The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education approved resignations and new hire contracts during their meeting, Wednesday evening. In addition to our earlier reports on the resignations of Andrea Reilly – TAG, STEM Coordinator & Teacher, Head Cheer sponsor; and Julie Birge – Food Service), the Board approved the resignation of Jeremy Blake, Assistant/JV Volleyball Coach. They also approved the hiring/contracts for Dawn Russell, Assistant Head Cook at Schuler Elementary, Riley Hayes, Washington Elementary Clerical Para, along with Industrial Tech Teachers Ryan Messerschmidt and Dexter Dodson.

Superintendent Steve Barber said the addition of two Industrial Tech teachers is remarkable, considering how hard it is to find qualified instructors in-light of an abundance of teacher shortages. He said “We experienced that last Spring with the late resignation of our Industrial Tech position. Obviously, we worked hard with business partners last year and part of our STEM grant was to build partnerships between the school and create a construction trades program.” A condition of the STEM grant, during the second year of a Construction Trades program, was to hire more people to be able to take care of the requirement and head out into the community to build houses, etc. Barber said “We’re a year ahead. These guys [Messerschmidt and Dodson] have great skills that will help us put this program together.”

The Atlantic School Board discussed some proposed changes to the Athletic Facility Plan. (See the photo’s below. Click on an image to enlarge) Superintendent Barber said the changes do not represent an increase or decrease in $9.5-million dollar price of the projects. In fact, he said “It’s a wash” when some aspects were scaled-back or removed, and others were added. Barber said some of the proposed changes deal with the traffic flow in front of Schuler Elementary.

The Facility Committee, experts and others determined that alleviate all buses from E. 14^th Street, in the drop-off area, and creating two-or three lanes directly in front of the Schuler building, for vehicles to drop-off students more quickly, and putting a parking lot with a separate entrance into the parking lot will allow the teachers to get in there as well.” The parking lot would have anywhere from 66-to 74 stalls. The Board discussed making E. 14^th one-way in front of the school, so as to not cause more traffic problems.

Other proposed changes include moving soccer and tennis to the High School stadium, installing new, natural turf at the high school. The Trojan Bowl would still be used for “Friday Night Lights” (football). The would be no team building at the Trojan Bowl, Barber said, because that was designed to accommodate a soccer team, football team and others.)

With regard to the Atlantic School District Special Election April 2^nd on the bond referendum. It was previously indicated the polls would be open from 7-a.m. until 8-p.m., however, Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman decided the polls will be open from Noon until 8-p.m. on that date, with early voting at the Auditor’s Office beginning at 8-a.m.  Two sites are being considered for voting locations: The Atlantic Public Library and the Heritage House.

HS Stadium & tennis

High School Ballfields

Trojan Bowl

Schuler Parking

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) report DNR staff were on site four miles west of Winterset responding to a spill at a hog confinement, Wednesday. The site owners, Waldo Farms of Nebraska, reported a release due to a plugged pipeline. That spill has stopped and did not reach a creek.

During the investigation, DNR field staff discovered a second, ongoing manure spill from a closed hog confinement. Manure storage at the closed facility was full, causing a small amount of manure-laden waters to overflow into a Cedar Creek tributary.

The DNR’s field tests showed elevated ammonia levels in the tributary, but normal levels downstream in Cedar Creek. The agency is requiring the owner to stop the release. Officials say the DNR will continue to monitor the cleanup and consider appropriate enforcement action.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Billionaire investor and Democratic activist Tom Steyer said Wednesday that he will not run for the White House in 2020 and will instead focus on calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment.

Steyer, who has spent $50 million on his Need to Impeach campaign and announced plans to spend $40 million more this year, said at an event in Des Moines that “the impeachment question has reached an inflection point,” given that Democrats have taken majority control of the House.

“I said last year that I’m willing to do whatever I can to protect our country from this reckless, lawless and dangerous president,” Steyer said. “Therefore, I will be dedicating 100 percent of my time, effort and resources working for Mr. Trump’s impeachment and removal from office. I am not running for president at this time.”

