The Iowa Department of Transportation has rescheduled the public information meeting that will now be held Tuesday, March 13, 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. The public information meeting was originally scheduled for Jan. 23, which was postponed due to inclement weather.

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 the Iowa DOT contact listed below by March 9th.

For general information regarding the proposed improvements or public meeting, contact 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.

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County report three arrests took place this past Monday: 45-year old Renee Jean Gooch, of Glenwood, was arrested at around 6-p.m. Monday for Driving Under Suspension (DUS). Her bond was set at $300; 20-year old Dylan Seth Harris, of Malvern, was arrested at around 8:40-p.m. Monday, for DUS, Failure to File SR-22 Insurance, and Careless Driving. His bond was set at $1,300. 28-year old Jeffrey Scott Holsinger, of Omaha, was arrested at around 2:20-p.m. Monday at the Mills County Jail, on a warrant for Probation Violation. His bond was set at $1,500.

And, on Feb. 23rd, 57-year old Deborah Ann Fencer, of Glenwood, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance. Her bond was set at $1,000.

The Exira-Elk Horn/Kimballton School Board met Tuesday evening in Elk Horn, after their meeting had previously been delayed twice by bad weather. Superintendent Trevor Miller told KJAN News they held public hearings on the 2018-19 School Calendar, and Capital Improvement Projects, during which their were no comments. He said the Board then approved the bid packages and they are ready to go on four of the five packages. People are in-place also, and they’re just waiting for better weather.

Miller provided a reminder of what those packages entail: Package A includes the windows project, plus a new HVAC system in the Elk Horn Building, to replace a 1955 boiler and place the building under one system, instead of three. The north and south side parking lots for the Exira Building will be redone. There will also be a new playground in the front, and a new preschool playground on the south side of the building. Other improvements include new lighting for the football and baseball fields, and new concession stand/restroom for the baseball field in Elk Horn.)

Miller says the Package A contract (windows & HVAC system) went Grand Contracting, of Red Oak, for $1.7-million. Package B, the playground/parking lot project, was awarded to Caliber Concrete of Adair, for about $770,000, with the Alternates. Viking Construction, of Exira, was awarded the concrete work for Project C, the baseball/concession stand and other work, for their bid of $156,000. And, the sports lighting and other services went to Pro-Tech Electric Services, of Omaha, for $400,000. Miller says those bids came in where the School Board wanted, so they’re pretty happy, and it leaves them leeway for change orders, and still stay within the $3.9-million bond issue voters approved.

They hope to have all those projects completed by this Fall. Miller also spoke about the “Coaches vs. Cancer” first-year effort by the Student Council and Leo’s Club, which raised $1,400. He said also, there is no change to the 2018-19 School Calendar, from last year, other than a few dates. And, Trevor Miller said the Exira-EHK School Board voted to renew their Auditing contract for three-years, with Nolte, and, they approved Ahlers & Cooney as their Bond and Disclosure Counsel. The next Board meeting is March 19^th, at 7-p.m.

EAGLE GROVE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a house fire in north-central Iowa killed one person and injured another. Eagle Grove Fire Chief Tom Peterson told The Messenger that three people were in the Eagle Grove home when the blaze erupted around 9:30 p.m. Monday. He says two of them made it out — one uninjured and one later taken to an Iowa City hospital. Firefighters found the third resident’s body as they knocked down flames.

Peterson says an electrical fire in the kitchen spread through the rear of the structure.

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

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

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FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a refrigerator likely touched off an explosion of natural gas that ripped through a house in Fort Dodge. The four residents had just been told to leave the house when the blast occurred Feb. 14. Two were unharmed. Two were taken to a hospital. The Messenger reports that officials think the gas had migrated into the house through the soil and that the refrigerator compressor turning on provided the spark of ignition. Investigators have yet to confirm whether the leak was caused when a city public works crew stuck a gas line while repairing a broken water main in front of the house.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A former Dubuque police officer who stole from his employer has been sent to prison. The Telegraph Herald reports that 32-year-old Kyle Cross was given five years for the theft and 10 years for a sexual abuse conviction because the theft conviction violated terms of his probation. The sentences will be served at the same time.

Cross said January when he pleaded guilty that he wasn’t responsible for all the nearly $7,200 in cash and merchandise stolen from Boost Mobile, a Dubuque cellphone store. He said the loss was between $1,300 and $1,500. Authorities say an employee that Cross fired contacted the store owner about thefts that he and Cross committed when they pocketed payments for phone repairs and fraudulently reported paying people to hold business signs on a sidewalk.

If you’ve ever stumbled across an object in an Iowa corn field which you think may be a dinosaur bone or a stone tool from an earlier civilization, now’s the time to have your questions answered. An Archaeology Road Show is planned for this weekend at the Whiterock Conservancy in Coon Rapids, according to executive director Dan Gudahl. “This is one event that we’ve held for a couple of years now that encourages people to come in and bring whatever they’ve got that they know what it is — or they don’t know what it is — that may have some sort of history to it, whether it be artifacts from Native Americans or fossils or rocks or whatever,” Gudahl says.

Two experts from the Office of the State Archaeologist will be at the conservancy on Saturday to analyze whatever potential treasures Iowans may bring in. “It’s quite amazing to see fossilized bones from past eras, epochs, that are from animals that are now extinct,” Gudahl says. “That’s quite unusual.”  In past years, items brought in typically date from long before Iowa became a state to its first human inhabitants, things like arrowheads, axe heads and shards of pottery. “This year, we’ve got a fellow that’s going to bring in a large rock-bowl, carved out of rock that was used for grinding,” Gudahl says. “He was just using it as a dog bowl, like for feeding his dog, and determined, hey, this has some archaeological significance.”

From 1 to 3 P-M Saturday, the experts will examine items brought in by the public with a discussion from 3 to 4 P-M. The event is free at the Bur Oak Visitors’ Center at Whiterock Conservancy on Highway 141 in Coon Rapids. (more at www.whiterockconservancy.org)

(Radio Iowa)

Three people were arrested Tuesday night, in Red Oak. Red Oak Police say 38-year old Jacob Ray Hill, of Red Oak, was arrested a little after 10-p.m., for Driving While Suspended. Hill was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond. Just after 8-p.m., Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 35-year old William James Bartlett, and 33-year old Sunshine Marie Bartlett, both of Red Oak. They were taken into custody in the 100 block of E. Corning Street in Red Oak, for Violation of No Contact Orders. Their bonds were set at $300 each.