Internal Advance for funding of an Economic Development Grant, because the legal paperwork was not immediately available for approval.

(Radio Iowa) – A Burlington man who admitted he sold large amounts of illegal drugs has been sentenced to 17-and-a-half years in prison. Thirty-seven-year-old Jose Luis Escundino Romayor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in February and he was sentenced this week. Court documents indicate that in the summer of 2017, a police informant bought crystal meth from Romayor on several occasions.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, law enforcement seized a pistol and more than two kilos of meth from Romayor.

(Radio Iowa) – Starting today (July 21), the letters, cards and photos mailed to inmates in Iowa prisons will be digitized by a company in Las Vegas and later destroyed. Iowa Department of Corrections spokesman Nick Crawford says the mail will be scanned, printed in color and just the copies will be sent to each prison for delivery to inmates. “The purpose behind making this change to a new mail delivery system in our correctional institutions is to curb the introduction of mail contraband, specifically as a relates to the synthetic drug K2.” K-2 can be sprayed on paper.

Crawford says the decision to digitize prison mail was spurred by an incident last year when 60 inmates at the state prison in Clarinda were involved in either distributing or consuming K-2. “It causes some pretty serious side effects for our inmates if consumed,” Crawford says. “It causes erratic behavior, sometimes violent behavior. You can become very physically ill.” Crawford says staff who’ve been reviewing the mail delivered through the U.S. Postal Service and looking for contraband were endangered, too.

“There will still be a piece of the review process done by the staff at our facilities, it will just not be the hands-on process,” Crawford says. “…We’re taking our staff out of harm’s way.” Other states are making this move to restrict outside mail from being delivered in prisons and federal prisons in several states are scanning mail. Three companies submitted bids to digitize Iowa prison mail and Pigeonly Corrections in Las Vegas won the state contract. Crawford says the company will charge the state 42 cents for every piece of mail scanned.

“No charge to the inmate and then no charge to whoever’s sending them mail,” Crawford says. Mail for Iowa prison inmates must now be sent directly to Pigeonly Corrections in Las Vegas, although for the next 30 days the state will send mail being delivered to the prisons to the Las Vegas processing facility. There ARE new size guidelines for letters, greeting cards, post cards, children’s drawings and newsletters.

“These things are still able to be sent,” Crawford says, “they’re just going to a central processing facility Pigeonly operates, scanned in and then they will be provided a scanned copy at the institution and of those same things that they would have been receiving before.” Mail that directly deals with legal matters will not be diverted and will be delivered to inmates.

Prison mail has generally been a low-cost way for inmates and their families and friends to stay connected. Studies have shown regular correspondence reduces stress for many inmates and increases the likelihood they will not re-offend. This Iowa Department of Corrections announcement about the new mail system includes the Las Vegas address that must now be used to send mail to Iowa prison inmates. Pigeonly Corrections has information about the process here.

(Radio Iowa) – The pace of new business registrations in Iowa has been strong over the past 24 months and continues to set records. Iowans starting a new business or changing ownership of an existing business must file certificates of organization with the Secretary of State’s office. The number of business registrations set a record back in state fiscal year 2019, but slumped during the first months of the pandemic.

Business filings rebounded sharply, though. Fiscal year 2021 business registrations were 25 percent higher than before the pandemic and set a record. Over the past 12 months, 33-thousand-three-hundred-31 new business filings were registered with the state, yet another record high.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday evening, received an update from The Retail Coach Project Director Austin Farmer, who is working with the the Chamber and the City as a consultant to conduct market research and development to further high-impact retail recruitment and development strategies.

The Retail Coach, was hired by city in August, 2021 at cost of just over $32,000. They use an eight-step process to conduct a retail market analysis, which incorporates cell phone tracking to determine where the shoppers to Atlantic are coming from, and where Atlantic residents travel outside of the community to shop. The goal is to narrow the field of appropriate businesses to those that have the best chance of success in the community. The company also uses the data to work with existing businesses to help them fine-tune their inventory to provide the kind of merchandise currently unavailable.

Among the other steps is: determining retail opportunities, by matching potential restaurants and retails outlets to Atlantic; Development and redevelopment opportunities; Identifying and recruiting retailers and developers; Marketing and branding; retailer partners and development; ongoing coaching and support.

Austin Farmer (The Retail Coach staff photo)

Farmer said the cell phone data shows the foot traffic was being pulled in from an area larger than just the city limits. In fact Atlantic pulls from a population base of up to 33,000 (which includes surrounding counties and communities). That makes the City more appealing to retailers and restaurants. The data also shows good numbers where household income and age distribution, which is another draw for prospective retailer/restaurant franchisee’s, but the cost of certain franchises are what’s keeping some clients from locating here.

Another issue is finding the land for new businesses/restaurants. Farmer said the main area of interest is in the area of Wal-Mart, because they tend to draw small strip malls that cater to restaurant and retail space.

The top growth categories The Retail Coach found was needed here, include those in Pet & Pet Supplies, as well as Sporting Goods. Austin Farmer says with a new McDonald’s being built and Burger King set to refurbish their restaurant, Atlantic is showing prospective clients “It feels like there’s more happening here, on the ground…those are more positive signs…” that help Retail Coach with the (Business/restaurant) recruitment process.

The question was raised about the workforce. How can restaurants be interested in coming here, when other, established area restaurants are having to close or consider closing, due to a lack of employees? Farmer said “Fortunately what we’ve seen is most retailers and restaurants haven’t started trying to automate or cut back in terms of what they can or can’t do, based on [the] employee base. What we’ve seen is they’re trying to expand where they draw their retail base from.”

