The Annual Grand Lighting Ceremony, sponsored by CornerStone Landscaping and Precision Concrete Services, will be tomorrow, (Thursday) November 16th at 5 PM at the Historic Rock Island Depot, in Downtown Atlantic. More than 200,000 lights are strung throughout the trees on Chestnut Street and in the City Park, to create a magical scene.

Grand Lighting kicks off at 5 PM with a free hot dog meal, provided by Hy-Vee and complimentary water, provided by Atlantic Bottling Company. There will be free hot cocoa as well. Santa will make his special helicopter arrival, weather pending, at 5:30 PM to turn on the lights and see children in his cabin from 6 – 7:30 PM.

Shop before and after Grand Lighting and earn double stamps on your Shop Local Passport card, presented by First Whitney Bank. Find a list of participating locations at www.atlanticiowa.com. Pick up your Christmas Brochure from area retail businesses, “like” the Chamber on Facebook, or follow on Twitter to find dates and details to celebrate Christmas in Atlantic. You can find a complete list of activities at www.christmasinatlantic.com.

MILFORD, Iowa (AP) — Police have identified the man whose body was discovered in a burned down northern Iowa storage unit. Milford police tell television station KTIV that the victim was 53-year old Francis Petska, of Spirit Lake, Iowa. Petska’s body was found Nov. 7 after firefighters put out a blaze at the unit. No other details of the investigation have been released.

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

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Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers reports a Missouri man was arrested following an investigation into a personal injury, hit-and-run accident, late Tuesday morning. 40-year old Warren Frank Davis, Jr., of Grant City, MO., was arrested after he fled the scene of the accident at the intersection of 16th and Garfield Streets, in Clarinda. Brothers says at around 11:30-a.m. Tuesday, Davis’ vehicle struck a Chevrolet Sonic driven by 39-year old Renee Dawn Pulliam, of Clarinda.

Pulliam was traveling north into the intersection of 16th and Garfield, when Davis Jr., who was traveling west on East Garfield Street, ran a red light, causing the Pulliam vehicle to broadside the Davis Jr. vehicle. Pulliam’s Chevrolet Sonic sustained significant front-end damage and is believed to be a total loss. Davis Jr. was apprehended after his 1993 Honda Civic broke down due to mechanical failure at the intersection of U.S. Highway 71 and 230th St. approximately two miles south of Clarinda. Davis was taken into custody without incident by members of the Clarinda Police Department and Iowa State Patrol. The Patrol is in charge of the accident investigation.

A motorist who had been following Davis Jr. after he fled the accident scene alerted law enforcement to Davis Jr’s. location. Davis is charged with leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, fail to obey a solid red traffic signal and possession of drug paraphernalia. Davis is currently being held in the Page County Jail on $1,562 bail.

Police reports have been submitted to the offices of Page County Attorney Carl M. Sonksen for review regarding the filing of formal charges.

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

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The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office K9 unit stopped a vehicle at around 11-p.m. Tuesday, and arrested a Missouri man on weapon and drug charges. 29-year old Jordan Michael Nielsen, of Rockport, MO., was pulled over outside of Hamburg, near Highway 275 and 310th Street. During the investigation, Nielsen was found to be in possession of two pistols, meth, marijuana, brass knuckles and drug paraphernalia. He was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance, carrying weapons, and possession of paraphernalia. His bond at the Fremont County Jail was set at $4,300.

Jordan Nielsen

Fremont County Deputies were assisted by the Atchison County, MO., Sheriff’s Office.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Cedar Rapids officials have taken the first steps to make it tougher for fireworks vendors to set up for sales. Television station KCRG reports that the Cedar Rapids City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to advance an ordinance that would restrict fireworks sales to industrial zoning areas.

The vote to pass the first reading of the ordinance was 8-0. It must pass two more readings to take effect. Cedar Rapids City Council members also are set to vote Nov. 28 on a proposal to completely ban on the use of fireworks anywhere in the city.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man wanted in Nebraska for parole violations has been arrested in Iowa after leading state troopers there on a chase. The Globe Gazette reports that a trooper had stopped 21-year-old Elias Mendoza for a suspected seat belt violation Tuesday morning in Mason City. The patrol says Mendoza then fled the stop in his vehicle. The Iowa State Patrol gave chase, intentionally hitting Mendoza’s car. Troopers say Mendoza then fled on foot and was arrested inside a nearby apartment.

Mendoza now faces 11 misdemeanor counts in Iowa. He is being held without bond in Cerro Gordo County Jail, and Nebraska authorities have place a hold on him, indicating they’ll seek to extradite him to Nebraska.

More and more Iowans are forfeiting proceeds from unclaimed property, and State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald is trying to get the word out on how they can claim the goods. The state logged almost 40 million dollars in unclaimed assets last year. Fitzgerald says only about 15 million dollars went back to the rightful owners. “Unclaimed property comes from bank accounts, savings accounts, people forget about property they own, when they move they don’t get their utility deposits back. That’s where it comes from, Fitzgerald says,”now the average over all is about 400 dollars that somebody has coming.”

Online scams which try to get people to give up their personal information have made it harder to convince people that they have unclaimed property. “When you try to notify folks in this day and age everybody is hypersensitive to scams. Oh, sure they want to give me money. They don’t believe it…. but actually the state’s holding millions of dollars. ,” according to Fitzgerald.

The money goes into the general fund until someone steps forward to claim it. The Great Iowa Treasure Hunt run through the treasurer’s office tries to find the owners of abandoned bank accounts, utility deposits, and other assets. Fitzgerald encourages you to visit the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt website and search for any unclaimed assets awaiting them.

(Radio Iowa)

The leader of the largest union representing state employees says they are appealing a ruling on the new collective bargaining law. AFSCME Council 61 president Danny Homan says the union is appealing the October ruling that denied a request to throw out the state’s new collective bargaining law. The union argued the law which significantly reduced issues which many public employees can collectively bargain for created separate classes of public employees and was unconstitutional. Polk County District Judge Arthur Gamble ruled lawmakers had “credible basis” for treating some types of employees differently and said the law was constitutional. Homan issued a statement announcing the appeal which said “we have no timeline for knowing whether or not the Supreme Court of Iowa will hear our case, but we will never stop fighting for the rights of Iowa public employees”

(Radio Iowa)