BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) – Officials with Offutt Air Force Base south of Omaha say the base’s popular annual air show and open house set for next summer has been canceled. The base’s 55th Wing sent a news release Wednesday announcing the cancellation of the 2017 Defenders of Freedom Open House and Air Show, which had been scheduled for July 1-2. The Navy’s Blue Angels precision fighter jet team was to headline the show.

Col. Marty Reynolds, 55th Wing commander, cited increased demands for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions for the cancellation. The last time the base canceled the show was in 2015 for runway repairs.

The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education met Wednesday evening at the Middle School Library to review the results of an online Superintendent Survey. Ray and Associates were hired to conduct the survey back in October. Representatives from the firm were on-hand during Wednesday evening’s meeting to go over the results. School Board member Kristy Pellett, who acted as Board Secretary for the meeting, told KJAN News 483 survey forms were filled out and submitted. The submissions she said, came from a wide cross section of the community and school district.

They included 98 teachers, 7 administrators, 35 support staff, 177 parents, 105 students, 42 non-parent community members, 14 “Other” persons, and five Board of Education members.

The surveys revealed there were 33 qualities those persons sought in a new Superintendent. The Board reviewed a matrix of those, along with a recommendation from the search firm. They then selected 10 of the top qualities based on the recommendation.

The next steps in the search process involve sending out search brochures and applications. The Board approved the promotional flier as well as the online application. The deadline for application materials to be submitted by prospective candidates is January 30^th. The Board will meet again with the consultants Feb. 13^th. The Board hopes to interview the top candidates during the week of Feb. 20^th.

The second round of interviews with the finalists will take place the week of February 27th. A final meeting with the consultants is set for March 1^st, with hopes an offer will be presented to the finalist soon thereafter.

RIVERTON, Iowa (AP) – A state audit of financial records for the Fremont County community of Riverton, has discovered nearly $331,000 in improper or unsupported spending and undeposited collections. The special audit was undertaken at the request of city officials concerned about transactions processed by former city clerk Carol Jennings from January 2008 through Feb. 28, 2015. The council fired Jennings on Feb. 26, 2015.

The audit report issued Thursday says more than $149,000 in undeposited collections included nearly $115,000 in utility payments to the city that weren’t deposited in city accounts. The report also says the undeposited collections included nearly $33,000 placed in two bank accounts Jennings had established without council authority or knowledge.

Online court records don’t show that Jenning’s been charged.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The state of Iowa says it would damage public safety if the state were forced to refund traffic fines and remove wrongful convictions from motorists’ records. The state made those assertions in documents made public Wednesday as it asked the Polk County District Court to reject an effort to certify as a class action a lawsuit against the state. The lawsuit cites a judge’s October ruling that the Iowa Transportation Department didn’t have authority to issue a speeding ticket to a 16-year-old driver.

The state is arguing in part that district court decisions aren’t binding to other district courts. The lawsuit seeks an order barring the department’s officers from issuing tickets. A 1990 Iowa attorney general opinion said the officers’ authority is limited to drunken driving and commercial vehicle regulations.

Red Oak Police arrested two men on separate charges, overnight Wednesday into early this (Thursday) morning. At around 9-p.m., Wednesday, 23-year old David James Zwerk, of Red Oak, was arrested on a Possession of Drug Paraphernalia charge. Zwerk was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 bond. And, at around 12:17-a.m. today (Thursday), Officers arrested 33-year old Kirby David Stoneking, of Red Oak, on a Montgomery County warrant for Trespass. Stoneking was also being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 bond.

Investigators are continuing to try and figure out the circumstances of a crash which resulted in the deaths of three Osceola teens. The three: 16-year-old Elaina Critz, 16-year-old Lauren Barker and 19-year-old Jesse Robinson, were found dead Tuesday morning inside a car that had gone off a road and into a creek. Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Nathan Ludwig says the weather this past weekend has potentially made the investigation more difficult. He says it rained during the weekend and that could have washed away some of the evidence that is available to the technical investigators.

Ludwig says little information is known at this time, including who the driver was and when exactly the accident happened. The State Patrol is working with the Osceola Police Department to look at a lot of things to try and determine the exact time of the accident. Ludwig says they are trying to find out when the teens last had contact with other people, when they were last on social media and those types of things to try and find out when they went missing.

Right now, Ludwig can confirm that three teens did lose control on Country Club Road two miles southeast of Osceola in Clarke County. After losing control, the three ended up in a creek down a deep ravine. Sergeant Ludwig says if it weren’t for the road maintenance worker seeing the car Tuesday, it may still be a missing persons case today. “I guess had that person not been there in that point in time sitting high up in a vehicle — that could still be a mystery today. And who knows how much longer had they not saw where the car was,” according to Ludwig.

