City of Atlantic officials announced Wednesday afternoon that the city yard waste site is closed until further notice. The closure is due to the high winds in the area and word will be passed on as soon as the site reopens. They apologize for any inconvenience.

DYERSVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Police have charged the parents of a Dyersville toddler, saying the boy accidentally shot his mother with an unsecured gun he found in the family home. Police say 21-year-old Meriah Carlyle and 23-year-old Logan Keller have each been charged with child endangerment for leaving a loaded handgun on a bedside table on Nov. 4. Investigators say the 2-year-old found the gun, then accidentally shot his mother, who had to be flown to an Iowa City hospital for life-saving treatment. Police say in a criminal complaint that both parents were in the room with the child where the gun was, but didn’t notice the boy had picked up the gun until it fired.

**UPDATE: Montgomery County Authorities report Janice Sue Allen has been found safe and sound. They thank the public for their help.**

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office issued a Missing Person Alert for 74-year old Janice Sue Allen, of Stanton. She was driving a silver, 4-door 2020 Hyundai Sante Fe (SUV), with Iowa license plate number 158 ZNO. Her last known location was in the 100 block of Centennial Road, in Papillion, NE. She apparently got lost on her way from South Dakota to Stanton.

The vehicle is similar to the missing SUV

Anyone with information on her location is asked to call your local law enforcement agency or the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, at 712-623-5107.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Department reports three people were arrested Tuesday. 59-year-old Rodney Russell Smiley, of Logan, was arrested following a traffic stop on Highway 34. He faces charges that include Possession of a Controlled Substance and Failure to provide proof of financial liability (insurance). Bond was set at $1,000. And, 51-year old Julie Ann Wiggins, of Glenwood, was arrested following a traffic stop on Highway 34. She was charged with 2 counts Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Forgery. Bond was set at $12,000.

Tuesday morning, 41-year old Christina Mae Robbins, of Glenwood, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on warrants for 2 counts of Probation Violation. Bond was set at $20,000.

(Radio Iowa) – The margin in Iowa’s undecided second congressional district race has changed, by three votes, after ballot recounting started yesterday (Tuesday) in Scott County. All 24 counties in the district will be recounting the nearly 400-thousand ballots cast in the contest over the next 10 days. As of now, Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks leads Democrat Rita Hart by 50 votes.

The recount in Johnson County started this (Wednesday) morning. It may take days for the three-member Recount Boards in some of the district’s larger counties to complete the process. The secretary of state will certify statewide election results on November 30th. The re-checked results in the second congressional district are due on the weekend after Thanksgiving.

The Red Oak Police Department and the Red Oak Volunteer Firefighters Assn., with the support and assistance of the following Dept. of public safety agencies, local businesses and organizations in Montgomery County, are once again going to be a distribution point for the Marine Toys for Tots program for Montgomery County. Those agencies involved include: Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency, Stanton Fire & Rescue, Villisca EMS Association, Villisca Fire Department, Grant Fire Department & First Responders, and Elliott Fire First Responders, Fareway, Montgomery County YMCA, Eagle’s Aerie #2715, Bucksnort Restaurant, SWIA Squadron of Heroes, Red Oak Community Schools, Cubby’s, HyVee, Orscheln’s, Hardware Hank. The goal, is to see to it that every child, which is registered in Montgomery County, is able to have at least one new toy for Christmas this year.

Registration dates: Now until Dec. 1st.

• A toy drop off/pre-registration day is set for November 30th, 2020 at Fareway parking lot in Red Oak, from 5PM-7PM with Santa and the Gammell lighted fire truck!
• December 1st, 2020 is the main sign up day. It will be held at the Bucksnort Restaurant, 322 E. Coolbaugh in Red Oak – from 2 until 4 P.M. BOTH EVENTS WILL BE MANDATORY MASK EVENTS.
• At Fareway for the toy drop off, you may drive thru; to see Santa on the fire truck please practice social distancing rules and sign ups need to be contactless so please have child’s birth certificate or medical card ready to display to the officers in charge.
• The main sign-up at Bucksnort will be 1 individual per time, NO Groups or multiples registering together, this will be contactless also – please have documents ready to show. If you are unable to make it on the listed dates, contact ROPD Chief Justin Rhamy and he will assist you in figuring out other means of getting you signed up.
• No matter how you register, whether online, or in person, the necessary information will need to be provided for each child you want to register, and then go through the screening process. After Dec 1st it will have to be done online, through the website. However, delivery of the toys, cannot be guaranteed after that time. This is because of time needed to confirm the details of the necessary registration process, and time available to the person at the local distribution site to follow up.
• The projected toy delivery date will be set for December 21st, 2020.

A parent, guardian, or grandparents are the only ones allowed to sign up a child. There is some information that needs to be brought in with the person registering the child when they come to register. If they can bring a copy of the child’s birth certificate, that works the best. Child’s full name as it appears on the birth certificate, Date of Birth, parent’s names and a telephone number of the person registering the child.

Toys are divided into three age groups with a maximum age of 14.

0-3 Non gender specific

4-8 Male/Female

9-14 Male/Female

DONATIONS: Fareway, Montgomery County YMCA, Cubby’s, The Bucksnort, Hardware Hank, Orscheln’s, HyVee and the Red Oak Police Department, are also a local drop off point for toys, and the toys must be a new unwrapped toy. Any person having questions in regards to the Toys for Tots program are encouraged to contact Chief Justin Rhamy of the Red Oak Police Department at 712-623-6500.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is questioning whether Facebook and Twitter employees are politically hostile to conservatives. Ernst was among the Republicans on a Senate Committee who expressed concerns yesterday (Tuesday) that conservatives were being censored on the social media platforms in the run up to the 2020 Election. “The people that I hear from, of course, believe that conservatives were wrongfully being silenced, while those on the left that were given basically free reign on your platforms,” Ernst said. “…You do recruit heavily from California, which leans to your employee base skewing quite heavily to the left.”

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Jack Dorsey of Twitter testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee for hours yesterday (Tuesday). Ernst asked if they had taken steps to make their employee base more politically balanced. Zuckerberg responded, “This is a sensitive area where I don’t think it would be appropriate for us to ask people on the way in what they’re political affiliation is.”

Zuckerberg says as more people are able to work remotely, from anywhere, the company’s employee roster will diversify into other regions. He also told Ernst Facebook has turned to independent fact-checkers to assess what “misinformation” may be posted on the platform. Twitter’s C-E-O Jack Dorsey says the company has a framework for dealing with concerns about political bias. He also said the company is at a point where it can decentralize it’s employee base. Democrats on the committee rejected concerns of bias from Ernst and other Republicans, countering that nearly every day the most engaged pages on Facebook offer what they termed “far right content.”