The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department’s Board of Directors are set to meet 5:15-p.m. Monday, in the City Council’s Chambers at City Hall. During their regular meeting, The Board will receive updates from Parks & Rec Director Seth Staashelm on: The Schildberg Recreation Area Development Project, including the West side Shelter Design, East side playground, and Lake number three trail;  And updates on the Community Parks Project, as well as the Sunnyside Park Entrance Sign. Other updates include those pertaining to the Ice Rink, and Campground at the Schildberg Rec Area.

The Board will also discuss with Staashelm, the Parks Dept. 10-year plan. They’ll hear about upcoming program events, also. A reminder from Staashelm: Sunnyside Park is open all winter, and the roads will remain open, weather permitting.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A woman accused of leaving her children home alone, including one child covered in feces, has pleaded guilty to one of the charges against her as part of a deal with prosecutors. The Des Moines Register reports that 26-year-old Destinee Miller, of Des Moines, appeared Thursday in Polk County District Court and pleaded guilty to neglect or abandonment of a dependent person. She faces up to 10 years in prison when she’s sentenced March 26.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Lake City farmer has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for committing fraud to get bank loans, crop insurance proceeds and ease a bankruptcy burden. Federal prosecutors say 36-year-old Clint Devries was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in September to two counts of making false statements and one count of bankruptcy fraud.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa mother accused of leaving her four children home alone while traveled to Germany could avoid a prison sentence. The Des Moines Register reports that prosecutors have offered to drop a gun charge against 31-year-old Erin Macke and give her a deferred judgment if she pleads guilty to four counts of child endangerment. Macke is currently charged with the four counts plus one count of making a firearm available to a person under 21. Police say she left four kids all 12 and under alone.

KENSETT, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa State Patrol says one person was killed and two were injured, including a sheriff’s deputy, in separate crashes on Interstate 35 in north-central Iowa. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that the crashes both happened Friday night on the same stretch of the southbound lanes of the interstate near Kensett. A semitrailer driver was injured when his rig hit a bridge support. Later, a driver rear-ended a sheriff deputy’s SUV at the crash site. That driver died, and the deputy was hurt.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A woman accused of leaving her children home alone, including one child covered in feces, has pleaded guilty to one of the charges against her as part of a deal with prosecutors.

The Des Moines Register reports that 26-year-old Destinee Miller, of Des Moines, appeared Thursday in Polk County District Court and pleaded guilty to neglect or abandonment of a dependent person. She faces up to 10 years in prison when she’s sentenced March 26.

In exchange for her guilty plea, three counts of child endangerment were dropped. She was charged in October after officers found her three young children outside their filthy home. One child was covered with feces, another had a full diaper. Police say she left her 4-year-old boy in charge of his 2- and 1-year-old siblings.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Lake City farmer has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for committing fraud to get bank loans, crop insurance proceeds and ease a bankruptcy burden. Federal prosecutors say 36-year-old Clint Devries was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in September to two counts of making false statements and one count of bankruptcy fraud.

Prosecutors say he lied from 2013 through 2015 to a bank about the amount of crops he had in storage and other things to obtain farm operating loans. He later defaulted on more than $400,000 in loans from the bank. Officials say he also lied to the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to fraudulently obtain crop insurance proceeds, and that in 2015, he lied to a bankruptcy trustee about sales of his crops.

Another candidate has announced his intentions to file papers on March 5th, to run for the Cass County Board of Supervisors in District 2. Mark O’Brien announced Saturday he intends to run for the seat being vacated at the end of the year by current District 2 Supervisor Gaylord Schelling, who has decided not to run for re-election. O’Brien joins Pat McCurdy in his bid to claim the seat in the June Primary. There is also a two-man race for the District 3 Supervisor’s seat held by Mark Wedemeyer, who is not running for re-election. The candidates include Dana Halder and John P. Hartkopf.

In a press release, O’Brien said “As a lifelong resident of Cass County, I feel I would be a respected voice for my fellow constituents due to the years of knowledge and experience I have attained on both a professional and personal level.” His experiences include: Owning and operating Iron Specialties, Inc., specializing in metal building construction along with general contracting of commercial and agricultural projects for over 30 years; He’s a residential and commercial property owner; farm and land owner; He serves on various local boards and committees; and is involved with coaching and coordinating various youth activities, as well as volunteer work around the community.

Mark O’Brien says his key objectives as a potential member of the Cass County Board of Supervisors “Will be to focus on keeping spending in-check, creating smart budgeting for continued county growth, improvement and progress, and having an open-door policy to the voters who elect [him], so their voices can be heard.” He says also, he believes his “Diverse knowledge of the construction industry would be an asset to the Board in the capacities of both planning and budgeting.

O’Brien’s family includes his wife Trish, and their sons Chris, Jason and Kolby, along with their families. He said he has recently begun the process to retire, and passing his business on to his sons. He says “As my duties at the office come to an end, I am eager to put my time to use serving the county.” Anyone with questions may contact him at 712-249-4881, or by e-mail (marktobrien@msn.com). A reminder to person interest in running for office in Cass County, the first day for Democratic and Republican candidates for county offices to file nomination papers in the office of the county auditor is Monday, March 5, 2018.  The last day to file is Wednesday, March 28, 2018. Nomination papers may be circulated prior to first date for filing as well as during the filing period.  Nomination papers are available at the office of the county auditor and from the secretary of state ( www.sos.iowa.gov )

Red Oak Police say four people were injured during a collision Saturday morning on Summit Street. Authorities say the driver of a 1993 Ford Explorer, 20-year old Benjamin Lee Thiel, of Red Oak, suffered possible broken ribs from impact to the steering wheel. The injury occurred after an apparent seat belt failure. Thiel was transported by Red Oak Rescue to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital.

