One person was injured during an apartment fire this morning, in Atlantic.

402 Maple Street fire in Atlantic (Ric Hanson photo)

Firefighters were called to 402 Maple Street at around 8-a.m. Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees told KJAN News the incident was reported by a resident in a neighboring apartment, who smelled smoke.

He said the resident couldn’t get a man living in the apartment to evacuate. Atlantic Police Lt. Dave Erickson also tried but was unsuccessful in getting the man out. McNees said firefighters made entry into the building and were able to remove the man from the home, along with the rest of the tenants. The victim was taken to the Cass County Memorial Hospital for treatment.

McNees said the fire, which apparently started in the kitchen, spread to the wall and into the ceiling. There are four apartments in the two-story structure, three of which were believed to have been occupied by a total of six-residents. The other occupants were expected to return to their apartments once the structure was ventilated. Atlantic Fire was on the scene for about 45-minutes.

w/ Ric Hanson

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Police in Council Bluffs say they think they know the motive behind the shooting of a Council Bluffs woman and her child, but they’re being mum on the reason, for now. According to the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil, investigators say rumors, and comments by the wife of the Harlan man charged in the shooting that the incident happened over a tax refund, are not true. They say there is also no truth to the rumor the victim, 22-year old Heather Wilson, pulled a gun the alleged assailant, 30-year old Ronald Farr, of Harlan.

The shooting of Wilson and her 19 month old son Tyson Underwood happened early Tuesday morning outside an apartment complex, in Council Bluffs. Court documents indicate Farr’s wife, Lisa, told investigators the shooting occurred over a $6,000 tax refund payable to Farr, that was allegedly in the possession of the father of Wilson’s children, who refused to give it back.

Sgt. David Dawson with the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division told the paper that story is not true. Lisa Farr also told investigators that the shooting was self-defense. She claimed Wilson pulled a gun on Ronald Farr, Dawson said investigators have found no evidence Wilson had a gun. Wilson suffered eight gunshot wounds during the incident. Her son suffered a gunshot wound to his arm.

Farr, who was arrested without incident at his home in Harlan,  faces three counts of attempted murder, two counts of willful injury causing serious injury and one count of going armed with intent. He made his initial court appearance Wednesday during a video conference, where associate district court Judge Charles Fagan set a preliminary hearing for Friday, February 22^nd. Farr remains in the Pottawattamie County Jail on $1-million bond.

Construction on a two-story community center in the Montgomery County community of Stanton is set to begin soon. According to the Omaha World-Herald, work on the Viking Center in Stanton will begin on or about April 1^st. A non-profit group…”Stanton Friends”…has raised $3.2-million dollars through donations, to help pay for the community center, which is expected to open in December, 2013.

The facility, in a town of around 700 people, will feature a public library, a preschool, multipurpose/community room with a kitchen, a health and wellness area, gymnasium, and storm shelter. The idea for the 25,350-square foot Viking Center was formed during a community meeting in 2007. The following year, residents in the area formed the non-profit “Stanton Friends” group, to take the lead on bringing the concept to reality.

Officials say more than 400 people, businesses and foundations donated to the fundraising campaign for the multi-function building. Donations are still being accepted to develop the structure’s interior, purchase gym equipment and furnish the library.

A bill that has passed its first step in the Iowa Senate Tuesday would allow more farmers to create game preserves on their land to boost pheasant hunting in the state. The bill allows landowners to offer hunting on as little at 40 acres of land for pheasants, quail and partridges. Senator Steve Sodders, a Democrat from State Center, says pheasant hunting has deteriorated dramatically in Iowa. “Farming has tore out trees we’re losing habitat. So, I think it’s much easier for someone with land out there to be able to find 40 acres along a certain waterway or tree line that they are not going to take out, as opposed to trying to take out a big chunk all in one spot,” Sodders says.

Current law requires landowners to have at least 320 acres of land for game preserves. Sodders says there are benefits for hunters and everyone else when the birds are released. He says the owners put the birds out in the morning before the hunt. Some of the birds are going to get away, and they’re going to hunt some of them.

Lack of habitat is one of the factors cited in the decline of pheasant numbers in the state, along with poor weather conditions that have hurt the development of young birds.

