Atlantic, Iowa – Officials with Cass Health have announced that beginning January 3, 2022, Aubrey Molgaard, DNP, ARNP will provide care to patients of all ages at Atlantic, Griswold, and Massena Medical Center.

A familiar face to many, Molgaard has been a part of Cass Health since 2006. Previously, she worked in nursing and diabetes education. While working, she continued in her studies and recently completed her Doctor of Nursing Practice in July 2021 at Nebraska Methodist College.

Aubrey Molgaard

Molgaard is dual certified by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) and the Certification Board for Diabetes Care and Education (CBDCE). Because of her background as a Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, she works closely with the endocrinology team at UNMC.

“Honestly my passion is helping people connect the dots and giving them the best care possible. I love helping people and giving them hope with a partnership in their own self care,” said Molgaard.

Appointments with Molgaard will be available two days a week in Atlantic, and one day a week in both Griswold and Massena. To make an appointment, please call 712-243-2850.

• Carroll County: EF-U (unknown strength) from 4:45-p.m. to 4:51-p.m.; 9.7-mile long; Starting 2 miles N/NE of Willey, ending 3 miles E. of Lidderdale. Path width to be determined (TBD)
• Guthrie County: EF-1 (Winds 90-100 mph); 9.7 miles, stating 10 mile W. of Guthrie Center at 5:13-p.m. & ending 3 miles S/SW of Bayard at 5:16-p.m.
• Guthrie County: EF-2 (Winds 115-120 mph); Starting 8 miles N/NW of Adair at 5:17-p.m & ending 6 miles NW of Bagley at 5:31-p.m. (23.8 miles).
• Greene County: EF-2 (Winds 115-120 mph); Starting 5:26-p.m. 5 miles N/NE of Bayard & ending 3 miles S/SW of Jefferson at 5:34-p.m. (7.1 miles).
• Greene County: EF-2 (115-120); 5.9-miles; Starting 5:32-p.m. 4 miles E/SE of Scranton & ending 5:35-p.m. 2 miles N/NW of Jefferson.
• See the rest of the incidents in Greene, Calhoun, Webster, & other counties, HERE.

The events of Dec. 15 have been categorized as a derecho, which is the first recorded derecho in December in United States history. At least five people died across Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota. One of which was in eastern Iowa where a semitrailer rolled after being struck by high winds. Iowa State Patrol confirmed the driver was killed during the incident.

Reports confirm more than 400,000 homes were without power between Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Kansas. Officials are still surveying the damage. Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for residents in 43 counties. Locally, that includes: Audubon, Cass, Guthrie, Harrison, Madison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Sac, Shelby, Union, and Worth counties.

(Updated 12/23/21) – A collision between a pickup truck and a car Wednesday afternoon at Highway 48 and Union Street, near the Griswold High School, resulted in two people being transported to the hospital. According to reports, the pickup was traveling north on Highway 48 at around 1:30-p.m.   A Chevy Impala was exiting the Griswold H.S. parking lot. The vehicle stopped, but then pulled out in front of the pickup, and was struck on the left front side. The pickup had the right-of-way.

The accident happened at around 1:30-p.m. Authorities say two people in the Impala, a 15-year old female driver and her male juvenile passenger were injured and were transported by Griswold Rescue to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital. The driver of the pickup was identified as 65-year-old Paul Travis, of Lewis. He suffered minor injuries but was not transported to the hospital at the time of this report.

Authorities said sun glare may have impaired the vision of the car’s driver, resulting in the collision. Damage to the pickup was estimated at $40,000, while the car sustained $7,000 damage.

MASON CITY, Iowa –  The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation was requested by the Iowa Falls Police Department to investigate a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred December 8th within the city limits of Iowa Falls.  The DCI has completed its investigation and the results were forwarded to the Hardin County Attorney’s Office and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office for review.  On Wednesday (today), the Iowa A-G’s Office released the results of their review.

In it, they said the actions of Iowa State Patrol Troopers Corey Smock and Jeremy Schaffer were “Entirely legally justified” and the subject in question, 35-year-old Jared Risius, “provided no other option to officers other than to utilize dead force against him.” The report said also, Risius “Was provided every opportunity to end the confrontation peacefully, and chose not to do so. Risius died from his wounds. The A-G’s Office now considers the investigation closed.

