(Audubon and Cass Counties) – Cass/Atlantic Development Corporation (CADCO) Executive Jennifer McEntaffer reports the Valley Business Park board has made the decision to sell the property in the area of Highway 71 and Interstate 80, along the Cass-Audubon County line. Both counties had been working to try and develop the business park, which contains 156 acres of property.

Valley Business Park aerial outline (Via Atlanticiowa.com/cadco)

Iowa Land Co will handle the auction, and will send out information pertaining to the sale of the property at a later date.

McEntaffer says Valley Business Park board members agree that this is the time to sell the property as both counties have a lot of economic development opportunities that the sale of this property can help facilitate.

(Radio Iowa) – Cedar Rapids police say a 17-year-old is charged with two counts of first-degree murder after they found him outside a northeast side home covered in blood and he told them he’d killed his parents. Police say Ethan Orton used a knife and ax to kill his parents, 42-year-old Casey Orton and 41-year-old Misty Slade.

The criminal complaint says Ethan Orton told officers he killed his parents to “take charge of his life”.

(Radio Iowa) – The John Deere plant in Ottumwa sat quiet and the parking lot was empty as its workers went on strike early this (Thursday) morning, and about a hundred people began picketing outside of the company’s gates. Some motorists stopped to give food and water to the workers while several more honked their horns as they passed by to show their support for the striking employees.

Trucks entered and left the factory throughout the morning. A cheer rose from the picket line as a truck did -not- enter the facility. A worker who did not want to be identified explained. “You see, there’s been truckers driving by being in solidarity with us and not crossing our picket line,” said the worker. “Some of them are. Some of them aren’t. We’re cheering them on and booing the ones that do.”

Deere employees in the Quad Cities. (WVIK photo via Radio Iowa)

In a statement, Brad Morris, Vice President of Labor Relations for Deere and Company says Deere is “determined to reach an agreement with the United Auto Workers that would put every employee in a better economic position and continue to make them the highest paid employees in the agriculture and construction industries.”

The statement from John Deere concluded by saying the timetable of the two sides coming to an agreement is unknown.

(Manning, Iowa) – Trevor Miller, superintendent of the IKM-Manning Community School District, was a nominee for the 2021-22 Iowa Superintendent of the Year award sponsored by the School Administrators of Iowa. Roark Horn, the association’s executive director, says “SAI is pleased to recognize school system leaders who are dedicated to creating meaningful change for the students they serve and their communities.”

IKM-Manning has recently partnered with Puck Inc. and Des Moines Area Community College to offer students a career-ready opportunity in welding. The district is looking to expand career and Future Ready opportunities for students to prepare them to be successful after high school. The IKM-Manning district has also been awarded multiple STEM BEST grants and has a student-run business that has continued to expand. Exira-EHK continues to offer opportunities through area community colleges looking at partnering with other districts for a Career Academy.

Trevor Miller says “Both the IKM-Manning and Exira-EHK staffs are amazing and work extremely hard to provide the best education possible for our students. The dedication they have shown over the past few years is second-to-none and should be acknowledged.”

Miller received his undergraduate degree from Buena Vista University and a master’s degree along with a Superintendent Certificate from Iowa State University. He has been a business/computer teacher, an elementary principal, secondary principal, school business official, and currently shared superintendent between Exira-EHK and IKM-Manning for the past five years.

Nominated for the award by his peers, Miller will be recognized by the association, along with Cedar Rapids Superintendent Noreen Bush who was recently selected as the recipient.

SAI, a statewide organization founded in 1987, represents more than 1,900 Iowa educational administrators. SAI’s mission is to support, encourage and develop Iowa’s educational leaders and learners.

(Radio Iowa) – Ames police have charged two people in the April death of a toddler. Police and medical units were called to a residence on April 24th and found an injured toddler who was flown to Des Moines for treatment. The child died the next day. Police say the results of an autopsy and their investigation led to the arrest of 26-year-old Danielle Olbrecht of Ames for child endangerment causing death.

Twenty-five-year-old Trevin Nicholson was arrested in Centennial, Colorado on charges of first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death. Nicholson is awaiting extradition back to Iowa.

