The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department’s Board of Directors received some good news Monday evening. Director Seth Staashelm said Howrey Construction began work Monday on the Lake #2 Trail project. It starts with grading this week, with paving on Oct. 3rd. The project will be complete that same week.

Howrey Construction was the company that did the Lake #1 trail. The Lake #2 trail is the next major step for the Connector Trail. The project was made possible through a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant from the State, along with $26,800 from the City of Atlantic. It was initially thought to cost about $134,000, but last month, the bids came in well below that. Howrey’s bid was $109,000.

In other business, Staashelm said the Cass County Forest Health Walk and Emerald Ash Borer Informational meeting will be held October 3rd. He says he and DNR District Forester Lindsey Barney will tour Sunnyside Park and check out the nearly 1,000 trees and evaluate them. They’ll also talk about Emerald Ash Borer. Staashelm says the devastating disease that kills Ash trees has not made it’s way to Atlantic, but there were two suspect trees in the area of the City Park and 7th and Locust that turned out not to be infected.)

The meeting takes place at the Cass County Community Center on Oct. 3rd, from 3-until 7-p.m. For more information call 243-1132. (On the web at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/cass/sites/www.extension.iastate.edu/files/cass/Cass%20County%20Forest%20Health%20Walk%20and%20Emerald%20Ash%20D2.pdf )

The Atlantic City Council has what’s expected to be a brief meeting Wednesday evening in their chambers at City Hall. In addition to a standard resolution pertaining to banking institutions for deposit of public funds for the City, and a resolution approving the contract and bonds for the Bull Creek Culvert replacement project, the Council will act on approving a declaration by Mayor Dave Jones, setting October 31st as the date for Halloween trick or treating this year.

The Council will also act on approving the temporary closure of streets for the Oct. 15th Fireman’s Parade. The parade begins at 2nd and Walnut and proceeds south along 6th Street before turning west to Chestnut and the north on Chestnut to 2nd Street.

The Council will also hear an annual report from Wastewater Superintendent Tim Snyder. Their meeting begins at 5:30-p.m.

A survey from the Iowa Realtors Land Institute shows farmland values dropped almost nine-percent from a year ago. Iowa’s average farmland value is now just under 65-hundred dollars an acre. In September of 2013, the average acre was worth 87-hundred-50 dollars. Kyle Hansen, at Hertz Real Estate Services in Nevada, says the decrease is tied to lower commodity prices.

“We were down 8.7% on a state average for average quality tillable ground,” Hansen says. “A lot of that is just a continuation of what we’ve seen with the downward pressure due to the extended lower commodity prices. It’s really a continuation of what we’ve seen in the last 12 to 18 months.”

He says their projections indicate farmland values will continue on the down-swing for perhaps another year. “With the commodity prices staying low and it appears like we’re going to have a great crop this year, that would continue to keep prices low,” Hansen says. “We would anticipate an additional softening over the next six to 12 months just because of the lower revenue that is being generated by the farmers.”

Hansen says the strongest farmland values in Iowa are still in the northwest, where there was a three-percent decrease. “Northwest Iowa is still the highest-priced farm ground in the state of Iowa,” Hansen says. “They have a lot of strength in the ethanol industry as well as in the years past, the higher revenue generated from livestock, primarily the beef cattle that are there.”

He says the largest drop in farmland values was in southwest Iowa.

(Radio Iowa)

Three people were arrested on separate charges late Monday afternoon and evening, in Montgomery County. The Sheriff’s Department says 35-year old Randy Buck Evans, Jr., of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around3:40-p.m., for Driving While Suspended. His bond was set at $435.

Red Oak Police say at around 4:40-p.m., 46-year old Bradley Gene Adolphson, of Emerson, was arrested on a warrant for felony Theft in the 2nd Degree. Adolphson was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $5,000 cash bond.

And, at around 6:30-p.m., Red Oak Police arrested 29-year old Demarcus Jermar King, of Red Oak, on a simple misdemeanor charge of Domestic Abuse Assault. King was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

An obituary notice from Twigg Funeral Homes has identified the victim of Sunday’s shooting incident in Sac County, as 24-year old Megan Quinn Sloss, of Guthrie Center. Authorities said Monday the woman (Who was not yet identified at the time time of press release) was shot while sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle. The shooting was reported around 11:40 a.m. Sunday around two miles east of Lake View.

Officials said a man in the front passenger seat (Who has not been identified) was handling a loaded handgun when it went off and struck Sloss. She was taken to Loring Hospital in Sac City and then flown to a Des Moines hospital, where she died. The incident remains under investigation.

Her obituary says Megan was the daughter of Curt and Brenda Sloss, of rural Guthrie Center. She attended Guthrie Center Schools, Central College and was currently a master’s student at the University of Iowa studying social services. Megan planned to spend her career helping children and adults in need. She was currently working at Iowa KidSight and the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City.

Visitation is set for Thursday, Sept. 22nd, from 5:30-to 7:30-p.m. at the Guthrie Center High School Gymnasium, where a Prayer service is at 7-p.m.