Three male children passengers in a 2007 Kia Sedona van, driven by 29-year old Nicole Ann Smith, of Red Oak, were also injured. They include a 7-year old, 3-year old and a 1-year old. The children suffered suspected minor, non-incapacitating injuries and were transported by EMS ground to MCMH. Two of the children were then flown to Omaha for further evaluation.

Nicole Smith was not injured in the collision that happened at around 11:30-a.m., Saturday. Smith and the children were properly secured in the vehicle.

Officials say Smith’s Kia was westbound going down Summit Street, while the Explorer was eastbound going up Summit. The SUV lost traction due to the road conditions and crossed the center line, into the path of the KIA. The Explorer hit the van on the front driver’s side. After the impact, the KIA swerved to the right and across Park Driveway before coming to rest in the southwest corner of the parking lot. The SUV came to rest on the road. Both vehicles were totaled in the crash.

The accident remains under investigation, with no citations issued prior to the outcome of the investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa mother accused of leaving her four children home alone to travel to Europe could avoid a prison sentence. The Des Moines Register reports that prosecutors have offered to drop a gun charge against 31-year-old Erin Macke and give her a deferred judgment if she pleads guilty to four counts of child endangerment.

Macke is currently charged with the four counts plus one count of making a firearm available to a person under 21. Police were called to her home in September by the children’s father, who said the kids — two age 12, one 7, one 6 — had been left alone. Police say Macke tried but failed to make child care arrangements before leaving Sept. 20 for a 10-day vacation in Germany.

A plea hearing is scheduled for Feb. 23.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium in Omaha has a panda on display — but not the black-and-white animal from China. The Omaha World-Herald reports the zoo has a red panda on display ahead of completion of the zoo’s new home for the animals — set to open in the spring — in it Asian Highlands exhibit. Zoo officials say the 2-year-old red panda named Tofu arrived from the Detroit Zoo in January. Tofu will eventually be joined by another female and a breeding male.

The Omaha zoo first acquired red pandas in 1987, then phased out the species in 1997. Despite the name, red pandas aren’t related to giant pandas. Red pandas are close relatives to raccoons, skunks and weasels and are the size of a small raccoon.

Authorities in Creston say no injuries were reported following a collision Friday morning. According to the officer’s report, a 1997 Ford Ranger pickup driven by 71-year old Douglas John Lee, of Creston, was traveling westbound on Howard Street at around 9-a.m., and approaching a stop sign at Lincoln Street. Lee stopped and pulled away from the stop sign, then paused before proceeding into the intersection. He didn’t see a 2013 4-door Ford driven by 53-year old Mark Eugene Chubick, of Creston, that was traveling north on Lincoln. Chubick had the right-of-way.

Chubick told authorities Lee failed to stop. He tried to steer to the right to avoid a collision, but was unable to do so due to the snow on the road. The left front side of Chubick’s vehicle made contact with the left rear side of the pickup. An investigation resulted in Douglas Lee being given a verbal warning for Failure to Yield the Right-of-Way from a stop sign. Damage from the collision amounted to $10,000.

Dozens of Iowa schools are now offering students an option to quench their thirst that doesn’t involve a sugary soft drink. Through a program called “Rethink Your Drink,” qualifying schools are replacing old water fountains with bottle refilling stations that dispense optimally-fluoridated water. Jeff Russell is the president and C-E-O of Delta Dental of Iowa, which is sponsoring the effort.

“We’ve been working with 54 schools throughout Iowa in 26 counties to retrofit their water fountains into bottle filling stations so kids can fill up water bottles and drink water throughout the day,” Russell says. “As well, for these 28,000 students, we gave them each a water bottle and a toothbrush and a bookmark to remind them about the importance of drinking water.”

Russell says Delta Dental has been involved in various projects over the years designed to improve the health and wellness of Iowans, but this is a new venture. “This is the first time we’ve done the water bottle filling stations and it was a huge success,” he says. “We had 170 applications from around Iowa. We were able to fulfill 54 this time and we’re going to do another round of grant applications this year.”

He says 100-thousand dollars was allocated for the program initially but there was such a demand, the company decided to spend 230-thousand. He explains how they narrowed down the 54 schools. “We were focused on schools that had a high percentage of free and reduced lunch students and that didn’t have a water bottle filling station,” Russell says. “Certainly, we wanted to also do those in communities that had fluoride in their water.”

Studies find more than half of children and teens in the U-S aren’t properly hydrated during the school day, which can impact cognitive function and energy levels. Russell says drinking optimally-fluoridated water provides needed hydration and also protects tooth enamel and makes it more resistant to cavities. Plus, having a water bottle filling station in school encourages students to refill their personal water bottles and provides a low-cost way for kids to stay hydrated.

(Radio Iowa)