(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic is set to meet 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, in their chambers at City Hall. Action items on their agenda include:

• The Third & Final Reading of an Ordinance “Amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Atlantic, Iowa, by Amending Chapter 165, Zoning Regulations.”
• And, adopting the following Resolutions:
  • “Setting a Public Hearing for the Proposed Maximum Property Tax Levy for Fiscal Year 2026 to be Held on March 26, 2025, at 5:00 P.M.”
  •  “Approving the Proposed Maximum Property Tax Levy for FY 2026.”
  • “Designating the Distribution of Sales Tax Revenues to Various Funds for Specific Purposes.”
  • “Setting the Date for Public Hearing on Proposal to Enter into a General Obligation Solid Waste Management Loan Agreement and to Borrow Money Thereunder in a Principal Amount not to exceed $90,000,” and,
  • “Setting the Date for Public Hearing on Proposal to Enter into a General Obligation Loan Agreement and to Borrow Money Thereunder.”
• The Council will also recognize the following individuals:
  • Michael Hocamp, for his achieving the rank of Eagle Scout.
  • Diane McFadden, for her 36 years of service at the Atlantic Public Library.
  • Sondra Martin, for her 10 years of service to the Atlantic Public Library.
    

    Atlantic City Hall building

In other business, Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue will make a presentation on”Leveraging Technology to Sustain a Safe Community.” The Council’s final order of business is to enter into a closed session for Collective Bargaining purposes.

City Council Agenda Packet 02-19-2025_1

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 8:40-p.m. Sunday, in Red Oak, resulted in an arrest. Red Oak Police report 32-year-old Bradina Sky Gary, of Red Oak, was arrested for Driving While Suspended. The woman was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on bond amounting to $491.25.

(Radio Iowa) – The D-N-R building on the Iowa State Fairgrounds known for its large tanks displaying the various fish species from across the state is getting a new interactive display. D-N-R spokesperson Tammie Krausman says the new feature is called the Conservation Discovery Area. “We’re going to kind of give a loose interpretation of a cave, kind of representing Maquoketa Caves. And it’s going to be interactive, where anyone can go in it. We might have some like creatures in there, some bats, maybe some different things that you can feel and learn,” she says. The inside feature will also have a tower designed into it that’s modeled after the one at Pilot Knobb State Park. Krausman says another feature will be an in-floor river.

“We are looking at doing a little bit of, kind of colored concrete, and maybe some kind of walk over areas where you can look in and kind of experience what Iowa’s waterways look like, and the type of kind of fish and creatures that live in there, again, to kind of think about the stuff that you maybe don’t really think about live in our rivers. And so how can we kind of get that really close to you, and especially for all those kiddos,” Krausman says. They had various outdoor displays in the 100 years the building has been on the fairgrounds, and an archery area has been one of the more recent popular attractions. Krausman says the new feature will fit in well with what they have now.

“Yeah, we want to keep trying to bring the elements that the state has, like the fisheries, the, you know, ability to try out some recreational archery or air rifle shooting,” she says. “And now one of the things that we can do is try to bring some really cool, iconic park things into the State Fair, hopefully get people to engage with that a little bit and get curious enough that maybe they want to go out and explore to the state parks in Iowa.” Krausman says it’s hard to nail down exactly how many visitors the D-N-R building gets during the entire run of the State Fair. “We know that we have visitors from nearly every single county in the state, and we know that we have visitors from several other states and sometimes other countries. We have seen, during a pretty solid day, a weekday, that 11-thousand people came into our building in the like a two to three hour period.”

The Natural Resource Commission approved the project at its monthly meeting and Krausman says they hope to have it done sometime in July. “We are really hoping it’ll be ready for this year’s fair. So we’re excited. Last year we unveiled the courtyard and the range and the stage, and now we’re hoping to kind of complete our phase with this big inside interactive display,” she says. The N-R-C approved a contract with Austincrete of Newton for nearly 125-thousand dollars to build the display. Krausman says the money comes from a 500-thousand dollar special legislative appropriation that was made to fund the update at the D-N-R building.

Fremont County, IA – On February 15, 2025, at approximately 9:13 PM, Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputies attempted to stop a non-plated vehicle within the city of Hamburg, Iowa. The driver refused to stop, leading deputies on a high-speed pursuit northbound on Interstate 29, reaching speeds in excess of 100 mph from the 1-mile marker.

The pursuit ended near the 24-mile marker, where deputies successfully stopped the vehicle and took both occupants into custody. The driver, Chelsi Rogers, 27, of Omaha, Nebraska, and the passenger, Amber Walker, 41, also of Omaha, were arrested at the scene.

During the pursuit, deputies observed and later recovered over two pounds of methamphetamine that had been discarded from the fleeing vehicle.

