The Atlantic School Board met Wednesday evening, in the High School Media Center. During their session, the Board approved previously mentioned resignations, with one addition: Angela Johnson – Paraeducator. The Board also approved Activity Director Andy Mitchell’s recommendations for Fall 2020 Coaching Contracts, and they received an update on the status of the District’s Facilities Projects from Bob Sweeney, Board liaison for the projects.

Atlantic School Board 12-11-19 (Ric Hanson/photo)

Sweeney said the checklist of recent demolition-related activities through Tuesday, Dec. 10th, includes light poles for the baseball/softball fields being taken down. The Home bleachers for the Trojan Bowl have been removed and light poles taken down, but there was an unexpected complication one of the sub-contractors experienced when removing one of the poles. A pole near the entrance to the Trojan Bowl had concrete deep down in the ground, which they said was very unusual. The pole wouldn’t budge.

They ended-up cutting it off. About 3-feet of the pole remains until the remainder can be removed. The bottom-line, Sweeney said, is that even though the weather has cooperated, the project is still a couple of days behind scheduled. He said you can follow the progress of the demolition and construction through pictures found on the district’s website.

The Atlantic School Board also discussed Capital Projects and Long-term planning.Among the Fiscal Year 2020 projects the District is committed to, is: Tuckpointing on the south side of the Auditorium at the Middle School. That work is nearly finished and comes with a price tag of $11,225; A handicap bus is set to be delivered in January, the price of which (after a grant from VW) is $87,844.

Officials say the stadium lights at the High School will also need to be fixed this Spring for an estimated $18,000.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The Creston Police Department reports one arrest. At around 5:35-p.m. Wednesday, officers arrested 36-year old Savannah McVay, of Creston. She was taken into custody on a charge of Driving While Barred.  McVay was later released from the Union County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Authorities say a wrong-way driver and the driver of a vehicle he struck in northern Iowa have both died. The collision was reported around 9:45 a.m. Wednesday on Interstate 35, just north of Clear Lake. The Iowa State Patrol says 30-year-old Henry Robinson, of Newnan, Georgia, was driving south in the northbound lanes when his minivan hit a pickup truck driven by 52-year-old Bryon Hendricks, of West Des Moines. Both men died. The patrol says the driver of a third vehicle wasn’t injured when it clipped Hendricks’ pickup.

(Radio Iowa) — The annual Iowa State University survey shows the statewide value of an acre of farmland increased by two-point-three percent and now is estimated at seven-thousand-432 dollars. Wendong Zhang conducts the survey and doesn’t think it’s a sign of any big upward trend.”It is an increase — which is encouraging — but I wouldn’t hail this as a solid rebound of the market, ” he says, “because the magnitude is still quite modest. It just exceeded the pace of inflation.”

That increase means an acre of farm ground is worth 168 dollars more than the year before. He says low commodity prices and low interest rates both helped keep the values from going up much more. Zhang, who is an assistant professor of economics, doesn’t think values are dropping off either. “All the eight districts –except for northeast Iowa — showed modest growth. Especially in central Iowa, we see some growth at a level of five percent. In general I think shows a stabilizing land market,” Zhang says.

Zhang says low dairy prices hurt the land values in the northeast district. The northwest district reported the highest overall land values at nine-thousand-352 dollars ($9,352) an acre. The south-central district reported the lowest overall land values at 44-hundred-87 dollars ($4,487) an acre. Scott County reported the highest land values at 10-thousand-837 dollars an acre. Decatur County reported the lowest at three-thousand-586 dollars an acre. It’s the seventh straight year Scott and Decatur have been the top and bottom county. Low-quality land statewide now saw an increase of three-point-three percent — more than the higher quality soils.

Zhang says the general economy is still strong and that tens leads to more recreational demand for land and that brings up the price of the lower quality land. He says the demand for urban development help bring up the land in the central Iowa district. Zhang says there are two things he is watching that could impact the land values in the coming year. He says one is whether we will have a trade deals and the details of those deals — while the other is whether or not the Fed Reserve cuts the interest rates again or stay with the original plan to gradually increase the interest rates.

Zhang says the rate cut would be more positive news for landowners. “In general lower interest rates tend to support land values,” Zhang says. The I-S-U Land Value Survey started in 1941. Zhang has been overseeing the survey for the last five years.

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds says physicians from the University of Iowa Hospitals will visit the state-run Glenwood Resource Center today (Thursday) “To do a review of the patients, look at the charts and just make sure their health is okay,” Reynolds says. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the facility, which provides care for about 250 Iowans with profound intellectual disabilities. STATE officials have placed the center’s superintendent on administrative leave. FEDERAL investigators are examining an allegation of human experimentation on residents at Glenwood. In 2017, five Glenwood staffers pleaded guilty to wanton neglect and eight others were fired or resigned after an investigation. Reynolds says there’s been “continuous review” of Glenwood’s operations since she took office in May of 2017.

“We had brought people in, we’d asked them to do an assessment, they’d laid out what they thought was being done, they thought it was appropriate. And you know what? It’s not,” Reynolds says, “and so based on the information that we just received, based on the new leadership at the Department of Human Services…we are making changes.” Reynolds fired the D-H-S director this summer and her new director started this fall. A letter federal officials sent Governor Reynolds in November indicates a host of issues have been raised about care at Glenwood, including inadequate nutrition and physical injuries to patients.

Last spring, The Des Moines Register reported current and former staffers at the Glenwood Resource Center raised concerns after an alarming number of patient deaths. Reynolds says a new team of outside experts are being assembled to dig into Glenwood’s operations. The governor indicates changes will be made in all the institutions managed by the Department of Human Services. “There are so many opportunities for us to do a better job of serving Iowans and really supporting the employees there. We have hardworking employees that, you know, deal with significant, tough issues and they have not had, I think, the resources, the tools and the leadership and the support that they need to do their job,” Reynolds told reporters. “We can do better and we are going to do better.”

Federal officials are also investigating whether the 180 intellectually disabled children and adults who are patients at the state-run Resource Center in Woodward are being cared for in the most appropriate setting.

Authorities say one person was hospitalized after a fire broke out at a condominium in the Cedar Rapids suburb of Marion. Firefighters dispatched around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday found smoke pouring from the building’s upper level. A fire official says the blaze started in one unit and spread into the building attic. The name of the injured person and the extent of his or her injuries haven’t been released. The fire cause is being investigated.

Sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County, Wednesday night, arrested 32-year old Eric Waldron, of Villisca, on two counts of attempted Burglary in the 3rd degree. The charges stem from an incident on Highway 34 and V Avenue. Waldron was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

Deputies were assisted by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office in their investigation and Waldron’s arrest.

A Nebraska man was injured during an accident in Mills County Wednesday evening. The Iowa State Patrol says 63-year old John Burr, of Bellevue, NE., was driving a 2013 Ford F-150 pickup southbound on Interstate 29 at around 6:04-p.m., when the vehicle exited the interstate at mile marker 36 and entered the southbound rest area.

The pickup continued south into the truck parking area, where it collided with a parked 2016 Volvo semi. The pickup struck the trailer, striking the driver’s side duals head-on. The pickup came to rest under the trailer.

Burr, who was not wearing a seat belt, was flown by LifeNet helicopter to the UNMC in Omaha. The driver of the semi was not hurt. The accident remains under investigation. Mills County Sheriff’s Deputies and others assisted at the scene.