The vice presidential nominees of BOTH major political parties campaigned in Iowa Monday. “This race is deadly, deadly serious.” That’s Democrat Tim Kaine. He spoke to about 300 people in Ames in the middle of the afternoon. Mike Pence, the G-O-P vice presidential nominee, addressed about 300 people in Mason City at nearly the same time. “Let’s go get it done,” Pence said. “Let’s go make it happen, Iowa.” Kaine, the Democrat, appealed to “millennial” voters during his speech in Ames, arguing Clinton is more in tune with their social views and embrace of diversity.

“We know we’re stronger together if we treat each other with respect,” Kaine said, “but if we divide against one another, dissing somebody who’s disabled, saying the military’s a disaster, going after people if they’re of Mexican American heritage or the wrong religion, we’re going to be weaker.” Pence, the Republican, focused on the series of suspected terrorist attacks in New York and New Jersey this past weekend.

“Seven and a half years of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s leadership on the world stage has weakened America’s place in the world,” Pence said, “…terrorist attacks here at home and abroad — grim and heartbreaking scenes.” Pence questioned whether Obama and Clinton know “we are at war” with “radical Islamic terrorists.” “The weak and feckless foreign policy of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has emboldened our enemies and compromised the safety of the American people,” Pence said. In Ames, Kaine asked the crowd to hold Trump accountable for “challenging” President Obama’s American citizenship for five years — until last Friday when Trump said Obama was born in the U.S., “period.”

“I want to tell you why we can’t let him move on to the next issue,” Kaine said. “This is not just a wacky guy saying wacky stuff. This is incredibly painful to millions of people.” Kaine cites the infamous “Dred Scott” case. That’s when the court ruled all people of African ancestry could never become U.S. citizens. Kaine also made a mid-day stop at a coffee shop near Drake University in Des Moines. Pence made an evening appearance in Dubuque at a manufacturing plant where Mitt Romney held a campaign rally in 2011.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 2:40 a.m. CDT

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — The mayor of Waterloo ordered the city’s police chief Monday to focus on rebuilding public trust after several highly publicized missteps involving white officers’ interactions with black residents. They city’s first black mayor, Quentin Hart, said at a news conference that he would let Daniel Trelka keep his job, ending speculation that the chief would be forced out.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican Gov. Terry Branstad says he doesn’t believe Hillary Clinton would support maintaining Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status during the presidential primary season, basing his opinion on her narrow win in the state in February. Branstad says he believes Donald Trump would keep Iowa first, though the Republican presidential nominee previously questioned the results of the state’s Republican caucus after he placed second behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Branstad’s son heads Trump’s Iowa campaign.

LAKE VIEW, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a woman who was shot while sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle in northwest Iowa. The Sac County Sheriff’s Office says the shooting was reported Sunday morning around two miles east of Lake View. The office says a man in the front passenger seat was handling a loaded handgun when it went off. The woman died later at a Des Moines hospital.

SANDUSKY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say 44 people were cited and one person was jailed during a weekend protest intended to block construction of a $3.8 billion, four-state oil pipeline in southeast Iowa. Thirty-eight adults were cited for trespassing and released after authorities removed them from the work site entrance of the Dakota Access Pipeline in Sandusky. Six juveniles were cited and released, and one person was held on charges of trespassing and interference with official acts.

Iowa remains among the nation’s top states for making and selling organic foods. A report from the USDA shows Iowa consumers spent over $120 million on organic items last year. Organic sales in the state doubled from the previous national survey conducted in 2011.

In 2015, Iowa ranked fifth in the nation for the total number of certified organic farms with 674 farms covering 93,707 acres. That’s up from 81,634 acres of certified organic farmland six years ago. California is far and away the national leader in both organic production and sales.

Wisconsin, New York, and Pennsylvania are also ahead of Iowa for the number of organic farms.

(Radio Iowa)

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) today (Monday) announced she will hold a roundtable in Atlantic to speak with cattle producers about the issues affecting cattle feeders, and the agriculture industry as a whole. The roundtable, which takes place 12:30-p.m. Wed., Oct. 5th, will be held at the Rock Island Depot (102 Chesnut Street), and is open to the public.

Sen. Ernst says “Our Iowa cattle producers play a vital role in our state economy and help to feed the world. This roundtable provides a great opportunity to discuss the many issues facing our cattle producers, and the ways in which we can ensure continued growth, stable markets and expanded trade opportunities for the industry.”

A traffic stop Saturday morning in Pottawattamie County resulted in the arrest of a man on drug charges. The Sheriff’s Office reports 21-year old Tanner Joseph Mathews, of Treynor, was taken into custody for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His arrest occurred after a deputy pulled over a 2007 Ford Fusion for speeding at around 3-a.m. Saturday, on Old Lincoln Highway at the intersection with the Old Mormon Bridge road.  14.5-grams of marijuana was recovered at the scene, along with marijuana pipes and a marijuana grinder.