Shelby County Emergency Management Operations Officer Jason Wickizer and Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert report, a Basic National Incident Management and Incident Command Training seminar will be held May 1st, from 8-a.m. until 12:30-p.m., at the Shelby County EMA. The training is required for anyone who could potentially be “In charge of,” or “respond to,” and incident requiring emergency response. Community leaders, elected officials, Management of Nursing and specialized care facilities and fire department officers will find the information especially useful.

The training outlines responsibilities and methods by which the EMA coordinates emergency response at the local level, and prepares persons for when the incident is larger than what we can handle, and Federal/State resources become necessary. The Shelby County EMA will provide at No Cost, the instructor, classroom and refreshments, including a light lunch. To register, email Jason Wickizer at Jwickizer@shco.org, or call 712-755-2124. Pre-registration is requested. Anyone that wants to attend, is welcome.

The Shelby County Emergency Managent NIMS 100 and 700 class begins at 8-a.m., May 1st, and includes an Exercise from 11-a.m. until Noon, prior to the lunch and After Action Review from 12-until 12:30-p.m.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A Waterloo zoning board is set to hear a long-running dispute over a proposed industrial wind farm in Black Hawk County. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that the county Planning and Zoning board will make its recommendation Tuesday on whether the Washburn Wind Energy should be built south of Waterloo. Company representative Felix Friedman says the 35 wind turbines would produce 70-megawatts, which is enough to power 26,000 homes. He says the project would also generate more than $35 million in lease and tax revenue to landowners and local governments over 30 years.

Cedar Valley Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy is concerned about the project’s impact on their health, wildlife and property values. Wind energy groups say wind turbines have been operating in some areas for more than two decades and don’t have negative health effects.

The search for a missing La Porte City teenager was scaled back this weekend. Jake Wilson‘s family said the autistic 16-year-old was last seen heading to a nearby creek one week ago Saturday — but after after a large search effort he hasn’t been found. La Port City Police Chief Chris Brecher told K-C-R-G T-V in a news briefing that the search is changing. “We’re at the point of our investigation now where we are going to be scaling back, significantly,” the chief says.

Jake Wilson

Brecher says they will now only do periodic checks when tips come in. The initial search effort to find the teen was massive. In a week’s time, hundreds of volunteers marched miles in cold and mud, reaching an about ten-mile radius from town. They checked high and low while specialized teams looked under the water. The search there largely focused on six miles of Wolf Creek.  “We are extremely confident, in the area that we have checked, we know this is where Jake’s not,” Brecher says.

Attention now largely turns to the investigation aspect of Wilson’s disappearance. Was he abducted? Was a crime committed? A multi-agency group will continue to work to find answers. Sheriff Tony Thompson again pushed for people to go online and upload video and images from the night Wilson was last seen. He hoped a lackluster start to the effort would turn around if people realized a camera may have inadvertently captured the key to cracking the case. Thompson says they need that one piece of information, one witness one piece of video or that one photo that could help them find Wilson.

(Radio Iowa)

As part of Donate Life Month in Iowa, residents are being asked to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and to celebrate those who have saved lives through the gift of donation. Deb Thielen (TEE-lun), a registered nurse at Van Diest Medical Center in Webster City, says the number of Iowa donors continues to grow, but so does the waiting list. “In 2017, a total of 54 Iowans shared the gift of life through organ donation, saving 183 lives,” Thielen says. “Thousands more were healed by 1,743 tissue donors in Iowa.”

There are more than 600 Iowans on the organ transplant waiting list and 115-thousand waiting nationwide. In Iowa, recent reports find about 65-percent of adults have already committed to being organ donors. For those who haven’t, she has a message. “Join the majority of Iowans signed up and register as a donor today,” Thielen says. “Make your wishes known by signing up online at IowaDonorNetwork.org, or check the box when you apply or renew your driver’s license at the Iowa DMV.”

Another person is added to the national waiting list every 10 minutes, while 22 people die each day because the organ they need is not donated in time. Learn more at the website: www.donatelife.net.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Glenwood report 28-year old John Pepper, of Glenwood, was arrested Friday, for OWI/1st offense. Pepper was brought to the Mills County Jail, where his cash or surety bond was set at $1,000.

Officials with the IA Dept. of Transportation’s District 3 Office report road construction work for the expansion of U.S. 20 in Ida and Sac counties will require closing the roadway to traffic between Ida County Road M-25 (near Galva) and U.S. 71 (near Early) from noon Wednesday, Apr. 18, until Friday, Sept. 28, weather permitting. Motorists will be directed around the work zone on a signed detour using Ida County Road M-25, Ida/Sac County Road D-15, and U.S. 71.