(Radio Iowa) – Many Iowa students are already back in school or they will be soon, though for hundreds, returning to class means distance learning via computer. Bao Vang, a spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau, offers a few safety tips for Iowa parents — and for students — to keep in mind when they’re working online, whether it’s from a laptop, a tablet or a cell phone.  “You just never know who you’re talking with or communicating with,” Vang says. “As parents, know what your child is doing online and keep track of social media sites and accounts to which they have access.”

Vang recommends parents use parental controls on those electronic devices, if necessary, especially for younger children.  “Don’t share your location,” she says. “There’s a lot of apps out there that automatically track your location when you sign up or tell them your zip code, but you can always disable that in your settings.”

The B-B-B says kids should also be reminded not to click on spam or junk mail.

Patrons of the IKM-Manning School District will head to the polls Tuesday, Sept. 8th, to cast their ballot that will determine the fate of a $19.2-million dollar bond issue to “provide funds to renovate, remodel, repair, improve, furnish and equip” district facilities, including HVAC, safety and security improvements, AND to construct, furnish and equip an addition to the Manning School Building, and to improve the site.

The addition would create a K-12 center, in Manning. School officials say one factor voters may consider, is a drop in interest rates due to the pandemic, that helps the district secure $3.2 million of the project cost without taxing. In addition to the renovation of the elementary section, built in 1958, the bond will also help pay for upgrades in the next few years to the high school, which was added in the 1970s. The District has said the approximate overall tax rate impact for the District, is $2.00 per $1,000 taxable valuation, or an additional $100.45 per year on residential property valued at $100,000, and $180 for Commercial property with the same valuation.

If the referendum fails to garner enough votes to pass, a new vote may be scheduled for a year from Tuesday. In the mean time, the IKM-Manning Board will have to make some tough decisions on budgeting for the needs of both the Manning and Irwin school sites. The polls are open from 7-a.m. until 8-p.m., Tuesday. Polling sites are as follows:

• SHELBY & AUDUBON COUNTY voters: The Irwin Community Building (404 Ann St., Irwin)
• CARROLL COUNTY voters: Sacred Heart Church Hall (203 Sue St., Manning).
• CRAWFORD COUNTY voters: The Manilla Fire Station (553 Main St., Manilla).

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa State Patrol is holding a special enforcement effort that run through this Labor Day. Trooper John Farley says There’s a continued focus on bringing down the number of drivers who are clocked at excessive speeds. He says they have many posts online about people who are driving 25 miles-and-hour over the limit to those who are exceeding 100 miles-an-hour on the roadways.  Farley says those types of drivers have increased by 47 percent last year and this year the increase is around 85 percent. He says it is one thing that can be controlled and keep accidents from happening.

“Speed is a factor in every collision. No matter what, speed is a factor. And we can save we have icy roads, we have fog or somebody runs a stop sign — speed is still a factor because cars are moving. And we have to make sure we understand that –we are driving within our capabilities, we are driving within the law,” Farley says. He says excessive speed magnifies the problems created when something does go wrong on the roadway. “It just creates more catastrophe when those collisions occur,” he says.

Farley says the Labor Day weekend usually does not have as many accidents as other holidays and they want to be sure that excessive speed does not change that.

Red Oak Police arrested two men on separate charges, Sunday. At around 5:43-p.m., 28-year old Nathan Allen Dishong, of Red Oak, was arrested at 3rd and E. Reed Streets, for fighting (Disdorderly conduct). Dishong was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond. And, at around 7:24-p.m., 37-year old Kyle Anthony Zeigler, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 800 block of E. Reed Street, for Driving While Barred. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.