Ludwig says investigators are continuing to work to try and find answers to the questions surrounding the accident.

(Radio Iowa)

Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack plans to “run through the tape” when his eight-year tenure as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture draws to a close. Vilsack’s the only member of President Obama’s cabinet who remains in the office where he started in January of 2009. “One of the reasons why I stayed in the job that I stayed in for as long as I did, which is unusual in this day and age, is because of the people I worked with and the people I worked for,” Vilsack says.

Vilsack made two speeches in Des Moines yesterday (Wednesday). He addressed delegates at the Iowa Farm Bureau’s annual convention. Vilsack referred to the 1986 shooting at a city council meeting that killed the mayor and wounded two others. “A tragedy actually almost 30 years to the day in my small hometown of Mount Pleasant created an opportunity for me to get in public service,” Vilsack said. “You all have given me just an incredible opportunity. You’ve allowed me to realize every dream I ever had as a kid. You didn’t have to do that. You didn’t have to give a guy from Pennsylvania the opportunity to be a mayor…to be a state senator. You certainly didn’t have to give me the opportunity to be the govenror of this great state for eight years and because of that I had the opportunity to serve you as the secretary of agriculture for eight years.”

Vilsack also was honored Wednesday by the Des Moines-based World Food Prize. The Norman Borlaug Medallion is awarded to individuals and institutions which cannot win the World Food Prize. Both Vilsack and the U-S-D-A were presented with medallions. Borlaug is the Iowa native who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering work in plant genetics. Vilsack salutes Borlaug’s vision of “using science in order to improve the lives of all people.”

“Norm was about feeding people. Norm was about helping people,” Vilsack says. “And he never stopped.” Vilsack, who will turn 67 on December 13th, isn’t planning to retire after he leaves the U-S-D-A in January, but Vilsack told reporters yesterday that he has no firm plans yet. “I want to be involved in one way, shape or form of advocating for agriculture, for rural America and I have, obviously, an affinity for young people so it’s an opportunity potentially for Christie and me to team up with some young folks,” Vilsack says.

The Vilsacks have two married sons — one in Iowa, the other in Colorado. The former governor says “family is important” and he and his wife want to “spend time” in both states with their four grandchildren.

(Radio Iowa)

Officials say details on the transition of power at the Iowa capitol “will be forthcoming,” but whenever Governor Terry Branstad leaves to become U.S. Ambassador to China, Iowa Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds will become the first woman to serve as Iowa’s governor. Joni Ernst — the first female from Iowa to be elected to the U.S. Senate — says she is thrilled. “I could not think of a more appropriate person to take on this responsibility,” Ernst says. “She has served Iowa in so many ways and has been such a strong and graceful leader.”

Reynolds has been Iowa’s lieutenant governor since 2011. Reynolds was elected to four terms as treasurer in Clarke County before winning a seat in the state senate in 2008. Branstad asked her to be his lieutenant governor runningmate in 2010. Ernst says Reynolds has been a “wonderful advocate” for HER political career. “We began corresponding when I was serving overseas with the Iowa National Guard during my deployment and she was encouraging me to run for county office and she provided a lot of wonderful guidance for me,” Ernst says. “All through my career she has been very, very helpful to me.”

Reynolds and her husband, Kevin, live in Osceola. Iowa Senator Ernst says Branstad’s opportunity is good news for Iowa. “I know that he will excel and give this new role all of his full attention and provide a great line of communication between our two countries,” Ernst says. Senator Chuck Grassley says Branstad’s “reputation as a straight shooter” will serve the U.S. well and Grassley predicts Branstad will get senate confirmation to the post of ambassador “very easily.”

Economic Development Authority director Debi Durham of Sioux City, shares a Des Moines apartment with Reynolds when they are both at work in the capitol city. “As someone that knows the lieutenant governor very well, not only from working with her on so many initiatives that she has led, but obviously being a friend, I can’t be more pleased,” Durham says. “I don’t think we’ve had someone more ready to be governor from day one than Kim Reynolds.”

Durham says Reynolds “has been involved in every decision” made in the Branstad Administration over the past six years. “When Governor Branstad recruited her to run with him, he told her from the beginning it was going to be a partnership,” Durham says, “and it truly has been.”

Durham has been in New York City this week, with Branstad, prospecting with businesses that might expand or relocate in Iowa — just as President-elect Trump’s team revealed Branstad will be the next ambassador to China.

(Radio Iowa)