He said “There’s not a silver bullet” for the issue of employment, and that’s true coast to coast.

(Radio Iowa) – Senator Joni Ernst says a new federal crime should be established to punish people caught working as Mexican cartel scouts along the southern border.  “These spotters keep an eye open for the cartels and let them know where Border Patrol agents are,” Ernst says, “so they know where and when to direct drugs, trafficked human beings and weapons.” Ernst was among a group of Republican senators who visited the border late last week.

“While we standing there at the border on the river, across the river from us was a spotter for the cartel,” Ernst said. “…I mean, they are over there just taunting us with their presence.” Ernst says under her proposal, that spotter and others like him would face up to 10 years in prison if caught. Under current federal law, the penalty for those convicted of what’s called immigration-related entrepreneurship can be sentenced to up to five years in prison. Ernst says the coyotes who are being paid to guide migrants across the border are physically and sexually abusing women and girls.

Hella Sisca (Photo)

“When is this administration going to wake up and say: ‘Stop coming here, don’t take this dangerous journey,’?” Ernst asked. “When are they going to change their policies?” Ernst made her comments earlier today (Wednesday) during a news conference in Washington, D.C. For the current federal budgeting year, the Border Patrol expects its encounters with migrants at the southern border to reach levels not seen in 20 years.

In June, the agency made nearly 192-thousand arrests at the border. President Biden met with Mexico’s president a week ago and the Mexican leader agreed to spend one-and-a-half billion dollars over the next two years to shore up security in northern Mexico.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports two people were arrested Tuesday:

• 32-year-old Jessica Ethen, of Omaha, was arrested on a Mills County Warrant for Harassment 3^rd offense, bond set at $300 cash only.
• 46-year-old Daniel Shipley, of Glenwood, was arrested for Theft 5^th degree, bond set at $300 cash or surety.
  

(Radio Iowa) – This week marks the 33rd anniversary of the crash of United Airlines Flight 232 at the Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City. An exhibit honoring the emergency response is on permanent display at the city’s Mid America Museum of Aviation and Transportation. Museum director Larry Finley says visitors still come to learn about what happened that day when 184 of the 296 passengers and crew survived the fiery cartwheel crash down the runway and into a cornfield.

“It’s at least once a week when someone will walk through the front door and the first thing they will ask for is, ‘Is the 232 display open?’ and ‘How do I get to the 232 crash site?'” Finley says. “Anytime the museum’s open, the 232 display is open here in the museum, and also the crash site is right outside the museum here.” The pilot, Captain Al Haynes, radioed that the jetliner had lost all hydraulics and he could only make right midair turns with difficulty.

Capt. Al Haynes

Sioux City was the closest airport where he could attempt to land and that gave emergency rescue and fire units from Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota a chance to get to the airport and wait for the plane. Finley says, “Thirty-three years ago, a tri-state response to that crash, the medical community, the volunteers from throughout the area, the professional people from our own fire department, sheriff’s office, law enforcement people, fire-rescue showed up here — and it made a big difference as far as the number of lives that were saved.”

While it was a tremendous blessing to have such a broad and immediate emergency response, it also revealed a critical problem. “We didn’t realize that there’s three different sets of radio systems when the emergency people respond from three states,” Finley says. “We had no communications or very little communications between the emergency service units from the various states. That’s why we ended up with the StarComm radio system that we have now.” Finley says since that day, crew members and many others with connections to the crash visit the museum, many during this time of the year.

The captain’s chair and other wreckage. (Photos by Woody Gottburg, KSCJ)

“I have passengers and relatives of even some of those who lost their lives in the crash stopping in a regular basis,” Finley says. “They will actually travel by ground across the United States versus flying just so they can stop in Sioux City to visit the 232 display here in the museum, the crash site and also the memorial down on the riverfront.” The museum is located near the airport at 2600 Expedition Court.

(Radio Iowa) – The median price for a home sold in Iowa last month hit a record high, while the NUMBER of home sales is dropping according to the Iowa Association of Realtors. The median price for an Iowa home sold in June was a record 230-thousand dollars. That’s about 12 percent more expensive than the median price for Iowa homes sold in June of 2021. Homes placed on the market sold in an average of 27 days last month — that’s 18 percent faster than in June of LAST year. In the first six months of THIS year, there’s been a more than four percent drop in the number homes sold in the state.

In June, about 47-hundred home sales were completed. The Iowa Association of Realtors monthly report shows the number of homes available for sale is slowly increasing after a record low in May. Iowa Association of Realtors president Byron Menke says increased mortgage rates and sky-high home prices are affecting housing markets throughout the country, but if inventory continues to rise, home prices may stabilize.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s three congresswomen — a Democrat and two Republicans — have voted for a bill to make the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage federal law. The move comes after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court should reconsider the ruling that legalized same-sex marriage across the country. Democratic Congresswoman Cindy Axne of West Des Moines says the bill that passed the U.S. House ensures marriage equality for same-sex and interracial couples.

Congresswomen Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa and Ashley Hinson of Marion were among the Republicans who joined Democrats in supporting the bill. Hinson says she did so because it respects and maintains settled law. Same-sex marriages have been legal in Iowa since a state supreme court ruling issued in 2009.

The other Iowan serving in the U.S. House — Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull — voted against the bill.