(UPDATE 10/21) – She has been found safe. Thank you!

Police in Glenwood are asking for your help in locating a Glenwood teen who has been missing since Thursday. Authorities have circulated a picture of 15-year old Brooklyn Handley. She was last seen wearing black leggings and a hoodie, but authorities say she has probably already changed clothes. If you have seen her or know where she is,  call the Glenwood Police Department at 712-527-4844. No other details concerning her disappearance are currently available.

Brooklyn Handley

The 25th biannual Halloween Hike, will be held on Saturday, October 26th, in Atlantic. As you follow a trail, you will hear “Squeaks, Squawks and Screeches” along the way. The hike begins at at 7:00 p.m., with small groups departing from the Camblin Addition of Sunnyside Park every ten minutes. Kids twelve and under are encouraged to arrive early to get their faces painted! The last group will depart at 8:20 p.m. and all hikers are welcome to enjoy free tasty treats and warm drinks after their hike.

Cass County Naturalist Lora Kanning says “It is not our intent to scare or frighten anyone, but to educate and entertain people of all ages!” Pre-registration is required for this FREE event. Please call 712-769-2372 or email lkanning@casscoia.us to make your reservations. If you leave a message please leave name, phone number, how many is in your group and what time you wish to depart on the hike! This hike is sponsored by the Cass County Conservation Board.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s unemployment rate remained at 2.5% in September. Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday that the rate didn’t change from August, as the number of people with and without jobs both increased. An estimated 1.69 million residents were employed in September, and 44,200 were unemployed. Iowa’s unemployment rate was tied for the second lowest in the country, along with New Hampshire and North Dakota. Vermont has the lowest rate, at 2.2%.

Iowa has a unique position in the history of railroads. Dr. Rudolph Daniels will explain more at his program, “Trains Across Iowa,” 2-p.m. this Sunday, October 20th, at the American Legion Memorial Building, 201 Poplar Street, Atlantic. Rudy Daniels knows trains. He has written articles and five books. He has been a consultant on Public TV productions and documentaries. He created the “Education Section” website portion for the Federal Railroad Administration for the nation’s schools. He has spoken internationally on a variety of topics that specialize in railroad history.

He will appear in an antique conductor’s uniform to present TRAINS ACROSS IOWA. Iowa was important in the construction of the first transcontinental railroad and contributed to railroad safety. Daniels will also describe the famous streamliners that crossed Iowa. This program is sponsored by Atlantic Rock Island Society Enterprise (ARISE) and supported by Atlantic Community Promotion Commission. Funding for speakers is provided by Humanities Iowa, a private non-profit state an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

There is no fee to attend. Everyone is welcome. The meeting space is handicapped accessible. Refreshments will be offered. The Military Museum, Military Library and Atlantic History Center will be open for viewing.

Red Oak Police arrested a woman from Stanton at around 9:10-a.m. today (Friday). Authorities say 39-year old Delyne Annissa Bartlett was taken into custody in the 900 block of Inman Drive, for Providing Alcohol to a person or persons underage. The Alcohol was purchased Oct. 5th and supplied to the underage person or persons just after midnight on Oct. 6th. Bartlett was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond.

(Radio Iowa) — It may be harvest season, but Iowa’s chestnut trees don’t have much to offer as a year of wet weather decimated the crop. Tom Wahl of Red Fern Farm in Louisa County has about a thousand chestnut trees which usually produce a lucrative crop on his diverse farm. This year, his chestnut trees produced nothing and a few of his trees, in the wettest soil, died. Wahl is confident things will average out next year. Wahl says, “Typically what chestnuts do when a weather event prevents them from producing a crop one year, they produce a double-crop the following year.”

That won’t quite make his business whole, but it will go a long way. Statewide, the Iowa State University Extension estimates a chestnut harvest of less than one-third normal. Weather events over the past 12 months caused havoc on many of Iowa’s tree crops. Heavy fall rains, an abrupt November freeze, another hard frost after an early thaw and then spring flooding threatened apple, peach and chestnut trees over and over again. Wahl grows dozens of different fruit and nut trees. “We have no chestnut harvest this year,” Wahl says. “We had one, out of approximately 1,000 bearing trees, we had one single tree that had what looked like more-or-less a normal crop on it.”

Wahl says another 15 trees had a few nuts, but most had none. A small number of peach trees in the state also lost almost everything, according to the I-S-U Extension, though many varieties of apples did okay.

(Thanks to Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)

KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) — A judge who presided over the trial of a man charged with murder in southeast Iowa must now decide whether he’s guilty. The nonjury trial of Adam McCain ended Thursday. He’s been charged with first-degree murder, accused of killing his former girlfriend, 27-year-old Calove Sackman. Authorities have said McCain stabbed Sackman once on Feb. 5 in Keokuk, got into his vehicle and ran her over, and then got back out and stabbed her several more times.

Defense attorney James Beres in his closing argument that the slaying was not premeditated and that McCain had a bipolar disorder and other problems that would make him compulsive.
Prosecutor Jonathan Stensvaag said McCain had told Sackman if she ever left, he’d kill her and her children. It’s not clear when the judge will announce her verdict.

MANCHESTER, Iowa (AP) — A former chief executive officer of a northeast Iowa hospital has pleaded guilty to theft. Delaware County District Court records say 61-year-old Lon Butikofer entered the plea Tuesday. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 3. Butikofer was accused of stealing nearly $257,000 from January 2009 through March 15, 2017, by failing to properly record personal trips as vacation or paid time off and by seeking reimbursement for the expenses.

Another former executive at Regional Medical Center in Manchester, 53-year-old Mike Briggs, has been accused of similar actions. He’s pleaded not guilty to a theft charge and is scheduled to begin trial Dec. 4.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County report a call about a possible burglary in Oakland Thursday night, resulted in an arrest. 30-year old Scott David Wilson, of Oakland, was taken into custody for Public Intoxication. His bond was set at $300. And, an investigation into a pickup truck parked in the intersection of W. Kanesville Blvd. & N. 2nd Streets, in Council Bluffs, resulted in the arrest Thursday night, of 21-year old Trevor Kenneth Henderson, of Council Bluffs. Henderson was taken into custody at around 11-p.m. for OWI/1st offense. His bond was set at $1,000.

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

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