United Group Insurance

Amount of water released into Missouri River to be reduced

News

November 5th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The amount of water being released into the Missouri River from a key dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will be reduced later this month. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says that the amount of water flowing out of Gavins Point Dam will be reduced starting on Nov. 22 by about 3,000 cubic feet per second each day until reaching a winter release rate of about 17,000 cubic feet per second.

That’s down significantly from the reduction seen a year earlier, after heavy rain and snow melt in the spring of 2019 sent the river to record levels and flooded parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.

 

HELEN MARIE PETERSEN, 98, of Elk Horn, formerly of Atlantic (11-9-2020)

Obituaries

November 5th, 2020 by Jim Field

HELEN MARIE PETERSEN, 98, of Elk Horn, formerly of Atlantic died Wednesday, November 4th at Salem Lutheran Home in Elk Horn.  Graveside services for HELEN MARIE PETERSEN will be held on Monday, November 9th at 10:00 am at the Elk Horn Lutheran Cemetery.  Hockenberry Family Care Funeral Home in Atlantic has the arrangements.

————————————————————————-

Visitation will be held on Sunday from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm at the funeral home.

Memorials may be directed to the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Atlantic or the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn.

Condolences may be left at www.hockenberryfamilycare.com.

LAYMOND WILLIAMS, 73, of Atlantic (Formerly of Walnut) (Svcs. 11/11/2020)

Obituaries

November 5th, 2020 by admin

LAYMOND WILLIAMS, 73, of Atlantic (Formerly of Walnut) died Sunday, November 1st at Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs. Celebration of Life Memorial Service for LAYMOND WILLIAMS will be held on Wednesday, November 11th at 3:00 p.m. at Roland Funeral Home in Atlantic.

No visitation with the family is planned. Military honors will be provided by the Atlantic Color Guard following the service.

Burial will be in the Brighton Township Cemetery in Marne at a later date.

Online condolences can be left at www.RolandFuneralService.com

LAYMOND WILLIAMS is survived by:

Wife: Linda Williams.

Children: Tim (Ruth) Glines of Atlantic. Tinna (Roger) Arbuckle of Walnut. Brenda Osborn of Council Bluffs. Tanya Stein of Atlantic.

11 Grandchildren

6 Great-Grandchildren

Trump won 70% of Election Day vote in Iowa, swamping Biden

News

November 5th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — President Trump received more than 70% of the votes cast on Election Day in Iowa, easily overcoming Joe Biden’s substantial lead among those who voted early. Unofficial results show Trump captured Iowa’s six electoral votes by winning more than 53% of the vote, defeating Joe Biden by about 138,700 votes. A record number of people voted early in person and through the mail. Those voters heavily favored Biden.

Trump entered Election Day facing a deficit of 161,000 votes but ended up picking up about 300,000. Only 704,000 votes were cast at polling places Tuesday, a 230,000 decrease from 2016 as voters embraced other voting options.

 

Governor Kim Reynolds urges Iowans to Step-up to Stop the spread of COVID-19

News

November 5th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds held her weekly Press Conference Thursday morning, via social media. During her session, she spoke about the elections and COVID-19. Reynolds said Iowa is not alone in the seeing a marked increase in the number of cases and hospitalizations.

She said increased testing capacity, vaccines on the horizon and other government solutions to the problem, are not enough to stop or slow the spread of the virus.

Reynolds said she understands Iowan’s and all Americans are experiencing “Pandemic Fatigue” with restrictions that remain, and the constant, daily reports showing the increasingly higher numbers of deaths and hospitalizations.

She says the last nine months have taken a toll on healthcare workers in additional Iowans in general.

Reynolds said the State will begin a sweeping Public Service campaign reminding Iowans to “Step-up and Stop” the spread of COVID-19.

Unemployment claims continue falling

News

November 5th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s overall unemployment claims continue to be on a downward trend. The U-S Department of Labor says the continuing unemployment claims dropped by 25-hundred-35 last week and are now down to around 37-thousand. Claims had peaked at nearly 190-thousand in May. The number of new unemployment claims were up by 614.

Iowa Workforce Development says we are entering the time of year where the state starts to see an increase in unemployment claims due to colder weather that slows the ag and construction industries.

Possibility of a recount in second congressional district

News

November 5th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – An election official in Iowa’s second congressional district says he won’t be surprised if there’s a recount in the race between Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democrat Rita Hart. The vote count posted on the Secretary of State’s website still shows Miller-Meeks leading by 282 votes. Jasper County Auditor Dennis Parrott says five different people associated with the Hart campaign contacted him for information on Wednesday. “I haven’t been told they’re going to ask for a recount, but they’re really looking into it if they’re wanting to find out this information,” Parrott says. “The information that they want are the number of provisionals, in which in Jasper is one, and how many ballots are still outstanding that could have been postmarked by the 2nd.”

