(Atlantic, Iowa) –  Representatives of ARISE (Atlantic Island Rock Island Society), a non-profit which owns the Armory (American Legion Memorial Building) and the Rock Island Depot, said Monday (today, Aug. 11), an open house will be held at the Armory this Saturday, Aug, 16th, from 10-a.m. until 3-p.m.  During the event, visitors to the Armory can become with acquainted with the many spaces and resources. There will be games, displays and food.

Get up close to a drone and see their possibilities. The Cass County Drone Team has a display and Cass County Deputy Sheriff Kyle Quist will be on hand to answer questions. ARISE invites you to “Meet some folks who honor the past. Sons of the Union Soldiers of the Civil War (SUVCW). They continue to be active by supporting education and patriotism.”

Atlantic High School alums are invited to stir memories by looking at past Javelins and Needles. Other school memorabilia are displayed in the Atlantic History Center. Visit the flag room which has been used by Bob Boots for many year. He has handled over 16,000 flags deposited in the flag box out in front of the Armory. Some were repaired and others to be retired in a respectful way. A demonstration for flag retirement will take place at 2:30-p.m.

The military museum, military library and a big, bright kitchen are other stops along the way, Display cases in Memorial Hall show uniforms and other donated materials from the families of local veterans. Games like corn hole, orbeez target practice and others will be outdoors. Free face-painting will be indoors from 12 to 2:30. Sara Selders promises patriotic designs in addition to many other choices.

Kiwanis Food Truck will be serving hot dogs and snacks 11 to 2. Buy a treat at Louis’s Shaved Ice anytime. The purpose of the Open House is to honor the past and lead into the future. ARISE is sponsoring the Open House to encourage folks to know about this community resource.

DES MOINES, Iowa – The 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) (ESC) will conduct a Farewell Ceremony on Saturday, August 16th, at Valley Stadium, 4440 Mills Civic Pkwy, West Des Moines, IA 50265 for its Soldiers deploying in support of Operation Spartan Shield. The mission focuses on logistics sustainment to support an enduring U.S. military presence and strengthen partnerships in the Middle East.

“Command Sergeant Major Javier Camposano and I are proud to build upon the legacy of this command and to serve with these exceptional Soldiers,” said Brigadier General Clint A. Barnes, 103rd ESC Commanding General. “Our Soldiers are highly trained, disciplined, and ready to deploy anywhere around the globe. Each Soldier is an ambassador of freedom as we look forward to working alongside our partners to promote regional stability in the Middle East.”

The 103rd ESC will deploy Soldiers to perform sustainment operations in the Middle East. This will be the 103rd ESC’s third major overseas deployment since its activation. The command includes more than 5,000 Army Reserve Soldiers across approximately 80 units in Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Following the ceremony, the unit will host a reception at the Valley Southwoods Freshman High School, 625 South 35th Street, West Des Moines, IA 50265. The public, veterans, and community leaders are invited to attend and show their support.

The Adair County 2025 City & School Election will be held on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. Polls will be open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Auditor’s Office reminds citizens of the County, that the first day to file nomination papers for Mayor, City Council positions, or School Board Directors, is Monday, August 25, 2025. You may pick up paperwork from your respective city or school, the Auditor’s office within the Adair County Courthouse, or print them, at the following link https://sos.iowa.gov/voters/candidates.

Voters may file an absentee ballot request form with the Adair County Auditor’s Office beginning Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Thursday, September 18, 2025, at 5:00 pm is the deadline to file candidate paperwork. This paperwork must be filed at the Adair County Auditor’s office for all city offices and with the respective school board secretary for school board positions. By Code the filing officers’ offices must be open until 5:00 pm this date (Auditor office and School office)

Tuesday, September 23, 2025, will be the date for drawing lots for candidate ballot order, held in the Adair County Auditor’s office.

Monday, October 6, 2025, at 5:00 pm is the satellite petition deadline in the Adair County Auditor’s office. Open until 5:00 pm.

Wednesday, October 15, 2025, is the first date to mail absentee ballots. This date is also the first date for in person absentee voting at the Adair County Auditor’s Office.

Monday, October 20, 2025, at 5:00 pm, is the deadline for requesting a mailed absentee ballot as well as the voter pre-registration deadline. Open until 5:00 pm

Monday, November 3, 2025, is the last day to vote in person absentee at the Adair County Auditor’s office.

Official Notice of election to follow at later date.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office issued a report today (Monday, 8/11), listing arrests that took place between August 4th and 10th.

Sunday afternoon (8/10), Deputies in Mills County arrested 34-year-old Tyler Jason Chambers, of Glenwood, for Control of a Firearm/Offensive Weapon by a Felon. (Bond $5,000)

There were two arrests on August 7th:

• 18-year-old Elijah Kade Reed, of Unadilla, NE, was arrested on Highway 34 in Mills County, for Reckless Driving & Interference with Official Acts (Bond $600);
• 40-year-old Brandon Matthew Swanson, of Glenwood, was arrested on 230th St. in Glenwood, for OWI/2nd offense, and Harassment in the 2nd Degree (Bond $3,000).

On August 5th, 33-year-old Davonte Laronne Clark, of Omaha, was arrested in Papillion, NE, on a Mills County warrant for Violation of Probation (Bond $5,000). And, there were two arrested in Glenwood on August. 4th:

• 50-year-old Douglas Gerald Smetter, of Lincoln, NE, was arrested for Disorderly Conduct- Loud Noise. (Bond $300).
• 56-year-old Jason Alvin Krist, of Moorehead, MN, was arrested for Stalking/1st offense, and on three counts of Harassment in the 3rd Degree (total bond $2,600).