Brief incident summary:

Police said on Dec. 8th at around 7:03-a.m., a woman called police to report a man was stalking her in his vehicle. The two had previously dated. The Iowa Falls Police Department, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Department and the Iowa State Patrol sent units to respond. The law enforcement officers arrived in time to see the man hit the woman’s car with his own.

The incident unfolded near the intersection of College Avenue and Siloam Avenue, about two blocks from both an elementary school and the community college. Police say the woman who called about the stalking was taken to safety. Video taken by neighbors shows officers taking up positions while trying to get the man into custody.

Shortly after that, police say Risius was shot while trying to get away.

(Radio Iowa) – Thousands of Christmas presents are being left by mail carriers and package delivery people outside Iowans’ homes this week and porch pirates may be watching and waiting to steal those boxes. Jason Cloudt, with SEI Security Solutions, says if you’re not home to monitor what’s delivered to your doorstep, you should take steps to protect your purchases. “The most popular things out there today are video doorbells,” Cloudt says. “They’re simple little devices that can replace the button you have by your front door now. They have a camera built in.”

Those video doorbells come in a wide range of prices with a host of associated monitoring services and security systems. The doorbells can also be purchased as stand-alone devices. “The do-it-yourself items can start under $100. The professionally-installed video doorbells that we install are between $250 and $350,” Cloudt says. Many of the video doorbell systems can be linked to your smartphone.

“Some of the less expensive options may not be tied to your smart device, but the most common devices have the ability for you to just launch an app on your phone and watch live or get an alert when there is live video – someone either pushing the button or someone who is within view of that camera on your front door,” Cloudt says.

If you’d rather not spend money on a camera system, police suggest having packages delivered to your workplace.

(Radio Iowa) – Members of the PlyWood Trail Foundation held a ground breaking in Merrill on Tuesday afternoon for the start of the recreational trail that will ultimately connect Le Mars to Sioux City, as well as Merrill and Hinton. Ryan Meyer, chairman of foundation, says the project has been years in the making and now the actual construction on the trail will begin within the next few days.

Mike Wells, of Wells Enterprises, is a cycling enthusiast, having competed in triathlons, and he’s donated several thousand dollars to the project. Wells says the trail will add quality to life and it, along with other proposed bicycle trails in and around Sioux City, will help the region to grow.

According to a news release issued by the PlyWood Trail Foundation, $4 million dollars has been raised to support the recreational trail effort from a variety of both public and private sources. Every dollar the foundation is able to raise has the ability to be matched by both state and federal funds. Although a final version of the trail has yet to be approved by the Iowa Department of Transportation, organizers hope to connect to Sioux City by 2023.

(Radio Iowa) – Looking back on the weather this year — Iowa flirted with some major drought issues before seeing relief. The D-N-R’s Tim Hall tracks hydrological issues — and says some communities did get to a point where their water sources were getting very low. “There was a concern back during the worst conditions in some parts of the state for rural water systems, especially those that rely on shallow groundwater on the edges of streams and rivers. They were concerned about demand outpacing supply,” Hall says.  The concern increased as drought levels continued to get worse.

“We were watching very, very carefully some systems in the state. Some had some voluntary water restrictions in place. It could have gotten a lot worse — except for some timely rains that we had,” he says. Hall says Iowa also was fortunate that when the rain came it wasn’t overwhelming for most areas. “There was one part of the state where we did have some flash flooding up in northeast Iowa. But for the most part, for the majority of the state for this year, the rain came in a gentle enough fashion that we didn’t have flash flooding, we didn’t have dangerous situations,” according to Hall. “So. it’s really nice to see the rain come in a low enough intensity that we don’t have to deal with the flooding side.”

Hall says the rainfall situation is always about location — and one big storm can make a difference. “There was part of northeast Iowa where they were being shown on the drought monitor as being in drought, while at the same time they had some localized short-term flooding situations going on. So, it can flip pretty quickly if the conditions are right,” Hall says.

Hall says the state was able to build back some of the water reserves lost toward the end of the year with fall rains. He says things are not totally back to a perfect situation — but are much better than when the drought was growing.

