The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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A standoff between law enforcement and a man who threatened to shoot officers and himself, ended late last night in Oakland, with the man dead. According to multiple media reports, Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a home on Gates Street in Oakland, at around 7:45-p.m.

The area was blocked-off after a shot was fired from a home toward a deputy. The round reportedly struck a deputies’ cruiser in the bumper. Another shot was fired soon afterward. Authorities tried to make contact with the subject, but after not hearing from him for several hours, sent in a robotic search device, which returned images that revealed the man was dead on the kitchen floor, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. No other injuries were reported.

The man’s name has not yet been released. Investigators were on the scene through early this (Wednesday) morning.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Thunderstorms have lashed several parts of eastern Nebraska, leaving thousands of people without power and some stranded by street flooding and storm debris. The National Weather Service says an off-duty weather service employee saw a rope tornado briefly touch down around 8 p.m. Tuesday, three miles south-southeast of Kennard in Washington County. No injuries were reported.

The Omaha Public Power District reported that as of 5 a.m. today (Wednesday), nearly 9,700 customers were without power in Douglas and several other counties.
Up to 6 inches of rain was reported near Blair, and street flooding occurred in Omaha, Fremont and other cities.

Across the Missouri River, about 5-miles north/northwest of Council Bluffs, winds gusted from 65- to as much as 96-miles per hour from 9:45-p.m. through 10:15-p.m. Flights into Omaha’s Epply Airfield were diverted to other airports during the peak thunderstorm activity.

Police in Council Bluffs responded early this (Wednesday) morning to a report of a person lying on the street in the 3600 block of 2nd Avenue. Upon arrival at around 1-a.m., officers located and identified the person as 26-year old Mark Lear, Jr.  Lear was taken to Creighton University Hospital by rescue squad, for treatment of what initially appeared to be serious, but non-life threatening injuries.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the incident. Anyone having any information about the incident is encouraged to contact the Criminal Investigation Division at (712)-328-4728 or Crime Stoppers at (712) 328-7867.

Authorities from several law enforcement agencies surrounded a home in Oakland Tuesday night after a man reportedly armed with a gun locked himself inside a home at around 7-p.m. According to KETV in Omaha, the incident took place just off Highway 6 at Brown and South Gates Road. Neighboring homes in the area were evacuated as a precaution.

No other details are currently available.

(Correction on the number of seats that were to be filled in the election)

Adair County Auditor Mindy Schaefer, Tuesday night, released the unofficial results of a Special Election held for the City of Fontanelle, to fill two vacancy seats (4-year terms) on the Fontanelle City Council. The winners include Jade Zimmerline, with 72 votes, and Brody Warrior, with 58 votes. The results will become official when the votes are canvassed by the Adair County Board of Supervisors.

The other candidates and their vote tallies include:

Laura Fritz, 38; Cassie Warner, 47. There were a total of 111 votes cast out of a possible 467, or 23.77% of the registered voters.

The City of Atlantic’s Community Protection Committee Tuesday evening voted to recommend the Atlantic City Council order a resident who is keeping a pot bellied pig on their rental property, to remove the animal as required by City Code. Their decision came in a brief meeting, during which a neighbor complained about the smell and a terrible problem with flies attracted by the animal.

Rebecca Sponsler, who lives next door to the property in the 800 block of Chestnut Street, told the Committee the animal doesn’t look like a pot bellied pig. Instead, she said it looks a like a farm pig.

Rebecca Sponsler

She said also she has “A huge fly problem,” to the extent that they are “Killing hundreds a day,” at her home. She also said when the wind carries a horrible smell when it shifts toward her home. Sponsler said she doesn’t want it next door to her anymore. Sponsler also said she can’t sell her house because prospective buyers are turned-off by the smell and appearance of the adjacent property.

Atlantic Animal Control Officer Kris Erickson said they have received other complaints about the animal and the property itself. The Committee said the owner of the pig could approach the City Council about a permit to keep the animal, but the Committee will recommend against issuing that permit, per City Code, which states “It is unlawful for a person to keep livestock within the City except by written consent of the Council or except in compliance with the City’s Zoning Ordinances.”

