(UPDATED) [Atlantic, Iowa] – Atlantic Fire and CASS EMS were called to the scene of a house fire this (Wednesday) morning. The call about fire at 504 W. 15th Street was dispatched out at 5:14-a.m. Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel explains what they saw upon arrival.

After a quick knock on the flames, an AMU crew arrived on the scene and cut the power to the structure.

Everyone in the residence was able to evacuate. Cappel says smoke detectors woke the family.

Crews were on the scene for about 90-minutes. Atlantic Police and Cass EMS assisted at the scene. Chief Cappel says there was some damage, but A dollar amount of the damage was not immediately available.

Photos by Ric Hanson (KJAN News)

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report two arrests took place Tuesday night. At around 9:20-p.m., 21-year-old Tyler Blaine Baucom, of Red Oak, was arrested on two separate charges, including Interference with Official Acts, and Disorderly Conduct. His bond at the Montgomery County Jail, was set at $300. And, 25-year-old Britnay Nichole McArdle, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10:20-p.m., for Domestic Abuse Assault. She was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

(Red Oak, Iowa) — A traffic stop at around 4:45-p.m., Tuesday on Highway 34 in Red Oak, resulted an arrest. According to Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, 28-year-old Dillon Lucas, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance – Marijuana 1st Offense. Lucas was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 bond.

(Davenport, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Corrections, Tuesday, reported Glen Elliot Long, who was convicted of Robbery-1st Degree and other charges in Scott County, failed to report to the Davenport Work Release Facility as required, Monday.

Glen Long

Long is a 52-year-old black male, height 5’7″, and weighs 209 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on September 22, 2021. Persons with information on Long’s whereabouts should contact local police.

(Union, Iowa) –  Authorities in east central Iowa, Tuesday, announced an arrest had been made in connection with the suspicious death of a man in Hardin County. A man from Baxter, Arkansas, 22-year-old Osborn Eugene Gavel, was taken into custody for Murder in the 1st Degree, for the death of 74-year-old Steve Reece, of Union.

Early Tuesday morning, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from a resident at 302 Commercial Street in Union, about an unresponsive male.  Upon arrival, deputies located a deceased male (Reece) inside the bedroom of the residence and deemed the death suspicious.  The Hardin County Sheriff’s Office requested the assistance of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

An investigation found Reece died as a result of being struck by Gavel, who, along with others, had stayed with Reece Monday evening. Gavel was being held at the Hardin County jail. Upon completion of the investigation, all results will be forwarded to the Hardin County Attorney’s Office for review.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The five members of the City of Atlantic’s Planning and Zoning Commission, Tuesday evening, approved the site plans for a new McDonald’s restaurant where the current one is located. The commission heard from Casey Thompson, Design Engineer with Bishop Construction in Des Moines – the civil engineering and land surveying firm tasked by McDonald’s Real Estate Company based in Elk Horn, Nebraska.

Thompson told KJAN News the building and site will look very similar to the more modern McDonald’s restaurants in Des Moines, Omaha, and other, larger cities. he said those locations have straighter lines on the buildings, and an updated look. The actual lot size will be smaller, but the building size will not change.

A sample of the latest McDonald’s designs (Photo via McDonalds.com)

He said a secondary drive-thru will be added to the new building in Atlantic when it’s built next year, with two side-by-side order points instead of one, as is the current situation today. It’s hoped that the site design will free-up circulation around the side so that traffic will flow more smoothly. Thompson says “The theory in that is, that they will be able get people through the line faster to get their food faster.”

Since he’s a design engineer and not an employee of McDonald’s Corporate, Thompson couldn’t comment on what would happen with the persons currently employee by the Atlantic franchise, when construction is underway. Work on demolishing the current building is slated to begin February 22, 2022, and completed by June 22, 2022.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Transportation is delaying a pilot project that would help with the rural housing shortage in the state. The D-O-T’s Craig Markley says the plan would use money from a program that has traditionally been used to build roads to support businesses and business development. He says it would use a small portion of the Rebuild Iowa’s Sound Economy or RISE program for a pilot program to build the streets and roadways that would support rural housing.

The state Transportation Commission has discussed the program and was set to vote on it today (Tuesday), but they have been asked by the Iowa Department of Economic Development to do some more study on the proposal. Markley says the idea came out of the need to get more people into the state to fill jobs.

“We need more truck drivers, we need more office workers, we need more population. One of the ways to incentivize that would be rural housing,” Markley says. Markley is not sure when the proposal might come back to the Transportation Commission.

(Radio Iowa) – Crude oil prices are starting to rise, which means gasoline prices will certainly follow, according to Meredith Mitts, spokeswoman for Triple-A Iowa. The weather is getting colder and refineries are starting to switch to the winter blends of fuel. “You might seen an increase at the gas pump soon,” Mitts says. “That would be a couple of cents that goes toward this specific factor. The good news is, in Iowa, the gas price average is roughly $3.04 which is well below the national average of $3.27.”

Mitts says many diverse factors are involved in setting crude oil prices, making it difficult to predict what may be coming. “When we’re seeing the difference in crude oil prices and what’s happening, it has to do with supply and demand,” Mitts says, “it has to do with the political climate, it has to do with what natural storms are happening in the areas where these oils are being mined and refined.” Triple-A says the cheapest gas in Iowa is being sold in Council Bluffs at two-99 a gallon, while it’s most expensive in Dubuque at three-14.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests. On Sunday, Dana Brocke Burkholder, III, of Omaha, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, for Violation of a No Contact Order (Held without bond). Last Saturday, at around 2:25-a.m., 25-year-old Omar Andres Rosario, of Bellevue, NE, was arrested on Bunge Avenue, for Public Intoxication (Bond $300).

On Thursday (Oct. 7), 28-year-old Patrick Allen Eggerling, of Avoca, was arrested on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear. His bond was set at $7,000. And, on Oct. 6th, 38-year-old Kristina Kay Erwin, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Probation Violation (Bond $5,000).

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office said also, there were no injuries reported after 71-year-old Karla Schafer, of Corning, apparently swerved to miss a deer at 310th and Noyes, at around 9:34-p.m., Saturday. Her 2004 Dodge left the road for about one-quarter of a mile before getting stuck in/on-top of, a tree.

A teenage driver has died  during collision between an SUV and a semi tractor-trailer in northwest Iowa’s Sac County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the accident happened at around 8:27-a.m. Tuesday (Today), as a 2011 Buick Enclave SUV driven by a 16-year-old female from Auburn, was traveling eastbound on Highway 175, coming out of Auburn.

A 2001 Peterbilt Truck driven by 50-year-old Matthew Lynn Dorscher, of Cumberland, was traveling west on Highway 175 and approaching Auburn, when the SUV crossed the center line of the road into the westbound lane, for reasons unknown. Dorscher tried to  avoid the collision by braking and driving onto the north shoulder, but the semi and SUV collided head-on.

The teenager, who was wearing a seat belt, died at the scene. Her name was not immediately released. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Iowa DOT, and Sac County Sheriff’s Office.