(Shenandoah, Iowa) – One person was transported to the hospital in Shenandoah with undisclosed injuries, following a single-vehicle accident, early Tuesday morning. According to the Page County Sheriff’s Office, authorities were notified at around 7:41-a.m. Tuesday, about an accident that had taken place in the 1200 block of Highway 2, about one-mile east of Shenandoah.

An investigation determined 29-year-old Andrew James Gerheart Rolf, of rural Northboro, was driving a 1999 Buick LeSabre and traveling eastbound on Highway 2 at around 1:30AM, when, according to Rolf, he swerved to miss a deer. His car crossed the westbound lane and went into the north ditch. The Buick continued east in the ditch along some trees for about 30 yards before it’s front passenger side struck a large tree. The vehicle then spun counterclockwise around a the tree in the ditch, before coming to rest next to the tree.

Rolf told Deputies hat he must have lost consciousness at that point. The crash was noticed by a passing motorist about six-hours later. Rolf’s vehicle was located in the ditch so that it was not easily seen until daylight. The impact with the tree, caused damage to the vehicle so that the doors would not open and lights on the vehicle were not functioning.

No citations were issued.The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by the Shenandoah Fire Department, the Shenandoah Ambulance Service, and the Page County Emergency Management.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 5:30-a.m. Thursday (today) about a mile west of Clarinda, resulted in the arrest of a man from Nebraska. Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports deputies stopped a vehicle on Highway 2, near the intersection P Avenue, for a traffic violation. During the traffic stop, Gharett Alexander Spohr, of Omaha, was arrested for Possession of a controlled substance (Marijuana) and Possession of drug paraphernalia.

Spohr was transported to the Page County Jail on $1300.00 bond. He later posted bond and was released from custody pending future court appearances.

Spohr

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa needs targeted investments to strengthen and expand its electrical grid to prepare for extreme weather events brought on by climate change. That’s the recommendation from the latest Iowa Climate Statement being released by a coalition of more than 200 researchers. Iowa State University engineering professor Jim McCalley says the extensive power outages from last year’s derecho showed clear vulnerabilities in the state’s infrastructure.  “We need to reduce impact and increase speed of restoration and recovery during extreme events,” McCalley says. “This requires diversification in the ways that we supply power. It means, for example, deploying microgrids for loads providing critical services such as hospitals and grocery stores.”

Utility companies should be making investments now, he says, to bolster Iowa’s electric grid.  McCalley says, “The future is going to bring winds, extreme temperature evens, floods and droughts at a frequency and severity exceeding conditions for which much of this equipment was designed.” Fortifying the grid will also allow for more wind and solar development, which McCalley says is key to zeroing out emissions.  “The transmission capacity that we currently have is insufficient to build out the resources that we need to hit zero carbon,” McCalley says. “That’s not an opinion. It’s a fact.”

The authors of the Climate Statement are calling on residents and regulators to push utilities to make the investments.

On the web at https://iowaenvironmentalfocus.org/iowa-climate-statement/

(reporting by Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three people were arrested Wednesday evening. Authorities say 37-year-old Shanna Marie Black, of Omaha, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Contempt of Court. Black was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail. 39-year-old Dustin Lee Harriman, of Council Bluffs, was also arrested at the Pott. County Jail. He was taken into custody on two counts Violation of Probation. Bond at the Mills County Jail was set at $10,000.

And, 51-year-old John David Stone, of Braddyville, was arrested on I-29 Wednesday evening. He was charged with Driving While Barred, and held on a $2,000 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) — The construction at Cass Health, in Atlantic, will reach an important milestone on Monday, October 18th: the Main Entrance and Parking Lot A will reopen to patients and visitors after being closed since June. Cass Health Chief Financial Officer Abbey Stangl says “We are so appreciative of the community’s patience with the construction project, and we are all happy to have the Main Entrance reopened.”

The new Registration bays will be open in the atrium, and staff will be ready to assist patients with checking in for their appointments, and the valet service will also shift back to the Main Entrance. Stangl says “We anticipate that the new portion of the Atlantic Medical Center will open in January, at which time the construction zone will flip-flop, and we’ll be able to begin on the second half of the clinic.”

Construction is expected to last through 2022. Beyond the work within Atlantic Medical Center, construction will continue in the gift shop, coffee shop, Specialty Clinic, and cafeteria.