AMES, Iowa – Jan. 11, 2018 – The Iowa Department of Transportation will hold a public information meeting Tuesday, Jan. 23rd, to discuss two Missouri Valley bypass corridor study areas. The northern study area extends along Harrison County Road F-50 from Interstate 29 to U.S. 30. The southern study area includes an area south of Missouri Valley and extends along U.S. 30 from I-29 to 280th Street.

All interested persons are invited to attend this meeting anytime between 4 and 6 p.m. at the Rand Community Center, 100 S. Fourth St., in Missouri Valley. The meeting will be conducted utilizing an open forum format. Iowa DOT staff will be present to informally discuss the proposed improvements. No formal presentation will be made.

The meeting space is accessible for persons with disabilities. However, if you require special accommodations at the meeting, please notify by no later than Jan.19th: Scott Suhr, transportation planner, Iowa DOT District 4 Office, 2210 E. Seventh St., Atlantic, Iowa 50022, phone 712-243-3355 or 800-289-4368, email scott.suhr@iowadot.us.  Scott Suhr can also be contacted for general project information.

The push to prepare more nurses to fill a growing shortage in Iowa is bringing an educational collaboration between two private colleges in Des Moines. A partnership between Drake University and Mercy College of Health Sciences will enable students to earn two bachelor degrees in four years. Nancy Kertz, dean of Mercy’s School of Nursing, says the accelerated program will help fill a significant number of job openings in nursing. Kertz says, “The opportunity of increasing the number of nurses into the Des Moines and Iowa community is so important during this critical nursing shortage.”

Students in the program will come away with a B-S degree in Health Sciences from Drake and a B-S in Nursing from Mercy. The U-S Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the nursing profession is growing by 15-percent a year. Kertz says the goal is to quickly start tackling the shortage of nurses in Iowa. Kertz says, “An accelerated program allows us to produce high-quality registered nurses for not only the Des Moines area, but the rural areas of Iowa.”

Drake is entering a similar arrangement with Allen College in Waterloo. Des Moines Area Community College has agreements with the University of Iowa, Iowa Wesleyan and Iowa State University aimed at educating more nurses.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Rob Dillard, Iowa Public Radio)

The Atlantic School Board is still kicking around ideas about what to do with the district’s athletic facilities. More specifically, improving the current Trojan Bowl to make it safer and ADA compliant, or updating the High School Soccer field, making it a multi-purpose (including football), field. The answer may come next month. A Master Planning Committee submitted its recommendation following several meetings over the past couple of years, after an architect was hired to conduct an athletics facility study, and the Board, Wednesday agreed they need to get the ball rolling again. The board will continue their discussion at the January 24^th work session with a goal to decide at the February 14^th board meeting.

School Board President Alison Bruckner said safety should be the main factor in making their decision which direction they should go, next. Problem areas around the Trojan Bowl include: An insufficient playing area size meet the current safety requirements; the cinder track around the field is difficult to deal with during inclement weather, as it becomes muddy and creates problems for anyone using it, including cheerleaders, the band, and transport vehicles; and, there is erosion of padding around the retaining walls taking place.

The facilities study showed also, that the bleachers on the visitor side are not ADA compliant.

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

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The City of Clarinda has placed into effect the on-street parking ban for snow removal operations. All on-street parking in Clarinda is banned until 7:00 a.m. on Friday, January 12^th. Vehicles left parked on city streets are subject to fines, towing/impoundment.

Shelby County Sheriff Neil Gross today (Thursday), has implemented a Tow Ban, and advised residents travel is not recommended unless necessary.  Roads out in the county are 100% ice covered making travel dangerous. A tow ban means if your vehicle becomes stuck in a ditch, it cannot be towed until the weather improves.

