A portion of Atlantic is without power due to a broken power line near the Atlantic bus barn this afternoon. The line broke just before 4:00pm on Friday. Atlantic Fire was also called to the area of the power line break to deal with a grass fire that broke out due to the power line issue.

Travel is also difficult on the east side of town as the traffic lights are down due to the power line breakage. Lights are down east of Olive Street.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the state’s efforts to confine indefinitely two men convicted for sex abuse crimes under a state law allowing sexually-violent predators to be committed. The court concluded that 29-year old Nicholas Wygle, of Aplington, could not be further imprisoned because he had completed his two-year prison sentence for assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and was serving a special 10-year sentence in an Ames residential facility when the state began its civil commitment proceedings.

The court concluded state law only allows officials to commit sexual predators if they’re “presently confined” or if they commit another sex-related crime. Wygle had not committed another crime and the court concluded being in a residential facility is not the same as being presently confined. As a result, the court ordered the case dismiss and Wygle will not be held in the civil commitment program.

In a second case, 66-year old Ronald Tripp, of Hazleton, will be released from civil commitment after the court ruled his case should have been dismissed. The justices concluded the state lacked evidence to show Tripp committed another sex-related crime that justified civil commitment.

Both cases were decided by a split 4-3 decision. State civil commitment programs have been challenged in court cases that have reached the U.S. Supreme Court. There is a case currently scheduled for trial Oct. 1 in federal court in Cedar Rapids in which nine men claim the Iowa civil commitment program is unconstitutional because it fails to offer adequate counseling and other services that would rehabilitate them enough for release.

Court challenges to Iowa’s law enacted in 1998 highlight the difficult balance states must strike between keeping dangerous sexual predators off the streets and not violating their constitutional rights by imprisoning them longer than their court-mandated sentences.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports 29-year old Nicole Marie Zeski, of Glenwood, was arrested Tuesday evening following an investigation into an accident. Zeski was driving a 2002 Hyundai north on 250th Street at around 6:55-p.m., when she lost control of her vehicle.

The vehicle went onto the right shoulder of the road, swerved and crossed over the southbound lane before hitting the west ditch embankment and rolling over. Zeski admitted she was texting her boyfriend at the time. No one was injured.

Zeski faces charges that include OWI/1st offense, Failure to Maintain Control and Open container. Her bond was set at $1,000.

JEFFERSON, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa city is reviewing its animal control policies and suspending its practice of trapping and fatally shooting feral cats. City administrator Mike Palmer says Jefferson has had feral cat colonies for years. The city usually supplies traps to residents and businesses, and police then kill the captured cats. Palmer says the officers are trained to recognize when cats are wild and that the department kills about one cat a month.

City Councilman Matt Wetrich says the city is looking to temporarily house up to 30 cats, pending the policy review. Animal Rescue League of Iowa officials say they’re working with the city to find better solutions, such as trapping and neutering.

ELMWOOD, Neb. (AP) — A snowy owl found starving along a southwest Iowa highway has been nursed back to health at recovery centers in Nebraska and Minnesota. The Omaha World-Herald reports a motorist found the owl weak and barely able to fly in November near Henderson in southwest Iowa. It was first taken to the Fontenelle Forest’s Raptor Recovery center near Elmwood in eastern Nebraska. Then it was sent to The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Denise Lewis with the Fontenelle Forest center says the bird was released in top shape less than two weeks ago in Minnesota. The movie bird known as Hedwig in the “Harry Potter” films was depicted as a snowy owl.

The cost of tuition isn’t the only thing going up at the three state-supported universities. The Board of Regents approved an increase in room and board rates for the schools at their meeting Thursday in Council Bluffs. The cost for the most popular double room and meal plan at the University of Iowa will go up two-point-seven percent, it increases two-point-four percent at Iowa State University, and one-point-nine percent at the University of Northern Iowa. Regent Nancy Boetger, of Harlan, asked Brad Berg of the Regents office if the rates go up consistently every year. “Yeah, I think that’s a fair statement. These systems are 100 percent responsible for all of their operating costs in addition to all of their capital improvements, and they are a self supporting unit,” Berg says.

