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

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The Creston Police Department reports 43-year old Shawn Parmenter, of Creston, was arrested Wednesday afternoon, at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Parmenter was taken into custody on a Union County warrant for Theft in the 3rd Degree. He was later released on a $2,000 bond. And, on Jan. 3rd, Creston Police arrested 44-year old Brad Reed, of Creston. He was also taken into custody at the Union County LEC. Reed was charged with OWI/1st offense, and later released on $1,000 bond.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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GARRISON, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a worker was killed in an accident at an eastern Iowa rock quarry. First responders were sent around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday to Wendling Quarries, just southeast of Garrison. They found the man had been trapped in a rock bin and had already died. His name and details about what happened haven’t been released.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)) – It will cost you more to attend the Iowa State Fair this year. The fair announced Wednesday that gate prices for adults will rise to $14 from $12 last year, and tickets for children ages 6 to 11 will increase to $8 from $6. Advance purchase prices are going up a dollar: to $9 for adults and $5 for children ages 6 to 11. Children 5 and under still will get in free. There will be ticket discounts on some days for certain groups, including Older Iowans Day on Aug. 19. The fair runs Aug. 13-23 this year.

(Radio Iowa) — The State Ombudsman says her office saw the fifth straight year where they took more complaints and information requests. Ombudsman Kristie Hirschman says they had 54-hundred-six contacts during fiscal year 2019 — an increase of seven percent. “Everything in all categories just seems to be increasing,” she says.  One area did stick out a little more than others. “The only clear significant increase as far as categories of complaints is from jails,” according to Hirschman. “We know the jail populations are increasing. And our office has been saying for years that jails and prisons have become the warehouse for the mentally ill.

They saw 30 percent more complaints about jails and prisons.  “The top five complaint categories for jails are: health services, discipline, staff conduct, food and conditions and confinement,” she says. Hirschman says a lot of the medical complaints involve medication that can’t be resolved.  “They believe they are not getting medications or appropriate health care treatment. Part of that is there are medications not allowed in the prison system in certain situations — especially medications such as narcotics,” Hirschman explains.

Hirschman says she continues to have concern about the complaints generated about governments. She remains frustrated with transparency in all levels of government.  “In general from a big picture perspective — I think that agencies need to strive to be more transparent. — err on the side of transparency rather than secrecy,” according to Hirschman. She says one thing the public needs to do is look for all avenues where they can settle an issue before having to call her office. “If that is available to them, then we will decline the compliant until they have exhausted the process,” Hirschman says. “Even for example is somebody calls and says ‘the city won’t pay for my street.’ And then we ask them if they have brought their concerns to the attention of the city council. And if they say ‘no’ — we are going to ask them to bring their concerns to the appropriate governing body before our office gets involved — just because we get too many complaints.”

The complaints brought to her office in the 2019 fiscal year ended with 79 percent being unsubstantiated, three percent undetermined or no basis to determine, and 18 percent partially or fully substantiated. Hirschman expects the complaints about local governments to continue to increase as a new law promotes the Ombudsman as a place for employees to report fraud and waste. The report can be found online at www.legis.iowa.gov/Ombudsman.

(Radio Iowa) — Residents along the Missouri River are hearing repeated warnings of likely flooding in 2020 due to saturated soil conditions from a very wet 2019. Kevin Low, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service, says the latest 90-day river outlook indicates a high probability for continued or renewed flooding along several of the Missouri River’s tributaries. “For the main stem Missouri River itself, there’s roughly a 50-50 chance for minor flooding to occur in some reaches below Nebraska City,” Low says. “All of this risk for flooding is, of course, dependent on the timing and locations of any plains snowmelt, rain-on-snow events, and just plain rain events.”

The projections are based on several factors, including precipitation expected in the next three months. Doug Kluck is the regional climate services director with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Kansas City. Kluck says the outlook for January through March indicates elevated levels of above-normal precipitation across the entire Missouri River basin thanks to heavy rain and snow in the mountains and plains. “The confidence level in those predictions, or that outlook, isn’t extremely high,” Kluck says. “I’ll say that. We don’t have a strong El Nino or La Nina. We’re not leaning on a lot with these predictions. However, as of this moment anyway, we’re saying above-normal precipitation. Most of that will be snow, as you’d expect, in Montana and Wyoming.”