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Joshua Michael Bergen, convicted of Burglary 3rd Degree, Willful Injury – Causing Serious Injury and Willful Injury – Causing Bodily Injury in Louisa County, and two counts of Escape of Felon in Des Moines County, failed to report back to the Lary A. Nelson Residential Center as required on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025.

Bergen is a 31-year-old, 5’7″, 168-pound White Hispanic male. He was admitted to the work release facility on July 29, 2025.

Persons with information on Bergen’s whereabouts should contact local police.

For more information on the state’s work release program, please see Iowa Code 904.901-904.910.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is proposing a bill to end the U-S Postal Service plan to buy electric vehicles for its fleet of delivery vehicles. Thousands of trucks have been ordered, but Ernst says by this spring the Wisconsin contractor making some of those E-Vs had only delivered 100 to the Postal Service.  “They are so far behind schedule, they will never be able to fulfill that contract,” Ernst says. “…We know that electric vehicles don’t perform as well in the northern climates, so it didn’t make sense for the Postal Service to invest so heavily in an all-electric force,” Ernst says.

A bill President Biden signed in 2022 provided one-point-two BILLION dollars to the Postal Service to buy electric vehicles.  “We need to be smart about the way we are providing services through the federal government and that was not a smart move,” Ernst says. Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, calls her bill the “Return to Sender Act.” She says whatever hasn’t been spent buying E-Vs to deliver the mail should be returned to the government.

The U-S Postal Service currently has about 72-hundred electric vehicles. “Next Generation Delivery Vehicles” are being made by Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense and officials say the U-S Postal Service would face substantial costs if its contract to buy E-Vs from Oshkosh is cancelled. The Postal Service is also buying over nine-thousand e-Transit electric vans from Ford.

(Radio Iowa) – The former chief academic officer at Iowa Lakes Community College has filed a lawsuit alleging she was fired for being the whistleblower who prompted an investigation of the school’s finances.

Erin Latona began working at Iowa Lakes Community College in the fall of 2022. The Des Moines Register has posted her legal petition online. It indicates Latona noticed financial irregularities at the school almost immediately. In mid-2023, she contacted the FBI and federal officials referred her concerns to the State Auditor’s Office for an investigation.

According to the lawsuit, others at the school figured out Latona was the whistleblower and she was fired this past February. The lawsuit alleges Iowa Lakes Community College inflated student enrollment to get more state aid and either mismanaged or misappropriated college grants to high school students. The lawsuit claims Latona was illegally fired in retaliation for the “difficult” but “necessary” decision to blow the whistle on misuse of taxpayer dollars.

Iowa Lakes Community College is based in Estherville and has campuses in Algona, Emmetsburg, Spencer, and Spirit Lake. The school’s president provided a statement to the Des Moines Register. “The college has been advised not to comment on any details of pending litigation but looks forward to defending the claims and feels confident in its defense,” he told the paper.

(Radio Iowa) – The Immersive Music Experience will open next month in the new Music Enrichment Center beside the Surf Ballroom & Museum in Clear Lake on the late Buddy Holly’s birthday. The center promises to be a permanent, first-of-its-kind experience honoring the legacy of Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.

Surf CEO Brian Luallen says cutting-edge technology will tell the story of the ballroom’s history. “When I say immersive, what I’m talking about is the fact that you are surrounded by incredible original art, archival videos, special effects on all surfaces,” Luallen says. “It really responds to the fact that younger kids just consume information in a different way, and we need to make sure we’re preserving the Surf’s story and legacy for future generations.”

Holly, Valens and Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake in 1959 following a show called the Winter Dance Party at the ballroom. Luallen says new center will allow an array of artifacts from that era to go on display.

KLKK photo

“We’ve also had the original microphone from the very last performance at the Winter Dance Party that Buddy sang into return to the fold, and that’s going to be on display with a brand new jacket that Buddy Holly left after his last performance in San Antonio. These are really powerful items,” Luallen says. “It also gives us a chance to take several things that have been in our collection that are intimately associated with those three stars, and many other musicians, and put them on prominent display.”

Opening festivities start on September 4th with a book signing and a special preview, leading up to the full exhibit debut and ribbon-cutting on September 7th, what would have been Holly’s 88th birthday.

(Radio Iowa) – Shenandoah Police have identified the man killed in the storm that blew in around 3:30 Sunday morning. Shenandoah Police Chief Josh Gray says the man was a rider in the annual Rooster Tail Ride along the Wabash Trace Nature Trail and was camping at Sportsman’s Park. “Around 4 a-m, one of the riders found a scoreboard with a shed that had topped over, and landed on the 42-year-old’s tent that he was sleeping in,” he says.

The man was identified as 42-year-old Brian Seago of Kansas City, Missouri. Seago was found dead in the tent. Chief Gray says about 50 people were camping in the park at the time storm hit Shenandoah and they were offered shelter at the former National Guard Armory, now owned by the city. “We opened up the armory, so they, were able to go inside the armory. But of course, not every single one of them wanted to go inside the indoors,” Gray says.

Riders had ridden the Wabash Trace from Mineola Saturday morning. Officials with the Wabash Trace Nature Trail expressed remorse over the rider’s death, saying some sort of memorial is pending in the future.