Walker

Rogers

Charges Filed

Chelsi Rogers has been charged with:

Possession with the Intent to Distribute over 5 Grams of Methamphetamine – Class B Felony
Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp – Class D Felony
Keeping a Vehicle for the Sale of Controlled Substances – Aggravated Misdemeanor
Felony Eluding – Class D Felony

Amber Walker has been charged with:

Possession with the Intent to Distribute over 5 Grams of Methamphetamine – Class B Felony
Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp – Class D Felony

Both Rogers and Walker are being held at the Fremont County Jail on a $25,000 surety bond. The Mills County and Shenandoah K9 Units, Mills County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa State Patrol assisted the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office during this incident.

The Des Moines National Weather Service has updated the weather briefing concerning the following hazardous winter weather: Arctic cold temperatures and wind chills should be expected this week, along with snow on Monday over southwestern into southern Iowa. The cold weather will affect the entire State, while the snow will be focused over southwestern and southern Iowa, near the Missouri border. The next scheduled briefing will be available by 7 AM Monday.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Here’s one last reminder from KJAN about an upcoming Iowa Department of Natural Resources town hall-style meeting. Locally, the meeting will take place on Monday, at 6:30-p.m., in Glenwood, at the Southwest Iowa Sportsman’s Club, at 22896 Jamett Road. DNR Wildlife biologist Matt Dollison talks about the opportunity for you to discuss with DNR staff matters affecting the hunting season.

Dollision says there will be AN information presentation on the past hunting season, and more.

Afterward, they’ll talk about the proposed rule changes, how the hunting season went, and comments from sportsmen on what they think could be improved.

Dollison says last year, there were at least 40 people in attendance at the local town hall meeting The meetings are open to the public. Comments collected from these public meetings will be considered along with other related comments received by the Iowa DNR prior to proposing changes to hunting rules and regulations. Proposed rules will be presented to the Natural Resource Commission during a regular public meeting for consideration and additional public comment.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The price of regular unleaded gasoline in Iowa fell two cents last week, to an average of $2.95/gallon, according to AAA. That’s four cents higher than a year ago. Nationally, the average price on Wednesday was $3.15/gallon, up two cents from the previous week. Retail diesel prices in Iowa fell 2 cents this past week, with a statewide average of $3.45. A year ago, diesel prices averaged $3.78 in Iowa. The current Iowa diesel price is 22 cents lower than the national average of $3.67.

Wholesale ethanol held steady and is currently priced at $2.16. Natural gas prices were up $.26 at the Henry Hub reporting site, and are currently priced at $3.54/MMbtu.

Propane prices averaged $1.67 per gallon in Iowa. Home heating oil prices had a statewide average of $3.02 per gallon.

MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa [KCCI]— Just a day after officials with the Iowa Department of Transportation warned drivers to use caution while snow plows are on the roads, another plow was hit. The latest crash happened near Missouri Valley in western Iowa. It’s at least the 26th time this winter season that someone crashed into a snow plow.

The Iowa State Patrol says thankfully no one was hurt in this crash. Troopers say the driver of the car actually had a suspended license and was taken directly to jail.

According to the last 10 years’ worth of data provided by the DOT, their snowplows get hit an average of 32 times per winter season, with a record-high year in 2019 that ended with 47 motorists colliding with snowplows. This season, which started Oct. 15 and ends April 15, already has 26 collisions.

(Audubon; Griswold; Massena) – Three area school district Boards of Education will hold separate meetings Monday evening. The Audubon School Board meeting gets underway at 5:30-p.m. In the High School Board Room. Among the discussion items on their agenda are those pertaining to the addition of a Film as Literature class to replace the Contemporary Lit class, and, possibly making the Yearbook an extra-curricular activity.

Activities Director Sean Birks will update the Board on discussions with Exira-EHK A.D. Tom Petersen. And, the Board will act on matters pertaining to: The Yearbook; English Classes; Sharing softball, with Exira-EHK as the host for 2-years; the setting of a public hearing to use the Flex Fund; A FY26 Budget Adjustment (Guarantee) Resolution, a Shared School Business Official (SBO) and a Bsn Assistant-HR position.

The Audubon Board will also act on approving: the hiring of Sandra Wagner-Spring Musical and Savana Fuller – HS Boys Track Assistant; and the resignations of: Cindy Vokt – Food Service (effective March 31^st), and Joni Madsen – Speech Coach.

The Griswold School Board will meet at 5:30-p.m. Monday in the Conference Room. The Board will consider and act on approving, among other things: Auditor Bids for Fiscal Years 2026, ’27, and ’28; an E-Rate application; Chemical Application Bids; Mowing Specifications; the Board’s 2025-26 Mission Statement and Goals; and act to accept the SIAC (School Improvement Advisory Committee’s) recommendation on Bullying/Harassment policies and procedures.

And, the CAM School Board will meet at 6-p.m., Monday, at the CAM Elementary Media Center in Massena. The Board will act on approving: The Superintendent Profile; Interview Questions (With regard to the superintendent search); The Interview Schedule, and the next steps in the hiring process.