Atlantic High School Principal Heather McKay, Friday, released photos of students in grades nine through 12 who earned a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 4.0 or greater. (See their group photo’s below). [Click on a photo to enlarge the image]

Seniors:
(Back row) Evalyn Perez, Connor Church, Ethan Pross, Tyler Moen, Evan Brummer, Max Bateman, Savannah Cameron; (Middle row) Hana Holtz, Grace Bruckner, Kylie Neal, Corrinne Pelzer, Annamaria Lowary, Katie Saluk, Tayler Burg; (Front row) Tyler Atkinson, Erin Barrick, Chloe Davis, Reagan Pellett, McKenzie Waters and Zachary McKay.

Juniors:
(Back row) Molly McFadden, Gwen Irlmeier, Craig Alan Becker, Alyssa Derby, Madison Botos, Alexander Somers, Isabellah Peterson; (Middle row) Grant Sturm, Grace Barkley, Sydney Sanny, Caroline Pellett, Hannah Carlson, Lauren Nicholas, Nathaniel McLean;
(Front row) Shayla Luke, Haley Rasmussen, Olivia Engler, Genevieve Martinez and Kennedy Goergen.

Sophomores:
(Back row) Ethan Sturm, Brayden Atkinson, Alexander Sampson, Andrew Engler, Bryan York, Jacob Fulk; (Front row) Taliya James, Ava Bruckner, Mackenzie Hoffman, Addison DeArment and Jaci Smith.

Freshmen:
(Back row) Lindley Eblen, Jada Jensen, Keira Olson, Dayna Dreager, Rio Johnson, Alexes Reynolds; (Front row) Jadyn Reid, Nina Welter, Edria Brummer, Reese DeArment, Kylie Pulido and Alexis Noelck.

The Atlantic Police Department is warning area residents of a scam that continues to circulate around the area in which local church numbers are being used to text people, asking them for I-Tunes gift cards. We recently reported on a situation in Glenwood where the scammers were posing as a local Father and asking for gift cards to support a terminally ill parishioner.

The scammers ask you to scratch off the pin number on the cards once purchased and take a picture of the card number and pin and send it to them. Please do not respond to these requests.

If you have any questions you can contact the Atlantic Police Department at 712-243-3512.

VERNAL, UT (AP) – Utah authorities say a 64-year old sex offender recently released from an Iowa prison has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman on a Greyhound bus. KUTV reported Thursday that Gregory Kehl was arrested in the small northeastern Utah city of Vernal after the driver stopped the bus at a restaurant and reported the alleged assault to a restaurant manager. The alleged victim told police she moved away from Kehl during the trip but he followed her inside the bus, exposed himself and sexually assaulted her.

Police say Kehl told an officer that he was on his way to Oakland California after his release from prison.

Gregory Kehl ( (Photo: Uintah County Jail, via KUTV)

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Organizers of an emergency warming shelter in Waterloo say they will have to close because the space doesn’t meet fire code regulations. The Waterloo Warming Center opened Jan. 6 at Jubilee United Methodist Church’s Freedom resource center. But after an inspection, officials noted the space didn’t have a sprinkler system and ordered that the center close by Tuesday. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports organizers began searching for a new location and implored city officials not to force them out of the current site until a replacement can be found. Temperatures are supposed to remain below freezing until next week.

(Updated 12:40-p.m.) Nearly all the roads in western Iowa were completely covered with snow at mid-day today (Friday), with numerous accidents having taken place. An accident on I-80 eastbound at the 58 mile marker eastbound resulted in injuries at around Noon today. A separate accident on I-80 westbound at mile marker 72.5 (between the Anita and Adair exits) also resulted in injuries to the adult male driver of the vehicle.

The latest information from 511ia.org shows the left lane on Interstate 80 in both directions was blocked due to a crash between Exit 54: IA Hwy 173, and the Olive Street exit (Exit 57/County Road N16 (4 miles west of the Brayton area). Slow down and be prepared to stop when approaching the scene of an accident. Also remember to move over when law enforcement, rescue and road crews are assisting motorists at the scene of an accident.

ARISE (The Atlantic Rock Island Society Enterprise) will host O.J. Fargo this Sunday, January 19th at the American Legion Memorial Building (the Armory), for a program entitled “Just Before the Battle Mother- A Visit from a Civil War Soldier. “ The event starts at 2-p.m., and after an overview of Iowa’s involvement in the Civil War, you will be introduced to a returning Civil War soldier played by Mr. Fargo.

Mr. Fargo will dresses in full Union Army regalia for the presentation and focuses the presentation on an individual ordinary soldier’s experience. He will bring along a full roster of all men who served in and from Iowa in the Civil war to enable the participants to check for ancestors who served. He will also provide a display of civil War artifacts. Fargo has done more than 100 history presentations throughout the state including historical societies, libraries, schools, professional organizations and many other groups. He is the author of three books and editor of two CD-ROMs containing 320,000 pages of searchable text and 10,000 Civil War pictures.

The presentation is free and open to the public. The Building is handicapped accessible. Refreshments will be served. The program is sponsored by ARISE. Supporting funds are provided by Humanities Iowa and the Atlantic Community Promotion Commission.

EAGLE GROVE, Iowa (AP) – A northern Iowa community will hold a special election to fill a City Council seat after the man who was elected to the position refused to serve. The Fort Dodge Messenger reports the Eagle Grove City Council last week agreed to hold an election March 3 after Gary Lalor Jr. declined to take the position. Lalor filed to run for the seat but then missed a deadline to remove his name from the ballot after deciding he didn’t want to join the council. Eagle Grove is a city of 3,400, about 20 miles northeast of Fort Dodge.