Berg say they try to keep the costs increases down. Berg says they are aware that this is part of the cost of attending the three schools.

The most common plan at the University of Iowa with a double room and full board will increase 269 dollars to ten-thousand-284 dollars. At Iowa State that same plan will increase 203 dollars to eight-thousand-720 dollars. The University of Northern Iowa plan increase 167 dollars to eight-thousand-948 dollars.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowans have enjoyed weather conditions the past couple days that are more typical for mid-April, but a return to winter is right around the corner. Highs will be climbing into the 70s in some areas this afternoon, before rain and snow move in tonight. National Weather Meteorologist Todd Heitkamp says the heaviest snow, 4 to 8 inches, is expected over far northwest and north-central Iowa. A blizzard warning is posted for an area that includes Le Mars, Spencer, and Algona. “No matter how much snow falls across the area this weekend, the other thing we have to keep in minds is the winds,” Heitkamp says. “The winds are going to be gusting at 40 to 50 miles an hour and that’s going to cause all kinds of reduced visibilities, whiteout conditions, and blizzard conditions in many areas.”

Thunderstorms are possible across Iowa late this afternoon and evening. Some could be severe with large hail, damaging winds, and possibly tornadoes. The rain will transition to snow in many locations. Atlantic, Des Moines, Marshalltown, and Waterloo can expect one or two inches of snow. Heavier snowfall totals are forecast to the north with two to three inches in Carroll and Ames, three to four inches in Fort Dodge and Decorah, and four to six inches in Storm Lake and Mason City. Heitkamp say this likely WON’T be the last winter storm of the season. “We have another storm coming in at us again late next week,” Heitkamp says. “This is just a pattern that is not changing right now. You know, a lot of people are wanting the moisture, but it would be nice to have it in the form of rain instead of snow. Right now, Mother Nature is not cooperating…obviously with this storm this weekend and then the next storm that’s probably coming in probably next weekend.”

It’ll begin turning colder this evening. By Sunday, high temperatures will likely remain in the 30s across the entire state.

(Radio Iowa)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Hispanic woman who says her white Iowa co-workers used images of Donald Trump to racially harass her has dropped a lawsuit against their employer. Alexandra Avila dismissed her lawsuit against Sedgwick Claims Management on Monday, three months ahead of a scheduled trial. Her attorney, Paige Fiedler, says the dispute has been resolved “to the parties’ satisfaction” but declined to elaborate, including on whether there’s a monetary settlement. Sedgwick’s attorney declined comment.

Avila’s lawsuit made headlines when it was filed days before the 2016 presidential election. She alleged her co-workers at a Coralville office harassed her for months after learning she was angered by Trump’s description of Mexican immigrants as rapists. She alleged they called her an “illegal immigrant” even though she’s a U.S. citizen, repeatedly put pictures of an angry Trump as her computer screensaver, sent her racist memes and signed her up to volunteer for Trump’s campaign.

Police in Red Oak today (Friday), arrested 26-year old Devon Keith Hale, (no address given), on a charge of Theft in the 5th Degree. Hale was taken into custody at around 10:15-a.m. at 710 N. Broadway Street, in Red Oak (a Kum & Go store). He was brought to the Montgomery County Jail, and held on a $300 cash bond.

A woman from Council Bluffs already being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail, was served with a warrant Thursday, for Violation of Probation. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says 29-year old Heather Nadine Pedersen was read the warrant and had it explained to her, before she was returned to the custody of Corrections staff. Later that same afternoon, a separate warrant for the same offense from the 4th Judicial District Probation/Parole Office, was served on Pedersen.

A woman wanted on a warrant for Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense, turned herself-in to the sheriff’s office, Thursday afternoon. 24-year old Calista Madalana Caudillo, of Omaha, was transported to the Pott. County Jail and turned over to Corrections staff. A man from Council Bluffs was arrested Thursday night, after deputies responded to a report of a man who would not leave a bar in McClelland. 70-year old Michael Ray Christensen was arrested for Public Intoxication, Theft in the 5th Degree (for the alleged theft of cab fare amounting to $42), Interference with Official Acts, and Disorderly Conduct.