Heavy runoff from mountain snowpack is also expected to continue. John Remus, chief of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Missouri River Basin Water Management Division, offers assurances to residents in the region. “The Corps remains fully committed to our flood risk reduction mission, protecting stakeholders when we can from significant runoff events that pose a threat to human health and safety,” Remus says. “Floods can and will occur regardless of basin or system conditions, including ice-induced flooding during the winter freeze-in and spring breakup periods, and flooding due to thunderstorms.”

Corps officials say releases from Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota were increased on Tuesday from 27,000 to 30,000 cubic feet per second. Because of the high runoff expected, monthly average releases are expected to range from 33,000 c-f-s during the summer to 42,000 c-f-s in the fall. Releases will be reduced in response to downstream flooding when appropriate. The National Weather Service will issue its first spring flooding outlook on February 13th.

One person was arrested Wednesday night in Montgomery County, following a incident in the 1800 block of 130th Street. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports Erin Collins, of Villisca, was transported to the Montgomery County Jail on simple misdemeanor charges that include Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of drug paraphernalia. Collins’ bond was set at $1,000.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:25 a.m. CST

NEVADA, Iowa (AP) — A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for his role in the violent robbery and assault of an elderly central Iowa woman. The Des Moines Register reports that Manuel Eduardo Balderas was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in November to robbery, burglary and willful injury counts. Balderas was one of three men accused of breaking into a then-82-year-old woman’s Kelley home in August 2018, temporarily blinding the grandmother before beating and robbing her. Investigators say she was also sexually assaulted. Balderas had been charged with first-degree sexual abuse, but prosecutors dropped that charge and three others in exchange for his guilty pleas.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t expect to eliminate from its reservoir system all the leftover water from last year’s near record runoff that led to massive flooding along the Missouri River. Officials are raising the current releases in expectation of high spring runoff again this year. The Corps’ John Remus told the Omaha World-Herald the system needs to make as much space as possible in light of forecasts for warmer than normal weather and higher than normal runoff. He says the Corps normally doesn’t release more during the winter because of the potential for ice jams and dams upriver.

COLO, Iowa (AP) — Officers are investigating the deaths of two people in what Story County officials say was a murder-suicide. A relative called 911 after discovering the bodies around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at a residence in Colo. The Story County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately release the names of the two, nor provide information about the causes of their deaths. State officials have joined the investigation.

DUNKERTON, Iowa (AP) — The former police chief of a small eastern Iowa town has pleaded guilty to charges that she collected pay for hours she didn’t work. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Katherine Krieger entered the pleas Monday to theft and felonious misconduct in office. She was chief in Dunkerton, a town of about 830 residents around 100 miles northeast of Des Moines. Prosecutors say Krieger collected pay for hours in Dunkerton when she was working another law enforcement job and for training and meetings she never attended last spring. Court records say she received $3,000 in unearned pay.

Members of the Atlantic School Board, Wednesday night, received an update from Superintendent Steve Barber, with regard to the District’s Facilities projects. Barber said they are working with Snyder and Associates Engineers, to ensure that the sidewalk project in front of the Middle School meets ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements. Portions of the sidewalks are in bad shape. Snyder’s, he said, will make sure local concrete businesses will have the opportunity to bid on the project, which will be taken care of this summer.

He said also, the firm will produce a cost estimate for the replacement of the roof above the Schuler gymnasium. And, in the near future, Barber says the fund-raising committee for the Atlantic Booster Club will put out a News Release on raising funds for the Facility Project, for the addition of turf to the Trojan Bowl, as discussed last June. As it currently stands, donation recognition levels will begin with: “Players” at $300-$999; Those who contribute $1,000 to $2,499 are at the “Black: level; The “Gold” level is for funds from $5,000 to $9,999; “Letter Winner” is $10,000 to $49,999; and, “Trojan Head” level donation recognition is for those donations of $50,000 and above.

Barber said work on “Moving dirt” continues at the Trojan Bowl, and that work on the concession stands will move forward, weather permitting, after the permafrost is no longer a factor…sometime in April.

Scoreboard options

Activity Director Andy Mitchell spoke to the Board about three options for scoreboards at the District’s Athletic Facilities. The Trojan Bowl Scoreboard  favored by the School Board, has the words “Atlantic” on the left and “Trojans” on the right, with digital scores and video information (such as final track results) in the center, flanked at the bottom by smaller, billboard sponsors.

The pricing for each of the three scoreboard options varies with the design and overall size. Mitchell will gather more information on the scoreboards and bring that back to the School Board, during their meeting in February.