(Radio Iowa)

Republicans in the Iowa House are scaling back Governor Terry Branstad’s education reform plan, making it optional rather than mandatory. Representative Ron Jorgensen, a Republican from Sioux City, is chairman of the House Education Committee. “I’m hoping that all of them will opt in to the program, but…some of them may be just leery of change and whether this will work or not,” Jorsensen says, “and so they may delay coming in until they see how effective it is for others.”

Branstad has proposed a “teacher leadership” plan for schools that would give bonuses to teachers chosen to serve as mentors and coaches for other teachers in their school. Branstad’s also called for raising the beginning teacher salary to 35-thousand dollars, but House Republicans favor a lower level and plan to make raising beginning teacher pay optional, too. Linda Fandel is a senior advisor to Governor Branstad on education issues. “The teacher career pathways provide such an attractive opportunity for school districts, you know, both the teacher leadership that they put in place, and the additional funding that comes with it, that school districts will want to do this,” Fandel says.

Jorgensen — a former school board member — says it’s about giving local school officials more control.  “We want to encourage everyone to come in,” Jorgensen says, “but I’d rather not mandate that they do something that they might feel that they’ve got a better system where they’re at right now.” House Republicans have settled on an optional, 32-thousand dollar beginning teacher salary.  “Percentage-wise it’s still pretty good growth,” Jorgensen says. “From $28,000 to $32,000 — so we’re still going up $4000 in salary.” But that’s a far cry from the 45-thousand dollar starting teacher salary a state task force called for this past fall.

Representative Sharon Steckman, a Democrat from Mason City who is a retired teacher, says the G-O-P changes are disappointing. “It’s kind of obvious to me that this really isn’t a huge priority for them,” Steckman says. “…They cut a lot of the funding. They made it so it’s not mandatory.” Fandel, the governor’s education advisor, says a lot of schools already offer more than 35-thousand dollars as a starting salary for new teachers.  “I think there’ll be a lot of conversation about what’s the right starting salary,” Fandel says. House Republican leaders hope to schedule debate of education reform in the full, 100-member House next week.

(Radio Iowa)

Despite the threat of continued drought, the U-S Army Corps of Engineers is planning on a “normal” navigation season for 2013 on the Missouri River. Bill Doan, a water engineer in the Corps’ Omaha office, says levels on the river will be low, but it will be navigable. “On March 1st, which is typically near the start of the runoff season, the basic simulation shows system storage at 48.5 million acre feet, which means that the reservoir system would start the runoff season 8.3 million acre feet below the base of the annual flood control zone, or in other words, 8.3 million acre feet below the top of the carryover multiple use zone.” Based on the water available now, Doan says the Corps expects an eight-month navigation season in the year ahead.

“We would be providing minimum service flow support to navigation for the first part of the navigation season,” Doan says. “Flows for this level of service are designed to provide an eight-feet deep by 200-feet wide navigation channel and would require Gavins Point monthly average releases ranging from 20,000 to 28,000 (cubic feet per second).” Doan says the low water now in the up-river reservoirs will definitely have an impact on hydro-electric power production.

“The forecast for 2013 energy generation, with the basic simulation, is 7.9 billion kilowatt hours,” Doan says. “With normal reservoir levels and releases, we would expect about 10 billion kilowatt hours.” River levels were exceptionally low all of last year due to the severe drought, which followed record flooding on the Missouri which lasted a large portion of 2011.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, approved bids for the replacement of a bridge, along with Stock Pipe and Project Pipe. Cass County Engineer Charles Marker said the paperwork is completed with Murphy Heavy Contracting Corporation, of Anita, and the bond established for, a bridge replacement project. The bridge (#345) is located over the Nishnabotna River on Lansing Road.  Marker said with that, they are finally in a position to completely accept the contract bid.

The bid which was approved by the Supervisors was in the amount of $963,826. Work on the bridge will begin sometime after a pre-construction conference is held on February 26^th.  Marker said bids were also received last week for their maintenance and stock pipe.

Midwestern Culvert, in Ankeny, was the lowest of four bids for the supply of stock pipe, at $51,244.  And, a low bid of $58,800 for project pipe – that which is used for 23 specific projects planned for this year — was received from Metal Culverts out of Maryville, MO.  The Supervisors approved both bids.