Iowans who showed up to vote on Tuesday, but forgot their photo I-D or had requested an absentee ballot but didn’t have it to exchange for a regular ballot were allowed to cast a provisional ballot. Parrott says the number of not-yet-counted ABSENTEE ballots — particularly in Johnson and Scott Counties — will determine if there’s a recount. “They could have a sizable or not — who knows — amount of votes that still are going to be counted because people got them postmarked by Monday,” Parrott says.

Those ballots with a November 2nd postmark are to be counted if they’re delivered to a county auditor’s office by November 9th. When those ballots are counted and included in each county’s official canvas next week, the vote tally in this race will obviously change. State law allows candidates to request a county-wide recount or even a recount in a specific precinct.

Euken-Myers Family Region 3 Environmental Stewardship Award Program Winners

Ag/Outdoor

November 5th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Located in Lewis, Iowa the Euken-Myers family runs a cow-calf operation, feedlot and row-crop farm. Randy and Jill Euken along with their daughter and son-in-law Michelle and Steve Myers have a long family history of being a part of a row-crop and cattle farm. More than 100 years later Michelle and Steve are the 5th generation in the family to earn a living from the farm. Randy and Jill’s goal has always been to raise livestock and crops successfully enough to pass the farm to the next generation. To accomplish this goal, the family had to look at the challenges they face and put sustainable practices into place that would make them successful.

Iowa Cattlemen's AssocThe Euken’s focused on decreasing erosion on farmland, improving soil quality, maximizing use of feedlot nutrients, purchasing manure from neighboring cattle farmers, reducing run-off in their feedlot, and improving pasture management to increase the carrying load of their land. The family has been able to see their accomplishments and measure their success through the years. Since changing their management style, they have seen improvements in soil health, weaning weights have increased and their carbon footprint at the feedlot has decreased.

“Being a leader in conservation means being willing to try new things and explore ideas that might not yet be popular,” said Bill Northey, Former Secretary, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. “As pioneers of conservation, the Euken family embodies the spirit of what it means to be good stewards.”

Atlantic Experiencing Worrisome Childcare Shortage

News

November 5th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

At Wednesday night’s Atlantic City Council meeting, Councilman Pat McCurdy sounded the alarm with regard to a shortage of child care providers in Atlantic, especially with the closing of Zion Lutheran Church’ Daycare Program being shut down effective this Friday.

Mayor Dave Jones echoed the alarm, and added the reason for why Zion’s program, with approximately 60 children, is shutting down.

McCurdy said there are three or four home providers that closed down because of COVID, and some decided to retire. There is no one that has taken their place.  Officials with Childcare Resource & Referral of Southwest Iowa (CCR&R) reports in the last two weeks, multiple childcare programs in Atlantic have closed their doors, for a variety of reasons, leaving almost 100 children without childcare. Kelsey Smith-Walhovd, local CCR&R Child Care Consultant said “The Atlantic community is lucky to have excellent childcare providers and programs. We just simply do not have enough of them to meet growing demand. One of CCR&R’s goals is to recruit and retain the childcare workforce so our community can grow and thrive.”

CCR&R will be hosting a “Child Care Ready ” series, an online recruitment event, with hopes to recruit, retain, train and support quality childcare and early education providers. CCR&R has partnered with the Iowa Women’s Foundation to provide a small $250 incentive grant to each participant who completes the series. Funding will be primarily used to pay for costs associated with the start-up of becoming a childcare home provider opening a Child Development Home business. The incentive will potentially remove the barriers associated with the costs of training, start-up materials, supplies, and other issues individuals might be facing. Core training requirements, health, and safety items will be the first priority for childcare providers. This includes: Essentials Pre-Service training, CPR/First Aid, participant support, background checks, fingerprinting, business starter-kits, and incentives.

CCR&R is looking to expand their $250 incentive grant to better serve individuals looking to start their own home business. They have partnered with the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce and Cass/Atlantic Development in their efforts. The group is asking businesses/individuals to make a monetary donation of their choice to the project to be paired with the $250 grant. This will better incentivize and recruit new childcare providers to fill an immediate need while retaining and supporting existing childcare programs currently operating. If businesses or individuals wish to make a contribution to their efforts, checks can be made out to Cass/Atlantic Development or dropped off at their office located at 14 West 6th Street, Atlantic.

The “Childcare Ready” series event is available at no cost to attendees. If you are interested in opening a Child Development Home business, email Child Care Resource & Referral of Southwest Iowa at surich@westcca.org or 712-579-9057 for more information.

Man serving life for infant’s gruesome death loses appeal

News

November 5th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the murder conviction of a man serving life in prison for the the 2017 death of his infant son, who was found dead in a maggot-infested baby swing. Station WHO-TV reports that the appeals court on Wednesday rejected 31-year-old Zachary Koehn’s appeal of his first-degree murder and child endangerment convictions.

Koehn had argued the convictions should be vacated because, among other things, there was insufficient evidence to convict his and that the jury was given incorrect instructions. Officials have said Koehn’s son, Sterling, was found dead in his parents’ Alta Vista apartment and that he had been in the same diaper for up to two weeks.