Steyer said his $40 million commitment for 2019 was designed to pressure the Democratic-controlled House to begin impeachment hearings and to persuade the party’s presidential contenders to support impeachment on their platform. The decision not to run comes as a surprise since Steyer had been traveling the country promoting the political platform he released after November’s midterm elections.

But Steyer, who chose the premier presidential caucus state to make his announcement, likened his mission to seeking the presidency itself. “Most people come to Iowa around this time to announce a campaign for the presidency,” he said. “”I am proud to be here to announce that I will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to remove a president.”

Although Steyer’s call for impeachment comes as House Democrats have taken the majority, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that the House shouldn’t move to impeach Trump without more facts and that the effort would be divisive. Steyer objected. “If someone says there are tactical, political reasons not to do the right thing for our country, I would say that’s not the basis on which we’re making decisions,” he said.

Although Steyer opted against a presidential run, the constellation of political organizations that he has built is likely to have an impact on the presidential race and on key congressional races across the country. Several prominent Democrats have also declined to run in 2020, including former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti.

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman has pleaded guilty to three kidnapping charges related to the 2017 starvation death of her 16-year-old adopted daughter. The Des Moines Register reports that 41-year-old Misty Jo Bousman Ray pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of first-degree kidnapping and two counts of third-degree kidnapping involving two other adopted children in her care illegally confined to her Perry home.

First-degree kidnapping carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. In exchange for her plea, prosecutors dropped first-degree murder and other charges. The charges stem from the May 2017 death of Sabrina Ray, who weighed only 56 pounds when she died.

Her husband, 43-year-old Marc Ray, pleaded guilty last month to child endangerment causing death and three counts of third-degree kidnapping. The couple will be jointly sentenced on Jan. 18 in Dallas County.

(Radio Iowa) — Republican Congressman Steve King is denouncing the Republican state senator who plans to challenge King’s bid for reelection in 2020. State Senator Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, has announced that in 2020, he will run for the U.S. House seat King currently holds. In a written statement, King said “establishment puppeteers” in the Republican Party had convinced Feenstra to challenge him, but King also said Feenstra would offer nothing more than “warmed over” liberal talking points. Feenstra, in his own campaign announcement, accused King of being ineffective and prone to political “sideshows” rather than service to Iowans.

Both men say they’d be President Trump’s best ally. King says Trump has referred to him as the “world’s most conservative human being.” King claims Feenstra had a conversation with Jeff King, the congressman’s son and campaign manager, on December 28th and that Feenstra indicated he “would never run” against King. The Iowa REPUBLICAN Party’s chairman has referred to Feenstra as a “legitimate” challenger, but declared the party will remain neutral in this primary contest.

The Iowa DEMOCRATIC Party’s chairman has issued a statement calling King the “least effect” member of congress AND criticizing Feenstra’s support — as a state senator — “of excessive spending on ineffective tax giveaways.” J.D. Scholten, the Democrat who came with about 11-thousand votes of defeating King last November, has not ruled out another run in the fourth district in 2020.

(Radio Iowa) — One of the Iowans who’s a rookie in congress is asking that her paycheck be withheld until the partial government shutdown is over. Democratic Congresswoman Cindy Axne of West Des Moines represents the third district, which covers 16 southwest Iowa. Axne has sent a letter to the chief administrative officer in the U.S. House, saying it is not appropriate for members of congress to be paid “while Iowa families suffer,” farm payments are delayed and “our security is compromised due to government dysfunction.”

During LAST YEAR’S federal government shutdown, then-Congressman Rod Blum — a Republican from Dubuque — took the same step to delay delivery of his paycheck. Republican Congressman David Young of Van Meter, who Axne replaced, donated his pay to charity during the 2018 government shutdown.