(Radio Iowa) – The head of Iowa State University’s public safety department says it’s time to find a new facility. Campus Police Chief Michael Newton says they’re doing the best they can with what they have now. “We’re in the Armory,” Newton says. “The Armory is a very old building. It’s not situated right for law enforcement.” The Armory was built in the early 1920s. It had a gymnasium and horses were kept in stalls in the building, too. It’s been expanded and renovated often over the years and, at one time, was where Cyclone basketball and wrestling teams practiced and hosted games and matches.

“We’ve gotten the funding to some improvements and things that we need to do, but in the long term we need to find something that is more suited for law enforcement,” Newton says. “We actually are housed with students, so I’m bringing prisoners into a building where students are having class…just not the ideal space for us and so we are strategizing. We talk about it all the time and are looking for opportunities and we have moved some of our folks out of the building into another facility that, hopefully, long term we can do some more of.”

In the first 10 months of the year, Iowa State Campus Police made nearly 27-hundred traffic stops and responded to more than 15-thousand emergency calls on the Ames campus. I-S-U is the largest university in Iowa in terms of number of students.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Guthrie County say no injuries were reported following two separate accidents, Tuesday. At around 9-p.m., 15-year-old Hayden Avada Coffman, of Guthrie Center, was driving a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am northbound on Frontier Road, when she came over the hill, and saw a vehicle from the opposite direction was in her lane. The teen took evasive action, which caused the car to go out of control. The vehicle went across Frontier Road and into the west ditch before rolling over and catching fire. Coffman refused medical treatment at the scene. She said she was wearing her seat belt. The car was a total loss due to the crash and fire.

And, at around 8:45-a.m., Tuesday, a 2012 Chevy Sonic driven by 36-year-old Jack LaVoy, of Guthrie Center, was traveling north on Cherry Avenue from 240th Street, when the vehicle went out of control and rolled into the south ditch. Authorities say LaVoy was traveling too fast for conditions. His car sustained $3,500 damage, and was considered a total loss.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Following a public hearing, during which there were no comments, the Adair County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday morning in Greenfield, voted to pass a Resolution to approve an Ordinance (#28B) re-precincting the County, with regard to Supervisors representation and voting. Details about the changes can be found on the County’s website (The proposed changes prior to the vote and which are now in effect, can be found here https://www.adaircounty.iowa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Public-Notice-ORDINANCE-NO-28B-reprecincting.pdf)

Re-precincting map

In other business, the Board took under consideration for when it comes to their FY 23 budget, a request from Courthouse Maintenance worker Rich Wallace, who wears several “hats” when it comes to maintaining the grounds and interior of the courthouse, aside from cleaning, most of which he does by himself.

Wallace said while others have union or other forms of representation, such as the Conference Board, he feels like as an individual, he’s being “Left out,” when it comes to a wage increase.

The Board agreed he does a great job, and took no issue with determining a revised wage for Wallace when it comes time to formulate their budget, amid other requests and considerations.

In other business, Adair County Treasurer Brenda Wallace discussed computer bids, since her DOT computer ceased to function last week.

She asked four separate companies for bid, but only three responded to date. The other company refused to issue a bid due the changing price structure. Two of the companies said the couldn’t get the DOT specifications in a timely manner. Mainstay was the only company who issued a quote.

Unfortunately, the company couldn’t guarantee a delivery date: It could be as soon as five-weeks or as late as five-months, but the price wouldn’t change. In the meantime, the DOT approved using their program on an InfoMax PC temporarily, until the new computer arrives and is set-up. Infomax will charge $100 to install the program. The Board approved her request to replace the computer at the quoted price.

The Adair County Supervisors also set the date for a Public Hearing on a FY22 Budget Amendment as 9:30-a.m., January 12th. County Auditor Mandy Berg said the total expenditures in the amended budget amount to $78,464, while the revenue is $856,000. The Board discussed and agreed to use part of the American Rescue Plan Act funds – amounting to $142,385 – for COVID relief, to digitize county real estate records. They also discussed the OSHA vaccine and testing machine mandate, but since the County has, by all accounts, less than 100 employees, it does not meet the thresh-hold for the mandate.