Livestock is defined in the City Code, as “An animal belonging to the bovine, caprine, equine, ovine or porcine species…” as defined in the Code of Iowa.

Community Protection Committee (Foreground: Councilpersons Dana Halder and Ashley Hayes); background: City Admin. John Lund, Animal Control Officer Kris Erickson; right – Councilman Chris Jimerson.

The owner of the pig did not appear at Tuesday evening’s meeting at City Hall to offer comment about the animal or address the neighbors’ concerns.

The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will hold a Work Session Wednesday evening, at the High School. During their 5:30-p.m. meeting in the Media Center, the Board will discuss the Superintendent Search Process, including: Establishing the roles of consultants and the School Board; Defining the timeline for the search process; meeting with key stakeholder groups to develop a profile for the ideal candidate, and many other aspects of the search.

In April, Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein announced he would be retiring at the end of the 2016-17 School Year. Amstein has served the Atlantic Community School District since 2010.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board will approve various personnel assignments, and discuss the Board Self-Evaluation process with representative from the Iowa Association of School Boards. They’ll also continue discussion with regard to the Voter-approved Physical Plant and Equipment Levy/Income Surcharge Special Election that’s set for Sept. 13th.

Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle said Tuesday, the Fifth Annual School Supply Drive, sponsored by the Cass County Democratic Party, was a success. Toelle said “We were once again able to supply all three school districts in Cass County needed items for the youth of this county who might otherwise not have new school supplies to start off the new school year.”

She thanks the community for its support for the project. Toelle said also “Special thanks to the Atlantic Medical Center staff who donated as a group; their donations were provided to Schuler Elementary School in Atlantic.”

Items donated by the Atlantic Medical Center

Lewis Elementary School staff with donations

Dale Whittaker presenting Washington Elementary School with donated items.

Sherry Toelle, Chair, and Ed DenBeste, Schuler Elementary School

More Red Cross volunteers from Iowa are heading to Louisiana to help with the flood recovery. Iowa Region spokesperson Kara Kelly says eight volunteers will join 11 Iowans who are already working there. “Most of them are working in emergency shelters, there are still thousands of people who cannot go home,” Kelly says. “We have a few people who are driving the emergency response vehicles — going into the neighborhoods making sure that people have food and water and clean up items.”

The flooding in Louisiana is called the worst natural disaster to hit the United States since Superstorm Sandy in 2012. “As you can imagine, it’s a huge mess and there’s just a lot of work to be done yet,” Kelly says. She says people who have never experienced the devastation of flooding may have a hard time understanding its impact. “In Iowa unfortunately we’ve seen a lot of serious flooding first hand, so perhaps we can be a little bit more understanding of it,” according to Kelly. “In Louisiana they are looking at more than 60-thousand homes that have been damaged or destroyed. Which is significant. We are looking at folks who could be out of their homes for months or even years. And that’s really devastating for people.”

The new volunteers who are heading to Louisiana are from Alburnett, Ankeny, Manning, Norwalk, Pleasant Hill, Slater and Vinton. Kelly says Iowa also has some “virtual volunteers” who will help out. “Some of our volunteers who might not be able to be away from home for two weeks have the ability to virtually deploy — which means they have the ability to work with folks who have been displace via the phone or computers,” Kelly explains. The virtual deployment helps the flood survivors and the Red Cross.

“It’s a way that we can maybe cut back on some costs of sending people down there, if they can just work with people on the phone. And it is still somebody to talk to, still somebody to share their story with and help move them closer to recovery,” Kelly says. Kelly says you can help even if you don’t have the time to be a Red Cross volunteer.

“The Red Cross urgently needs the public to help us support the folks in Louisiana and the easiest way to do so is to make a financial donation. Go to Red Cross-dot-org, call 1-800-Red Cross or text the word L-A Floods (LAFLOODS) to 90999 to make a 10 dollar donation. And those donations enable the Red Cross to help respond and to help recover from disasters,” Kelly says. She says volunteers typically spend two weeks at a disaster site, but can extend that if they wish. They sometimes will spend two weeks, return back to Iowa for a time and then go back to the disaster area.

(Radio Iowa)