The City of Atlantic issued a notice on Thursday afternoon that due to the burn ban and windy conditions the compost site is closed until further notice. We’ll update you with more information as it becomes available.

(Radio Iowa) – A report from Iowa’s largest auto insurer shows the state is still one of the most dangerous for drivers at risk of hitting wildlife, as well as pets and livestock. Kelly Pargett, a spokeswoman for State Farm Insurance, says Iowa drivers have a one-in-58 chance of colliding with an animal while on the road. She says the company had 40-thousand Iowa customers report incidents involving animals in the past fiscal year.

Pargett says, “Iowa is ranked 7th in the nation for animal collisions, most of which are still deer, but there were other animals — dogs, cats and then, of course, farm animals for this part of the country were a huge category this year.” It’s mating season for deer, plus, it’s harvest season across Iowa and the hundreds of tractors and combines are driving deer by the thousands out of the fields and onto the highways. While 67-percent of the reported animal collisions involved deer, other animals drivers had unfortunate encounters with included: cows, squirrels, turtles, raccoons, rabbits, rats and opossums.

“Iowa being the Hawkeye State, a lot of birds — birds is a big category this year,” Pargett says. “They swoop down and they’re doing enough damage to have the driver file a claim and nationwide, 15,000 of those in the bird category are turkeys.” The likelihood of an animal collision more than doubles during October, November and December. 2020 being the year of coronavirus, so many people were staying home at the start of the pandemic, the number of drivers on the roads dropped — and so did the number of accidents.

“One thing we did see this year is the difference in March of this year compared to March of last year,” Pargett says. “This year we saw a 20% decrease, which is over 70,000 less claims reported.” Iowa’s seventh-place ranking this year is down from fifth last year. Those above Iowa for the riskiest states for animal collisions are, number-one: West Virginia, followed by Montana, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Michigan and Wisconsin.

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Police in central Iowa are looking for two vandals who ruined freshly-poured concrete on a popular trail trestle bridge. The Ankeny Police Department says in a news release that a male and female rode bicycles on a newly-poured extension of the High Trestle Trail on Oct. 2. Police say tire tracks and footprints were left along about 300 yards of the partially set cement.

Writing was also scrawled into the concrete, which hardened before the damage was found. Officials say the concrete will have to be replaced at a cost up to $75,000. Police are asking anyone with information to call the department.

Atlantic, IA –The Parents as Teachers (PAT) program through Cass County Public Health has immediate openings for up to ten families. PAT is a free program for families with children ages 0-5, focusing on interactions between parents and their children, and traditionally provides home visits to help young children grow up healthy, safe,and ready to learn.

Due to the current pandemic, the PAT educators are meeting virtually with families through video calls. Nancy Gibson, PAT Coordinator, says “Parents really are their children’s first and most influential teacher. Parents as Teachers has been providing services to Cass County residents since 1998, and we are a credentialed, evidence-based program.”

During a PAT visit, the PAT educator works on getting a complete health history, doing developmental screenings to catch any delays as early as possible, check on immunizations, and much more. Children in the program also have access to free vision, hearing, and dental checks. The PAT program is partially funded by a grant from Boost 4 Families.

Parents who are interested in the program can contact Nancy Gibson at 712-243-7475. Referrals are also welcome—anyone who knows of a family that could benefit from participating is encouraged to call.

(Atlantic) – Coca-Cola Days was cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the local committee wanted to find a way to still celebrate the occasion. Bailey Smith, Executive Director at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce said “With the National Coca-Cola Collector Association making the tough decision to cancel the event, we searched for a way to celebrate safely. Our Atlantic Coke Days committee decided to carry on the annual t-shirt tradition and celebrate virtually giving collectors and community members the opportunity to still celebrate Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company,”

This year’s feature theme is “Chilin’ with Coca-Cola”. 2020 Coca-Cola Days t-shirts are now available online at www.atlanticiowa.com. T-shirts are $15 for short sleeve or $25 for long sleeve. Shirts may be picked up locally or can be shipped for an additional fee.

Contact the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce at 712-243-3017 or email chamber@atlanticiowa.com with further questions.

(Associated Press) – A White House task force focusing on the coronavirus pandemic has told Iowa officials that many of the deaths caused by the high level of virus spread in Iowa were preventable. The report was released to the media a day after Gov. Kim Reynolds said Iowans shouldn’t let the virus dominate their lives.

Average daily deaths have increased over the past two weeks to 10 per day. State health data shows 1,515 new cases were identified through testing over the last 24 hours on Thursday and five additional deaths bring the state death toll to 1,419.

(Radio Iowa) – We’re now 26 days from the election and political analysts are trying to determine how much larger an influence women voters will be during this cycle compared to past presidential election years. Karen Kedrowski, director of Iowa State University’s Catt Center for Women and Politics, predicts more American women will be voting in 2020 than ever before. “What we have found over time is that women’s voting behavior, their turnout, has steadily increased to the point where in 2016, women were the large majority of voters,” Kedrowski says. “More than 10-million more women than men showed up and cast votes in 2016.”

Since 1980, there’s been what Kedrowski refers to as a “gender gap,” as women are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates, while men are more likely to vote Republican. “This, of course, is not a pure division, there are Republican women and Democratic men, but in 2016, it was the largest gender gap that we had ever seen,” Kedrowski says. “It was 11 points in favor of Secretary Hillary Clinton over President Donald Trump.”

In this year which marks the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment — which gave millions of women the right to vote, it appears women could be key in swinging this year’s presidential race. “The early polling indicates the gender gap in 2020 promises to be even bigger,” Kendrowski says. “It’s looking like as much as 20 points between men and women in whether or not they are going to vote for President Trump or Vice President Biden, so that’s definitely something to watch.”

There’s a continued push to get students on the I-S-U campus to take part in the November election. In 2016, she says on-campus participation in that presidential election was around 55-percent, compared to only 40-percent of college students nationwide. Kendrowski says under-24-year-olds are the least likely demographic to vote.