• Learn about the health priorities identified by Cass County residents
• Review the goals and strategies outlined in the new plan
• Explore ways their organization, business, or family can support and use pieces of the plan in everyday work and life
• Connect with partners working to improve community health

(Atlantic, IA [this story & photos submitted by an Atlantic FFA reporter, via FFA Advisor/Ag Instructor Eric Miller]) -The Atlantic FFA Chapter welcomed Iowa FFA State Officer Laura Steinkamp and District Officer Tucker Olsen to a chapter visit on January 29th, 2026. While at the high school, they discussed opportunities in FFA and the students participated in leadership-building activities.

During a year of service to the organization, Iowa FFA officers serve as ambassadors for agriculture and the FFA. They travel to FFA chapters throughout the state to connect with members and talk about the many opportunities available to students enrolled in agricultural education. Atlantic FFA member Tenley Cappel said, “I had a lot of fun. It was neat to see how our class could cooperate to solve a problem.”

Each Ag Class has a lesson tailored to meet the needs of the individuals in the class. Some workshops are based on Leadership Skills, others on Team Building and finally FFA Chapter Recruitment. Each class begins with an introduction of an ice breaker activity used to get the State Officers and the students in the class introduced to each other. This is followed by a game or activity designed to highlight a specific leadership skill or team building activity. Atlantic FFA member Caden Noelck said “It was a lot of fun playing games and learning about leadership activities in class”.

Agricultural education incorporates three aspects of learning. The classroom provides basic knowledge. FFA develops leadership and personal skills. A Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) provides hands-on learning while working or in an agricultural business.

The Iowa FFA Association comprises 270 local chapters preparing over 20,000 students for future career opportunities. FFA activities and award programs complement instruction in agricultural education by giving students practical experience in applying agricultural skills and knowledge gained in classes. Through agricultural education, FFA makes a positive difference in students’ lives by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success.

(Radio Iowa) – A state legislator who owns a restaurant in northeast Iowa says the odds are good that a bill to ban smoking in state-licensed casinos passes the Iowa House this year. Republican Representative Shannon Lundgren, of Peosta, says thousands of casino employees are exposed daily to second-hand smoke — something she experienced years ago when she was sales manager for casinos in Iowa and Illinois. “You literally left your clothes at the garage door and your shoes…and everything else because you didn’t want your house smelling like an ashtray,” Lundgren said. “…With cancer rates the way that they are in the state of Iowa, it is time to move this forward and protect those employees over profits, which I don’t think are going to drop anyway.”

Mary Earnhardt is executive director of the Iowa Gaming Association, which represents the state-licensed casinos. “Our casinos invest in modern ventilation and air filtration systems and many designate smoking and non-smoking areas on the gaming floor,” These steps help manager air quality and allow our properties to serve a diverse customer base.” Earnhardt says if the bill passes, smoking could continue at the four Native American casinos, which are not regulated by the state. “Eliminating Iowa’s gaming floor smoking exemption would create an uneven regulatory treatment among competitors operating in the same markets, both within Iowa and across state lines,” Earnhardt said.

Therese Harms is a lobbyist for “Clean Air for Everyone Iowa — a coalition of groups that support the casino smoking ban. She says 20 states have taken the step to end smoking on the gaming floor. “South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Illinois have already acted to protect the workers in their casinos from second-hand smoke,” Harms said. “Iowa should not be an outlier.”

The bill cleared a House subcommittee this (Tuesday) morning. It failed in a Senate subcommittee last week.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and his colleagues will be questioning executives from media giant Netflix today (Tuesday) over the company’s proposed takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery. Grassley, a Republican, says he won’t be offering any opinions about the impact of such a merger on consumers or competitors until he’s done more fact-finding. “I’m going to wait until the hearing is over to get some answers,” Grassley says, “so I can’t answer your question directly on the economic impact on consumers.”

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing is scheduled for 1:30 PM/Central and Grassley says they’ll be delving into the details of the proposed 82-point-7 billion dollar acquisition.”I know it’s highly controversial,” Grassley says, “and it seems to me our subcommittee will be taking a look at it from an antitrust standpoint and the wisdom of the deal.”

Netflix is the world’s largest video-on-demand streaming media service, with a reported 325-million members in more than 190 countries.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Gov. Kim Reynolds has ordered flags lowered to half-staff today (Tuesday, Feb 3rd), in honor of former federal judge Robert Pratt. Robert Pratt, of Des Moines, served as a federal judge in Iowa’s Southern District from 1997 until his retirement in 2023. He died on January 28 at 78 years old.

Flags will remain at half-staff from sunrise to sunset today. The State Capitol Building and flag displays in the Capitol Complex will be at half-staff. All public buildings, grounds, and facilities will also fly flags at half-staff in Iowa.

