DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Three Iowa school districts have been notified they’ll receive grants from the state to boost the literacy skills of students who don’t speak English. The Denison, Des Moines and Postville districts will receive grants. The recipients were announced Friday by Iowa Department of Education Director Brad Buck. The Iowa Legislature approved the program, which provides $500,000 this year with the possibility of $1.5 million over three years.

More than 25,000 English Language Learners enrolled in Iowa’s public and nonpublic schools this year. Denison will focus on kindergarten through 12th grade while Des Moines will partner with the Diocese of Des Moines to pilot a program for Carver Elementary and Hiatt Middle School and six nonpublic Catholic schools. Postville will design a K-12 newcomer program.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors met this (Friday) morning, in Atlantic, for their regular, end-of-month session. During the meeting, the Board approved a motion pertaining to the filling of a vacancy in the Recorder’s Office, with the upcoming resignation (previously announced), of Joyce Jensen, who is retiring. Auditor Dale Sunderman said the Code of Iowa spells out how the position is to be filled, but there are exceptions.

The Code says a County office can be filled by the Board of Supervisors, which has already occurred in Cass County. The appointment in that case would be valid until the next pending election, which would be the General Election. Sunderman says it’s too late for the matter to be placed on the General Election ballot. The other option is to hold a special election to fill the office for the balance of the unexpired term.

He says as soon as the Recorder retires, the person she selected to replace her…in this case, Mary Ward, whose name is on the ballot…would automatically assume the office November 15th. If Jensen hadn’t have resigned, Sunderman says the position would be filled January 2nd.

Cass County Attorney Dan Feistner concurred with Sunderman’s assessment of how the position should be filled.

Cass County Engineer Charles Marker, today (Friday) discussed before the Board of Supervisors, the projects his crews have been working on, and those set to take place in the coming months. Marker said the Secondary Roads crews have completed all the Maintenance Pipe projects they had slated to complete this year, and including two in the southern part of the County that weren’t planned for, but found to be in need of replacement.

Marker said also there were three bridge projects that were set to begin this year, but delays due to wet weather meant putting the bid letting off until Oct. 20th. One of the projects for which bids have been received, is the Cass County Landfill road bridge. Marker says there were four bids for that project. The apparent low bidder was Cunningham-Reis out of Van Meter, at $565,461. Work on the bridge is expected to begin later this winter.

Another bridge project is on the Cass-Montgomery County line. It was let on Oct. 20th also, with six companies offering their bids. The apparent low bid was from A-M Cohron, for $360, 591. Montgomery County will reimburse Cass County one-half of the total cost of the project.

The third bridge project, that which is by the Griswold Golf Course, is currently near the end of the design process phase, and is set for bidding letting to occur in Feb. 2015. Another project under design, will utilize metal from an older bridge, during its construction.

The bridge will meet new, heavier standard truck limits on bridges that are coming down from the Feds and State, that could result in weight limits being lowered on bridges. While the weight limits are going up on the roads, the limits are being lowered for bridges, which means the heavier trucks can’t cross rural bridges in Cass and other Counties.

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman reports all Iowa county auditors’ offices must be open for at least eight hours tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 1st) until at least 5 p.m., for absentee voting and other election business. The Cass County Auditor’s office will be open from 9 a.m. thru 5 p.m., Saturday.

Monday, November 3rd, 2014, is the last day to request and vote an absentee ballot in person at the county auditor’s office. The Cass County Auditor’s office will be open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Monday, November 3, 2014.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports a Creston woman reported Thursday evening, that sometime over the past month, someone entered a shed on Redwood Avenue and took a John Deere chainsaw valued at $250. The incident remains under investigation.

An accident Thursday night in Audubon County resulted in one person being transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The Sheriff’s Department reports 40-year old Bryan Kent Ingerslev, of Exira, was traveling south on Heron Place a little over two-miles south of Audubon at around 7:20-p.m.

Officials say he attempted to make the right curve but because the 2001 Ford F-150 was traveling at a higher rate of speed than conditions allowed, the truck began to slide sideways. The rear of the vehicle swung around and entered the south ditch before the truck rolled over.

Ingerslev initially refused any medical treatment, but was later transported by Audubon Rescue to the Audubon County Memorial Hospital. Damage to the pickup was estimated at $12,000. The accident remains under investigation, and charges are pending.

With Ric Hanson.

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With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Police in Creston are investigating four incidents of fraudulent debit card use and and the theft of a wedding ring. Officials say four Creston residents reported their debit cards had been stolen and used numerous times over a period spanning from June 1st through August 13th. The loss amounted to about $5,346.

And, a Creston woman reported to police Thursday, that someone stole her wedding ring from an undetermined location. The theft happened on Oct. 28th. The yellow ring with a three-stone design and attached wedding band is valued at $2,000.

Police in Creston report the arrest on Wednesday of a local man on drug charges. 38-year old Jamie Vandel, of Creston, was arrested on charges that include: Possession of Marijuana, two count of Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp, and Violation of a Protective Order. Vandel was being held in the Union County Jail on $5,000 bond.

Vandel was arrested again on Thursday, on a Department of Corrections warrant for Parole Violation. The arrest took place at the Union County Jail, where Vandel was being held without bond on the warrant.