Tow bans are also in-place for Pottawattamie, Mills and Fremont Counties.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Cold storm bands with howling winds are coursing across Nebraska into Iowa, slowing the light traffic to a crawl in some locations. Schools and businesses in both states announced closures or delayed openings on Wednesday before Thursday’s storm had even crossed into Nebraska. The National Weather Service reports a wind gust of 52 mph hit the south-central Nebraska city of Hastings and says an estimated snowfall of 4 inches had already fallen by Wednesday night in Thedford, NE.

The storm’s eastern edge has reached Des Moines in central Iowa. Station KCCI reports that ice is accumulating on roadways in suburban Waukee. A winter storm warning issued for an area west of Des Moines says forecasters expect up to 5 inches of snow over a glaze of ice.

The State Board of Health approved the rules for the manufacture and sale of medical marijuana during its meeting Wednesday. The director for the medical marijuana program, Randy Mayer (Mayor), says the rules approved by the board had a few changes based on feedback from the company that has been licensed to make the product.”They were very specific about some things that could make their operations a little easier and a little bit cheaper,” Mayer “So we did accept a lot of their comments and make some changes about how they operate and what their security looks like and things like that to make it a little easier and less expensive for them.” Mayer says with the rules now in place, they can move to the next step. “The next big project that we will be working on is licensing the five — up to five dispensaries — that would be selling the products to the patients and their primary caregivers across the state,” Mayer says.

MedPharm Iowa was the only company to complete the licensing process to grow marijuana and manufacture cannabis oil here after nine companies had expressed interest. Mayer expects there to be interest in the dispensary licenses, even though it is going to take some work to get the business going. “We only have about 250 patients and primary caregivers registered right now, it’s going to take a number of years to build that patient base,” Mayer says. “So there are some fees associated with running dispensary and somebody’s going to have to have substantial collateral I think to get a dispensary running while waiting for the patient base to get built up to where I think it is going to start being profitable for them.”

The director of the Health Department says the manufacturer of medical marijuana is going to have to pay around 200-thousand dollars in fees. Mayer says dispensaries will also have to put up a lot of money for their license. He says they estimate the fees to be in the range of 120-thousand dollars or so per year.

The companies will be required to pay a 75-hundred dollar application fee, and pay a 10-thousand dollar bond for each background investigation of the company owners. The state will pay the company a refund if the background investigation costs less. They will also have to pay a 200 dollar deposit on background check fees for each employee of the company. Mayer says they will release the application for dispensaries in the last week of January and he says this may be the only time a company has a chance to receive a license. “We anticipate that unless someone is issued a license and they return it to us — or for some reason they fail to follow the rules — we won’t refuse to renew a license for one of those licensees,” according to Mayer. ” So, I think that people understand that you need to get the license up front when we are offering it at this point.”

The manufacturing company by law is supposed to have the product ready for sale by December 1st 2018.  “That’s probably the earliest that we will have product available for people to start purchasing. I know a lot of people are waiting for that date, so I think that that’s an important message to get out,” Mayer says. A state representative who is a pharmacists says there are some estimates that it will cost the state one million dollars to implement the medical marijuana plan.

(Radio Iowa)

Runoff into the Missouri River basin may be slightly higher than normal this year, according to a new projection. Nicole Shorney, a hydraulic engineer with the U-S Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, says there’s no cause for concern. The Corps says the reservoir system will be going into the runoff season at the base of the annual flood control zone, so more than 16-million acre feet of flood control capacity will be available. A new projection from the Corps of Engineers shows runoff into the Missouri River basin may be above normal this year, but not by much. Joel Knofczynski (noff-CHIN-ski), a Corps engineer, says releases into the waterway have been unchanged for weeks.

The Corps estimates runoff will be at 105-percent of average. There’s no concern, at this point, for any significant flooding. The Corps of Engineers is predicting runoff into the Missouri River basin this year will be at 105-percent of average, so just slightly elevated. Joel Knofczynski, a Corps engineer, says they have plenty of flood storage available and there’s no cause for concern.

River runoff usually begins in March and peaks in June.

(Radio Iowa)