(Radio Iowa) — The weather across the region lately has been warmer and wetter than normal and it has the U-S Army Corps of Engineers shifting gears to anticipate higher water on the Missouri River. John Remus, chief of the Corps’ Missouri River Basin Water Management Division, says they’re preparing for the season ahead. “Flood risk management remains our primary consideration as we move into 2019,” Remus says. “Runoff above Sioux City in 2018 was approximately 167% above average and floodwater stored in the annual flood control zones of the reservoirs is being evacuated in preparation for the 2019 runoff season.”

While the Corps is dedicated to preventing flooding, Remus says the results of Mother Nature’s actions often can’t be controlled. “It’s important to understand that floods can and will occur regardless of basin or system conditions,” Remus says, “including ice-induced flooding during the winter and flooding due to spring and summer thunderstorms, particularly along the lower Missouri River.”

Corps meteorologist Chuck McWilliams, from the Hydrologic Engineering Branch in Omaha, says the weather conditions at this early stage of the winter are atypical. “Bottom line, as anyone can attest who’s been outside anywhere in the Missouri River basin, it’s been a very mild last several weeks with temperatures well above average,” McWilliams says. “In many cases, when there has been precipitation, particularly in the lower part of the basin, we’ve been looking at rainfall as opposed to snow and in some of those places where they have seen snow, it hasn’t persisted for very long.”

Releases of water from Gavins Point Dam are being raised this week to 24-thousand cubic feet of per second (C-F-S). The average flow is between 12-and-17-thousand C-F-S. Remus says the higher releases will provide additional hydropower generation during the winter, which is one of the peak power demand periods. They’ll also benefit municipal and industrial water intakes below Gavins Point, which can be impacted by low water levels when there’s a lot of ice.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge has struck down a 2012 Iowa law that made it illegal to get a job at a livestock farm to conduct an animal cruelty undercover investigation. Judge James Gritzner in an order filed Wednesday sided with opponents of a law intended to stop organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals from doing animal abuse investigations at farms and puppy mills. The judge found the law violates the First Amendment’s right to free speech.

Several groups filed a lawsuit in October 2017 in U.S. District Court in Des Moines. Federal courts have struck down similar laws in Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. Litigation is ongoing in North Carolina.
A spokesman for the Iowa attorney general’s office, which represented the state, says an appeal is under consideration.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Farmers already reeling from low prices and uncertainty amid the nation’s trade dispute with China are welcoming a decision to extend a deadline for federal aid because of the partial government shutdown. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue on Tuesday announced the Agriculture Department would extend a Jan. 15 deadline for farmers to apply for payments to offset losses they had incurred due to the trade dispute, which led to new tariffs that lessened demand and lowered crop prices. About $9.5 billion in direct payments have been set aside for growers of soybeans, corn, wheat and other commodities.

Many farmers already have received the first of two payments to offset some of their losses, but others haven’t been able to apply for aid because snow and rain delayed their harvest. Farmers can’t apply for federal payments until they can specify the size of their crop. It’s unclear how much of the federal money has been spent. Farmers can apply online for the aid, but Perdue noted they couldn’t complete the application because the USDA’s Farm Service Agency has been closed since Dec. 28.

Under Perdue’s new order, the application deadline will be extended by an equal number of days to the business days the government was partially closed. The shutdown also meant growers who had questions about the process couldn’t reach out to USDA employees. Perdue’s announcement was welcomed by Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a farmer who earlier had said he’d seek the federal aid.

The government shutdown comes as farmers were already enduring a fifth year of low prices even as the cost of land, fertilizer, chemicals and seed have remained high, leading to a drop in net income. As they make plans for this year’s crop, farmers have been left guessing about the market and other issues because the shutdown has forced the USDA to delay the release of crop reports providing key information about global demand.

Audubon Police Chief Matt Starmer is warning residents of the City of Audubon to lock their vehicles and residences/buildings, following several reports of illegal entry.  Starmer said Wednesday that he has “Taken multiple reports today of citizens finding that their vehicles have been entered overnight, as well as a few buildings.”

The Chief adds, “When you see something suspicious, please call APD as it is happening,” so authorities can respond immediately. That would greatly increase the police departments’ chances of locating the person or persons responsible.