(Atlantic, IA) – A Special Meeting of the Atlantic School Board will take place 7:30-a.m. Wednesday, in the Middle School Conference Room. The meeting has just one action item: To approve the resignation of High School Counselor Jesse McCann, effective February 2nd.  No reason was given for his resignation.

McCann was a Special Education Teacher for the District until the end of the 2024 School Year.

(Radio Iowa) -Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is scheduled to chair a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this (Tuesday) morning to update an investigation into how Swiss banks may still be holding hoards of money Nazi leaders plundered from Jews during World War Two. “The investigation has so far identified 890 hits for accounts with potential Nazi links at Credit Suisse,” Grassley says. “These accounts were once used by individuals or entities who participated in or assisted Nazi war efforts.” He says there are ties between the bank accounts and the German foreign office, a German arms maker, and the German Red Cross. Grassley’s probe of the case first began in 2023 and he says new evidence is finding the Credit Suisse relationship with the Nazi S-S was more extensive than previously thought.

“Newly uncovered records show that the SS’ economic arm maintained an account at Credit Suisse,” Grassley says. “The SS made its profit from Jewish forced labor in concentration camps.” Grassley staffers could not estimate how much money may be involved in the investigation, funds that should be returned to the descendants of those who likely died in concentration camp gas chambers more than eight decades ago. He says we’re still learning of cover-ups in these accounts from much more recently. “Credit Suisse ties to the SS were partially uncovered by a Swiss commission in the 1990s,” Grassley says, “but at the time, the bank stifled key details from investigators and the public.”

Grassley says one aim of the investigation is to make sure no more evidence is “swept under the rug,” though a Grassley staffer indicates there may still be decades of work ahead. “In recent years, we’ve seen a disturbing rise in anti-Semitism. History serves as a stark reminder that the evils of the past can never be repeated,” Grassley says. “Shining light on Credit Suisse’ past is part of turning the page on a very dark chapter of history.”

Credit Suisse no longer exists and has been integrated into U-B-S, formerly the Union Bank of Switzerland. The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing is scheduled to start at 9:15 AM/Central.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa D-N-R state deer biologist Jace Elliott says there were a few more counties added to the list of those with positive Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) tests in deer following this year’s hunt. There are now 38 of the 99 counties with at least one positive detection “I believe we have around a dozen new counties this year,” he says. Elliott says it is a slow moving disease, but it can sometimes turn up where they don’t expect it. “In a lot of cases, we see kind of a slow creep of the edge of the disease into new counties, but often times we also detect sort of random seeming counties that are not bordering a previously positive detection,” he says. The first positive case of C-W-D was confirmed in deer in northeast Iowa along the Wisconsin board in 2013. Elliott says they started testing way before that to be prepared.

“So each year we test around five-thousand deer for C-W-D across the whole state. We’ve been maintaining those numbers since roughly 2002, the early 2000s,” he says. “Now, where we focus our effort depends a little bit on where we’re detecting the disease. We’re currently in the process of looking at new strategies in order to maximize our resources.” He says the game plan is to try and slow the spread of the disease. “Really, what we’re doing in Iowa is trying to maintain balanced quality deer populations, because we’ve known from past states experiences that this disease can spread in low densities and high densities,” Elliott says. “So we’re just again committed to maintaining that balanced quality deer population as much as we can through regulations.” C-W-D is a disease that is fatal to the animals.

You can find out more about the C-W-D cases in Iowa on the D-N-R’s website at iowadnr.gov, and look for the C-W-D interactive dashboard.

OMAHA, Neb. — A man convicted of hitting and killing a western Iowa woman in a crash that occurred nearly 10-years ago in Nebraska, will serve approximately two decades in prison. According to KETV and other media reports, a Douglas County, Nebraska judge, Monday sentenced 29-year-old Eswin Mejia 20- to 22-years in prison for motor vehicle homicide and flight to avoid arrest.

Mejia caused the crash that killed Sarah Root near 33rd and L streets in 2016. In December, he pleaded guilty to a charge of failure to appear and no contest to motor vehicle homicide. Authorities said Mejia was driving drunk and street racing when he rear-ended Root’s car at a stoplight. Prosecutors said his blood alcohol level was 0.179%, and at the time of impact, he was driving 71 mph while Root was traveling at 3 mph. She was coming to a stop near 33rd and L streets.

Mejia, who was in the country illegally, was not put on an immigration hold, following the crash. The Honduran native who was living in the United States illegally at the time, fled the United States after posting a $5,000 bond (an allowed 10% of $50,000). It wasn’t until February 27th, 2025 that Honduran National Police said it had arrested Mejia, who was then extradited back to the U.S. in March 2025.

Root, a Council Bluffs native, had recently graduated from Bellevue University with a 4.0 grade point average when she was killed.